Ritu Jha–
The Indian Overseas Congress has traveled to India to support Congress in the general elections. The mood seems upbeat among the overseas volunteers and the IOC president is confident that the Indian National Congress, as well as its multi-party alliance – the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (I.N.D.I.A.), will win the general elections with a clear margin.
The Indian National Congress (INC, also known as the Congress Party), headed by Mallikarjun Kharge, is the BJP’s only pan-Indian rival to the grand old party Congress that won only 44 seats in 2014 and 52 seats in 2019, but the Indian Overseas Congress USA, President Mohinder Singh Gilzian confidently told indica, “India National Congress will win 150 seats and with the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA ) an alliance of 41 political parties will reach 300.”
Gilzian who is currently in Delhi told indica over the phone there are 50 overseas Congress volunteers in India and more are coming to support. “We are working in seven states Telangana, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Punjab, Haryana, Kerela, and Delhi. “We are working very hard on the ground,” Gilzian said.
India during the last ten years has been going in the wrong direction and people earlier did not realize but now they see India is sliding back to the 18th century by leveraging religious differences – Hindus versus Sikhs and Muslims versus Christians. “That is unacceptable,” he said, “And he (Modi) is not answerable to anyone and he never talks to the media,” Gilzian told indica.
“This election is about the people of India versus Prime Minister Modi.” He clarified, “Not just the opposition parties’ alliance – INDIA – the contest is between Modi and the entire country. There are great leaders in BJP, but Modi….”
Gilzian says he keeps traveling back and forth between the US and India and he met Rahul Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi, and the Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge. Gilzian is also looking for a Congress ticket from Anandpur Sahib in Punjab. He is a green card holder and if Congress gives him the party ticket to contest this election, that will show their respect for NRIs who want to serve their country, and
like him there are many who love their motherland.
“I still hold the green card because I love my motherland… my country,” Gilzian said. “It will set an example and more leaders like me would like to come and serve.”
Like Gilzian, another IOC leader George Abraham too is in India. A friend of Member of Parliament for Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, Shashi Tharoor, Abraham is now in the southern part of India to help Congress there.
“The political atmosphere here is very charged. People in Kerala are very passionate about the politics here. Candidates are working very hard, and we will find out on June 4 when the elections take place, what the results will be,” Abraham told indica. General elections in India will be held in seven phases between April 19 and June 1, 2024. The results of the elections will be declared on June 4.
“Here in Kerala, the people will cast votes on April 26,” Abraham said. He however has some doubts about the election process spread over three months and about the Electronic Voting Machines being stored till June 4.
“Everybody wonders why it requires two months for the elections to complete. We cannot say we don’t have the manpower to provide security to conduct the elections in a free and fair manner. I think keeping these voting machines under lock and key for two months is not a good thing to do. I think these elections could have been done in two weeks.”
“I come to India for most of the elections. I’m a colleague and a good friend of Shashi Tharoor at the United Nations. When he ran for the election in 2009, he asked me to come and help him out, and I was there. This time also he asked me to come to Thiruvananthapuram because it looks like the fight here is definitely tight this time between Shashi Tharoor and Rajiv Chandrasekhar, the BJP candidate,” he added. Abraham has been in India since April 3 and will be in the state till April 30. Elections in Kerala will be held on April 26.
He feels that the BJP is gaining strength in Kerala owing to the failure of the current CPM government in Kerala. “People are upset about their rule and though they are part of the INDIA alliance, BJP has succeeded in creating a narrative that Modi is going to win,” Abraham added.
“Though the minorities, the poor, and others have grave concerns with the BJP, especially the Christian community in Kerala after the ethnic violence in Manipur where 41% of the population is Christians. They were ethnically cleansed, and 450 churches were destroyed. The other day the Manipur government announced that there shouldn’t be any Good Friday or Easter celebrations, that will not be a public holiday. People see that if that can happen to a state where 41% of the people are Christians, what can happen to Kerala where only 18% of the people are Christians?”
“When it comes to Kerala BJP came here and talked about development only, not religion. But the people here in Kerala are a very smart electorate, they know the real color of BJP. I don’t think Keralites will fall for the glib talk of BJP. They can influence a certain percentage of the people but otherwise, I don’t think BJP has any chance in Kerala in this election,” Abraham said.
“Whether Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, or Andhra Pradesh, the south will not embrace Modi’s philosophy easily, because religion is not a big issue yet. Not just because people here are more focused on development, jobs, and other issues, religion is much more of a personal thing here. In north India, it looks like Modi has succeeded in creating this religious polarization, provoking one community against another and capitalizing on it. But in the South, they really don’t have much of a chance anywhere right now. If anybody thinks that Modi can even do better than last time, I think they are not looking at things very realistically,” Abraham said.
Arup Arun Hiwale a Congress supporter, and volunteer based in California was in India earlier this month to help the party garner support and prepare for the forthcoming general elections. “One of the main reasons for my India visit was to show support to Rahul Gandhi and what he’s doing. I also walked with him and the supporters from Rajasthan to Punjab during Bharat Jodo Yatra,” Hiwale told indica.
“I feel India needs a sound approach to politics not divisive, or aggressively ambitious for the economy. I believe that in the rural areas, India still needs a lot of love, patience with one another, kindness. India Shining campaign did not work last time, and India becoming a world guru is giving some excitement in educated and uneducated people. While the educated people are proud about it, the rural uneducated people are crazy about it. They think that India is becoming something great. To diffuse that kind of hyper excitement, I told people that we need contentment with godliness. We need love for one another. We need to work hard. We need to have a discipline on the roads. And many things are necessary. And those come from your contentment. They don’t come by any political policy or any reservations. They come from how we see life as a whole,” Hiwale said.
“BJP will not have easy access to local communities because people are tired of their false promises. One good thing I saw when we went to villages in Lucknow and met with young people, I found out that people are helping each other. There was a big group of young people who were following the Nyay Yatra. I took part in the yatra Raebareli to Lucknow. I went to India in January and stayed there till March. The economy of India needs benefits reaching the rural parts of India.
What the BJP is proposing is a shining India that India doesn’t understand. There is a large number of people who still need that percolation of resources and benefits. To do that we need an ideal party like Congress,” he added.
“People of Rae Bareilly want to get rid of BJP and bring back Congress. They have experienced the falseness and the hollowness of the promises that were made.”
