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ASSEMBLY POLL '98
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'How far have we fallen as a people and a civilisation?'
E-mail from readers the world over
Date: Wed, 21 Apr 1999 17:17:52 +1000 I wasn't aware of Rediff before the present political ups and downs created in Parliament. The stuff put on this news server appears to be the best available. I am compelled to say that Shri Cho Ramaswamy is not only a wise critic, but a true statesman on Indian polity. I enjoyed going though this interview. Thanks a lot for putting such nice material about this great man. Also, nice coverage during the time when new developments are taking place outside the Lok Sabha as such. Rajesh
Date: Wed, 21 Apr 1999 07:06:50 -0500 I don't understand Mr Chandra Shekhar at all on this issue. What did he expect of the Congress which is a party of sycophants! And, it is so very amazingly contradictory, on the one hand he voted against the vote of confidence and goes on to state that the President was not justified in calling for a vote of confidence! I had a lot of respect for this man when he was the president of the Janata party. Now, he has proved himself to be no different than other Indian politicians -- dishonest, self centered and spineless.
Manjunath Basappa
Date: Wed, 21 Apr 1999 10:34:45 -0600 This is in response to the article about the distinction of Indian and Hindu. In fact we are talking about whether Sonia is eligible. Our Constitution never said Hindus are only eligible for being elected as a prime minister. Who is a citizen? S/he who is born in the country or who lives in the country for some time and know all the customs. For that matter Britishers stayed (actually ruled) our country for 200 years. What I am saying is it is better we don't take a risk again. Srinivas
Date: Wed, 21 Apr 1999 14:49:19 EDT I know India doesn't have a Presidential system of democracy like the US and that limits the powers of our President considerably. But character can never be put down. A star always shines. My great grandfather was the late Shri Ramdhari Singh Dinkar, India's national poet, of whom Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee is a big fan. Being just a Rajya Sabha member and one of India's greatest writers who also fought during our struggle for Independence, he criticised the then PM Pandit Nehru several times in his poems for India's defeat and loss of life in the war with China. Had he lived longer, he would have definitely become the President of India. I don't mean to criticise our current President, but he is the President of India and in situations like these, he needs to act boldly. I think President Narayanan should have asked Sonia to prove that she has the support of 270+ MPs before the BJP was kicked out.
Date: Wed, 21 Apr 1999 15:36:30 -0400 I am an Indian student in the United States and these days when students ask me what is happening back in your country, I have no answer. It is really a matter of shame, especially when the whole world is a spectator in this game of horse trading and switching alliances.
Date: Wed, 21 Apr 1999 17:25:50 +0100 How can you expect a patently partisan President to do the right thing? He was and will always be part of the joke that the Third Front is, and his dislike for the BJP is clear. What we need is a decent, patriotic person as President, not a politician. Those chaps who shrieked so much about S S Bhandari's BJP links, will they kindly admit the antecedents of this President? Ruchira Raghav
Date: Wed, 21 Apr 1999 15:11:37 -0600 How far have we fallen as a people and a civilisation? Consider this: We are letting the fate of our nation be decided by, among others, a former actress, who was a very close companion of a matinee idol. Would this ever happen in Pakistan? Are we a very tolerant people or what?
Date: Wed, 21 Apr 1999 21:16:34 GMT "But, by and large, Vajpayee invariably stood up for what was right. Even when it hurt his own political interests." Sorry sir, we don't think so. After being in power for just more than one year if you guys (the BJP) are so adamant not to leave gracefully after defeat, how can you expect the same from the Congress when it was in power for more than 40 years? And what justification do you have to criticise the Congress?
Date: Thu, 22 Apr 1999 14:39:24 +0530 Thanks for the information. Good job, however, after reading this report I feel ashamed as an Indian with a 100 crore population -- we do not have a leader and shamelessly have to surrender to a Italian born lady She has been an Indian citizen after so many years of marriage. She cannot give an extempore speech. She had been just a housewife and not taken any administrative responsibility. She has not contested even a gram panchayat election. She does not know how to speak fluent Hindi. I am ashamed and might commit suicide if this lady just wants to encash upon her family background to take the Indian people for a ride. How can I forget Quattrochhi had a 24 hours access to Rajeev Gandhi's house. Normally people have a short memory. I hope this time will be an exception. Kailas Tekawade
Date: Thu, 22 Apr 1999 14:45:31 +0530 As alleged by Sonia, if the BJP did the horse trading effectively, they would not have been in this mess. With MPs of various parties breaking away, she cannot fool the citizens of India about Congress expertise in this regard. Horse trading is an acquired skill of the Congress and it has shown consistently that in situations like this, no one can beat them. That is the only reason why she is showing such confidence in being the next PM. C N Sridhar
Date: Wed, 21 Apr 1999 15:32:15 +0530 Really this is good news. Everyone should see that no horse trading takes place.
Date: Thu, 22 Apr 1999 17:29:38 +0530 It is quite alright to break away from the TDP, since all of them were originally from the Congress. After all, politicians have to survive. Sethuraman
Date: Thu, 22 Apr 1999 19:50:43 +0700 Last weekend, I guess, was not a happy one for many Indians. The Vajpayee government which had started showing good results and had a decent Budget in its bag was thrown out in "One day cricket style." If the fall of the two previous governments was caused by "an old man in hurry," this one had to go due to "a lady in hurry" and the whole country knows what kind of hurry she is in. Part of the blame should be taken by the public themselves. Their voting pattern resulted in this kind of an arithmetic in Lok Sabha, that too in consecutive elections. I was wondering as to what my wish should be: Reinstatement of the Vajpayee government minus Jayalalitha, but the numbers will haunt them. Sonia Gandhi or Jyoti Basu have their own agenda plus Jayalalitha is even more difficult to imagine. The third option of even going for a mid-term election at its ever burgeoning cost for developing India is also not certain to give us any stability, going by the way we voted in the past. A real crisis indeed! Maya Vishwavasu Potdar
Date: Thu, 22 Apr 1999 08:24:46 -0700 I like your style of writing. Sonia has done a marvellous job by not letting Bofors and the Quattrochhi episode become the topic of the town, thanks to the BJP who went for the throat as a election promise and fizzled out. For the first time in India, we have a fair chance at putting Sonia in the PM's seat, god knows what's happened to Indian brains. Sonia's chamchas think a "White" woman is the answer to a stable government. Just like the people of Pune got Bhatia back, the people of India should get the BJP back, of course minus all the junk that the BJP had as ministers. The Sena has to go, they are sick and stupid. It is time for Muslims, Christians and Hindus to work together and build a more safe and secure India without corruption. More toilets, health care and schools.
Date: Thu, 22 Apr 1999 08:26:56 -0700 (PDT) After reading the many columns and news, biased or unbiased, I thought it would be interesting to just lay down some facts (just the facts, no analysis). 1. The BSP betrayed the BJP by saying one thing, then doing the opposite. The BJP betrayed BSP by going together with them in UP, then engineering a split to come to power. Loyalty? 2. At election time, the AIADMK and BJP were allies. Rivals -- Congress, Communists, DMK, TDP etc. Now the BJP, DMK, TDP are allies. Rivals -- Congress, AIADMK, BSP, Communists, etc. On the flip side for the Congress. At election, allies -- practically nobody, rivals -- everybody. Now allies -- Communists, AIADMK, TMC.... Mandate? 3. The Congress bought support for the Narasimha Rao government. The BJP bought support for the Kalyan Singh government. Honesty? 4. The Speaker helped the Opposition win in the current crisis by letting an unqualified member vote. The speaker in the UP assembly helped Kalyan Singh win by letting unqualified members vote. Neutrality? 5. Mayawati promised before the House to abstain from the vote and then did the opposite. Kalyan Singh promised before the Supreme Court to do everything possible to protect the Babri Masjid and then did the opposite. Promises? 6. The Congress, Akalis, Muslim League, Mulayam fans religious fundamentalism among Sikhs, Muslims and other minorities to win votes. The Sangh Parivar fans religious fundamentalism among Hindus to win votes. Secularism? 7. The Congress brought down the Janata Dal governments. The BJP brought down the V P Singh government. Stability? 8. The Congress use strong arm tactics against the people (remember Sanjay Gandhi?) to get their way with scant regard for law and justice. Sangh Parivaris (Sena, RSS) use strong arm tactics to get their way with scant regard for law and justice. Law and order? 9. The Congress is accused of orchestrating the riots against Sikhs after Indira Gandhi's assassination. They called the enquiry about it by a reputed judge. Hogwash. The Shiv Sena is accused of orchestrating the riots against Muslims after the Babri Masjid episode. They called the enquiry about it by a reputed judge. Hogwash. Protecting the people? Well the list goes on and on.... So who is better, you decide. But one thing is certain, as long as we Indians can be easily influenced by superfluous things like caste, religion, language and these become the basis on which we elect our leaders, we will see the same drama enacted over and over again, be it the Congress, BJP, Communists, JJs, Laloos, Yadavs, Thackerays, whoever. Rajesh
Date: Thu, 22 Apr 1999 12:03:40 -0400 The BJP has two solid reasons for 'why the President should not have asked Vajpayee to seek a vote of confidence.' In addition, former president R Venkatraman, who also happened to be an old Congressman and not a RSS fellow, told his clear opinion that since Parliament was in session, there was no such need. The third most important point is only a few days ago the BJP's Bihar resolution was passed by a 29 vote margin, which is much more than Chautala's 4 and Jaya's 18 MPs together. So why was there a doubt of losing a majority? Under these circumstances and when the Constitution is silent on when to ask to seek a vote of confidence, I must say that President Narayanan used 'his discretion' against the advice of the past President, in favour of Sonia Gandhi. The President has every discretion to use his powers as he felt right. But in the present case, his actions never helped India and the BJP. The BJP is always treated like a step daughter. This way the President himself is to be blamed for the present instability. I felt so strongly about this that I faxed my views to the President today. If you also feel so strongly, please fax him at 91-11-3017290. Despite his discretion, the President just gave a one line statement asking Vajpayee to seek a vote. What about transparency here? Is the Indian President so insulated that we cannot ask him an explanation? He is an elected official, elected to do his job. He is answerable to the citizens of India. He should have come forward with an official explanation along with his demand. When you have a lack of transparency, no doubt you will invite accusations of partisanship. The fact is that amongst several dozen precedents created by our former and present Presidents, a situation is created where the President can really make or break the party in power by 'selectively' using the precedents which suit the action at any time.
Mukund Kute
Date: Thu, 22 Apr 1999 12:18:07 -0400 Kuldip Nayar has put my feelings on paper, I believe that of a majority of the Indian people too. Samuel Beera
Date sent: Apr 1999 12:08:46 -0500 These are sad times for India and its citizens. I believe the President of India, who holds the highest office in the country has set a dangerous path for the country. He should have never asked Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee to prove his majority in the House. Reasons: 1. The House was not in session. 2. When and if the House was in session, the Opposition would have not passed the Budget and that would have been automatically the ouster of BJP government. He did not need to take any actions at that juncture. 3. By not asking the Opposition to furnish the proof that they have the support of 272 members of Parliament (before he asked for confidence motion) has left the country in a lurch. The Opposition had only one thing in mind -- bring down the government. But they had/have no idea or consensus among them as to who is going to be forming a government. 4. The President should have made sure that if one government falls, the other is ready to take its place within 48 hours. 5. Result of the President's actions: It has been four days, and the Opposition has still not been able to garner the support of 272 MPs. Therefore, India still has no alternative government in place. 6. How much time is he (the President) going to give to the Opposition to come up with the letters. He is giving the Congress way too much time to form a government. Why is he soft towards the Congress? He should set a deadline for them to come and form a government or fresh elections. I hold the President completely responsible for this limbo that the government is in. It makes me think " yes, he is a Congress stooge." Amit Vora
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