In India, in spite of various exploitations by Kings, Emperors and certain upper caste communities, in spite of invasions by the Mugals and the British, in spite of mis-governance by the Congress or the BJP, the life force of the Country continues to throb. Sometimes, the pulse is very feeble, some times the throb becomes quite perceptible.
When after the Jalianwalah Bagh massacre, everything appeared to have been mowed down, there arose a storm. It gathered momentum day by day and ultimately lead to the freedom of the country in 1947.
Then, the new rulers yoked to some dreams started their journey and in days and months to come became enamored by the belief that any thought process alien to theirs are against national interests. State Governments not in line with the Center started to get dismissed.
Then, the party at the center itself got divided. The pruning within the party saw to it that all regional satraps were cut to size. In the ensuing hurry, the Queen felt extremely threatened and isolated and hence to put to rest the ghosts of her mind, imposed the Emergency.
The next generation started its fight. Shanthi Bushan had already started it. Ramnath Goenka stood solidly as the real fourth pillar. Kuldip Nayar's pen showed the empire that pen was mightier than the gun. Jayaprakash Narayan took up the leadership. People like Kriplani and Fernandes were solidly with him. The dark 19 months came to an end.
But the Janatha Party which came to power also followed in the foot steps of the Congress by dismissal of State Governments, not in line with their line of thought. They also came down tumbling within months.
Again the Congress was back at the helm. Mrs. Gandhi was assasinated and her son rose to power. The methods used by those around, to achieve it were dubious. The smoke still stinks.
But the newcomer wanted to have a fresh start. Deviating from the state run organisations, he preferred more of private participation. However, being aware of its perils, he intended to provide safeguards with the Consumer Protection Act. But in a largely illiterate populace, such measures have not done much. He also wanted computers to be brought in for the future. A new era had started.
But, he again was pulled down by his over reach and treading on untested soil. The days after his defeat, again saw parties squabbling and throwing away the chance offered by the people to provide a better and fresh administration.
After the assassination of Rajiv, came the Narasimha Rao Government, which went further ahead with privatization and made whole sale purchase of elected MPs open, for its own survival.
There was again an opportunity for the opposition parties to come together to give an alternative. The years with Vajpayee lead BJP were relatively stable and more people friendly.
But in the meanwhile, the seeds of enmity within the society had been sworn by the Rath yatra, undertaken purely only to overcome the dilemma in the face of Mandal Commission implementation by V P Singh.
It was also during the Vajpayee regime that the fire of Muslim animosity got ignited at Gujarat. The very person who had jumped on the Rath had jumped to protect his protégée from the wrath of the Prime Minister himself on grounds of 'Raj Dharma'.
This, was subsequently to become his own nemeses.
After that period, there was a change in the course of history. The Congress which had until then been on its own, had to depend upon regional parties and form a coalition at the Center.
The UPA government was perceived to have reached a policy paralysis due to the pulling of different parties in different directions and the public perception that the regime had reached the nadir of corruption, saw to it that it was sent out.
Then came the new BJP regime. It was not like the earlier one. It came with an open Hindutva agenda. The speeches of the leaders were always a war cry, against all historical enemies, whose progenies they tried to identify and fix in the present day India. The consolidation of the Hindu community by identifying a common enemy was played to perfection. In the process, hidden to the ordinary man's eyes, the corruption in the name of party fund mobilisation sky rocketed. Whenever there was a public murmur against the happenings, there was the bad boy Pakistan to be punished and taken to task. Controls became centralised. Press conference by the highest elected representative became extinct. There were only monologues.
Elected representatives were bought outright. On their joining the BJP, any case against them stood wiped off. Instead of dismissing elected state Governments, a new method had been discovered- take over.
Elections were seen to have been manipulated by use of EVMs which even the western countries were not seen to be using. A new generation of non-political activists started pointing out with data and instances of obvious manipulations of votes and the results. Also questions regarding certain defence deals were raised. The image of the BJP as a party with a difference and incorruptible was eroded in the public eye. (Of course only for those who wanted to see and did not have any coloured vision). The new generation of activists also repeatedly emphasised how the basic structure of the Constitution was under challenge and how the ordinary citizen would suffer. That generation consisted of #ArunShourie, #MedhaPatkar, #Yogendrayadav, #PrashanthBushan, and their likes.
To make election rigging more convenient, a new Act was brought in whereby the PM, HM (Or any other Minister) and LOP would constitute a select committee to decide on the CECs. The HM was replacement for the CJI which had been an interim arrangement. Obviously, the PM and HM would only decide. More State Governments were thrown out. Then came an Intensive Revision of Electoral Rolls. When large scale deletions in certain areas and large scale inclusions in some other areas were pointed out before the Hon'ble Supreme Court, the Court was not inclined to intervene.
There appeared to be an undeclared Emergency. All organs of the Constitution, duty bound to safeguard the rights of the Citizens seem to be failing. The checks and balances were being thrown to the winds. It appeared quite obvious that the Executive, under the BJP, was keen to make Citizens of the Country who are supposed to be the real Monarchs of the Democracy, into subservient Subjects of the State.
The BJP wanted to increase the number of seats in the Lok Sabha by a delimitation exercise in such a manner that some of the areas of the Country would be cut to size, due to their reduced population in the last decades. The punishment for having adhered sincerely to small family norms, was obviously because these areas with lesser growth rate of population and higher growth rate on economic index was also consisting of a larger population of literates and hence they were not able to send in representatives of the BJP, falling for their Hindutva mantra. To create a smoke screen, this legislation was termed as a women's reservation bill, though women's reservation bill had already been passed separately much earlier and made into an Act itself.
This measure failed. The BJP has not been able to overcome that road block. Only after that they want to move on to 'One Nation One Election', so that with the entire election machinery under its complete control, the Supreme Court not likely to get disturbed over matters like voting rights because it has thought in it's wisdom that it was not a fundamental right and if some one could not vote today, they can always do it the next time and even otherwise hell will not break loose just because a few crores of the people cannot vote and have been removed from the electoral rolls, with one sweep, the entire machinery of governance in the Center and the States would be under its complete control. There will not be the disturbance of one state election after the other, when the BJP will be compelled to hold back its agenda for the future. There will be a complete five year period when they can happily legislate as they like and as they have dreamt and all these new laws can be rolled out one after the other. And by the end of that five years, it could be decided what the polity and the Constitution should look like.
Then, as per the dream of the parivars, it will be the time for 'amrit kal' to start. This will officially be the 'muhurth' when the Nation could be declared a Hindu Nation, and all those not Hindus shall be Minorities, may be with lesser rights, but certainly not entitled to the same rights as that of the Hindus because, this is essentially Hindustan and all those having allegiance to any other religion other than those of which had origin in this soil cannot demand equal rights.
It was at this juncture that unfortunately a word came out of the mouth of the Hon'ble Chief Justice of India. He used the work 'Cockroaches' about people without any employment and hell bent on creating problems. He has however later withdrawn it and said that he did not say it or mean it. Whatever, it is, the hands of time had pulled the trigger. He would have never imagined that cockroaches would proliferate only in those areas where filth is heaped up or swept under the carpet.
A Cockroach Janata Party was born on twitter and social media. The underlying frustration of the young generation, got manifested by the support exhibited to the name and move. The BJP started using everything under its control to press all panic buttons. The attempt to choke the fire only lead to more smoke emanating from it.
Then came the next trigger. The NEET paper leak. The younger generation which had been frustrated by the charades dished out on a daily basis on the economic and job front by the incumbent Government, came out to protest. They demanded the resignation of the Education Minister. It was only a token demand. The real displeasure was against the entire Party. But, by taking away one of the Key persons on fast, to a hospital, getting him dilute the demands, the BJP thought that it will have its way. The youth showed unflinching resolve. The Education Minister had to go.
The new generation of activists had taken over. They were #DhruvRathee, who had all along been exposing the false narratives of the BJP, #Zubair of the Alt news, the fact checker and the trio, #Abhijeet Dipke, #SauravDas and #NehaBora.
This new generation has once again launched its next crusade. This was triggered by the expose by The Indian Express regarding what was not fair in the EC.
The data raising doubts had consistently been raised by the previous generation of activists like Dr. Parakala Prabakar Rao. But, it was scoffed at, as claims by frustrated persons. One other person who constantly called the farce was Dr. Subramaniam Swamy belonging to the BJP himself.
True to its image and doing proud to #RamnathGoenka and #KuldipNayar, #TheIndianExpress, brought out details of the internal differences in the CEC and how, one of them overrode the objections of the other two. It was because, he was his masters' man.
Even as the Hon'ble Supreme Court has consented to get into the issue, there has been no time frame. It is not clear whether the Court will be able to step over the immunity granted to the CEC by an Act of the Parliament. Impeachment would be out of possibility given the resistance shown by the Chairmen of both houses in recent the past.
What is at stake is the essence of democracy. People have been forced to take to the streets. The use of Police or paramilitary forces against public angst will not solve the problem. It will lead to further disillusionment.
The other mindless choice would be to employ thugs to oppose the public from assembling and showing their protest. That will lead to chaos and civil strife.
Without waiting for matters to escalate, the CEC who is in the eye of the storm should resign. The Act which was brought in after which appointments by the three member committee without CJI should be put on hold and the earlier interim arrangement should be brought back till a neutral selection team could be finalised. All state elections where high level of deletions and additions have taken place (and also those places where numerous votes have been reported to have been polled even after the closing hours and at an impossible speed as pointed out by Mr. Parakala Prabhakar Rao) should be conducted again as per the pre-SIR electoral rolls (with strict adherence to verification of the voter id or other permissible documents to avoid illegal votes in the name of unavailable persons).
The established political parties had been keeping a tight lipped silence in spite of repeated allegations of electoral frauds. Rahul Gandhi was the first to bite the bullet and openly declare 'Vote Chori'. The other part of the political establishment still appears to be in a wait and watch mode. They perhaps feel that the present system could be conducive to themselves, when they come to power or can part take of it.
It is typically like the donkey withstanding all the blows, dreaming that one day the King will marry of the Princess to him.
So, before it is too late, let better sense prevail on the establishment and the established political forces of the country.
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