Justice Markandey Katju-
Justice Markandey Katju is a former Judge, Supreme Court of India, and former Chairman, Press Council of India. The views expressed are his own.
In her article ‘ We need an Opposition ‘ published in Indian Express, Tavleen Singh writes, ” The whole sad truth is that the Congress Party is more relevant today than it has been for a long while .”
I cannot imagine a more facetious and ludicrous statement than this.
The Congress Party stands for no ideological principle, other than its professed secularism, which, too, it has adopted not because it genuinely cares for the welfare of minorities in India, but with an eye on the important Muslim vote bank. The moment it thinks that adopting ‘Hindutva’ is necessary to win elections, it changes its colors, as it happened during the Gujarat, Kerala, and other Assembly elections when Rahul Gandhi started going to every Hindu temple he could visit, was declared a ‘janeudhari Shivbhakt’ by his cohorts, and made a visit to Mansarovar lake. Not to be outdone, Kamal Nath, Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, declared he would build 1000 ‘gau shalas’ ( cow shelters ) in the state.
Indira Gandhi was a power-crazy person who imposed a fake ‘Emergency’ in 1975 to retain power, and Rajiv Gandhi was responsible for the massacre of Sikhs in 1984, annulling the progressive Shahbano judgment of the Supreme Court granting maintenance to divorced women ( to retain the Muslim vote bank ), and foolishly sending the Indian army to Srilanka to fight the LTTE.
As for Sonia Gandhi, she looted the country and sent tons of money abroad to secret havens during the UPA rule, in which scam followed scam regularly, not of crores of rupees but lacs of crores.
So should the country again come under the Dynasty, in which only two and a half people ( Sonia, Rahul, and 50% Priyanka ) matter? Priyanka’s husband Robert Vadra, amassed a fortune after marrying Priyanka.
A meeting was held recently of several Opposition parties ( except Congress, which though invited did not participate, and some others ) at the residence of Sharad Pawar to discuss certain issues, but nothing came of it.
In fact, these parties have nothing in common except hostility to the BJP. The meeting had been called at the instance of Yashwant Sinha, who was initially a member of the Janta Party, then joined the BJP ( in which he became the Union Finance Minister ), and has now joined Mamata Banerjee’s TMC. This itself talks volumes of his credibility.
When a party goes to the polls it has to put up a positive agenda before the public. The BJP has Hindutva, whatever one may think of it. But what does the Opposition have except the desire for power and pelf? So what can they offer to the people, who are suffering terribly from widespread poverty, record and rising unemployment, appalling level of child malnourishment and women’s anemia, almost total lack of proper healthcare and good education for the masses, skyrocketing prices of foodstuffs and fuel, farmers distress, rampant corruption, etc.
The Opposition in India is like a multi-headed hydra or Ravan, a collection of ‘saanp, bichchu, gojars’ ( snakes, scorpions, and centipedes ). Assuming that their alliance comes to power in the next parliamentary elections, there will first be a mad scramble for lucrative portfolios, e.g. finance, industry, commerce and home. Even thereafter the internecine fights will continue, as happened during the rule of the Janta Party which came to power after the Emergency in 1977.
Tavleen Singh’s article only reflects the bankruptcy of ideas in our media persons, who have been flaunting their inanity for a long, like peacocks, though they have nothing in their heads.
