Vote Chori debate turns into history lesson as Amit Shah dismantles Congress claims
While watching football games, this writer has seen many a time goalkeepers doing unnecessary acrobatics to catch the ball after it goes off the crossbar because of wayward shots by rival strikers. This is just to impress the galleries, especially the womenfolk who throng the stadium to see a thrilling match. I remember the 1973 edition of the Santosh Trophy Championship played at the Maharajas College Stadium in Ernakulam. The match between Punjab, led by the legendary Inder Singh, and Bengal, led by Subhas Bhowmik, proved to be an exciting encounter. Both sides featured the superstars of Indian football that including Manjit Singh, Gurukripal, Keshokripal, Ravi Kumar, Gurudev Singh, besides Inder, the football magician. Bengal had Gautam Sarkar, Prakash Biswas, Sudheer Karmakar, Syed Nayeemuddeen, Mohammed Haib, and Akbar in their line-up.
Tarun Bose, the goalkeeper of Bengal, made his appearance in the stadium wearing a cap and gloves a la Lev Yashin, rated as the world’s best goalkeeper. But all his gimmicks fizzled out when Inder gave a back pass to Manjit, who took a cannon shot, which mesmerized all and entered the goalpost. That goal proved that Tarun Bose was no match for the wizardry of the Punjabis. The match ended in a draw, and both teams fell by the wayside. But that tie between Punjab and Bengal was rated as the match of the tournament.
This came to mind while watching the live proceedings of the Lok Sabha debate on Vote Chori, aptly titled Electoral Reforms in the country. What the viewer saw unfurling in the House was a sterling performance by Union Home Minister Amit Shah, who gave the Opposition Congress more than what it asked for. Since they could not withstand the information onslaught unleashed by the Home Minister, the Congress resorted to its only strategy; they simply walked out of the House mumbling and shouting. Had they been patient for a while, they could have got a lot of information from Amit Shah, who, while rebutting the allegations of Vote Chori, threw light into the murky doings of the Nehru-Gandhi clan in usurping the Prime Minister’s chair, always subverting the electoral process. The Home Minister reminded the scion of the clan how Jawaharlal Nehru became the Prime Minister by sabotaging the will of the people. For those who want to know the details, please read India From Curzon to Nehru, and after by eminent journalist Durga Das. What Das has written will shock even the ardent Nehru bhakts because it is a chronicle of how Sardar Patel was denied the Prime Minister’s chair despite the mandate by all the provincial committees of the Congress party. The great-grandson and his younger sibling, who complain that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was always ridiculing Nehru, this was more than what they could swallow, and this alone made them walk out of the House.
The Home Minister reminded the House about the three press meets addressed by the Leader of the Opposition, Rahul Gandhi. “One was a general press meet, the second was the one he warned of the atom bomb, and the third one was about the hydrogen bomb in his armor,” said Shah. The Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, which the 55-year-old LOP taunted as Vote Chori, was explained in detail by the Home Minister, much to the discomfiture of the Congress members. The Home Minister requested the LOP to undertake the Vote Chori Yatra across Bengal and Tamil Nadu, the states going for Assembly elections next year. “His Vote Chori Yatra made more people vote for the NDA in Bihar. We are certain that such yatras in Bengal and TN would yield major wins for us,” said Shah, who turned out to be the Man of the Day with his scintillating speech.
The Home Minister pointed out that the appointment of the Election Commissioner was the prerogative of the Prime Minister during the Congress rule. The Prime Minister would decide the person to be appointed as Election Commissioner and end the file for the approval with the President, who always signed on the dotted line. The Congress Party increased the number of election commissioners from one to three as part of its mission to clip the wings of T N Seshan, who was its own appointee. Then, in the process of selecting and appointing the election commissioners, the Congress ensured that only persons subservient to the clan were appointed as election commissioners. “When Gopalaswamy wrote to the government against elevating Navin Chawla as chief election commissioner, citing the partisan manner in which the latter conducted the functioning of the EC,” said Shah. It was an open secret that Chawla was a retainer of the Nehru-Gandhi clan.
The Home Minister also drew the attention of the nation to the 1975 Allahabad High Court verdict against Indira Gandhi, the then PM, for violation of the Representation of Peoples Act, 1950, in a petition filed by a political lightweight by the name Raj Narain, who lost to her heavily in the 1971 Lok Sabha election. “Indira Gandhi subverted the Allahabad High Court verdict by declaring an internal emergency and tampered with the Constitution by bringing the 39th Amendment, 1975, which made it impossible for anyone to challenge in court the election of a person who holds the office of the Prime Minister. Not content with the amendment, she went ahead and elevated M H Beg as Chief Justice, superseding three seniormost judges, including H R Khanna, the seniormost judge,” said the Home Minister. This could be one of the reasons why Congress doesn’t want the new generation to learn anything about the history of post-independent India.
It was an exhilarating experience listening to the Home Minister, who always maintains his cool demeanor unless he is provoked by the Opposition. Wednesday saw the Opposition benches getting clean bowled by the Home Minister, who taught them some lessons about how to come to the House prepared to corner the government. But it is doubtful whether his efforts to rejuvenate the LOP and his followers have hit the bull’s eye. One needs some dedication and devotion to excel in the game of politics. A reminder to those who threaten to drop atom bombs, hydrogen bombs, and plutonium bombs in one’s own country. There won’t be any life left in the country in the aftermath of a war fought with a hydrogen bomb or a plutonium bomb. It is always better to know the meaning of the terms one uses during press meets. There is one research laboratory at Kalpakkam near Chennai, which is named after a former Prime Minister. Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research, one of the hubs of the country’s atomic research laboratory. The LOP should take time off and visit IGCAR and learn basic things like what an atomic bomb and a plutonium bomb are. Fifty-five is the age when the new generation people relax at home and reminisce about the days of adolescence and youth.
Note:
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2. The views expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily represent or reflect the views of PGurus.
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