Amit Kushari IAS (Retd)
When the Indian constitution was written, it was felt that the Indian parliament should have a Rajya Sabha on the same pattern as the House of Elders in the British parliament. The Lok Sabha was to represent the will of the people whereas renowned people from different walks of life would be nominated by different political parties and they would enter the Rajya Sabha if elected by the state assemblies. They would advise the Lok Sabha in matters of legislation and if a bill passed by Lok Sabha is not passed in the Rajya Sabha, the bill gets defeated. Many important politicians who are unable to win a Lok Sabha election get accommodated in the Rajya Sabha and are not banished from the Parliament in toto. All political parties need the Rajya Sabha for accommodating their respected members who fail in the electoral test. But for the Rajya Sabha, Manmohan Singh could not have become Prime Minister, and Mr. Arun Jaitley could not have become the Finance Minister. Ms. Smriti Irani could not have become the HRD Minister. However, now we are finding a new phenomenon in the Rajya Sabha. It has become a ‘Sabha’ for obstructionist policies of jealous politicians who were defeated and now want to obstruct and delay the policies of the elected representatives of India. Should they have the power to defeat bills which the elected Lok Sabha wants to introduce. They should send back bills to the Lok Sabha if they want to make corrections and amendments so that it could be reconsidered by the Lok Sabha. If the Lok Sabha again passes the bill then the Rajya Sabha should be bound to pass the bill because the will of the Lok Sabha should be supreme—-being the voice of the people. The Central government is very keen to pass the Land Bill but is unable to get it through in the Rajya Sabha. Now it is learnt that another ordinance will be brought to continue with the Bill. The Prime Minister is very keen as was evident from his ‘Mann Ki Baat’ on AakashVani. If the Prime Minister is wrong, he will be punished by the people in 2019, but at the moment shouldn’t his opinion prevail as he is the undisputed elected leader of India? Why should the Rajya Sabha try to obstruct him? They could advise him against the move once or twice but thereafter they should give up. I feel our constitution needs to be amended on this issue.
Of late we are witnessing attacks on churches because Christian missionaries are reportedly indulging in conversion of Hindus and Muslims into Christianity by offering allurements. This is being resented by the society as a whole. Mosques are not being attacked because Muslims do not try to convert by offering allurements–they do not poach on the waters of others. Our Constitution has provided everyone the right to propagate his own religion. I think this right should be significantly curtailed so that nobody can misuse this right to poach on the waters of other communities. In secular India everybody must learn to respect the religions of others. Nobody should be allowed to say in public,” My religion is the best and the only true religion.” If anybody says so he will jeopardise public peace and therefore needs to be sent to jail. The Prime Minister and the government have repeatedly condemned the attacks and they are taking actions against the attackers but something more has to be done to stop these attacks. The constitution has to be amended to make conversion illegal and right to propagate one’s religion should be curtailed. On Jammu and Kashmir, our laws need to be made more frank and clear. We have to admit that there is a serious political problem regarding the 46 out of 87 Assembly constituencies. Something special has to be done with these 46 constituencies. The voters in these constituencies have a different sense of patriotism and nationalism which do not match with the feelings of other Indians. Shouldn’t our laws find out a frank and practicable way in which 75 lakh people living in these constituencies could live with dignity in India without compromising on their basic urges and feelings? What is the point in calling them traitors on some news channels repeatedly? We may push one or two individuals into Pakistan , after taking them to the LOC—but can we line up 75lakh people on the LOC and push them out of India, just because they have different political ideas? What shall we gain by shouting on the media, “Pro Pak! Pro Pak!” I feel these are regrettable comments and these news channels are harming India as well as Indo-Kashmir relations. It is very clear, we cannot grant freedom to these 75 lakh people because it would disturb the security environment of people living in Punjab, Himachal, Jammu and Ladakh. So the only alternative is that the three Lok Sabha members from this area as well as the 46 MLAs should sit down together under the Home Minister of India and the Governor of J&K to find out a solution to this perennial problem. Meanwhile the 41 MLAs from Jammu and Ladakh should be able to form a State Government of their own till an acceptable solution is found for Kashmir.
Feedback to the author at 09748635185 or amitkus@hotmail.com
(The author is former Financial Commissioner, J&K)
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