Decoding Modiji’s Forgotten Sermons on Kumbh

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Created on Friday, 11 April 2025 15:31
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 (Culled image from Modiji's website)
 
“If people are not allowed to speak their mind out or criticise, the system of democracy will start to stink like a pool of stagnant water,” stated Mr. Narendra Modi on 15th July 2012. Mr. Modi, as Gujarat Chief Minister, said this while launching ‘Gujarat Guardian’ daily in Surat. 
Modiji’s sermon has a direct relevance to the Mr Rahul Gandhi’s public outcry as the leader of the Opposition (LoP) in Lok Sabha. It is equally relevant to recent resentment in the Opposition benches against presiding persons of both houses and on denial of debate on several issues including the ones pertaining to Adani group. 
On 26th March 2025, Mr. Gandhi claimed that he was not allowed to speak for days by Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla. LoP reportedly said: “I don’t know what is going on. I requested him to let me speak, but he just ran away. This is no way to run the House,” Gandhi said. “It is a convention that the Leader of Opposition is given time to speak. Whenever I stand up, I am stopped. I did nothing wrong—I was sitting quietly. Here, there is no place for democracy. There is only place for the government.” 
Mr. Birla, on the other hand, has responded to this charge by stating: “I expect the Leader of Opposition to follow the rules”.
On 18th March too, Mr. Gandhi bemoaned that he was denied chance to speak after Mr. Modi's statement on Maha Kumbh’s success. He was quoted in the mainstream media as saying that: “Our only complaint is that the PM did not give Shraddhanjali (pay homage) to those who lost their lives in Kumbh. The youth, who went to the Maha Kumbh, also wants one more thing from the PM, which is employment… As per the democratic structure, the LoP should get an opportunity to speak, but they won’t let us. This is new India.”
Addressing the Lok Sabha on successful conclusion of Maha Kumbh, Mr. Modi said: “In the Maha Kumbh, all differences faded away; this is India's great strength, showing that the spirit of unity is deeply rooted within us.” 
Unfortunately, this spirit couldn’t permeate to Lok Sabha, which draws its strength from Maha Kumbh of democracy, the general elections.  

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

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Created on Saturday, 22 June 2024 15:28
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(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

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Created on Monday, 08 January 2024 04:39
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(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

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Created on Friday, 11 August 2023 04:55
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(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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