Rahul Gandhi moment on the Controversial ordinance

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Tongue N Cheek

ENARADA, New Delhi 

By Ajay N Jha

Congress VP Rahul Gandhi’s dramatic entry  into Press Club of India  this afternoon and his 18 odd minutes stay and statement was more like the scene of a Hindi pot-boiler but it did leave an impact and changed the course of politicking for the rest of the day and perhaps even beyond.

Mr Gandhi criticized the government’s decision to pass an ordinance to allow convicted politicians to contest elections and said it should be “torn up”. “I tell you what my opinion on the ordinance is: That it is complete nonsense. It should be torn up and thrown away. That’s my opinion,” was Rahul Gandhi’s assertion.

Interestingly, Mr Gandhi gate-crashed a press conference that was being held by Congress spokesperson Ajay Maken at the Press Club of India  in which he was defending the ordinance to the press.  Mr Gandhi made it categorically clear that what government was doing was wrong. “I am not interested in what any opposition leader says. I think what the government is doing with this is completely wrong,” he said

The Congress Vice President’s comments come on the day the President had called Congress leaders to seek clarifications on the ordinance which seeks to nullify the Supreme Court’s verdict that bars convicted politicians from contesting elections. The BJP and the AAP had also met the President in order to convey their opposition to the ordinance and seeking that it not be approved.

Following the Congress Vice President’s dramatic speech, Maken took a U turn saying that that the Congress’ view was the same as Rahul Gandhi’s. However, he offered no response to the question as to why he didn’t oppose it earlier when the government passed the ordinance.

Rahul Gandhi’s  ‘master stroke’ has already started  an intense debate in political circles and various kinds of  conclusions and inferences are being drawn.  According to one senior political commentator “Saying that you ‘support’ the UPA government equals to blasphemy in the popular political narrative and people who passionately disagree with Narendra Modi also find it difficult to agree with anything the UPA government has done in the recent past. And to add death to misery, the Congress has now gone ahead and decided to take the ordinance route to bypass a SC ruling that demands all MPs and MLAs who have been convicted, to be suspended from the Parliament.”

Another commentator was equally acerbic in his words that “The Congress party has stepped up to take the place of the mother hen who spread its protective wings over every criminal who has arm twisted his or her way into India’s Parliament. Now, can save that party from electoral doom? And how can it wiggle out of a political catch 22 without either losing allies or losing the voter’s confidence.?”

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A critical examination of Rahul Gandhi’s  criticism and its timing makes a few things  very loud and clear.

1.  After the SC announced its judgment, the Congress-led government acted swiftly to move an ordinance to bypass the Supreme Court. The Aam Aadmi Party came out condemning the move and the BJP followed suit in a day. Senior BJP leaders met the President and took to social media slamming the government for coming up with the idea of the ordinance.

2.   The Congress, in the current state of things, probably deemed it necessary to save its own leaders facing prosecution and allies like Lalu Prasad Yadav, who might be convicted in the fodder scam case on 30 September. So how can the party possibly save Lalu and also its votes in face of an aggressive campaign against them by the BJP perched on a moral high horse?

3.   That all was not well within the Congress party on this issue had been brought to the notice of Rahul Gandhi. President Pranab Mukherjee on Thursday called in three senior Ministers for clarifications on the recent ordinance passed by the cabinet to shield convicted lawmakers from disqualification as the BJP urged him to return the proposal. Perhaps Rahul Gandhi would have sensed the indication that his refusal to sign on the dotted lines would be a huge embarrassment for the party.

4.   Rahul Gandhi’s statement comes after reports of a growing unease in the Congress over the ordinance started doing the rounds. Union minister Milind Deora and Congress leaders including Sandeep Dikshit and Anil Shastri have already gone public with their reservations on the ordinance. Even senior Congress leaders Digvijaya Singh had called for a consensus on this three days ago.

5.   Under these circumstances, it was a smart move to field Rahul Gandhi to slam and rubbish the UPA Governments’ move because Rahul doesn’t hold a government portfolio and can conveniently come across as the rebel within the establishment.  It would not only serve the purpose of taking moral high grounds but also give an impression to the voters of the country that it is he who would henceforth, drive and dictate the agenda of the Congress party on such larger issues than the Prime Minister and the Finance Minister.

6.   It makes the point in the sense that but for thousands of voters who choose not to think through the complicated political arithmetic they are pawns to, Rahul Gandhi just set him apart from the older ranks his party. He also sent out a signal that the ‘change’ the whole country is craving for can also be found within the Congress itself, not essentially in another political party.

7.   Even otherwise, Rahul Gandhi, who doesn’t hold a government portfolio is perfectly placed to make such a sweeping announcement. Firstly, he is not directly a part of the government so he can’t be logically blamed for the ordinance.  Moreover, he is not an anonymous, not-too-appealing leader of the party whose dissent won’t fire a stormy political debate in mainstream media – his disapproval of the government will not go unnoticed.

8.   This statement could also be interpreted as an indication that Rahul Gandhi had become mature enough to try to step out of his mother’s shadows as he has been widely accused of. In other words, this statement might be his first step to hint that an alternative might also lie in him and his vision of what a government should be.  His statement today clearly conveys that he does have an independent mind and he is at times, not convinced by the logic and compulsions of the Old guards in his party.  He may not be as accommodative as his mother when it came to Congress allies and their follies. By opposing this ordinance, Rahul Gandhi might just have saved the Congress a huge embarrassment in the next elections.

9.   Questions are also raised as to why he did not oppose this ordinance earlier.  The most plausible answer to that could be, he wanted to prove to be the ‘convenient way out’ for the party and the government after he sensed that the  public mood across the country was totally against it and then  he chose ‘ the right moment to intervene’ and prove his point.

On the other hand, the BJP seems to have been flummoxed more by this move. It is ironical that the same BJP which had been opposing the ordinance that it would give sanctuary to criminals, seems to be conveniently forgetting that it did exactly the same thing in similar circumstances in 2002.

When the Supreme Court passed a landmark judgment in May 2002 ordering all candidates seeking to be elected to the Parliament or the state assembly to disclose their criminal backgrounds, their financial assets and educational qualifications, the BJP-led NDA government within four months promulgated an ordinance amending the Representation of People Act to negate the apex court order. But the collective glee of the politicians was short-lived. The ordinance, which was subsequently passed by Parliament in December 2002, was struck down by the Supreme Court in 2003 on the grounds that it was unconstitutional.

In that judgment, the Supreme Court made some very strong observations on the government’s attempts disregard its orders. The landmark 2002 order of the Supreme Court making it mandatory for candidates to declare their criminal, financial and educational background was in response to a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by the Association of Democratic Rights (ADR).

There is no doubt that the UPA government has outdone the NDA in pushing through an ordinance in utter disregard of a Supreme Court order to protect narrow political interests.  But the BJP is an equal culprit in that too.  If the BJP has found this Ordinance Objectionable, why did it pass that in Bill form in the Rajya Sabha?

Now if the ordinance is passed, most of the convicted MPs and MLAS  from Haryana including Om Prakash Chautala, Ajay Singh Chautala, OP Jain, Gopal kanda, Ram Kishan Gujjar, Sukhbeer kataria and Zile Ram Sharma would be benefitted.

But what has the BJP got to lose?  Many BJP leaders have been saying that BJP has nothing to lose. Yet the fact remains otherwise. If BJP was worried about corruption it wouldn’t give tickets to politicians with dubious histories and cases being fought against them in the court. Had that been the case, according to a survey by the National Election Watch, 31 percent of BJP MPs and MLAs wouldn’t be ones who have criminal proceedings presently on against them.

According to the same survey, 64 percent of RJD’s lawmakers have criminal cases against them, 48 percent of SPs and 21 percent of Congress MPs and MLAs have criminal cases registered against them. Also, as the quick math following the SC verdict revealed, Lok Sabha MPs from neither of the warring parties were in immediate danger of conviction and hence ouster from the Parliament.

But the Babri Masjid demolition case is coming up for the judgment in November. What if BJP leaders like LK Adavni, Murli Manohar joshi, Uma bharti and Kalyan Singh are convicted.?

Secondly, Mr narendra Modi has been talking about “Congress Mukt and Corruption Mukt Bharat”. But the same Modi was seen sharing dais at Hyderabad along with former BJP President Banagaru Laxman who has been given four years jail sentence in the bribery case which had been exposed by Tehelka.

Thirdly, what about Gujarat Water Resources and Agriculture Minister Babu Bokhiria who had been facing three years jail sentence in the illegal mining case?

Under these circumstances, Rahul Gandhi slamming this controversial ordinance that protects convicted MPs and MLAs from immediate disqualification from contesting polls is a welcome move which should be supported by every right thinking citizen of this country. It should also force the UPA II government to withdraw the ordnance more in the light of the Supreme Court’s landmark ‘Right to reject’ judgment.

(Posted on September 27, 2013 @ 9.40pm)

(Ajay N Jha is a veteran journalist from both Print and Electronic media.  He is the  President and CEO of WICS Global Communications.  His email id is Ajay N Jha <ajayjha30@gmail.com> )

The views expressed on the website are those of the Columnists/ Authors/Journalists / Correspondents and do not necessarily reflect the views of ENARADA.

1 COMMENT

  1. Glad Day ?

    Yesterday , I wrote about “ Sad Day / Bad Day / Mad Day “ , not knowing that by evening , it will turn into a “ Glad Day “ !
    “ Glad Day “ for 2 reasons :

     Late in the afternoon , in a press-meet , Rahul Gandhi said,

    “ My opinion on the ordinance is that it is completely nonsense and it should be torn up and thrown out. I personally feel , that what our Government has done as far as this ordinance is concerned, is wrong “

     Supreme Court said,

    “ The voter has the right to negative voting by rejecting all the candidates in the fray by exercising the option of ‘ none of the above ‘ in the EVMs and ballot papers “

    Now only if the politicians ( whether clean or tainted )

     dare to meet the people of their constituencies

     care to ask them what are their further “ Expectations “

    voters will tell them , ( Citizen’s Charter of Demand ? ),

     Scrap the ordinance / bill pending in the Standing Committee. Based on Supreme Court verdict , prevent convicted MPs / MLAs from attending Lok Sabha / State Legislatures

     Scrap amendment to RTI Act , which keeps the political parties outside its purview

     Accept all donations / contributions to a political party by cheque only ( irrespective of the amount ) and display these on your web sites , along with quarterly statement of all expenditures

     Display on your web site complete declaration ( financial as well as criminal ) of each candidate / elected MP / MLA , filed with Election Commission – and every year , if elected

     Pass the Jan-LokPal bill ( Anna Hazare version ) before the 2014 elections

    By owning-up the “ mistake “ committed by UPA Government ( as far as the Ordinance is concerned ) , not only Rahul Gandhi showed unprecedented moral courage ( could be political hara-kiri ? ) , he has silenced / disarmed his critics and won over millions of young admirers

    If only he continues to display similar “ Courage “ in respect of what I have listed above , I have no doubt , on its own , Congress will win 300+ seats in the 2014 National Elections

    Rahul,
    Remember , your “ Pre-Poll Actions “ on the ground will send a powerful “ Message of Hope “ to the disillusioned / frustrated youth of India

    Neither Narendra Modi , nor Arvind Kejriwal will be able to match such a challenge !

    • hemen parekh ( 28 Sept 2013 )

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