Showing posts with label opposition. Show all posts
Showing posts with label opposition. Show all posts

Tuesday, January 6, 2015

OPPOSITION HOLDS PARLIAMENT TO RANSOM Modi government frustrates designs with Ordinances

OPPOSITION HOLDS PARLIAMENT TO RANSOM
Modi government frustrates designs with Ordinances

By Amba Charan Vashishth
  
The opposition has failed to come to terms with the people's verdict which gave a convincing majority to Modi government defeating the forces of status quo and 'performance deficit' represented by Congress-led UPA and its cohorts. It has also failed to digest the enormous work done by the new government.  Ghar wapsi programme in various parts of the country  was blow out of proportion to make an issue out of no issue. It became handy to an issue starved opposition to cry hoarse in Rajya Sabha to stall the passage of important bills and retard nation's progress.    
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   
In the 2014 elections to Lok Sabha whether it was the Congress or the left parties or the social justice brigade of Mulayam Singh Yadav's Samajwadi Party, Janta Dal-United, Janta Dal-Secular or Lalu Yadav's Rashtriya Janata Dal or the self-proclaimed 'secularists' — they all were all out to defeat the BJP-led NDA and its icon Narendra Modi who contested the election on the plank of development and good governance with the slogan "sabkka saath, sabkaa vikaas". People gave Modi a big hand. He addressed historic rallies all over the country, the size of congregation never witnessed before. The people of India defeated convincingly and decisively the ruling Congress-led UPA and  others. The vanquished were dumbfounded.

During the last seven months Prime Minister Modi has made a mark for himself  — and for the country — with his unique style of functioning in the country that the world came to recognize that he is the man who has the skill to translate his words into action. He impressed the people of the countries he visited in a manner no other Indian leader so far in the past could. He has established a rapport with world leaders like US President, Russian President, Chinese President, Japanese Prime Minister, neighbours Nepal, Bhutan and who not whom he met. Not to be lagged behind the world leaders made a beeline to visit India and meet Modi.

Modi is the first Indian leader to have impressed the world so fast and so soon in so short a time to be declared the the most favourite to win TIME magazine's prestigious 'Person of the Year' award. At home for the TIMES OF INDIA "Person of the Year (2014) award", according to the paper, Narendra Modi had a walkover as there was no contest.
He has the knack of silencing his critics and convincing his opponents who had accused him of weaving dreams which could not be realised. He became the first Prime Minister to speak ex tempore while replying to the debate on Motion of Thanks to the President's Address in both houses of Parliament. Without naming any individual MP or Party, he gave a befitting reply to every point of importance raised in the debate.

He also became the first Prime Minister to make an ex tempore address to the nation on the Doordarshan and also while addressing the nation on the Independence Day from the ramparts of the Red Fort.

During the last seven months he has launched many innovative projects and initiatives. He means what he says and says what he means. In implementation of his declarations and that too in no time, he has no parallel. The Jandhan Yojna was launched within a fortnight of the announcement on august 15. The Banks have achieved the target of opening 10 crore accounts one month before the 26 January deadline set earlier.

The “Make in India” programme is creating waves within the country and generating ripples even abroad.Swachh Bharat programme has caught the imagination of the nation and has created a new awareness among the masses. Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojna too has made the public representatives to involve themselves with the hopes and aspirations of their constituents by developing one such village every year in one's constituency.

The economy is back on the rails sooner than expected. The industrial production has picked up. The GDP is projected to achieve a higher growth this financial year. The global interest in the country is increasing fast and pace of FDI investment gaining momentum. Economic reforms and liberalization of economy has received a boost.

On fighting terror and internal security, Modi government has sent out a tough message to the anti-national elements. Home Minister Rajnath Singh is tackling the situation head-on. Tough stand on border skirmishes by both China and Pakistan has started paying dividends.  Pakistan has started harking to the concerns of India on cross-border terrorism with tangible results.

An opposition severely battered by the people has lost its direction. It is groping in the dark what to do. It has lost the stamina to digest such great achievements so fast. The caravan of development led by Modi government is unstoppable. Modi government had nothing to do, directly or indirectly, with the isolated reports of ghar wapsi by certain families and groups in different parts of the country But it came handy to the opposition already starved of issues to take on the Modi government. It made a mountain of a mole hill.

During this very period there were reports of conversion of Hindus into Christianity in Odisha and Kerala. But that did not pierce the conscience of the self-styled secularists for whom conversion is a pious ‘secular’ act and unflinching right but ghar wapsi (re-conversion) a rank ‘communalism’ and a ’crime’ unpardonable. If people have the right to convert, who can deny them the right to rethink and re-convert?

The Insurance Bill, the Land Acquisition Bill and Coal Sector reform Bills stood already passed by the Lok Sabha. The Rajya Sabha too was expected to give its approval because not doing so would have put the opposition in the dock for stalling the process of reforms which were out to benefit the nation. Since Lok Sabha had already put its seal of approval to these Bills, ghar wapsi did not raise the tempers of those very ‘secularists’ in this house. These very parties which did not allow the Rajya Sabha to function remained unconcerned on the ghar wapsi issue in Lok Sabha.  

The Modi government on its part expressed its willingness to discuss the issue and volunteered to come out with a law to ban conversions. But those very people beating their chests red in Rajya Sabha were not willing to put an end to that very crime they were opposing. That exposes the hypocrisy and honesty of their sense of purpose.


The NDA government, in these circumstances, could not afford to allow the parliament to be held to ransom. It could not to afford to inherit status quo stigma of the UPA government suffering from  “governance deficit”. The only course left with the government was to resort to issue Ordinances which a representative government needs to explore only rarely. But Modi government had no other alternative. It decided to move on and clear the hurdles created by the opposition. The opposition had vowed to function as a constructive organ of democracy. But it, in effect, proved to be a hurdle in the nation’s march forward. The opposition is surely the watchdog of public interest  — a watchdog  that is useful as long as it is vigilant but not when it immobilizes its own master  and pushes him to a hospital bed.                                                                                                                                                           ***

Wednesday, December 3, 2014

Not 'Hramzade', it's 'Ramzade' that pinches 'secularists'

Not 'Hramzade', it's 'Ramzade' that pinches 'secularists'

By Amba Charan Vashishth

One should be discreet in the use of one's words. Think before you speak, is another good sermon. This is more apt for persons in politics. One's opponents are always prying for the slip of tongue to put one on the mat. They wish to milch the opponent's cow hard enough to squeeze out the blood of political mileage.

This is more true in the recent controversy that has erupted because of the utterings of Union Minister Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti who while addressing a public meeting in Delhi is reported to have said that the Delhi voter has to make a choice between Ramzadon and Hramzadon. Later, clarifying on her remarks she is reported to have said that in India everyone is the child of Lord Ram and all others are those who changed their mode of worship. This created a great furore and functioning in both houses of Parliament was disrupted by the opposition. For obvious political reasons, her detractors remained unsatisfied even when the Sadhvi clarified in Parliament: "My intention was not to hurt anyone. If my speech outside the House has hurt anyone, I express my deep regrets".

But this didn't close the matter. The Opposition wants the head of the minister; she should resign or be dismissed. They — and the media — have gone to the extent of dubbing it as "hate speech" and against the Constitution of which she had taken oath. They further demanded that a criminal case be registered against her.

The hypocrisy of the opposition is not new. When Congress President Mrs. Sonia Gandhi in an election meeting in 2007 had described the then Gjujarat chief Minister Narendra Modi as maut ka saudagar, for our 'secularists' and 'liberal' media it did not amount to "hate speech" nor did it hurt the 'secular' psyche.
The opposition and the media stand on the same pedestal on the issue. The former wishes to fish political capital in the trouble waters and the latter, to thrive in grabbing a higher TRP by whipping up flames of controversy. In their heart they know they are only flagging a dead horse.

Zade is an Urdu word which has come to be used in Hindi too when one speaks of Shahzade (prince), Sahibzade (offsprings of a great ancestry), and conjoined with other words to give a particularly special meaning, like hramzade and the like. Ramzade means the off-springs of Lord Ram. He is a god to an overwhelming majority of Indians. Every religion, Hindus included, says that all human beings are the children of god, be it the Christians, Muslims and so on. Nobody challenges this claim. India is a land of Hindus where people have the unchallenged liberty to adopt whatever form of worship they like. Within Hindus there are numerous forms of worship, yet all remain one: Hindu. After the invasion by Muslim and Christian raiders, a section of the people adopted Christian and Muslim ways of worship. The Hindus respect it. Why, therefore, should the use of word Ramzade hurt any section of society? All Indians are the children of god whomever they worship or have faith in.

The dictionary meaning of the word hramzade is bastard, rascal, scoundrel, and ill-begotten. This is the word people use in their everyday life to describe certain individuals. Namakhraam is a word in common usage. By using the words Ramzade and hramzade the Sadhvi just tried to draw a distinction between men of god, gentlemen and civilized persons on the one hand and bastards, rascals and scoundrels, on the other. Do the media and opposition wish to make us believe that among we Indians there are no bastards, rascals and scoundrels at all? Is it, then, a crime to call upon people to choose between men of god and scoundrels?
Needless to call the famous quote of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru: Aaraam hraam hai. Nobody has felt — and should — offended by these words.

Similarly, halaal is a common Urdu word. Everybody knows its meaning and connotation. When in rage, people are usually seen threatening others: Main tujhe halaal kar rakh doonga (Will slaughter you like a goat "in accordance with conventional prescription").

It is a political travesty of the democracy and 'secularism' that in India with a population of more than 80 percent Hindus the very word Ram pinches very hard the delicate heart of our so-called self-styled liberal-secularists. It is a 'crime' to take His name. Whoever does is branded a fundamentalist 'communal'. A Hindu doesn't have the right to proclaim that he is proud of being one while all other non-Hindus have this privilege.


The writer is a Delhi-based political analyst.