My Voice: Views of our readers 05 August 2023

Relief to Rahul, pain for BJP

The BJP’s Machiavellian design to strip Rahul Gandhi of his Lok Sabha membership and render him ineligible to contest 2024 general election was undone by the Supreme Court’s stay of his conviction in the Modi surname defamation case. For the BJP, it is (and must have come as) a rude awakening that it cannot have everything its own way. Rahul Gandhi’s rhetorical question, ‘Why is it that all thieves have Modi as a common name?’ was political satire. What he said in an election meeting should not have been misconstrued as a defamatory comment in the first place. If mocking a political opponent is treated as a punishable offence, political speeches will be no better than sermons from the pulpit. From the political standpoint, the apex court’s verdict gives a fillip to the Congress and the Opposition alliance INDIA. The difficulties in Rahul Gandhi’s way seem to strengthen his resolve to fight for what he calls the Idea of India. Unwittingly, the BJP seems to contribute to Rahul Gandhi’s growing popularity. He is widely perceived as a leader who puts principles above power. If the fast changing political scenario is anything to go by, Rahul Gandhi could well turn the tables on Narendra Modi in 2024.

G.David Milton, Maruthancode, Tamil Nadu

Rahul Gandhi set to return

The Supreme Court’s big relief to Rahul Gandhi has paved the way for his re-entry in Parliament. The big questions now are how long the Lok Sabha secretariat takes to restore his membership and whether he will be able to participate in the debate on the no-confidence motion against the government, which is scheduled to begin on Tuesday. On the legal front, the Congress leader has challenged the March order of a Surat trial court in the 2019 criminal defamation case, which had led to his disqualification. The Sessions Court in Surat will hear his appeal against the ruling - which had convicted him and sentenced him to two years in prison - on August 21.

Jayanthi Subramaniam, Mumbai

Concerted action against UCC needed

It’s time for the national level and National NGOs, which claim to work for religious, cultural and minority rights protection in India to call a nationwide multi religious and multi cultural consultative get-together in Delhi, especially with Sikh, ST, SC, Christian, South Indian and Northeast’s religious, political leadership, Hindu backwards etc, and try to build a strong consensus against this utterly political move by the BJP Government. In guise of UCC; the right wing politics will exempt all communities, one by one, from the UCC except Muslims, and yet it would shout to have enacted ‘one country one law’ to appease its extremist voters. Only sending suggestions to the Law Commission of India (LCI) or making social media campaigns among your own people won’t help it at all. I am afraid that the LCI will even open our huge pile of posts to read.

Afazuddin Kazi Qasmi, Mumbai

IIMs under govt control an

adverse move

In 2017, the world applauded, when for the first time, the country’s renowned Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) were given full autonomy through a law. But last week, a new bill was introduced to Parliament, according to which all intergovernmental bodies in the country will once again be under government supervision. There will also be a plethora of members nominated by the government, from the governing body to the search committee that elects the director. That means now the administrative institutions will also work under the control of the government like central universities, IITs and NITs. It is obvious that the director will be chosen by the government at will. Can the government name any famous institution in the world interfered by the government? The world of knowledge is separate and hates interference. Perhaps this is the main reason, our educational institutions are not even able to make a place in the world’s top 100 institutions, while Chinese universities are at the top. The fundamental change in policies in six years is likely to raise questions about the government’s understanding as well.

A Nawas, Kollam, Kerala

Bill passed in LS violates the spirit of democracy

The Lok Sabha has passed a bill that seeks to give the Union government control over Delhi’s bureaucracy. This bill is completely against the spirit of the Indian democracy, because it ignores the decision of the people of Delhi who have elected the Kejriwal government to rule them. If the Delhi government does not have any power, what is the need of holding assembly elections in the national capital? The BJP knows that it cannot win the assembly elections in Delhi against Kejriwal, therefore, it has adopted authoritarian approach to gain control over the national capital.

Muhammad Hassan, Mumbai