MyVoice: Views of our readers 31st March 2024

Onus is on voters now to cleanse corrupt politics

Ref: Talk of democracy – None is a scared crow in Indian politics – BOLD TALK: V Ramu Sarma (March 30, 2024). Congress is second to none, in name calling others, the ruling BJP in particular, ranging from “chai-wala, neech, mouth ka soudagar” etc. This suits the Congress narration of describing democracy in danger, and central agencies being misused against the Opposition. Congress conveniently forgets that during the ‘Emergency,’ the country had witnessed the worst human right violations, during which central agencies were caged birds, bereft of teeth and nails to act independently. Rahul Gandhi swears that when returned to power Congress would react more befittingly against Narendra Modi and BJP for the measures initiated against the party in a variety of ways that are legally sound and fitting moves against the misdemeanours of Congress over the period of time by way of tax evasion and conspiracy against the country. The fault with the Congress is that it has come to believe that it is above the Constitution and rules of law prevailing in the country. One can perceive that derogatory comments against one another are pronounced in the past two general elections – that are unmissable and outright condemnable. This trend must not be allowed to continue to become a serious slugfest in the future.

– K V Raghuram, Wayanad

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This has reference to Bold Talk by Ramu Sarma. The entire talk is concentrated on critical and factual status on how our democracy is being twisted by politicians to suit their advantages. Whether democracy is flourishing or dying remains forever a debatable item. Only elections in the set form and rules are being conducted amidst luring voters by offerings of cash and kind. Further the talk describes in guise how YSRCP is gaining confidence of retaining power with the Godspeed of BJP indirectly as can be witnessed in the first address of PM after it allied with TDP-JSP. Parties and people have observed how and why still Modi is having a soft corner for YSRCP despite its numerable drawbacks. It seems there is no difference for PM whoever wins BJP-TDP-JSP or YSRCP in Andhra Pradesh.

– Dr NSR Murthy,

Secunderabad

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The Mr.clean image is never a truism & perhaps is limited to only a microcosm of the total Indian political class. Courts & the Indian judiciary are beseeched with numerous cases pertaining to corruption, scams & other high profile economic offences. These cases, perhaps, far outweigh & outnumber the other normal cases. While political parties gear up to fight general elections, this issue will dominate and prick their conscience far more than the development agenda which these parties have undertaken for their electorate during these past 5 bygone years. No party can claim to be completely free from scams, economic offences and other corruption-related cases. Going by this yardstick, no party worths the name can happily go canvassing for the people's mandate. The only saving grace perhaps is that "One party is relatively better than the other" and hence can be blessed. Such is the sorry state of Indian politics which is nothing short of "polytricks" and the last refuge of scoundrels which has been amply proved in no small measure by the political class. The Indian electorate especially the educated young have a huge awesome responsibility and burden too to teach these politicians a lesson or two which they "should" if they have patriotism, passion & a burning desire to cleanse Indian politics.

– N R Raghuram, Hyderabad

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Ramu Sarma's explosive narration in his Bold Talk "Talk of democracy: None is a sacred cow in Indian politics" (THI 30-03-2024) is apt and need of the hour in the face of ensuing elections. First of all, definition of democracy is derived from different dialects. But its goal is welfarism of people and development of the State. But this spirit is enormously lost in power politics. BJP's intension and sole target is to run double engine circars throughout the country for which all ways and means are under thorough search by the Modi government. Hailing from Godavari districts, I like to say the main win of any party in AP depends on majority seats in these two large segments. It is a known fact in records that anarchy rule is at its peak in Andhra Pradesh which unfortunately is tolerated by maintaining utmost silence by the Union government. The reason is YSRCP's thumping majority in State Assembly and in Parliament and its support has become an essential element to NDA (BJP) in passing all the bills without any hassle. BJP is, therefore, showing its magnanimity towards YSRCP. Though BJP is in alliance with TDP-JSP out of some compulsions, it has a soft corner towards YSRCP only. It is evidentially observed in Modi's first speech in allied group meeting in AP recently. He did not seem to have given up his aversion on Chandrababu Naidu who severely countered Modi in 2018 Assembly/Lok Sabha election time politically and personally. It is an open fact that there are no permanent friends and foes in politics, but it is not easy to erase indelible scars from hearts.

– N Ramalakshmi, Secunderabad  

FM's inability to contest a cause for concern

Union Minister for Finance Nirmala Sitharaman's statement that she is opting to be out of the poll battle as she has got no enough money to contest, is noteworthy. It shows the sorry state of affairs regarding electoral politics in India. If a person of national stature is hesitating to contest an election, leave alone to win the election, it is a bad commentary on contemporary electoral practices. But in my opinion, it's only half truth. If her party is keen to make her candidate for a constituency, the money matters do not matter at all. The BJP is brimming with funds and can take care of her total expenses.

Here my personal experience comes to my mind. I contested elections thrice; once won, twice lost. Either high command or cadre never enquired about my expending calibre, as they knew my low financial status. In 1999, I got elected and in 2004 lost parliamentary election with a narrow margin of 5,000 votes. In 2009, when I got replaced with another candidate, all rank and file at grassroots level thought it was due to lack of finances and expressed their disgust to the high command and came forward to bear all expenses. So in my opinion money is not all that decides, many equations come into play to field a candidate.

But it doesn't mean money has no role at all. It has a pivotal role, indeed. All political parties are chained in a vicious cycle that forces them to chase big money. If one party spends a lot, how can the other one compete with it with meagre resources? How many seats can one party allot and take risk without seeing financial calibre of the candidates? So first the political parties and individuals should be made capable of breaking the vicious cycle. The elections should be freed from the clutches of money power. A commoner should be able to contest the election and should have prospects of winning. If a person of national stature is hesitant to fight the election, let alone win it, that too only due to lack of money, it is not a good omen for the health of democracy. High time for electoral reforms.

– Dr DVG Sankara Rao, ex-MP, Vizianagaram

Need for judiciary to be strong & independent

The over 600 lawyers’ letter to the Chief Justice of India, D Y Chandrachud, cautioning him against "a bid being made currently to pressurize the judiciary" has once again brought attention to the issue of independence of the judiciary. From the names and identities of the eminences who penned the letter, we easily discern their political leanings and the political intentions of writing the letter to the CJI. There is no gainsaying the fact that the Supreme Court’s recent ruling to disclose all the details of electoral bonds was not to the liking of the ruling BJP for obvious reasons. It might have even prompted the pro-BJP lawyers to write the epistle. The authors of the epistle have not made whom they meant by a ‘vested interest group’ referred to by them explicit. The real test must whether a court rules in accordance with the Constitution and not whether to the convenience or inconvenience of any one individual, group or party. A ‘committed judiciary’ (no matter to which party or parties it is subservient) is the last thing our democracy needs as it will hasten India’s retreat from democracy and mark a drift away from being a country governed by the rule of law. Recently a High Court judge resigned to join the BJP and contest the Lok Sabha election. Worse, he even made a ‘comparative study’ between Mahatma Gandhi and his assassin Nathuram Godse and expressed his sympathies for Godse, for, in his view, the circumstances then prevailing and what Mahatma Gandhi stood for, led him to assassinate the Father of our Nation and wanted us to reflect on why Godse did what he did. God save the country with such men as judges! As Justice D Y Chandrachud said every individual judge should be able to function without the pulls of political pressures, social compulsions and inherent bias. As Justice K M Joseph put it, the independence of the Supreme Court is integral to the maintenance of a democratic way of wife. We couldn’t agree with the distinguished Justices more.

– G David Milton, Maruthancode, TN

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It is dramatic for the 600 lawyers to petition to save the judiciary from political pressure. Interestingly, their letter is ambivalent whether the attack on judiciary is by the ruling or the opposition parties. Harish Salve is one among the petitioners and who had defended SBI very hard to delay its obligation to submit details on electoral bonds. Are they hinting that the culprits are opposition? Well, if that is true, why is the opposition seen running pillar to post, to get bail or to unfreeze their bank accounts?

– P R Ravinder, Hyderabad

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The subject of debate in the letter written by the lawyers to the CJI is a matter of grave concern to the country in general and the judiciary in particular. Since time immemorial, the common belief in our country about litigation is that it is a lifetime affair if not until death. The judges and lawyers, though not all but a good majority of them, are also equally responsible for this. Over a period, particularly after Independence, the judiciary along with the executive (administration) fell into the hands of the politicians who wielded undue power in this regard. And now the situation has come to this far that the judiciary is divided between the ruling and the opposition parties.

The opposition parties controlling a section of the judiciary spread canards about the ruling party 'managing' the judiciary, etc. A classic example of how things are managed in litigation is that of Nara Chandrababu Naidu, the TDP supremo. Recently, he was arrested in the Skill Development Scam and the entire world witnessed the manner in which his lawyers tried to get him out of jail on bail, citing technical grounds but not the merits of the case. Ultimately, Naidu got interim bail on medical grounds and subsequently it was regularised. And now he is roaming all over AP nonchalantly without medical aid. When lawyers themselves use all methods to help their clients, it is professional responsibility. But when other lawyers also resort to such tactics, it is manipulation.

If the judge \depends' on lawyers and/or the government of the day in dealing with cases of corruption involving the politicians who else could come to the rescue of the people of this country whose money is looted day in and day out? The vertically divided courts (read Judges and lawyers) cannot deliver timely justice to the people and therefore the country continues to suffer. However, CJI should take up the issue as the same has been raised now and try to resolve the matter by working out a formula, time frame and ethics/values in dealing with such cases where politicians are involved and resolve the issues without fear or favour.

– Govardhana Myneedu, Vijayawada

When will India aim to end malnutrition?

India ranks 134 out of 193 countries in UNDP's 2022 Index. The country ranks 108 out of 166 countries in gender inequality index, which means India has shown progress in reducing gender inequality. There is now more awareness related to women's health and the birth rate has also improved over the years, which means women now have good access to prenatal and post-natal care. Countries like Switzerland, Norway and Iceland are among the top 3 nations with high HDI, indicating these three countries offer very good quality life to its citizens. With the HDI value of 0.644, India is still among the Medium Human Development Countries. China and Sri Lanka are ranked 75 and 78 among the 193 nations and are in high category. The factors which work against India are high population numbers, illiteracy, poverty, malnutrition, high food prices and lack of access to affordable education and health care system. Malnutrition is high among children and food prices continue to show an upward trend.

LPG prices and fuel prices still need to be brought down. Though the number of people who live in extreme poverty in India has dropped, still India has to give top priority to make food more affordable, if it has to bring down its hunger index. It would do well if India prioritised eliminating malnutrition and control price rise if it has to improve its HDI Index.

– Parimala G Tadas, Hyderabad

What explains IPL’s roaring success?

The success of the IPL has spawned many imitators not just in cricket but other sports, too. But none have been able to match the glamour and grandeur of the IPL, the Valuations of which are the envy of the world and, perhaps, it is only in the soccer world the valuations are greater; but, that may be because more nations in the world play football than cricket. But the way the game is growing and the price of tickets for the World Cup in America are being sold at insane rates, possibly within the next decade IPL could well become the premier tournament in the world across all sports. The present edition has begun on a rousing note with huge rise in viewership. And these are early days yet. Once in the final stage there is going to a further spectator interest in the game. The increasing use of technology in the IPL is a good sign and all these inventions are likely to be incorporated in other formats of the game. Wrong decisions may soon become a thing of the past if AI starts being used.

– Anthony Henriques, Mumbai

Misuse of institutions imperils democracy

The happenings around in the country make one to believe that India is deviating from its set path of democracy. Most of the government agencies look to have been subjugated to hunt down those dissidents and influential opposition leaders, ministers and Chief Ministers, as it looks from their functioning. The frantic attempt of the BJP party to retain power knows no bounds nor carries any sentiments. The numbed opposition gives more courage and confidence to the ruling dispensation to go all out without caring the principles of democracy or rule of law. The election time activated ED is now busy arresting influential leaders, ministers and Chief Ministers on allegations of financial mishandlings and imprisoning them even without convincing charges. The track record of the agency shows that hardly 5% of the cases have been concluded convicting the accused. The rest seems to have been filed and the accused concerned are lodged in prison just to harass them and coerce them to join the ruling party.

It has become a joke that a criminal or corrupt or anti-social elements need not bother and can enjoy power, purse and posts by simply joining the ruling party as many such persons against whom the ED or CBI had a spate of raiding sessions are seen enjoying power and posts by simply joining the ruling party. This declares the end of the Rule of Law. The Chief Minister of Assam, the Deputy CM of Maharashtra and many more in power had been in the net of the agency but by simply extending support to the ruling party they are honored like distinguished citizens. Having tried and failed in its attempt to dislodge the AAP from ruling in Delhi now the CM himself is imprisoned with frivolous charges that do not warrant imprisonment. In spite of such attempts the ground level support to AAP is not disturbed.

The recent addition of Janardhan, former minister of Karnataka against whom a number of cases are pending for having violated the law and for having tried to bribe a judicial officer, displays the lack of confidence of the ruling party in securing power again. However, the activities of BJP display its scant respect for democracy, corruption free administration and rule of law. The height of it is that global organizations like the UNO and countries like the U.S and Germany remind the ruling dispensation about the need for sticking to democratic principles. Let democracy be given its due place.

– A G Rajmohan, Anantapur

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It refers to "CBI clean chit over Air India Indian Airlines merger." If someone is smelling the rat after this closure from CBI then he should not doubt it, because it is baffling as to how the politician in question Praful Patel has been cleared of serious allegations just after 8 months of switching over to NDA alliance. Against this backdrop, one may go by Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal's allegations of approver P Sarath Reddy's links with BJP as he has donated money to BJP after he was arrested and now his father got a ticket from TDP, a BJP ally, to fight the forthcoming general elections. So all these developments do raise more than a few eyebrows and must be probed with utmost fairness and transparency as common men ought to know the truth, otherwise the belief that CBI is a caged parrot will be further strengthened.

– Bal Govind, Noida