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Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra: 9 Points That Rahul Gandhi Should Talk About

The issues Rahul Gandhi needs to articulate at various meetings during his Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra and in Congress Manifesto are listed here. Read More

Thursday February 22, 2024 11:50 AM , Mukhtar Ahmad

There is hardly any doubt left in the minds of right-thinking people that we now live in a new political order. We have a new constitution where the will of the majority community is the law and a line has been drawn that no organ of the government can cross, no matter what the text of the original Constitution said.

The original concept of the “union of states” is replaced with a unitary government that delegates some administrative functions to the provinces. The blatant misuse of Enforcement Directorate (ED), CBI and Income Tax (IT) Department by the government to harass and create fear among the opposition is widely and openly used without any fear of Court or Election Commission.

Those of us who want to return to a true democratic system where opposition partiesrely upon a wide range of constitutional protections, such as the freedoms of association, assembly, rights of minorities and expression, backed by an independent judiciary and an impartial civil service then we have to look for new and bold solutions.

Rahul Gandhi through his Nyay Yatra is trying to highlight some of these issues.However, any mention of the Rights of Minorities, especially Muslims, is completely missing. In order for Rahul to dent not only the BJP poll strategy but also to project a narrative, he has to clearly highlight the core ideological difference, the centrality of commitment to Secularism and belief that India is union of states. While the BJP believes India is a Nation with one ideology, Rahul must stress that India is a pluralistic society where the minorities also have rights to observe their religion and culture.

Unfortunately, the Congress, the main opposition party, has been hesitant to take clear stand in support of the minorities, fearing the backlash of the majority. It has been found lacking in quick response to attack on the Minorities, and constitution both.
The issues Rahul Gandhi needs to articulate at various meetings during his Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra and in Congress Manifesto are listed here.

1.

The issue of MSP of farmers and its advantages also need to be explained to farmers of other states beyond Haryana and Punjab.

2.

The Supreme Court of India ruling on the Electoral Bond and Chandigarh Mayor Election must be exposed as a daylight theft of people’s choice and opaque system of governance.

3.

The most blatant use of law enforcing agencies to curb any form of opposition to the government policies in universities has not been fully exploited by Rahul Gandhi. The curbing of autonomy in Higher Education Institutions through centralization and appointments of head of these institutions from a particular ideology should have been a poll strategy, and leaders like Rahul Gandhi and Kanhaiya Kumar should have more dialogue with students and faculty of universities.

The appointments of Vice-Chancellors to teachers are being made from RSS background. No leader except Rahul Gandhi has the courage to take RSS head on. He must take a bold initiative and tell students about the dangers of such education system.

4.

The selfie zones created at Railway Stations and universities are clearly misuse of these institutions as government propaganda and the misuse of government machinery by the ruling party.

Moreover, The Bharat Sankalp Yatra, will see thousands of government officers deployed to towns and villages across the country over the next two months, tasked with speaking about the BJP’s successes over the past nine years.

5.

Regarding the issues of Minorities the Congress Party is so much scared of backlash from Hindu voters that it is afraid of talking about even an issue like bulldozer culture, the hijab and love jihad. These issues can be highlighted as a general problem where rule of law is not followed.

6.

Then is the case of hate speeches. Not a single person has been arrested in the Congress ruled states over hate speech.

7.

The issues of rapes and those of wrestlers where the government has been with the wrong doers instead of supporting the victims. Same thing happened in BHU. In all these cases the perpetrators are from the ruling party.

8.

One major issue is the coordination among the opposition parties. Nowhere unity is shown by the opposition parties over any issue. In fact, in elections and even when elections are not being held, the opposition parties criticise each other more than criticising the ruling party. At least Rahul should control his party leaders to avoid such confrontation. There has to be give and take with open heart among various leaders.

There has been no major agitation where all the opposition parties or at least few opposition parties have combined to raise the issues of national importance. Pegasus, Rafael, CAA and NRC, subjugation of authority of opposition ruled states particularly the role of governors are issues that affect all the opposition parties but no concerted and united effort is made to counter them.

Rahul Gandhi can take a bold step like his Grandmother Indira Gandhi when she discarded the old Congressmen opposing the reform and came up winning. Here Rahul Gandhi can get rid of all those people in his party who are not committed supporters of secularism and reform.

9.

The Role of Minorities, especially the Muslims in any election, is very important. However, because they do not have a leader acceptable to all it is difficult to know how they will vote. They are disillusioned with all the parties because none of them takes up their issues seriously.

It is important that the issue of dehumanization of Muslims, and to some extent the Christian community, and their freedom of following their religion must be talked now.

[The writer, Mukhtar Ahmad, is former professor of Electrical Engineering Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) Aligarh]

 

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