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Virodhi Or Dushman?:ENFORCE MORAL CODE FIRMLY, By Poonam I Kaushish; New Delhi, 8 December 2007 Print E-mail

POLITICAL DIARY

New Delhi, 8 December 2007

Virodhi Or Dushman?

ENFORCE MORAL CODE FIRMLY

By Poonam I Kaushish

 

Rajnetik virodhi ya jaani dushman? Tragically, the lines between a political opponent and a sworn enemy have got blurred. Nothing epitomizes this better than the brazen communal campaigning in the Gujarat Assembly poll. Which has trashed basic courtesies and decencies. Ended the camaraderie, bonhomie and respect among healthy rivals. Unabashedly revived the burning issue of communalism. And caste. That could set India ablaze and threaten its unity once more.

 

Everyone and everything has become game in the land of the Mahatma. From desh bhakts to desh drohis. For the Congress, confused about its support base, devoid of a vote plank and desperate about stopping its main opponent, the BJP from returning to power, it fell back to its tried and tested formula --- blatant minoritism, which, actually, is brazen communalism. For the Saffron Sangh it is a do-or-die battle for the Hindu poster boy Chief Minister Modi.

 

The ball was set rolling by the Congress President, Sonia Gandhi, at a tribal rally in the State. Wherein she denounced Modi as a maut ke saudagar and promised to "throw the cheats and liars out of Gujarat." Retaliated Modi, “Italian mud will not stick on me. It is they who are hand in glove' with maut ke saudagar. Till today, Afzal Guru, who masterminded the attack on Parliament in 2001 hasn't been hanged defying the Supreme Court verdict.”

 

But he did not stop there. At another rally, Modi played the Hindutva card to the hilt. He asked the crowd: “You tell me what should have been done to Sohrabuddin? (An alleged Pakistani terrorist killed in a police encounter). “Kill him, kill him, kill him...,” the people responded. “Barobar chhe (that’s fine).” “Sohrabuddin got what he deserved. Do I need to take Sonia Gandhi’s permission for this? Hang me if I have done anything wrong.” Leaving none in doubt about his target: “Gujarat ke dharti pe maut ke saudagar nahin rahne doonga!

 

Retorted another Congress senior leader Digvijay Singh: “Modi is a terrorist and Gujarat has become a hub of Hindu terrorists.” Countered the BJP Dy Leader in the Lok Sabha Vijay Malhotra, “Sonia has a hatred for Hindus. She speaks against Hindus and chooses to remain silent when atrocities are committed against the community," Snapped the CPI leader Gurudas Dasgupta: “Modi is an unchanged lunatic... He is a cynical and criminal challenge to democracy.” Added the Prime Minister for good measure: “If you are against the Modi Government, only God can save you.”

 

Today we may hang Modi. But will this stop the mud-raking. “No”. All are tarred by the same brush. Be it the Congress, the BJP or any other political party. If the Congress is upset now, it too has to accept its share of the blame. Was it correct for Sonia to dub Modi as a “maut ke saudagar?” Or for Digvijay to call him a “terrorist” and the PM to assert that “Bhagwan hi malik hai.”   

 

True, Modi has no business to incite the crowds on the Sohrabbdin issue, specially as the matter is pending in the Supreme Court. No matter that he may have been provoked by Sonia into commenting on Sohrabbdin. But two wrongs don’t make a right.

 

This see-saw battle between the BJP and the Congress seems to tell us everything, yet nothing about our polity. Indeed, a sad reflection on the depth of political depravation we have come to. What is most worrying is that the campaign of slander in the Sonia-Modi battle transgresses all limits of political and public decency and etiquette.

 

The issue is not whether the BJP is able to beat the Congress at the numbers game. Nor that both have sacrificed morality at the altar of power. The issue is also not that the Election Commission has issued a notice to Modi for his comments on “Sohrabuddin and linking his name to terrorism, made in the speech, amounts to indulging in activity which may aggravate existing differences, creating mutual hatred and causing tension between different communities, and would involve violation of the provision of clause (1) and (3) of Item I of the Model Code of Conduct " Nor is it about his reply.

 

Sadly, in a milieu where politics has degenerated to a euphemism for community and caste, cheap thrills and seetees. Chanted by one and all parties with each propounding its own recipe of communal and caste harmony, according to their own warped and selfish political needs. None cared a damn for morality and none had the patience to bother about the Election Commission reading the riot act under the model code of conduct, except for scoring brownie points against each other. Ends mattered not the means. Winning was the name of the game. To hell with Gandhi. That too in the Mahatma’s land, Gujarat.

 

The EC was left free under the Moral Code to cry hoarse that “no party or candidate shall indulge in any activity which aggravate existing differences or create mutual hatred or cause tension between different caste and communities, religious or linguistic”. Also, “there shall be no appeal to caste or communal feelings for securing votes. Mosques, churches, temples or other places of worship shall not be used as forum for election propaganda.”

 

Further, “criticism of other political parties, when made, shall be confined to their policies and programme, past record and work…Criticism of other parties or their workers based on unverified allegations or distortion shall be avoided.” So what? The Congress has once more fallen back on its tried and tested formula --- putting its secularism against the communal forces. And Modi has dumped development and is now hooting for Hindutva.

 

With parties and candidates wantonly violating the Code, what is the remedy? Alas, the EC is powerless. Asserted Secretary Wilfred: “The Model Code of Conduct lacks legal sanction. It is intended to work as a moral policeman to ensure free and fair elections. We can only freeze a party’s election symbol or derecognize it as a national party. Nothing more, nothing less.” In other words one can merrily violate the code brazenly and yet get elected to the Lok Sabha and the State Assemblies.

 

Importantly, India is today at the moral crossroads. It is time to take a good fresh look at the Model Code of Conduct and, wherever necessary, recast it. We need to give more teeth to the EC. Even give it the power to countermand an election in case a candidate violates the Code.

 

Our leaders and parties too must get rid of their excess baggage of communalism and casteism made a lot more malignant by our unstable and fragmented politics. With everyone propounding his or her own recipe of communal harmony, the nation is getting sucked into the vertex of centrifugal bickering. Wherein none cares that if this continues, the colour of India’s river could turn blood red, a repeat of the horrendous pre-partition nightmare.

 

The people must not allow themselves to be fooled or taken for granted. Specially, as we know that our politicians have perfected the art of cultivating low morality and high greed, donning different party robes, according to their whims and fancies --- and the need of the hour. Leaving India dangerously communal, but the political parties and their leaders hypocritically secular. 

 

Clearly, it is high time that we start afresh our experiments with truth in the Mahatma’s land. More so, in our present all pervasive decadence, interspersed with growing public distaste, cynicism and despair. If not stopped now, it could result in a total breakdown our democratic of institutions, society, culture and ethical values.

 

As the nation and our polity readies for a new year there comes a moment of truth and reckoning, it is time to pause and ask: Are we putting a premium on slander? On immorality. Will profligacy be the bedrock of India’s democracy? How long do we suffer the stampede for sensation and slander? And, what is in the best interest of India and its democracy?

 

The parties should remember one age-old truth” If you point one slanderous finger at another, four other slanderous fingers will point back at you! Can a nation be bare and bereft of all sense of shame and morality? And, for how long?  ---- INFA

(Copyright, India New and Feature Alliance)

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