by admin | May 25, 2021 | Opinions, Politics
By Amulya Ganguli,
The signs which were available about the decline in the influence of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Gujarat’s rural areas during the state assembly elections have been substantiated by the drubbing which the BJP has received at the Congress’s hands in the byelections in Rajasthan, where the saffron party is in power.
Earlier, the Congress had shown that it might well be on the comeback trail by its success in the Chitrakoot assembly byelection in another BJP-ruled state, Madhya Pradesh. In all these byelections, it was not so much the Congress’s victory which was noteworthy as the impressive margins of its success.
Although it is too early to say whether these election trends point to an ebbing of the saffron tide after the overwhelming nature of the wave in 2014 and again in Uttar Pradesh last year, there is little doubt that the BJP has reasons to be concerned.
In fact, the emphasis placed on the rural areas in the latest budget is an indication that the party has taken its setbacks in the Gujarat countryside seriously and is trying to make amends by reaching out to the vulnerable sections.
The proposed health insurance cover for 500 million, 40 per cent of the population, is not unlike the previous government’s food security programme for 67 per cent of the people.
More than what happened in Gujarat, where at least the urbanites stood behind the BJP, what the Rajasthan outcome has shown is that all the sections have voted against the ruling party.
The widespread nature of the discontent underlines a deep and extensive popular unhappiness with governance although a minister has sought to explain the party’s defeats by referring to the grievances of the Rajputs over the “Padmaavat” film.
But that can only be one of the reasons. What must have also undermined the BJP’s prospects is the violence unleashed by either cow vigilantes or individuals railing against the minorities.
While the lawlessness of the gau rakshaks was exemplified by the lynching of a Muslim cattle trader although he was carrying the required permits for his trade, the psychopathic wrath of anti-Muslim elements was evident in the killing of a migrant labourer from West Bengal.
Both these heinous crimes were filmed and repeatedly shown on television, but while the murderers of the cattle trader, Pehlu Khan, have gone scot-free because of the inability of the police to provide credible evidence although the lynching took place in broad daylight in front of cameras, at least the killer of Afrazul Khan, the migrant labourer, has been arrested.
While any other government would have expressed deep shock and dismay over the horrific incidents, the Vasundhara Raje government in Rajasthan has largely remained unperturbed, a trait of indifference to near-anarchic conditions demonstrated by several other BJP-led governments as well such as in Haryana.
What cannot but be worrying for the Narendra Modi-Amit Shah duo is that the virtually unchecked violence of saffron groups like the gau rakshaks or the opponents of love jehad is beginning to take its toll on the BJP’s electoral fortunes, notwithstanding all the talk about “Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas” or development for all.
The popular disquiet about the rampaging mobs might have been assuaged if prompt and effective police action was taken and the criminals were put behind bars. But if the absence of such deterrent steps is proving costly for the BJP, the reason is that it is not only the Muslims — or the Christians who have also been targeted by Hindutva outfits in Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh — who are feeling insecure, as then Vice President Hamid Ansari pointed out, but the ordinary citizens are also distressed by the prevailing intolerance and intimidation.
Moreover, this atmosphere has been building up virtually from the time the BJP assumed power at the Centre and in several states as was highlighted by the return of national awards by a number of luminaries in the last two years in protest against the deteriorating situation. A recent open letter written by retired bureaucrats also referred to the “deeply disquieting trends” in the public sphere.
It is obvious that unless the governments at the Centre and in the states run by the BJP deal firmly with such rowdy elements, the party’s hope of a repeat run of the last general election in 2019 and even improving on its tally, as Amit Shah hopes, will not be fulfilled.
As is not uncommon in India, it is the failure of governments which usually leads to their fall rather than any efforts of the opposition. This tendency is again evident in Rajasthan where the Congress had just to wait in the wings to reap the electoral benefits of its opponent’s missteps.
After the humiliating setback in 2014, the Congress is showing signs of revival. But it will be making a mistake if it hopes to make electoral gains solely on the basis of the BJP’s inability or unwillingness to control its militant followers.
(Amulya Ganguli is a political analyst. The views expressed are personal. He can be reached at amulyaganguli@gmail.com)
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | News, Politics
New Delhi : Congress leader Shakeel Ahmad on Sunday said the “theory” by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and CBI that former Finance Minister P. Chidambaram and then Telecom Minister Dayanidhi Maran did something in tandem in the Aircel-Maxis case is too far-fetched.
In a tweet, the Congress leader said Chidambaram had strained relation with Maran.
“Attempts by PM Modi & Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to float a theory that Mr P Chidambaram and Mr DN Maran have done something in tandem to benefit each other in Aircel-Maxis Deal is too far fetched. Their strained relation was known to all of us, when they were in government. I was MoS with both of them,” said Ahmad in a tweet.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Saturday searched the houses of Chidambaram and his son Karti in Delhi and Chennai in connection to the Aircel-Maxis case.
Following the raids Chidambaram had said that there is no FIR against him or his son in the Aircel-Maxis case.
“There is no predicate scheduled offence. Hence the ED has no jurisdiction. Yet the ED, at the instance of the government, continues to misuse its powers.
“I belong to the Opposition party. Let the government misuse the ED. I shall neither bend nor break and I shall continue to speak and write,” he said.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | News, Politics
By Prashant Sood and Sidhartha Dutta,
New Delhi : Opposition parties face a daunting task to check the BJP’s rise and expansion under Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the coming year presents them opportunities to do so in eight states that go to the polls. It will also test them for their ability to build up the momentum against the BJP in the run-up to the 2019 Lok Sabha poll.
Much will depend on the Congress Party’s performance in these state polls, as also the initiatives that its new President, Rahul Gandhi, takes in reaching out to other opposition parties.
Elections will be held in Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Tripura and Mizoram in 2018 — and in the four big states it is almost a direct contest between the BJP and the Congress, while in Tripura the battle will be between the CPI-M and the BJP.
With the Congress losing several elections over the past over three years, there is already talk of “collective leadership” in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections and suggestions against making it a presidential-style electoral contest against Modi.
The year saw 18 opposition parties coming together to put up common candidates for the presidential and vice presidential elections. But these parties, which included the Congress, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) did not come together for the Gujarat assembly polls which the Congress narrowly lost.
The 18 parties came together after the Uttar Pradesh elections that the BSP and the Samajwadi Party-Congress alliance fought separately and lost badly to the BJP.
NCP leader Tariq Anwar said the Congress lost about 12 seats in Gujarat because it did not ally with his party and the BSP. “They should not repeat the same mistake in the states going to the polls next year. If the Congress does well in these states, it will be a big boost ahead of the 2019 elections,” he said.
Anwar said next year’s state elections will give a clear picture about what will happen in 2019. “The elections will be a big challenge for the Congress and the opposition parties,” he told IANS.
Opposition parties, specially in states with multi-polar contests, have competing interests and any proposal to put up common candidates against the BJP in 2019 elections will need a lot of accommodation and hard work.
The Bahujan Samaj Party and the Samajwadi Party are seen as adversaries in Uttar Pradesh and the Left, the Congress and the Trinamool Congress in West Bengal. The Congress is an adversary of the Indian National Lok Dal in Haryana, of the Telanaga Rashtra Samiti in Telangana and of the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) in Odisha.
It is apparently in view of these contradictions and the lacklustre performance of the Congress since its debacle in 2014 that Trinamool Congress leader Derek O’Brien called for a “collective leadership” to bring all opposition parties together against the BJP in each state.
He has said that that the opposition should play to its strengths and make the Lok Sabha elections a sum of state elections.
Samajwadi Party leader Naresh Agrawal, MP, said “it was compulsion for the opposition parties to come together before the Lok Sabha elections” and parties such as BJD and Aam Aadmi Party should be part of the larger grouping.
“We will try that all opposition parties come together before the Lok Sabha elections. When Indira Gandhi was the Prime Minister, a similar situation was before the country. All parties came together and she lost the election. History has to repeat itself,” Agrawal told IANS.
T.K.S. Elangovan, a leader of Tamil Nadu’s DMK, said Rahul Gandhi’s campaign during the Gujarat polls had boosted Congress morale and stressed that in the upcoming elections, preparations should start much earlier.
“All secular parties should come together to fight the communal forces. They are trying to force Hindutva upon us. They are also spreading hatred,” he said.
Elangovan also said that the Modi government has not delivered on its promises such as employment and improving the lives of the people. “We need to expose their propaganda,” he said.
The CPI-M’s Mohammed Salim said the secular parties “should discover an alternative narrative and strategy against the communal forces and they should be defeated”.
CPI leader D. Raja said social forces have also to be mobilised, besides political parties, in the fight against the BJP and the Sangh Parivar, the umbrella organisation of the BJP and its right wing affiliates.
“A new economic and social narrative has to be devised to counter these forces,” he said.
On the flip side, Janata Dal-United leader and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s return to the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance earlier this year came as a blow to the opposition parties as he was seen as a leader who could emerge as a challenger to Modi.
RJD supremo Lalu Prasad’s conviction in a case relating to the multi-crore rupee fodder scam has also come as a blow to the efforts towards opposition unity.
But a comforting factor for the Congress and some other opposition parties has been the acquittal of all the accused in the 2G spectrum case, on which the BJP had launched a sustained campaign against Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government.
There would be many more chapters to this tale and it would be interesting to see the outcome towards the end of 2018.
(Prashant Sood can be contacted at prashant.s@ians.in and Sidhartha Dutta at sidthartha.d@ians.in)
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | News, Politics
New Delhi : The Congress and the DMK on Thursday claimed vindication after a special court acquitted all the accused in the alleged 2G scam while the BJP insisted that the 2G spectrum allotment was “arbitrary, faulty and corrupt” and that the next course of action would be decided by the investigating agencies.
In his first comments after being acquitted in the 2G case, former Telecom Minister A. Raja said he stood vindicated as accusations that he took Rs 200 crore bribe to allocate lucrative radio wave spectrum in 2008 were false.
“I have felt somewhat vindicated all along even prior to this judgment because the beneficial results of my actions are evident and being enjoyed by the nation’s public, especially the poor,” Raja said in a statement.
Raja, who was jailed for 15 months for his alleged wrongdoing, alleged that “vested interests manipulated public perception by leveraging the media and sensationalising fabricated allegations” against him.
DMK MP Kanimozhi said it was a big day for her party as “justice has prevailed”.
“It was a harrowing experience to be accused of something which you haven’t done and being accused of a corruption that you have never been a part of,” a beaming Kanimozhi said after the verdict was announced.
BJP leader and Communications Minister Manoj Sinha, however, said the 2G spectrum allotment was arbitrary, faulty and corrupt and that the next course of action on the 2G issue would be decided by the investigating agencies.
“The government does not want to comment anything on the court decision now. Investigating agencies will take further decision. The government will ponder on it after that. The Supreme Court had already given its verdict. 2G spectrum auction was arbitrary, faulty and corrupt,” Sinha said.
He said in 2001, the government decided to allot spectrum on a first-come, first-serve basis. “But in 2008 they (the UPA government) decided to make spectrum allocation as first-come, first-pay.”
Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said the BJP had been exposed as it “tried to insult the country and came to power by doing business out of false allegations”.
“The lies have been exposed and BJP’s conspiracy to defame the Congress party has been exposed. It is a victory of truth,” Surjewala said.
“The conspiracy, which was hatched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Arun Jaitley, Vinod Rai and other BJP leaders, has been exposed today. The truth has come to light that no one is guilty in the 2G spectrum case,” he added.
Former Finance Minister and Congress leader P. Chidambaram said it was clear that “the allegation of a major scam involving the highest levels of government was never true, was not correct and that is being established today”.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said the 2G scam was one of the biggest the country had experienced and people needed answers who was responsible for it.
“It rocked the country and was one of the reasons for UPA’s downfall. Today everyone goes scot free. Did CBI mess up the case? Intentionally? People need answers,” Kejriwal tweeted.
Renowned lawyer and Swaraj Abhiyan founder Prashant Bhushan called the acquittal of all 2G scam accused “grossly wrong” and said it sent a signal that influential people are not accountable in the country’s judicial system.
“There was considerable evidence of benami licences, fixing of the first-come-first-served system and also bribes in this. Shame,” he tweeted.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Opinions
Rahul Gandhi
By Ram Puniyani
In the fact of the rising electoral strength of BJP, particularly after it massive victory in 2014 General elections, its coming to power in different states and its rising electoral support even in places where earlier it was absent, has shaken up many a parties at different levels. It is in this context that the interview of Com Prakash Karat (The Hindu, November 29, 2017) becomes significant.
Karat in his interview makes some substantial points to ponder. He says that BJP replacing Congress as the dominant political party has to be kept in mind while planning the future moves. Also that due to its policies during last few years; there is a great amount of discontent which is manifesting in the form of disenchantment of its earlier support base of traders and section of middle classes. There is a great turmoil among workers and farmers which is manifesting itself in the form of agitations which are not being reported in the media. Struggles of dalits and the scenario in University campuses are also significant signs of resistance. So as per Karat there is a need to project an alternative to BJP. While he rightly calls for the need of joint struggles, need for broad platforms of social groups to have joint agitation, where he flounders seriously is his conclusion that CPI (M) cannot be a part of an alliance with Congress. This is also related to his understanding that the present BJP regime is not a fascist regime but an authoritarian-communal one which is indulging in increased number of fascistic type attacks.
Karat is unable to characterize the present scenario and its dangerous potential to the full extent. The reality is that we are being pushed gradually towards Hindu Rashtra, the agenda of RSS combine. The events of last three years matter not just at electoral level but are affecting the state, our institutions, our Universities, our education system and the pattern of economic policies. The hegemony of Hindu nationalist ideology has grown up by leaps and bounds. We can see that identity based issues, Ram Temple, Mother Cow and love jihad are increasing in intensity. Cow related issues have resulted in the killings of so many Muslims, have led to abominable flogging of dalits in Una and killings of others related to cattle trade. Minorities are being targeted through issues like Love Jihad and Ghar Wapasi. The heavy handed, ultranationalist policies in Kashmir have resulted in massive casualties. The series of Award Wapasi did reflect the anguish of our intellectuals-artists-writers about the growing intolerance. The targeting of religious minorities has gone to the extent that many a leading thinkers from Muslim community think it is better not to be part of the electoral machinations, as it is further used by communal forces to polarize the society.
Our media has either come under total control of Corporate World or is manipulated enough to black out the news about resistance struggles of workers, peasants and dalits. Is it mere authoritarianism as he will like us to believe? Authoritarianism is imposed from the top. Here we see the mass mobilization increasing in intensity and stifling the democratic space. The foot soldiers of Hindu nationalism are being let loose. The point is that Hindu nationalist agenda has been made to flow in full strength; increasing its stranglehold. This mass participation in implementing this agenda is what distinguishes the present system from authoritarianism.
So what are the key components of the BJP regime today? There is a massive support of Corporate World, the state institutions are being compromised at a rapid pace, the ultranationalist policies very visible in Kashmir, in Universities, in imposition of Vande Matram, in bringing up of issues like all have to shout the slogan ‘Bharat Mata ki jai’, the targeting of minorities and the stifling of liberal space. All this is being achieved in a two directional process of mass mobilization through emotive issues promoted and propagated by different wings of RSS Combine and a top down imposition due to the simple majority of BJP at the centre.
While dissatisfaction of the people is picking up, the mobilization and abuse of identity issues for political goals is still at the forefront. A section of society has been totally sold over to by the charismatic construction of Narendra Modi’s persona. It is also true that lately the halo around him is diminishing in quantum, but still it is glaring. So the struggle is not just at electoral level but has to be a total one, cultural, economic, and political and what have you.
Still the battle on the electoral level is also decisive. While RSS has been doing its work from last close to a century, its work has found roots more so after the decade of 1980s. While it was communalizing the society at slow pace earlier, now the speed has picked up tremendously during last over three years. Now it gets all the paths clear from Governmental and administrative side. It is an absolute must that such electoral formations need to be kept aside if the democracy is to fructify on secular plural grounds.
True that Congress has many policies, which one cannot and should not sit with. As in UPA I a common minimum program can be the path for coming together, to sew a broader coalition. It’s true that there are difficulties in such a coalition. There have been positive and negative sides of Bihar Mahagathbandhan experiment, some parties cannot be brought on board due to their contrary social base, and still there are many political parties with which left can shake hands to confront the rising tide of Hindu nationalism. On economic policies there is also a possibility of an interim understanding on these, without compromising the interests of workers, dalits and farmers.
The space available for the non communal parties is not much, but whatever little space is there is to be used to broaden the fight for ensuring that Hindu nationalism is countered. The Hindu nationalist politics is not just authoritarian politics, as Karat says. It has features closer to fascism. It has to be combated with electoral alliances, Congress included.
