India has ultimately 'decided' as what kind of government we want. Our first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru truly lost today as Narendra Modi was actually fighting election against him. Throughout the campaign BJP did not give any 'hisab' of its governance but spoke about the past of Gandhis.
Anyway, with great political machinery, thousands of cadres who are dedicated and definitely more committed than any one with greatly injected 'knowledge' through WhatsApp and other sources.
A victory is a victory and hence the party and its leadership need full kudos and appreciations. They did everything under their control or organisation to reach people. Yes, they fought at all level through media, money, muscle power, machinery, machine, Muslims and Modi.
All cobbled together gave BJP definitely an edge and much more. The type of statements that Modi and Shah gave cannot be ignored; these were backed up by symbols of giving ticket to Sadhvi Pragya, Giriraj Singh, Sakshi Maharaj and others.
The election was totally polarised. Even today the leaders from West Bengal speak in that language. BJP might have won, but there is anxiety among people and it is the duty of the party now to come up with an economic agenda of governance and control those motormouth who threaten people and take law in their hand.
On this day, I can only wish them good along with other Indians. People vote to governance and for better days which never came last time but we hope this time they work on that and take India forward.
As a person working for people, for their rights, we must continue raising issues that we face as we have done so far. Our work does not end with elections. The criticism of the government is not the criticism of the nation.
When the opposition is totally decimated the role of opposition has to be played by civil society, social action groups, academics, lawyers, human rights defenders and alternative media. We hope the judiciary will also come for the rescue of the people's right.
I say alternative media, because the so-called mainstream media has become Manuwadi media and a cheer leaders of the ruling dispensation. None can deny them to give us information about the work done by the government, but it is also the duty of the media to engage in constructive criticism of the government so that it does not lose track.
There are lots of issues and lessons to be learned. Our institutions are under severe strain. We hope they will now look upon issues which emerged during the campaign. We need to strengthen the check and balance mechanism.
This is not the time to bash the opposition. I know each party will sit and introspect. They will have to begin from tomorrow their planning for the next election. Amit Shah and Modi actually never governed but ran 24x7 election campaign. Their reach was superb. Their karykartas were devoted. Obviously money has its role apart from the media.
If democracy has to survive in India, we will have to seriously think of whether it is inclusive or not. Our institutions will have to be strengthened and the political system needs drastic change. Perhaps time has come for a serious campaign for proportional electoral system and government funding of the election campaign.
Everybody is blaming Rahul Gandhi for his party's 'debacle'. He is the president of the party and he has to face it, and he has a lot to learn and introspect. But one is sad about the Left and the Bahujan movement. One needs to seriously engage on whether an alliance between non-political Left and non-political Bahujan can work at the cultural level.
Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra can learn a lot from Kerala and Tamil Nadu. The Periyarist movement in Tamil Nadu has ensured that 'national' parties remain on the periphery there; similarly, Kerala so far has remain consistent in rejecting BJP, but will it always remain so will be the serious question to look into in the coming days.
The decimation of the Left in Bengal was a foregone conclusion. Most of the bhadralok Brahmanical cadre of the Left in Bengal switched to Hindutva juggernaut to defeat Mamata Banerjee, who had been very vindictive against her opponents.
Every state has offered some lessons to learn, and mere abusing of EVMs will not work. We stand with people about the campaign against EVMs and its manipulations, but we need to also learn lessons from where we went wrong.
Today, one needs to accept the mandate and wish that the rulers will work as per the sanctity of law of the land and will not repeat those mistakes which they did in the past. People's mandate is supreme in democracy, and it has to be accepted.
As citizens of this country, our work is not merely to listen to the government but also to remind those in power their duties and obligations to the people. Let us continue to do what we have been doing all these years in the greater interest of the people to protect our constitution and strengthen its values.
---
*Human righs defender. Source: Author's Facebook timeline
A victory is a victory and hence the party and its leadership need full kudos and appreciations. They did everything under their control or organisation to reach people. Yes, they fought at all level through media, money, muscle power, machinery, machine, Muslims and Modi.
All cobbled together gave BJP definitely an edge and much more. The type of statements that Modi and Shah gave cannot be ignored; these were backed up by symbols of giving ticket to Sadhvi Pragya, Giriraj Singh, Sakshi Maharaj and others.
The election was totally polarised. Even today the leaders from West Bengal speak in that language. BJP might have won, but there is anxiety among people and it is the duty of the party now to come up with an economic agenda of governance and control those motormouth who threaten people and take law in their hand.
On this day, I can only wish them good along with other Indians. People vote to governance and for better days which never came last time but we hope this time they work on that and take India forward.
As a person working for people, for their rights, we must continue raising issues that we face as we have done so far. Our work does not end with elections. The criticism of the government is not the criticism of the nation.
When the opposition is totally decimated the role of opposition has to be played by civil society, social action groups, academics, lawyers, human rights defenders and alternative media. We hope the judiciary will also come for the rescue of the people's right.
I say alternative media, because the so-called mainstream media has become Manuwadi media and a cheer leaders of the ruling dispensation. None can deny them to give us information about the work done by the government, but it is also the duty of the media to engage in constructive criticism of the government so that it does not lose track.
There are lots of issues and lessons to be learned. Our institutions are under severe strain. We hope they will now look upon issues which emerged during the campaign. We need to strengthen the check and balance mechanism.
This is not the time to bash the opposition. I know each party will sit and introspect. They will have to begin from tomorrow their planning for the next election. Amit Shah and Modi actually never governed but ran 24x7 election campaign. Their reach was superb. Their karykartas were devoted. Obviously money has its role apart from the media.
If democracy has to survive in India, we will have to seriously think of whether it is inclusive or not. Our institutions will have to be strengthened and the political system needs drastic change. Perhaps time has come for a serious campaign for proportional electoral system and government funding of the election campaign.
Everybody is blaming Rahul Gandhi for his party's 'debacle'. He is the president of the party and he has to face it, and he has a lot to learn and introspect. But one is sad about the Left and the Bahujan movement. One needs to seriously engage on whether an alliance between non-political Left and non-political Bahujan can work at the cultural level.
Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra can learn a lot from Kerala and Tamil Nadu. The Periyarist movement in Tamil Nadu has ensured that 'national' parties remain on the periphery there; similarly, Kerala so far has remain consistent in rejecting BJP, but will it always remain so will be the serious question to look into in the coming days.
The decimation of the Left in Bengal was a foregone conclusion. Most of the bhadralok Brahmanical cadre of the Left in Bengal switched to Hindutva juggernaut to defeat Mamata Banerjee, who had been very vindictive against her opponents.
Every state has offered some lessons to learn, and mere abusing of EVMs will not work. We stand with people about the campaign against EVMs and its manipulations, but we need to also learn lessons from where we went wrong.
Today, one needs to accept the mandate and wish that the rulers will work as per the sanctity of law of the land and will not repeat those mistakes which they did in the past. People's mandate is supreme in democracy, and it has to be accepted.
As citizens of this country, our work is not merely to listen to the government but also to remind those in power their duties and obligations to the people. Let us continue to do what we have been doing all these years in the greater interest of the people to protect our constitution and strengthen its values.
---
*Human righs defender. Source: Author's Facebook timeline
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