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I miss a 'Strong Opposition', says the PM - Here's an Eight-point Agenda for the Opposition

Published on 22 June 2024
Hits: 1629
(Image Courtesy: PIB)
 
“Ask the most difficult and sharpest questions.” This is the gauntlet Mr. Prime Minister Narendra Modi threw down at the Opposition on 19th July 2021 in his traditional comments to the media before the start of monsoon session. 
Mr. Modi added: “Also allow the government to respond in a disciplined environment.” He believed: “This will give a boost to the democracy, strengthen people’s trust and improve the pace of development.”
Couple this quote with Mr. Modi’s forgotten wisdom that is vital for Amrit Kaal: “Governance depends on the ability to communicate and understand human psychology...Those, who are in power, are soon surrounded by sycophants and rumour mongers and soon we get cut off from reality. We are encased in a golden cage and isolated and fed with filtered information. Thus, we may be led to take wrong decisions. Learning to ask right questions to the right person will end all this,” stated Mr. Modi on 5th June 2010. He was delivering Keynote address at the “Suraj Sankalp” National Convention.
These two quotes should constitute the perfect ignition for healthy clash of titans (ruling NDA versus INDIA block) in the newly constituted 18th Lok Sabha and eternal Rajya Sabha over the next five years. Such quotes should inspire the Opposition to draw up its agenda in advance before each session of Parliament to focus on alarming governance deficit.
The very idea of mooting public agenda for the Opposition might appear off-beat. Most people expect journalists & analysts to pen agenda for the new Government. No Government in India, however, cares for such unsolicited ideas. However, Mr. Modi would certainly spare few seconds to read this column as it is a sincere attempt to ease his sorrow over feeble Opposition he encountered over the last decade.

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Governors as Vikas Ke Rajdoot - Walk the Talk

Published on 08 January 2024
Hits: 2151
(Image Courtesy: rajbhavankolkata.gov.in)
 
THE Supreme Court's recent, critical observations on the issue of Governors not giving assent to bills passed & re-passed in some cases by State Assemblies are shocking.
In its verdict dated 10th November 2023 in Punjab versus Governor's office,the Supreme Court concluded:"there is no valid constitutional basis (for the Governor) to cast doubt on the validity of the session of the Vidhan Sabha which was held on 19 June 2023, 20 June 2023 and 20 October 2023. Any attempt to cast doubt on the session of the legislature would be replete with grave perils to democracy."
It stated:"the Governor of Punjab must now proceed to take a decision on the Bills which have been submitted for assent on the basis that the sitting of the House which was conducted on 19 June 2023, 20 June 2023 and 20 October 2023 was constitutionally valid."
The seven bills, which the Governor implicitly sought to nullify by dubbing the assembly sessions as patently illegal, included The Punjab Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management (Amendment) Bill, 2023; The Punjab Goods and Services Tax (Amendment) Bill, 2023; and The Indian Stamp (Punjab Amendment) Bill, 2023.
This & apex court's alarming observations in two other similar cases reflects the persistence of a totally avoidable problem for about 60 years. The underlying causes for this issue are two.

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An Urgent need to Revive Consensus Politics

Published on 11 August 2023
Hits: 2052

(Image Courtesy: taxindiaonline.com)

India is going through an unprecedented, internal war over I.N.D.I.A. (Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance). I.N.D.I.A. is much more than the name for the 26-parties Opposition Alliance formed to contest 2024 Lok Sabha elections. It represents the Opposition’s Idea of India (IoI).
The Opposition has pitted its IoI against BJP’s IoI. The bitter political war over different perceptions of I.N.D.I.A. has inflicted collateral damage to the Constitution-enshrined name for the country.
The whole world is thus naturally looking at India with bewilderment and shock. There is no parallel in the world where dominant leaders in a country suddenly developed pangs of guilt over its very identity as colonial baggage.
Assam Chief Minister and PM’s key lieutenant, Himanta Biswa Sarma, was the first BJP stalwart to flag name ‘India’ as a colonial legacy.  Immediately after I.N.D.I.A. hogged limelight on its launch on 18th July 2023, Mr Sarma tweeted: “Our civilisational conflict is pivoted around India and Bharat. The British named our country as India. We must strive to free ourselves from colonial legacies. Our forefathers fought for Bharat, and we will continue to work for Bharat.” (See inset on Renaming India at end of the column.)
A few hours before unveiling of I.N.D.I.A., Prime Minister Narendra Modi dubbed the Opposition’s meeting at Bengaluru as a gathering to promote corruption.
Mr. Modi resurrected Vajpayee-era National Democratic Alliance (NDA) with a new spin: “NDA has always believed in the ‘Coalition of Contributions’ unlike the Congress-led ‘Coalition of Compulsions’.”

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Revisit Constitution to Craft Bharat Jodo in Spirit and not via Symbolism

Published on 02 October 2022
Hits: 2534
( Baba Amte's Jodo Bharat Abhiyan. Screenshot from Youtube) 
 
 
“Jat Paat Ke Bandhan Toro, Bharat Jodo Bharat Jodo” (Break free from castes & sub-castes; Unite India).This is not a clarion call from Rahul Gandhi, who is leading Bharat Jodo Yatra (BJY) of the Congress Party. This slogan has also not germinated from the Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s 2021 vision “Bharat Jodo Andolan” (BJA). 
This was one of the key slogans of an earlier KanyaKumari to Kashmir (KtoK) march led by late Baba Amte, a great social reformer, in 1986. 
And there hangs a tale of many steps to unite India through long marches from South to North and From East to West over the decades. The other steps include initiatives to knit India through national policies, central and centrally sponsored schemes, pan-India projects and forums.
Mr. Modi has crafted alliterations, acronyms and rhymes to articulate ‘Bharat Jodo’ theme. A notable instance in point is GST-related “One nation. One Tax. One Market.” Another example is 'One Nation. One Ration Card'. And one in the works is 'One Nation. One Fertilizer'.
The Bharat Jodo story is also riddled with counter-currents that can be collectively dubbed as Bharat Todo (Divide India) mission.
Every ‘Knit India’ movement including BJP’s 1992 Ekta Yatra (Unity March) & 2006 Bharat Suraksha Yatra (India Security March) have failed to rein in fissiparous forces. 
The key divisive, dangerous factors are: communalism, casteism, regionalism, parochialism & inter-state fights. More of this later in the column.
No significant political party would ever launch mass movement against such Bharat Todo tools. Can Congress or BJP embark on national padayatra (foot march) with a call to citizens to ‘Give up Caste’, ‘Give up Rituals’ and ‘Give up job Reservations’? Can any party come to power without playing caste and communal politics?

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