Tag Archives: Elections
Posted on 17 March, 2014, No Comments Comments admin
Some look good only when the going is good. If the going is tough they collapse. That appears to be the UPA and Rahul Gandhi story. Faced with odds, even senior leaders have decided to desert the sinking ship. Some are refusing to contest. Others are feigning ill health for not contesting. The blame game is about to begin.
Faced with odds, Rahul Gandhi has decided to talk up the morale of his party. He claims that opinion polls are jokes and that the Congress would improve upon its 2009 tally. If this is sheer bravado in order to lift the sinking morale of the Congressman, it is understandable. However, if he genuinely believes this to be true then surely he is completely cut off from reality.
The election agenda is loaded against them. Desperate attempts to create an agenda out of well meaning concepts such as empowerment, putting systems in place etc. is not working. Abstract slogans only displayed at hoardings all over the country are difficult to comprehend. The message is blurred and not clear. The voters are worried about price rise, economy and corruption. They want a leadership which is decisive and inspirational. The Congress Party and UPA are failing to set the agenda. They are at best responding to the agenda set by their opponents.
The Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party after being pampered for almost for ten years have decided during elections to distance themselves from the Congress Party. Others are deserting them. The Trinamool Cogress, the DMK and the LJP have all deserted the Congress. No new ally is going to join them. A large chunk of the seats that UPA got in the last election came from Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh. In Tamil Nadu the Congress is isolated with a single digit percentage votes. It barely expects to pick up any seat. In Andhra Pradesh it played the Telengana Card not out of conviction but out of vote bank strategy. It has simply become a liability for its candidates in Seemandhra. In Telengana, the TRS has turned its back on the Congress.
The BJP had an option to go back on its commitment for Telengana. We refused to do so. Instead we played with a straight bat. We fulfilled our commitment to the people of Telengana and got additional economic package for Seemandhra. We can go to both the regions with our heads held high. We earned goodwill not only amongst the people but even amongst a section of the regional parties in the State. Today we have a positive prospect of our alliances in both Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh.
For the Congress even its leadership is proving to be unacceptable. It lacks the charisma and the appeal which is required today. At the end of the day the Congress goes into the poll without an agenda with inadequate allies and without an effective leadership. If things can go wrong they surely will go wrong.
Posted on 15 March, 2014, No Comments Comments admin
The news channel NDTV had broadcast an opinion poll over the past two days. Psephology as a science has still not been perfected in India. I cannot therefore vouch for absolute accuracy of these polls. The big picture emerging out of most of these polls which have been conducted by several prestigious organizations is that the BJP led NDA is a clear front runner. The gap between BJP and the Congress is significant. Narendra Modi’s acceptability as a Prime Minister is very large. His acceptability ratings are higher than those of the party.
The political debate on the polls is now centered around two basic issues. Firstly, if the NDA is the front runner by a large margin how will it cover the last mile to reach the 272+ magic figure. Secondly, given the tally of the UPA, the Third Front and the Federal Front, no body other than the NDA has a ghost chance of forming the next government.
What should we in the BJP therefore concentrate on? The Congress is failing to either appeal to the voter or occupy the mind space. Some regional parties particularly the AIADMK, the Trinamool Congress and the Biju Janata Dal, as per these opinion polls, appear to be holding ground in their States. The Left Front, which used to be the key ideological motivation, in getting disparate anti-BJP elements together, is shrinking. It does not appear that they will expand. There is a significant political space which anti-Congress regional parties are still occupying.
My personal analysis is that we are slowly but surely moving towards the magic figure. The last lap of the campaign has begun. The BJP needs to concentrate on consolidating its gains. The country’s mood is to install a BJP led government. Between now and the polling date all BJP leaders and cadres must work towards the goal of adding an additional two percent votes across the country. Every incremental percentage vote is capable of adding a significant number of seats to our kitty.
How do we add this incremental vote to our tally? Rallies, publicity, communications through all mediums will be effectively done. We cannot afford to take our eye off the ball. We must continue the political debate on the anti-incumbency issues against the UPA and the ability of the BJP and Narendra Modi to provide a solution to the problems of the country. Anti-incumbency and a desire for change existing on account of price rise, slow down in economy, plight of the farmers, corruption, security related issues and a leadership vacuum in the UPA, voters’ mind space are key issues. We must all entirely concentrate on these issues and the ability of a Modi led government providing a solution to these concerns. Relatively marginal issues such as declaration of candidates particularly who is in and who is out cannot be allowed to dominate the political agenda in the BJP. These issues divert the attention from the core issues of governance.
Beside Modi’s leadership and an anti-incumbency against the UPA the big issue which is likely to dominate the voters’ mind is –“Who can provide a stable government.” The more we emphasize the importance of this issue the larger will be the advantage to the front runner. The least that India can afford today is a fractured mandate. The voters must be persuaded that they should not waste their votes. Voting for smaller groups will not help government formation. India needs a government which rules for five years. If we are to get the country out of the present mess, a stable government which cannot be pushed around is a condition precedent.
Posted on 14 March, 2014, No Comments Comments admin
I have heard two important comments in the past twenty four hours which worry me.
The External Affairs Minister Shri Salman Khurshid was delivering a talk in London. In the course of his lecture he appears to have commented that both the Supreme Court and the Election Commission of India are overreaching their jurisdictions. He believes that a few unelected persons cannot regulate Indian democracy because it is always the elected representatives who represent the will of the sovereign. The argument is both misconceived and misleading.
There is a clear separation of powers under the Indian Constitution. The responsibility for interpreting the law is with the Courts. The Court can judicially review the constitutional validity of any law framed by the Legislature. The Court can judicially review all acts of the Executive. It is for the Court to decide the limits of its jurisdiction. Ordinarily, the courts do not substitute their wisdom for that of the Executive. Policy formulation is the job of the Executive. Law framing is the function of the Legislature. In the course of judicially reviewing their functions the Court can always step in and prevent an unconstitutionality or arbitrariness. The Court can direct the Executive to follow the mandate of law. The Court can even desire to ascertain whether there are good reasons for the executive acting in a particular manner while taking a decision. All decisions have to be informed by reasons. Reasons must be recorded and cannot be assumed to exist. In the course of interpretation of law and judicial review, the Court can lay down the parameters of constitutionality and reasonableness. We may choose to call it judge-made law. It is true that at times the Supreme Court lays down rules/regulations/guidelines for the Executive. In recent years, the separation of power is obliterated by some judicial pronouncements. But these are exceptions. There can even be aberrations. They do not indicate the normal pattern of India’s judicial functioning.
The Election Commission of India has evolved over the years. It is the principal institution which is responsible for the conduct of free and fair elections. It has conducted itself well. Indian democracy has survived and survived well primarily because of free and fair elections and an independent judiciary. A free media, a vibrant parliamentary democracy have also contributed in strengthening the tradition of democracy in India. The Code of Conduct was initially non-statutory. It has today got the authority of law as being a part of the residuary jurisdiction of the Election Commission under Article 324 of the Constitution. It has also got a judicial sanction by a pronouncement of the Supreme Court in 2002. It is primarily because of the Model Code of Conduct which the governments at times find inconvenient, that Indian elections are free, fair and provide a level playing field. It is a bit unusual for a senior Minister of the Government to criticize these institutions on the foreign soil. These are institutions which have contributed to strengthening democracy in India.
The second disturbing comment has come from Arvind Kejriwal. He claimed that the Media has been managed by Narendra Modi and it was playing up the Modi wave. He therefore presumed that the media has been paid and after Arvind Kejriwal comes to power at the Centre he would lock up the journalists responsible for this. Realizing that his comments have been found disturbing by the people he has now gone into a denial mode.
Arvind Kejriwal started as a populist. He has evolved into a demagogue. He can make allegations against anyone and everyone without any supporting evidence. He has little concern for the truth. He believes in repeating the falsehood several times. He convinces himself that facts manufactured by him are true. As a populist in many areas he is ideology-less. He looks at the mood of the mob before presenting his case. Such persons can be extremely dangerous for democratic institutions. The theory he espouses in simple language is –“Media must be taught a lesson because it is not honest. The proof of dishonesty is that they are reporting that there is an electoral advantage that Modi seems to have”. With a straight face he can deny he ever said what is recorded on camera.
Why are Salman Khurshid and Arvind Kejriwal angry with democratic institutions like the Judiciary, Free Press or the Election Commission? Their criticism is not a sign of mature politics. Electoral victories and defeats are a part of the electoral process. It is India and its democracy which is immortal. Men are not. The prospects of an electoral defeat should not frustrate Salman Khurshid and Arvind Kejriwal into believing that democratic institutions in India have been compromised.
Posted on 12 March, 2014, No Comments Comments admin
Yesterday I heard a few extracts of the speech delivered by Rahul Gandhi in Gujarat. He compared Narendra Modi to Adolf Hitler. Rahul Gandhi may have been a young child in 1975 when his grandmother Smt. Indira Gandhi as Prime Minister decided to proclaim the internal emergency. Surely, he is not unaware of what happened during those nineteen months of the Emergency. I was a college student at that time. As a Students Union Leader and an Activist in JP’s movement I spent the next nineteen months in prison. I came across a document being circulated as a part of the underground literature which was titled “A Tale of Two Emergencies”. I was later told that it had been authored by Shri L.K. Advani. This document is even now available as an annexure to Advani ji’s prison memoirs titled “A Prisoner’s Scrap Book”. The document was based on the authentic work of history of Nazi Germany by William Shirer. Shirer’s book was titled “The Rise and Fall of Third Reich” I obtained a copy of the book in prison and spent a few weeks reading it. After reading the book I had no doubt that the only Indian politician in post independence India who drew inspiration from Adolf Hitler was Smt. Indira Gandhi. The comparison between Hitler and her was startling.
Hitler became the Chancellor of Germany in January 1933. Within a month he invoked the emergency powers for ‘the protection of the people and the state’. He restricted personal liberty, free speech, fundamental rights and imposed various restrictions on the right to privacy. The ostensible reason for proclamation of emergency was a Communist conspiracy to burn down governmental buildings. The pretext was that a day before the proclamation of emergency there was a fire at the Reich Stag. Much later the Nuremberg trials established that the fire had been engineered to provide a false pretext. Indira ji also proclaimed the Emergency in India on 26th June 1975. She claimed that JP was leading an agitation where Armed Forces were being asked to defy illegal orders. She therefore suspended all fundamental rights including the right to life and liberty. She imposed censorship on the Press, compromised judicial independence. Her Attorney General pleaded before the Supreme Court that in the absence of the right to life and liberty a detenu could be killed in prison and he had no recourse. A pliable Supreme Court accepted this argument.
Indira ji announced a Twenty Point Economic programme and insisted the Emergency was intended for discipline and growth. Hitler had also announced a 25-Point Economic Programme which was to be implemented during the emergency.
Hitler did not command a two-third majority in the German parliament. He therefore detained 91 Opposition MPs in order to reduce the voting strength of the House and amended the constitution giving to him absolute power. Indira ji detained a large number of opposition MPs and brought about draconian 42nd Amendment to the Constitution which had to be substantially repealed after the Emergency. She went a step further and even prohibited the publication of Parliamentary proceedings. The law which provided immunity to the media from publishing parliamentary proceedings was repealed. Curiously, this law had been proposed by Rahul Gandhi’s grandfather, the Late Shri Feroze Gandhi.
The tenor of the statement by supporters of the two emergency regimes was similar. Goebbels, Hitler’s propaganda minister declared – “The German Revolution has begun.” In India it was claimed that the country was passing through “something of a revolution”. The media could not publish any news item without subjecting it to prior censorship. The White Paper on Misuse of media during the Emergency gives illustrations of the kind of censorship which came into existence. Gandhi family newspaper ‘The National Herald’ advocated that a one-party set up was desirable, It should not be forced but allowed to emerge by a natural evolution. All Opposition activists in the country were detained. They were whisked away in the midst of darkness. The Police was asked to register fabricated FIRs under the Defence of India Rules against Opposition activists. Lakhs of false FIRs were registered. Thousands of persons were detained under the Maintenance of Internal Security Act. The law was amended to mandate that no grounds of detention were necessary to be provided. Additionally, the judgement of the Supreme Court in Habeas corpus case reaffirmed that these malafide orders of detention were non-justiciable.
The Constitution was amended by the 39th Amendment making even electoral offences committed by the Prime Minister as non-justiciable. The inspiration for this came from the Nazis wherein Nazi leader Joachim von Ribbentrop who later became Hitler’s External affairs Minister advocated a new legal system since “Adolf Hitler too like any other common mortal can be tried under the same paragraph of the penal law” The Congress President Dev kant Barua declared “Indira is India and India is Indira”. Hitler’s Commissioner of Justice Dr. Hans Frank had declared that “There is in Germany today only one authority and that is the authority of Fuehrer”. Hitler created a secret police called the Gestapo whose orders like the MISA orders were not subject to judicial review.
Suspension of democracy, abrogation of civil liberties, detention of political opponents, suspension of democratic activity, abandonment of free Press, absence of judicial independence and vestige of power in one person were features of Hitler’s regime. Each step had inspired Indira ji’s internal Emergency. There was one basic difference between the two. Hitler did not promote a dynasty because he did not have any one to promote.
Posted on 11 March, 2014, No Comments Comments admin
The Supreme Court yesterday passed an interim order in a petition filed by an NGO “Public Interest Foundation” wherein it held that where MPs and MLAs are facing corruption cases and other serious offences which involve a punishment of two years or more, the trial will be held expeditiously on a day-to-day basis and completed within one year from the date of framing of the charge. The Court further held that in case the trial cannot be completed within one year the Trial Judge will have to give reasons to the Chief Justice of the High Court as to why this has not been possible.
Criminalization of politics has been a very serious issue confronting Indian polity. The malady has been that persons with criminal track record and pending charge sheets are fielded by political parties. This creates apprehension in the mind of the country with regard to the quality of politics and the kind of persons who enter the legislative bodies. Election Commission and the Law Commission have been suggesting a simple remedy. They argue that any person against whom charges have been framed in a certain category of offences will not be eligible to be fielded as a candidate Whereas the Constitution and the Representation of Peoples Act debar convicted persons from becoming candidates there is no embargo on charge-sheeted politicians. This creates a disconnect between the legal requirement and public opinion.
Several meetings of the political parties have discussed this issue and were unable to find a solution to the pending problem. Political partes have argued that under law there is a presumption of innocence till the person is held guilty. A charge-sheeted person therefore cannot be presumed to be guilty. They further contend that law and order is a State subject and with the kind of vengeance politics in several States it is not difficult to fabricate cases against political opponents. The courts look at the prima-facie material while framing the charge. The framing of a charge itself being a disqualification can lead to an abuse of the process.
During the NDA government we worked towards the middle path. A Bill was prepared which proposed a certain categories of ‘heinous offences’. If charges in two cases involving heinous offences were framed, a person could be disqualified from contesting elections. Even this proposal which the NDA supported was rejected by other political parties.
What then is the solution? Can the system remain a mute spectator? The Supreme Court has attempted to find a solution. The solution respects the principle that a person is presumed to be innocent till held guilty. It provides a filter against motivated charge-sheets. It doesn’t debars persons on being merely charged. At the same time no politician, MP or MLA, has a right to a delayed trial. Since he holds a public office he must like Caesar’s wife be beyond suspicion. His trial must be expeditious and be conducted on a day-to-day basis. The trial should ordinarily be completed within one year except there are exceptional reasons that it cannot be possible.
The Supreme Court order upholds the presumption of innocence till held guilty. Simultaneously it puts the elected representatives to a strict and expeditious scrutiny. I welcome the order. It is a step in the right direction.
Posted on 10 March, 2014, No Comments Comments admin
The last twenty four hours have been extremely eventful in the run up to the 2014 General Elections. The consolidation around the BJP continues. The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha has decided to support the BJP in Darjeeling and in some North Bengal constituencies. This support will add to the victory of BJP. The possibility of picking up some seats in Bengal is now real. Simultaneously, a significant part of the Asom Gana Parishad led by its former President, Chander Mohan Patwari has decided to join the BJP. It was expected that the BJP was a serious contender of several Lok Sabha seats from Assam. Important leaders of the AGP joining the BJP in Assam will further consolidate the BJP as the only anti Congress party in Assam.
Besides individuals who are consolidating the BJP after leaving other parties in several States, the next few days are going to be extremely important in terms of the BJP and the NDA consolidating on the present situation in the three southern State of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. These developments will add to the strength of BJP in eastern and southern parts of India where the BJP traditionally was not a strong political force.
Simultaneously, a parallel important development has taken place both in the Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party. The Congress candidate from Bhind in Madhya Pradesh has decided to refuse the party nomination. He has simultaneously decided to join the BJP. Chandigarh was another important centre where the AAP claimed to have a sizeable support. Its candidate in Chandigarh has decided to return the party nomination since its cadre is in a disarray and she felt there was lack of organizational support for her election. A large number of people converge around a party who they consider is a potential winner. There are less claimants of a party which is considered a possible looser. However, it is unprecedented that party nominations are declined by candidates after they are publicly announced. This only happens when candidates find that the prospects of winning are non-existent.
The media honeymoon of the Aam Aadmi Party seems to be over. Even though media extensively reports the activities of the party it is now willing to put the party to a serious scrutiny as any other political party. The excessive media coverage to the party had made the AAP as the ‘television opponent’ of the BJP even when the ‘field opponent’ continued to be the Congress. A curious video has now been loaded on to the YouTube. The video shows that the President of the AAP is in close conversation with the anchor of a leading news channel subsequent to the recording of his interview. Both are conversing the possible emphasis and the editing of the interview. They are strategizing as to which parts are to be highlighted and the ones which may cost the AAP leader the middle class support are to be played down. We have never been fortunate to be extended such a privilege by any anchor or media organization. Friendly and collusive interviews intended to cultivate a particular image is a strategy of the AAP. This clearly shows the party and its leader pretending to be what they are not. They project the image of themselves which is unreal. Between reality and projection there is a complete mismatch. When Punya meets Paap you don’t expect a conspiracy.
Posted on 09 March, 2014, No Comments Comments admin
After an electoral contest in Delhi in December, 2013 Assembly elections, the AAP and the Congress have a cozy relationship. The Congress Party announced an unconditional support to AAP. Its State leaders were willing to issue statements against the AAP but unwilling to strike. The AAP was willing to register an FIR against Smt. Sheila Dikshit and other Congress leaders. The police organization where the FIR was registered was without jurisdiction. The Congress conventionally had a support of anti-BJP section of the intelligentsia. This section now had pinned its hopes on AAP as a possible contender for challenging Shri Narendra Modi.
During the last few weeks, the AAP has started a campaign at the national level. The entire focus of the campaign is against BJP and Shri Narendra Modi. Its leaders Shri Arvind Kejriwal declared that “Communalism is more dangerous than corruption”. This was a clear indication for his preference for the Congress and animus against the BJP. The entire thrust of his speeches whether at Delhi, UP or Gujarat has been on how to stop Narendra Modi. The AAP Party and its leadership does not speak against the dynasty. It does not speak on the Central Government being weak on national security; it does not give data on how the national economy has suffered under the Congress. There is no criticism of the manner in which the coal blocks were allocated or the 2G spectrum was allotted. There is not even a criticism of Congress having aligned with a convicted Lalu Prasad Yadav, AAP has softened the attack on the Congress and is going hard against the BJP. This is the Congress-AAP strategy.
The Congress meanwhile is running an insipid campaign. Its leadership is lackluster. Its campaign is on the backfoot. The entire focus of the media debate is the political struggle between the BJP and the AAP. Obviously, Congress has a vote bank much bigger than AAP. AAP is only struggling to make its presence felt. It may not even be a spoiler. It tactics target maximum media publicity. Its presence in the media is higher than congress. Amongst a particular section it has started occupying media space much higher than the Congress.
Even though the Congress may feel that the AAP is doing what the Congress is failing to do, it has ended up scoring a self-goal. The BJP remains a comfortable front runner. It occupies the non-Congress space. More and more non-Congress groups are joining the BJP. Whatever media and vote space the AAP gains, it eats into the non-BJP space. There are multiple players vying for the non-BJP space. The Congress, AAP, Left, BSP and the SP are the principal contenders for this space. AAP, by attempting to occupy non-BJP space, hurts the other non-BJP players more. The Congress is encouraging the AAP but it is today stamping on the Congress’s foot. The BJP constituency is intact and expanding. The Congress and AAP have a cozy relationship, but by dividing the non-BJP space, they will develop a self defeating relationship.
Posted on 08 March, 2014, No Comments Comments admin
This is Election time and we are getting into actual campaigning. Political parties are all busy planning their campaigns, striking alliances, announcing candidates and finalizing election strategy. Energy is being spent in mobilizing resources and producing campaign material for print, electronic and social media. A very large number of well meaning people turn to politics during elections. This is a positive trend. They are motivated by the feeling that they must contribute to nation building. Film actors, sports persons, achievers are being persuaded by parties to join them and in some cases even become candidates. This is also a season for many to switch parties. Switching of parties or defection during election time is called re-polarization of political forces.
Elections are also a great occasion for the mavericks. A maverick per se is independent in thought and action. He is not bound by the conventional rules. He is out of the ordinary. He shrills and at times is outlandish. He knows every trick on how to focus attention on himself. He attracts attention and publicity. He has no qualms about switching positions. He is more colourful on electronic media than conventional politicians. Social media particularly the Twitter has a huge space for accommodating the maverick opinions. Many mavericks are committed to ‘rent a cause’ philosophy. They are on the lookout for causes which they can espouse.
The word ‘maverick has its origin from the name of Samuel Augustus Maverick who was a land baron and a legislator in South Carolina in the 19th Century. He started as a land baron, handled his father’s business and thereafter studied law and opened a law office. During the Texas Revolution he was put under house arrest. He served as Mayor of Texas and held several elected offices. He had a small herd of cattle which was allowed to wander and the term ‘maverick’ was born to imply an unbranded calf.
India has its own share of mavericks. Many of the free thinkers join parties temporarily and then find themselves as misfit. Some have even formed political parties. Their style is unconventional. They make arguments in an idiom intended to derive maximum publicity. A maverick has a habit of making allegations without substance. Conventional politicians are reluctant to join issue with them because a maverick is capable of hitting below the belt. He is a wild card.
I have always wondered how to deal with a maverick. Do you answer questions which a maverick puts to you? Do you meet him when he tries to gate crash into your house? Do you allow him to occupy the centre stage by engaging him or do you ignore him and continue with your conventional style of setting the agenda? That I feel is a safer option. Silence can be the best response to a maverick. Silence is dignified. It saves you the embarrassment of engaging with a maverick on his bizarre agenda.
Narendra Modi therefore was well advised to deny an audience to Arvind Kejriwal.
Posted on 07 March, 2014, No Comments Comments admin
The year was 1999 when the Kargil conflict was on. The World Cup Cricket was being played in England. I happened to be there with my family during the summer break. We travelled from stadium to stadium watching cricket matches. The Indian team got eliminated prior to the semi finals.
A key Indian match against Pakistani Cricket team was played at Old Trafford in Manchester. With the Kargil hostilities on, the Indo-Pak cricket match acquired significance. There was tension at the stadium. Most of the audience was dressed either in Indian colours or Pakistani T-Shirts. The national flags of these two countries were being waved in hundreds. A group of youngsters of Indian origin recognized me and got into enthusiastic conversation about the possibility of Indian team’s victory. Most of them told me they had British passports and were British citizens. Some of them were Gujaratis whose families had migrated from Uganda and Kenya. I asked them a question as to who they cheered in a cricket match. In one voice they would say ‘obviously India’. But if England plays any other country we cheer for England, they maintained. I remember Lord Swaraj Paul telling me that he always cheers for India but if England and India are playing he has the privilege of being on the winning side.
I have mentioned the above because sporting nationalism or cricketing nationalism is an integral aspect of a person’s national identity. As a sports lover one can always admire the qualities of a great sportsman irrespective of his nationality. Some of them are a delight to observe. But in a competitive cricket the nationalistic spirit inevitably pulls you to your national team. I have seen fans in the World Cup Soccer travel with their national teams across the world to cheer them.
In the context of India-Pakistan cricket, there is nothing wrong in admiring the sporting qualities of a great cricketer irrespective of national boundaries. However, when an identified group of persons in a structured manner celebrate the Pakistani victory, it is not an innocent appreciation of the sporting qualities of Pakistan. There is a political statement in-built in such an act. The issue is not as to whether such young men can be prosecuted or not and if so under what section of the law. The issue is what is the political message that such a deliberate gesture is attempting to send.
Obviously such a gesture creates a sense of suspicion in the minds of a very large number of people. It creates a psychological barrier where some people arouse an uncalled for suspicion about themselves. Have they realized the extent of damage they do to millions of well meaning members of their own community who may not share their perception. The argument that this reflects a sense of alienation of a certain category of people fails to convince me. On the contrary it alienates them from the national mainstream. All well-meaning Indians and in particular community members should prevail upon such misguiding young men that what they have done is to hurt themselves, hurt their community and hurt the country. It is a lose-lose game.
Posted on 06 March, 2014, No Comments Comments admin
Joseph Goebbels was the Minister for ‘Public Enlightenment and Propaganda’ in Hitler’s Third Reich from 1933 to 1945. The post gave him total control of communication media-radio, press, publishing, cinema and other arts. He is historically remembered for his famous strategy which is evident from his quote—
“If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the moral enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.”
What happened yesterday is no longer intriguing. It is a normal strategy of the votary of alternative politics in India. The AAP’s head Arvind Kejriwal is not arrested or detained. During the operation of Code of Conduct the police and district administration in enforcement of the Model Code of Conduct no longer report to the elected State Government. They follow the instructions of the Election Commission. All of us in various elections are stopped and checked; our personal baggage is also searched to verify whether cash is being transported in them or not. We always accept that as part of the Election Commission’s efforts to conduct free and fair elections. But Kejriwal makes his non-detention into a national crisis.
The routine strategy of the Aam Aadmi Party has been to utilize its cadre network through the SMS, assemble them at particular places and create a scene. They did so outside the Rail Bhawan, outside my house and this time at my Party office. There were similar demonstrations at BJP offices elsewhere in the country. Stones were pelted into the office, the bill-boards were demolished, a prominent member climbed on to the wall virtually trespassing into the property. After provoking and altercation with BJP cadres and police in various parts of the country the Aam Aadmi Party leaders landed up in TV studios. They pretend to be innocent victims. It was a peaceful protest which was attacked from inside, they say. One member compared the routine check under Model Code of Conduct with the historical developments in Chauri-Chaura.
Regrettably, even the likes of Rajmohan Gandhi offered themselves to become instruments of this false propaganda. The violent protest of AAP was peaceful, he asserted. The victims were in fact violent. When its members are booked for violence and law breaking they plead for equality on the premise that the victims should also be booked.
My experience of the last few days has been that the AAP utilized the propaganda technique of manufacturing an issue, real or fictional, and then persisting with it. Unable to defend itself its disastrous 49-day performance in Delhi, it invented the issue of a prominent corporate house as a political issue. Its opponents are all close to the corporate house; everybody else receives dubious funding, they argue. Their own funding is puritanical. What evidence do they have to prove all this? — NIL. The demonstration outside my house was justified on the ground that somebody used my name to bribe an MLA called Madan Lal. Till the demonstration took place I was not aware that Delhi had an MLA called Madan Lal. Yesterday the protests all over the country are now being justified as peaceful actions. The victims are the real culprits, they claim in shrilled tone.
If Joseph Goebbels was re-born he surely would have joined the Aam Aadmi Party.