Shiban Khaibri
“Truth is not only violated byfalsehood ; it may be equally
outraged by silence ; O, what a goodly outside falsehood hath…..”
If you have more of a thing, the less you should have more of it, otherwise the entire possession whatsoever ,will become increasingly redundant and superfluous . And , falsehood coupled with ranting and raving about ”the constitution being in danger”, or ” constitution likely to be changed” cannot prove to be an investment in Indian politics to pay dividends of any worthwhile nature, at least , now, not in the near future. Who are, like this, attempted to be convinced rather scared with intent to only grab votes ? The other part of the theatrics is waving and displaying red cover small book ostensibly to feign extreme love for and devotion to the constitution of the country which according to the narrative peddled, is found ”pitiably but precariously ” wanting in its scrupulous implementation by the ruling dispensation. The arrows in the quiver of fiction , on the other hand, is ”reservation to be withdrawn” and hence the commitment to defend it and to go to the extent of doing away with the mandatory cap or limit as prescribed by the Supreme Court by first conducting caste based census and thereafter implementing the coined new phrase of ” Jiskey jitniaabadi , usskiutneehissedari” . This is a slogan which if fructifying even remotely, was bound to dismantle the equilibrium and the equations in the society to bring in only chaos and confusion, if not unimaginable bickering and antagonism. In the absence of a duly framed, debated, assessed and planned economic policy coupled with necessary social welfare measures , such kite flying can only be attributed to and as a result of the pouring in dismal election results and getting rejected by people by not voting for candidates of such political parties, aptitudes and collective decisions emanating from the vote bank due to certain reasons notwithstanding.
No doubt, such fictional narrative and spreading fears about the constitution and the issue of reservation brought in some rewards in 2024 general elections to the propounders of such manufactured abstract theories but that soon proved and is proving totally unacceptable and unbelievable. Looking to the extreme faith in and regard for the country’s constitution to act upon its directions by Prime Minister Narendra Modi who while entering the Parliament for the first time in 2014 bowed at the steps of the highest seat of our democracy and also bowed in front of the constitution as an article of faith and commitment , not a single act or step or any policy pursued or undertaken by Modi Government can be termed as unconstitutional or against the spirits of the constitution. In case there was any, as observed by the wisdom of such leaders and their parties, in that case, the supreme court of the country could be approached for proper directions and orders so that any act deemed to be unconstitutional could be reversed , rescinded and thus things set right . We saw in the case of the abrogation of Article 370 which was brought about by the Parliament under the well devised constitutional process but the aggrieved parties approached the highest court for seeking redressal.
It cannot be said that the present Government is not to be criticised on issues and policies as no Government can be deemed to be perfect in all areas of governance and policies making. Modi Government verily , therefore, cannot be certified to be all perfect and flawless and the opposition in and outside the parliament and the general public through media and other avenues provided for under constitutional provisions, can forcefully and peacefully but on cogent and genuine grounds take a stand , challenge , register disagreement, protest and dissent but never do it as a political tool to settle scores and create hurdles in the normal functioning and thus leading to impeding of development .How is the constitution supposed to be respected by bringing in newer and never – heard of narratives to appease or influence particular community or groups by suspecting that this Government was bent upon running this Government on the basis of Manusmirti , the RSS and the ideology of great freedom fighter Veer Savarkar. One feels aghast in evaluating the status of wisdom in building such a narrative, and the basis and the logic behind it? Why, after all, are some Congress leaders , especially Rahul Gandhi day in and day out , as a policy matter, keep deriding the nationalist, patriotic and philanthropist organisation – the RSS and why bringing in the name of Shree Savarkar in a negative and uncalled for manner repeatedly . What is being sought to be proved ? We have never seen or heard Rahul Gandhi or his followers in the Party mentioning the names of M.A. Jinnah, Muslim League, various terror organisations, particularly those who have been tormenting this country for the last more than forty years but only the RSS, Savarkar and the like. Why is Rahul Gandhi questioning the rationale of saying, ”Bharat Mata key Jai”, ”after all, what is this Bharat Mata, ” is what he wants to know. While Smt. Indira Gandhi would forcefully preach , ”not to do anything which brings bad name to Bharat Mata” , Rahul Ji, on the other hand, is appearing to be so ignorant about both the slogan as well as the object of the slogan.Wearing masks of a leading business house chief and the PM and doing parody of ”BhaiBhai” and connecting the two in a manner with intent to creating suspicion in the minds of the people appears to be all constitutional but whatever the present dispensation is doing, is all against the constitution, is such a narrative that smacks of any political maturity or any purpose and now bringing in Manusmriti , again tagging it with Hindus and thus running the risk of generating caste prejudice is not only unfortunate but a great disservice to this nation.
May it be known that Manusmiriti is not and cannot be generally found with any Hindu like one keeps religious scriptures related to Sanatan Dharam , besides it is not known what that book is aiming at and what is the basis of fears of Congress leadership in peddling such a chronology except baking political loaves. If you keep on doubting and spreading confusion about the democratic institutions , constitutional bodies and agencies , manner of conducting elections , casting aspersions on neutrality of the election process, doubting the authenticity of EVMs, even judiciary and paint the media as ”suppressed” , you are not doing any service to the stature of our constitution and people are now fairly understanding it . Showering ”shraap” on those who voted for the BJP and those who intended to do it were condemned to invoke wrath of the Almighty coupled with a cocktail of fake narratives and fictional fears got a zilch in Haryana for such leaders who are cooling their heels under the breeze of ”defective or manipulated EVMs”. Almost all means and ways were employed and used including ”’favourably considering ” a charter of 17 demands and arranging diktats to vote in one direction in Maharashtra, were all ”perfectly constitutional ” and still contrary to their expectations failing miserably as people rejecting such a manner of fighting elections , again, landed at the EVMs. Jharkhand where BJP led NDA failed miserably, had strangely all the EVMs working in perfect order, such a manipulated stand has taken the wind out of the sails of the Congress party that fought as a coalition of its regional ”big” brother – the JMM. The Supreme Court on November 26, while dismissing a plea seeking to revert to paper ballot voting in elections observed that allegations of tampering with the EVMs raked up only when people lost elections. The bench observed that ”When you win the elections, EVMs are not tampered with, when you lose, EVMs are tampered with “. To the petitioner’s plea that foreign countries had adopted ballot papers for voting, the bench asked, ” Why you do not want to be different from the rest of the world.” Despite SC’s directives, the issue of EVMs is routinely raised thus doubting the constitutional bodies, yet displaying the book and ”swearing” to be followers and obedients of the constitution.
The Prime Minister on 14th instantin Parliament spilled the requisite beans about who, how and when, did what, with the constitution. The framers of the constitution fairly had enough compassion about the fallout of the partition as a result of stubborn and aggressive stance of Jinnah and Muslim League and even knowing the highest tolerance and accommodative spirit of the majority community of this country , the Hindus – after a lot of debates, discussions and sharing of views , did not mention the words “Secular ” and “socialist” and who , under what circumstances had these two words of great import inserted in the preamble in December 1976 vide an amendment , 42nd to the constitution, even though by nature and great traditions , the Bharti society has always, for thousands of years, been practising tolerance, accommodation, respect for others’ faith and belief and more importantly the right to and importance of co-existence. However, the fact remains that to please vote bank, one cannot mock, deride , insult and deprive Hindus of this country and expect tsunami of votes too from them. The problem lies in this stark fact.
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