08-24-2006, 01:31 AM
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>UPA holds country to ransom </b>
Pioneer.com
Congress fails to realise that so far as appeasement is concerned, it's better to draw a line than to sign on the dotted line, says Anuradha Dutt
An oft-quoted adage states that the people deserve the Government they get. Holding this to be true, do Indians really deserve the present rag-tag coalition at the centre, which is bent on fragmenting the nation on the basis of caste and religion? <b>The answer would be in the negative since they never voted the UPA to power.</b>
The Congress, the coalition's biggest component with a tally of 145 Lok Sabha seats, surpassed the BJP's haul by a mere eight seats. Both fell short of a simple majority in the Lower House to be eligible to rule on its own. The alliance between the Congress and smaller parties was an outcome of political horse-trading rather than popular mandate. The principle of quid pro quo determined the formula for sharing power, with minor regional players such as TRS also eager to grab the loaves of office. Socialists, of varied nomenclatures, were easily netted.
The general election, held over two years ago, gave a splintered verdict. The NDA could as easily have staked its claim to govern had the Left parties, for reasons of political expediency, tendered outside support, as it has with the Manmohan Singh's Government. The Left cooperating with the Hindu right is not an impossible prospect. They have done so in the past, from 1977-1979, when they propped up the Janata Government, which encompassed Jana Sangh, the BJP's earlier avatar. Indira Gandhi was their common enemy. After the coalition was dislodged by some of its own worthies, BJP rose from the debris as a born-again Hindutva party. Again, VP Singh's short-lived Government survived with the assistance of the BJP and the Left. The latter tendered outside support, as is usual with it.
Compromise on ideology is routine for the Left. In the present case, supposedly hard-line Communists and Congress's free market proponents are kissing cousins. There is little to distinguish them except for the occasional squeak of dissent from holders of the red flag. It is just play-acting for the benefit of their cadres and supporters, Left confused by the equivocation of their leaders. Such chicanery becomes a veritable national threat when the ruling alliance initiates policies to create fissures among Hindus as well as fuel bitter differences between Muslims and Hindus. <b>Human Resource Development Minister Arjun Singh, a Congressman of the old school that engendered caste and communal politics, is reported to be the mastermind in both instances. The move to reserve 27 per cent seats in central educational institutions for OBCs, including the creamy layer, is ascribed to him. The backlash among the other castes - Dalits as much as the upper tiers - can only accentuate parochial feelings and further splinter vote banks. This is probably what the UPA intends.</b>
Equally incendiary is the HRD minister's directive to educational institutions to make the rendition of Vande Mataram, the national song, voluntary on September 7, during the centenary celebrations of the song. The order was apparently prompted by protests against the song, made by <b>Muslim clerics such as the Jama Masjid's Shahi Imam, Syed Ahmed Bukhari, who claimed that it was un-Islamic to worship the motherland. These very persons and their political patrons have obstructed an amicable resolution of the Ram Janmabhoomi issue.</b> Bukhari and his ilk are known to thrive on stoking communal tensions. Mr Singh conceded and his capitulation triggered a sharp reaction from the BJP. It appeared to an act of treason to so denigrate the national song.<b> They have demanded Mr Singh's ouster, which his critics feel is overdue</b>.
Such kowtowing is not justifiable. The opinion of a few people, who do not like the idea of deifying Indian nationhood, cannot be made the benchmark for national mores. <b>The Congress made the same mistake when it flouted the constitutional directive to implement a Uniform Civil Code, allowing Muslims to follow their personal laws.</b>
This strengthened the bigoted clergy's stranglehold over its flock, compounding the error through the constitutional amendment bill in 1986, in order to revoke the Supreme Court judgement, granting the 70-year-old Shah Bano maintenance from her former husband. The present shenanigans indicate that the party continues to hold India to ransom in exchange for minority votes.
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Pioneer.com
Congress fails to realise that so far as appeasement is concerned, it's better to draw a line than to sign on the dotted line, says Anuradha Dutt
An oft-quoted adage states that the people deserve the Government they get. Holding this to be true, do Indians really deserve the present rag-tag coalition at the centre, which is bent on fragmenting the nation on the basis of caste and religion? <b>The answer would be in the negative since they never voted the UPA to power.</b>
The Congress, the coalition's biggest component with a tally of 145 Lok Sabha seats, surpassed the BJP's haul by a mere eight seats. Both fell short of a simple majority in the Lower House to be eligible to rule on its own. The alliance between the Congress and smaller parties was an outcome of political horse-trading rather than popular mandate. The principle of quid pro quo determined the formula for sharing power, with minor regional players such as TRS also eager to grab the loaves of office. Socialists, of varied nomenclatures, were easily netted.
The general election, held over two years ago, gave a splintered verdict. The NDA could as easily have staked its claim to govern had the Left parties, for reasons of political expediency, tendered outside support, as it has with the Manmohan Singh's Government. The Left cooperating with the Hindu right is not an impossible prospect. They have done so in the past, from 1977-1979, when they propped up the Janata Government, which encompassed Jana Sangh, the BJP's earlier avatar. Indira Gandhi was their common enemy. After the coalition was dislodged by some of its own worthies, BJP rose from the debris as a born-again Hindutva party. Again, VP Singh's short-lived Government survived with the assistance of the BJP and the Left. The latter tendered outside support, as is usual with it.
Compromise on ideology is routine for the Left. In the present case, supposedly hard-line Communists and Congress's free market proponents are kissing cousins. There is little to distinguish them except for the occasional squeak of dissent from holders of the red flag. It is just play-acting for the benefit of their cadres and supporters, Left confused by the equivocation of their leaders. Such chicanery becomes a veritable national threat when the ruling alliance initiates policies to create fissures among Hindus as well as fuel bitter differences between Muslims and Hindus. <b>Human Resource Development Minister Arjun Singh, a Congressman of the old school that engendered caste and communal politics, is reported to be the mastermind in both instances. The move to reserve 27 per cent seats in central educational institutions for OBCs, including the creamy layer, is ascribed to him. The backlash among the other castes - Dalits as much as the upper tiers - can only accentuate parochial feelings and further splinter vote banks. This is probably what the UPA intends.</b>
Equally incendiary is the HRD minister's directive to educational institutions to make the rendition of Vande Mataram, the national song, voluntary on September 7, during the centenary celebrations of the song. The order was apparently prompted by protests against the song, made by <b>Muslim clerics such as the Jama Masjid's Shahi Imam, Syed Ahmed Bukhari, who claimed that it was un-Islamic to worship the motherland. These very persons and their political patrons have obstructed an amicable resolution of the Ram Janmabhoomi issue.</b> Bukhari and his ilk are known to thrive on stoking communal tensions. Mr Singh conceded and his capitulation triggered a sharp reaction from the BJP. It appeared to an act of treason to so denigrate the national song.<b> They have demanded Mr Singh's ouster, which his critics feel is overdue</b>.
Such kowtowing is not justifiable. The opinion of a few people, who do not like the idea of deifying Indian nationhood, cannot be made the benchmark for national mores. <b>The Congress made the same mistake when it flouted the constitutional directive to implement a Uniform Civil Code, allowing Muslims to follow their personal laws.</b>
This strengthened the bigoted clergy's stranglehold over its flock, compounding the error through the constitutional amendment bill in 1986, in order to revoke the Supreme Court judgement, granting the 70-year-old Shah Bano maintenance from her former husband. The present shenanigans indicate that the party continues to hold India to ransom in exchange for minority votes.
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->