Comical Behaviour of Arvind Kejriwal

  'Absurdity' has no limits as far as Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal is concerned. Just to avoid his appearance before the Enforcement Directorate, he is saying that there was no fault of his and yet why the ED has been sending notice after notice to him. Even a layperson cannot avoid appearing before the court or any authority on the grounds of the notice being sent wrong. Therefore, he cannot judge his case. Everybody knows that if any notice has been received by him/her from the court or any authority, it is for him/her to prove that he/she was not at fault. Nobody can prejudge himself/ herself. The summoned person has to prove innocence, but he/she cannot refuse to appear in the court or before the authority. But Kejriwal is an altogether different person, and he has already claimed himself to be ‘not guilty’ even without appearing before the ED.

  When Anna Hazare’s movement was at its peak at Jantar Mantar of New Delhi, I also used to go there as it was very near to my office in Connaught Place. Arvind Kejriwal used to make tall claims from the podium, most of them were laughable, to make Bharat a corruption-free country in a few months, if he was given the chance. People fed up with explosive corruption, provided him the opportunity to be at the helm of affairs. Strangely, he took the support of the same Congress Party, against which he had launched his agitation, to form his government for the first term because his party -AAP- had obtained a few seats less than what was needed to form the government. Such immoral, unethical compromises in politics are very common but Kejriwal had promised for a new discourse in politics and the people lapped him for it.

  His understanding of the Constitution is hilarious, to say the least. When Sushil Kumar Shinde was the Home Minister of India, he threatened to get him arrested as he happened to be the elected Chief Minister of the Union Territory of Delhi. Sushil Kumar Shinde had then rightly laughed at him in derision over his insanity.

  Kejriwal had many times openly accused Lalu Prasad Yadav of being a corrupt man. This was the reason that he even avoided talking to him on the stage during the swearing-in ceremony of Nitish Kumar at the time of his first alliance government with Lalu Prasad Yadav. But he has no such qualms nowadays as he has been regularly sharing a dais with him and is now an active partner in allying with disparate groups of people and parties across India. This shows Arvind Kejriwal is no different from others. He has shown his true colours. 

 

Karpoori Thakur Fired with Casteism than Idealism. His Personal Honesty was Above the Board

 The late Karpoori Thakur, who has been posthumously conferred Bharat Ratna, was a quintessential socialist. But this Award has come to him more because of political considerations and not for his contributions to society or the country. He was indisputably honest to the core but had no idea how to take the country to the path of progress. The decline of industries and the education system of Bihar, which started during the sixties gained momentum during his time. He was the promoter of the extreme and nefarious form of casteism. Instead of working for the abolition of landlordism and acceleration of industrialisation, he paid more attention to driving a wedge between the castes.

 Dr Ram Manohar Lohia was, no doubt, an exceptional thinker with very high grades. He had a huge understanding of Indian culture, values and traditions but he was also the father of casteism in northern India. Strangely, it was all done in the name of 'Jaati todo' or annihilation of caste. The dominant Middle backward castes like Yadavas, Kurmis etc. found expression through him but Mahadalits continued to remain exploited and were thus deprived of the benefits even after independence.

 Persons like Mulayam Singh Yadav, Lalu Prasad Yadav, Nitish Kumar, Sharad Yadav and George Fernandes have been the disciples of Dr Lohia, but they used their brand of socialism for more corrupt activities and accumulation of wealth and accentuation of power.  Thus, the conferring of Bharat Ratna on Karpoori Thakur is to be appreciated only more for his honesty and simplicity rather than for his novelty or newness of ideas.

 Look at the enormous wealth and nepotism of socialists like Mulayam Singh Yadav. He and his family must have garnered property worth thousands of crores even by a rough estimate. No member of the near or distant family of Lalu Prasad Yadav, Mulayam Singh Yadav, Ram Bilas Paswan or Sharad Yadav was left, who did not enjoy some or other posts of profit and pelf, thanks to the open and unabashed patronage of these so-called champions of socialism.

 Karpoori Thakur was, without doubt, much better than these shameless socialists. One wonders why Mulayam Singh Yadav was honoured with Padma Vibhushan by the Modi government although he was the embodiment of lawlessness, rabid nepotism, rank opportunism and disdainful corruption. Lalu Prasad Yadav has been, head and shoulder, above Mulayam Singh Yadav in corruption and nepotism. He continued to rule the state through his illiterate wife and is promoting almost illiterate son to be the next Chief Minister of the state. Nitish Kumar and George Fernandes have been certainly better than these shameless persons, but they also failed to inspire the young generation. Most of the socialist leaders have been blots on society and they deserve to be discarded. History bears ample testimony to the fact that they got more recoiled and entangled in the deleterious web of casteism. 

 

One Nation , One Election Will be Immensely Desirable

    The country had successfully seen the Parliamentary and assembly elections simultaneously till 1967. The problem arose only after then when some of the elections threw hung assemblies. The poll of the Parliament was held in 1971, a year before its full term was to expire because Prime Minister Indira Gandhi dissolved the parliament to seek a fresh mandate on the issue of Garibi Hatao (Remove Poverty). Thereafter, Parliamentary elections used to be held on time after five years except in 1980, 1991 and 1998. Assemblies have also been dissolved before completing their terms resulting in their elections either ahead of or after the parliamentary elections.

 The biggest disadvantage of holding elections almost yearly in some or other parts of the country is the heavy financial burden on the exchequer. The concept of ‘one nation, one election’ is to synchronise elections for the Lok Sabha and all state assemblies. The idea is to hold these elections simultaneously, either on a single day or within a specific time frame. Over the years, Prime Minister Modi has pushed strongly for the idea of simultaneous Lok Sabha and state assembly polls, and the decision to task former {resident of India Ram Nath Kovind Kovind to look into it underscores the government's seriousness as a host of elections approach. The assembly polls in five states were held in November and December last year i.e. 2023. It will be followed by the Lok Sabha elections which are likely to be held in May-June 2024.

 ‘One Nation One Election’ will reduce the cost.

The main benefit of ‘One Nation, One Election’ is the reduction in the cost of conducting elections as each separate election requires a huge amount of financial resources. Having simultaneous elections would ease the burden on administrative and security forces, who otherwise are engaged multiple times in election duties. With the implementation of 'One Nation, One Election', the government can focus more on governance rather than being in an election mode, which often hampers policy implementation. Simultaneous elections will increase voter turnout because it will be easier for people to cast many votes at one time. The main difficulty in implementing the ‘One Nation, One Election', would need the Constitution to be suitably changed and approved by the assemblies.

 Therefore, it is the considered view that simultaneous elections will keep alive the enthusiasm of the voters but will also result in huge savings to the public exchequer as well as avoid repetition of administrative efforts. It is also bound to control the expenses of political parties. Simultaneous elections will also avoid repeated enforcement of the Model Code of Conduct which affects administrative actions by the government.

 In South Africa, elections to national as well as provincial legislatures are held simultaneously for five years, and municipal elections are held two years later. In the U.K., the term of the Parliament is governed by the Fixed term. Frequent elections lead to disruption of normal public life and impact the functioning of essential services. If simultaneous elections are held, this period of disruption would be limited to a certain pre-determined period.

 If simultaneous elections are held, then for the first time what happens to Assemblies whose scheduled tenure either ends before or after the proposed date of holding elections? In such cases, terms of some assemblies may be advanced and for some assemblies, it can be postponed by imposing presidential rule for the time being.  If, following a general election, none of the parties can form a government and another general election becomes necessary, the term of the House in such case after the fresh election should be only for the remainder of what would have been the original term. Similarly, if the government has to resign for some reason and an alternative is not possible, then provision can be considered for a fresh election if the remainder of the term is a comparatively longer period (to be specified) and in other cases, rule by the Governor or President's Rule could be considered.  Two windows of one-and-a-half months each may be fixed for holding all bye-elections that become due in a particular year. If it is considered that the above proposals for having uniform and synchronised terms for Lok Sabha and Legislative Assemblies are not feasible, an alternative proposal would be to consider provisions to have all elections, falling due in a year together in a particular period of the year. In this arrangement, the advantage would be that the general elections to various Legislative Assemblies falling due in a year will be held together and not at different periods in the year. In the year in which the Lok Sabha election is due, all the Assembly elections of that year may also be held.