लोकतंत्र में सबसे बुरा होता है 'वाद' होने की संभावना का मर जाना

आज के कालखंड में जब भारत देश 'परिवारवाद' और 'राष्ट्रवाद' सरीखे मुद्दों में उलझा हुआ है, तब जो सबसे भयावह स्तिथि सामने आ रही है वह यह है की हम बात करने की अपनी स्वतन्त्रता खोते जा रहे हैं| सोशल मीडिया ने हमें अपने विचारों को पटल पर रखने का एक मंच दिया लेकिन उसके अत्यधिक इस्तेमाल ने हमें सिर्फ प्रतिक्रियावादी बना दिया है| आज हमारे हर एक कथन से हमारी पहचान बनायी जा रही है और उस पहचान को पाते पाते हम अपने नागरिक होने के अधिकार को खोते जा रहे हैं|  

13 मई 2012 को देश की संसद अपनी 60वीं वर्षगाँठ मना रही थी और कई नेता संसद और लोकतंत्र की सफलता पर भाषण दे रहे थे | उस समय कांग्रेस सत्ता में थी और भाजपा विपक्ष में| उस दौरान भाजपा के वरिष्ठ नेता श्री लाल कृष्ण आडवाणी जी ने एक शानदार भाषण दिया| उन्होंने कहा की भारतीय लोकतंत्र की सबसे बड़ी खासियत ये हैं की यहां विपरीत विचारधारा के प्रति सहिष्णुता का भाव होता है| आज भाजपा सत्ता में है और विपक्ष असहिष्णुता का नारा बुलंद कर रहा है| 

असहिष्णुता है या नहीं, इसपर सब की अलग अलग राय हो सकती है| लेकिन जो यथार्थ है वो यह की आज आप सत्ता के खिलाफ आसानी से आवाज़ नहीं उठा सकते हैं| अगर आप ऐसा करते हैं तो सबसे पहले आपका चरित्र हनन किया जाएगा| आपको देशद्रोही कहा जाएगा, आपके दादा-पड़दादा की कुंडलियां खंगाली जाएगी| और भी ना ना प्रकार के आरोप लगेंगे| लेकिन जो नहीं होगा वो यह की आपके द्वारा उठाये गए सवाल का जवाब नहीं दिया जाएगा| 

और ऐसा नहीं है की ऐसा सिर्फ सत्ताधारी या उनके समर्थक करते हों, बल्कि तमाम राजनीतिक दलों का यही हाल है। 

हद्द तो तब हो जाती है जब अरविंद केजरीवाल सरीखे नेता एक संवैधानिक पद पर रहते हुए देश के प्रधानमंत्री को खुले आम अपशब्द कहते हैं। उन्ही कि तरह देश की सबसे पुरानी पार्टी कांग्रेस के नेता दिग्विजय सिंह और मनीष तिवारी खुले आम सोशल मीडिया पर अपशब्द लिखते हैं। सबसे दुखद है कि अपशब्दों का इस्तेमाल आज के राजनीतिक परिदृश्य में लगभग लगभग अपना लिया गया है। ये देश की राजनीतिक भविष्य और हमारे समाज दोनों के लिए खतरे की घंटी है।

ऐसा नहीं है कि भारतीय राजनीति सदा से ऐसी ही रही। अगर हम पिछले एक दशक से पहले का राजनीतिक कालखंड देखें तो घोर से घोर विरोधी भी एक दूसरे के प्रति भाषायी सीमाएं नहीं लांघते थे। विरोध तब भी होता था लेकिन तर्कों के आधार पर शह और मात का खेल होता था। राष्ट्रवाद का नारा तब भी बुलंद था लेकिन तब विरोधी पक्ष को देश द्रोही नही करार दिया जाता था। 

आज हम भले ही अपने अपने नेताओं का पक्ष लेकर विरोधी पक्ष को नीचा दिखाने में कामयाब हो रहे हों लेकिन इससे हमारे देश का लोकतंत्र की कमज़ोर हो रहा है। भारतीय लोकतंत्र में संवाद को सदा से सर्वोपरि रखा गया है और संवाद ही है जो इस विभिन्नताओं से भरे देश को एक सूत्र में बांधता है। इसलिए संवाद जारी राखिये, खासतौर पर अपने विरोधियों से तार्किक संवाद कीजिये। आप किसी भी विचारधारा में विश्वास रखते हों, हमेशा याद रखिये हर विचारधारा का विकास संवाद पर भी निर्भर करता है। इसलिए लोकतंत्र को ज़िंदा रखने के लिए वाद करते रहिए। जय हिंद!

The lone battle of a Gandhiwaadi to bring Swacchta at Bapu’s memorial

Last year on 30^th November, Supreme Court gave an order mandating the nation anthem should be played before screening films in theatres. And the person who fought the matter legally is a Bhopal based social activist Shyam Narayan Chouksey.

But winning that battle was not enough to cheer Mr. Chouksey patriotism. Now he is battling up with another issue on which almost every Indian will provide support to Mr. Chouksey, 77, who retired as an engineer with the Central Warehousing Corporation in 2000. This time he has filed a PIL in Delhi Highcourt against the irregularities which has caused Mahatma Gandhi’s memorial ‘Rajghat’ to remain in bad conditions.  

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who himself hails from Mahatma Gandhi’s land of Gujarat is singing songs of Swacch Bharat but his own government has failed to keep the memorial of ‘Father of nation’ in good condition. According to an RTI, over Rs 4 crores are being spent on the maintenance of Rajghat annually, still things are not at place there.

Entering Bapu’s memorial Rajghat makes the petitioner SN Chouksey, angry as all he sees there is cigarette sticks, damaged wooden pieces, broken tiles, cracked taps, plastic wrappers and dirty toilets which in turn become breeding place for mosquitoes. He has also found that the white marble closer to the monument has gone black due to lack of cleaning and the green carpet has got damaged. In his own words “Bapu used to tell that Swacchta cleanliness is more important than Swadhinta (Independence) but his own Samadhi is craving for that. Where is the allocated money going?” He is also not happy with keeping a donation box near to Mahatma’s Samadhi.

In the petition filed through advocates Abhinav Shrivastava and Sameer Jain, Chouksey submitted photos of the various deficiencies that he had come across when he had visited the monument in past few years, when he claims the situation had worsened. 

He sought directions to MoUD to "stringently apply principles of cleanliness and sanitation at the Rajghat Samadhi, failing which the Ministry should be held liable and penalised for the same and to issue strict instructions to the President and Secretary of the Rajghat Samadhi Committee to perform their duties strictly as provided under the Act and Rules and to make the Rajghat Samadhi a world class monument".

The petition has also sought directions to the Rajghat Samadhi Committee "to carry out repair and maintenance work. To ensure proper maintenance and upkeep of the Samadhi a mechanism should be evolved by MoUD so that once the things are set right at the Samadhi similar situation should not develop again in future. For this, the government may form an independent committee of experts such as civil engineer, public health engineer, expert from horticulture department and expert in Gandhian philosophy."

According to him, he has fought for 11 long years to make sure National Anthem being played in movie theatres and he will not stop until the holy place gets its glory back. So far, in total 6 hearings has been happened at Delhi Highcourt over the same matter and he is hopeful that it won’t take too long to reach out to a conclusion, unlike before. Mr. Chouksey used to visit Rajghat thrice a year, he captures pictures there and submit the same in court.

Being a Gandhiwaadi, cleanliness always remain in his priority list and he believes one day India will become clean as Bapu wished for long ago.

आओ नया हिन्दोस्तां बनायें ...

आओ नया हिन्दोस्तां बनायें,

हिन्दू ख्वाजा दर जाएँ

मुसलमां गंगा नहायें

दोनों मिल बैठकर गायें

आओ नया हिन्दोस्तां बनायें|

कभी मैं उनके घर खाने जाऊं

कभी वो मेरे जीमण आयें

मिलबांटकर पान खाएं

आओ नया हिन्दोस्तां बनायें|

मैं कुरान की आयतों में रम जाऊं

वो गीता का पाठ पढाये

मिल बैठकर सार समझाएं

आओ नया हिन्दोस्तां बनायें|

मैं दिवाली पे उन्हें बुलाऊं

ईद पे उनके घर जाऊं

दोनों मिलकर होली रंग लगाये

आओ नया हिन्दोस्तां बनायें|

मैं हरा पहन जम जाऊं

उनको भी भगवा पहनाऊं

रंगों का ये भेद मिटायें

आओ नया हिन्दोस्तां बनायें|

मैं गीतों की माला बनाऊं

वो संगीत से उसे सजाएँ

मिलकर दोनों गाना गायें

आओ नया हिन्दोस्तां बनायें|

The Division of Uttar Pradesh Into four States: A Forgotten Issue

Back in 2012, during last Assembly Elections of India’s largest state, Uttar Pradesh, one of the top trending issue which was doing rounds was of division of state into four different states. Then chief minister of state and BSP Supremo even passed a resolution in Assembly in 2011 to split UP into four smaller states - Purvanchal, Bundelkhand, Awadh Pradesh and Paschim Pradesh in the interest of providing better administration. Later, it got stuck with Central Government ruled by Congress.

It was believed to be a populist move with which Mayawati thought will benefit BSP in elections but people gave Samajwadi Party, which was against the split, a massive majority and since then no party has dared to raise the issue. With Uttar Pradesh going to polls again, the issue related to split of state is almost dead now. Neither political parties nor people of state are talking about new states anymore.

As far as history is concerned, the state constitutes of several provinces which was called The United Provinces of Agra and Oudh which was shortened by the Government of India Act 1935 to United Provinces and then came the name Uttar Pradesh as province word doesn’t fit with the idea of Repubic.

Later in 2001, the first division happened when the NDA government which was ruling India created a separate state of Uttaranchal (renamed Uttarakhand).

The administrative challenge of governing a state as big as UP, cannot be over-stated. With 18 Administrative Divisions, 75 districts, and more than one lakh villages, Uttar Pradesh is the 5th largest state in India by area and the largest state by population. If it was made an independent country, it would be 5th largest in the world by population, after Indonesia.

UP is endowed with vast natural resources more than any other state in India. The alluvial plains along the rivers happen to be one of the richest natural gifts to the people (many empires of ancient India flourished in Uttar Pradesh). With fertile land, natural water resources, rich culture and an authoritative presence, in books of history- Uttar Pradesh (UP) has everything that an administrative unit needs, to write its growth story. But with such huge population & land area it becomes difficult for the government to concentrate on the particular area of development.

The argument that smaller states accelerate the pace of development can be debated but it appears to be largely a political idea. The BJP’s Election Manifesto for the Lok Sabha polls of 2014, in a section under “Strengthen the Framework”, emphasises the party’s recognition of regional aspirations and builds a case for greater decentralisation through smaller states. The BJP never misses a chance to take credit of creating the states of Jharkhand, Uttarakhand and Chhatssigarh during NDA-I. But this time, party is silent and so as BSP which passed a resolution back in 2011 to divide UP into four different states.

It is believed that Mayawati was the first politician who come up with the idea of splitting UP into smaller administrative units. But that’s not true, In 1955, Ambedkar in his book ‘Thoughts On Linguistic States’, proposed the idea of UP being split into three states with the Western Region having Meerut as its capital, the Eastern Region having Allahabad at its capital and the Central region with Kanpur as its Capital. Following the same theory, later in 2011, then BSP government decided to divide the state into 4 parts. According to Mayawati's blueprint, Purvanchal will have 22 eastern districts of the state including Gorakhpur. Lucknow, the capital, would be a part of Awadh Pradesh. Bundelkhand has seven districts; Paschim Pradesh or Harit Pradesh would include Meerut and Ghaziabad.

As far as UP’s growth is concerned, the state lacks badly in economic development and social development indicators are equally disappointing. According to a study by Reserve Bank of India (2013), with a total of 29.43% poor (BPL estimates), UP sits at the 20th position overall, way below the All India average of 21.92% (based on MRP consumption). According to Census (2011), only 27.3% people have access to tap water, and a depressing 35.7% have access to toilets, both well below the national average of 43.5%, and 46.9% respectively. Regionally, Pashchimanchal looks economically prosperous, Purvanchal and Awadh are the dawdler and Bundelkhand, including the area comes under Madhya Pradesh, one can see India of 1950s.

Generally, there is a perception that smaller states are easier to manage compared to larger states but if we look at the Per Capita GDP or GDP growth rates for each of the Indian states, there is hardly any correlation between the growth rate and size of these states and is mostly dependent on Government policies and other factors. Other issues which go against the division of state are cost of infrastructure which will huge if new states get created, reduced self-sustainability which will adversely affect the Bundelkhand region because of lack of resources in that area and also, it hurts the very idea of unity in Diversity.

The Government should consider setting up a State Reorganization Committee specifically tasked at the division of Uttar Pradesh into smaller states. The previous decisions on creating new states have been taken under political pressures, but the situation demands that the government needs to handle the issue by better political governance, fiscal management and rule of law. Regionalism, sectarianism and casteism are a major deterrent to a united India and the idea of dividing a state based on these factors is certainly not welcome.

Note: This article was first published in The Quint.

Why BJP is no more 'The Party with a Difference'

"Party with a Difference" — this tagline still features on Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP’s) website. Though it’s really tough to spot the difference. With Amit Shah as its president, BJP has become the world's largest party, according to its website, whose membership programme has often come into question.

In May 2014, when the BJP came to power with unprecedented majority and Narendra Modi was elected prime minister, it was expected that things would change and "The Party with a Difference" will work in a way ordinary citizens start observing the change.

Sadly, no such difference is visible despite the government completing two years and nine months in office.

Dynastic politics

The BJP has always accused the Congress, India’s oldest political party, of indulging in dynastic politics, but now it seems the ruling party is no different.

Most of BJP’s young MPs are in office because of the political weight of their parents and kin. Few such brand ambassadors of dynastic politics in the ruling party are Anurag Thakur (son of former CM of Himachal Pradesh Prem Singh Dhumal), Dushyant Singh (son of Rajasthan CM Vasundhara Raje, who is a daughter of late MP Vijaya Raje Scindia), Preetam Munde (daughter of Late Gopinath Munde, a stalwart of BJP's Maharashtra unit), Poonam Mahajan (daughter of late BJP minister Pramod Mahajan), Jayant Sinha (son of veteran BJP leader Yashwant Sinha), Abhishek Singh (son of Chattisgarh CM Raman Singh), Varun Gandhi (son of Maneka Gandhi and grandson of late prime minister and Congress leader Indira Gandhi) and power minister Piyush Goyal (son of late BJP minister Ved Prakash Goyal).

The list goes on when you dig deep into state-level political affairs.

Significantly, most of the coalition partners of the BJP, including PDP, Shiv Sena, Akali Dal and Apna Dal but BJP follow suit, but no sin in joining hands with them.If one goes through the party’s candidate list for the ongoing Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections, it becomes apparent that the "anti-dynasty" party has given around 60 tickets to politicians' children — the highest among all parties fighting elections.

Free for all

It won’t be wrong to say that the BJP, led by the Modi-Shah duo, has become the "Ganga" of politics where everyone, despite differences in ideology, criminal background and corruption allegations, are allowed to bathe in the saffron waters.

Well before the 2014 general elections, several opportunistic politicians joined the BJP, got tickets and few of them even got the ministerial berths in the Modi government. This happened in a party which takes pride in calling itself cadre-based. 

A recent excellent demonstration of this form of politics was observed in UP and Uttarakhand where many heavyweights took a holy dip in saffron sea. One of the gems being Vijay Bahuguna, former CM of Uttarakhand, who was accused of corruption during the Kedarnath crisis by none other than BJP itself. All his sins have been washed away in Assembly elections 2017.

Swami Prasad Maurya is another example. He joined the BJP and managed to get an MLA ticket for himself as well as his son. He is joined by the likes of Yashpal Arya, Rita Bahuguna Joshi and Ravi Kishan.

Today's BJP, led by second-generation leaders, has demonstrated a new way to grab power. The model was first implemented at Arunachal Pradesh, where party has been successful in breaking the PPA government and managed to form its government by borrowing 33 MLAs from, guess who, the PPA!

The saffron party tried the same tactics to seize power in Uttarakhand, but Supreme Court intervened and the Congress government led by Harish Rawat was able to complete its tenure.

Nagaland too is seems to be on the verge of getting a BJP government. Political observers have remained clueless about how such model of acquiring power will help the world’s largest party take voters into confidence and push forward its ideology.

Governance policies

Both UPA and NDA follow the same path when it comes to environment clearance. PM Modi openly mocks Congress for launching a scheme like MNREGA by terming it a monument of the grand old party’s failure, but allots Rs 48,000 crore to the scheme.

As far as crony capitalism is concerned, there is no difference the UPA and NDA governments' awarding policies. Where the Ambanis were the core beneficiaries in the previous regime, Adani now leads from the front.

Another emerging capitalist is Baba Ramdev - his Patanjali group crosses milestones every single day during Modi’s rule and it is a well-established fact that the self-styled yoga guru campaigned for the BJP during the 2014 general elections.

Yes, there are few things the BJP government did differently, like rechristening the Yojana Aayog as Niti Aayog, replacing JNNURM with the smart cities project, turning the Nirmal Bharat Mission into the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, Rajiv Gandhi Vidyutikaran Yojna to Deendayal Upadhyay Yojna and Rajiv Gandhi Seva Kendra to Atal Seva Kenda.

Here too the only visible change is of names and titles while the core policy remains the same.

Awarding Rajya Sabha seats 

Narendra Modi as CM of Gujarat used to target journalists of favouring the Congress so the party could offer them Rajya Sabha seats. No one can deny that the Congress did so in the past.

But the BJP is no different in this aspect too as it has accommodated industrialists, journalists and some "angry" sidelined leaders in the Rajya Sabha.

The names include Subhash Chandra (Chairman, Essar Group and owner of Zee Media), Swapan Dasgupta (senior journalist), Ramesh Poddar (industralist), Vijay Goel (sidelined Delhi leader and notorious sports minister).

Core issues of BJP

The core ideology of BJP revolves around three major issues — the construction of Ram Mandir, the removal of Article 370 and realising the Uniform Civil Code.

For the top leadership, the construction of Ram Mandir is no more an issue it has now begun repeating the Congress' line of adhering to the court’s order.

Some local leaders do mention it during election rallies, but that is merely to lure voters.

As far as the Uniform Civil Code is concerned, the BJP is silent on the subject except batting for the removal of triple talaq, which is actually a part of the very idea of UCC. But experts see this as a ploy to get Muslim women's votes.By joining hands with PDP in Jammu and Kashmir, the BJP has itself drawn the curtain over doing away with Article 370.

Not so corrupt

Modi government claims that not a single corruption case has been registered against it - unlike the previous Congress-led regime. That's true, until you dig deeper.

The way the BJP is different is that Modi government has (openly or through the backdoor) assumed control of all authorities and forced them to run as per their will. The government has even indulged in spats with Supreme Court on more than one occasion.

Several top posts are vacant, there is no sign of Lokpal and with loyalists heading agencies, it would be foolish to expect that bureaucrats report corruption in the government.

Meanwhile, chief ministers of most BJP-run states face corruption charges. Chhattisgarh CM Raman Singh is embroiled in the padding scam, MP CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan faced the brickbats in the Vyapam scam, the Rajasthan government led by Vasundhra Raje has a list of scams under its belt, including the mining scam, the LED scam, and the PHED scam.

Yes, the difference is that the Congress has failed to make the scams an issue in the respective states and at the national-level, whereas the BJP has - in the past - left no opportunity to target the Congress for corruption, successfully making it a national issue.

Note: This article was first published in DailyO.

Uniform Civil Code: A debate going around in circles

Uniform Civil Code is one of the three most controversial issues which right wingers think should be implemented while liberals see it as a threat to communal harmony of India. The other two issues are construction of Ram Mandir in Ayodhya and abolition of Article 370. All three issues are part of world’s largest party, BJP, core ideology and remain part of their election manifesto.

Uniform civil code is the proposal to replace the personal laws based on scriptures and customs of each major religious community in India with a common law. It should be distinguished from currently implemented public law. It will cover marriage, divorce, inheritance, adoption and maintenance.

The Constitution of India, under Article 44, directs the government as follows: “The State shall endeavor to secure for the citizens a uniform civil code throughout the territory of India.” But because of fear of losing Muslim votes, no Indian government has ever made an attempt to draft Uniform Civil Code. There are some technical contradictions as well, such as, Article 44 clashes with Article 25, assuring the freedom to propagate religion.

Currently, when India have Bhartiya Janta Party which principally supports Uniform Civil Code in power, the discussion on UCC is very much in public domain. The basic moot points are Triple Talaq, a quick divorce option for Muslim men, and polygamy, an Islamic custom which permits to have more than one wife or husband at the same time. The latter is strongly opposed by pro-Hindutva voices as they believe this a provision through which Muslims reproduce faster than Hindus and at some point Muslims could become a majority. But data suggests the incidence of polygamy is actually higher among Hindus than Muslims.

From time to time, the demand for a common civil code is renewed. This happened 30 years ago, at the time of the Shah Bano case, and it is now happening again in response to the case of Shayara Bano, who appealed to the Supreme Court to have the pernicious practice of ‘triple talaq’ abolished. And this time, the mood of country is looking less tolerant against the existing gender gaps, particularly where personal laws and religion are concerned.

The issue of Uniform Civil Code (UCC) is more about values existing within communities and not about their lifestyle and identities – that is what Tufail Ahmad, executive director of Open Source Institute, a Delhi-based think tank, feels. But that cannot be accepted as true in some senses. Almost six decades ago, The Special Marriage Act 1954 was enacted by Parliament of India to provide a special form of marriage for the people of India and all Indian nationals in foreign countries, irrespective of the religion or faith followed by either party. However since its inception, very few people have registered their marriage in accordance to that. As Indian right wingers are pushing for UCC, even they have failed to accept something similar which has already been part of Indian constitution.

When Hindu Code Bill was introduced, the extreme right wingers, who are demanding Uniform Civil Law now, actually opposed The Special Marriage Act including the then President Dr. Rajendra Prasad. The UCC has to be divided into three different parts and the problem which still persist in it is about gender justice. Also, it majorly consists of Hindu ritual which makes it unacceptable to other communities.

Same goes with Muslim acts as well, every state has its own marriage act. For instance Kashmir’s Muslim marriage act is very much different from Uttar Pradesh’s Muslim marriage act and in similar way Hyderabad’s and Madras marriage acts are different too for Muslims. And other than that, we do have different marriage acts for Christians, Persians, etc. That sjows how complicated this issue is. During the debate on this matter in the Constitution Assembly, Dr Ambedkar said “It will be foolish for any government to impose such laws against the wish of people”.

One issue which is doing rounds at public forums is about its terminology as well. Many people have recommended to call it Common Civil Code rather than Uniform Civil Code as Article 14 of our Constitution says “Un-equals cannot have same laws”, Its just like saying un-equals cannot be treated as alike and equals will be treated as alike.

This discussion is endless and it will be better if government put a draft in public domain for further discussion. It will help everyone to focus on intended points only.

Note: This article was first published in LokMarg.

पांच राज्यों के चुनाव नतीज़ों पर मेरा मत

पांच राज्यों के चुनाव नतीज़ों पर मेरा मत-

उत्तर प्रदेश - 2 महीने पहले, प्रदेश की राजनीति में जाति की उपयोगिता पर एक लेख लिखा था लेकिन प्रदेश की जनता ने मुझे गलत साबित किया| जाति से उठकर, मोदी जी के विकास मॉडल पर अपना भरोसा जताया है| समाजवादी पार्टी को कांग्रेस से और बसपा के मुसलमान उम्मीदवारों से काफी नुकसान हुआ है| भगवा छा गया है, देखते है क्या बदलाव आता है| भाजपा के पास 2 साल हैं क्योंकि 2019 में उत्तर प्रदेश की जनता को मोदी जी को जवाब देना होगा|

पंजाब - अकाली-भाजपा के 10 साल के कुशासन को जनता ने नकार दिया है| बल्कि कैप्टेन अमरिंदर पर भरोसा जताया है, जिससे कांग्रेस को भी संजीवनी बूटी मिल गयी है| सिद्धू पाजी का निर्णय सही साबित हुआ| आम आदमी पार्टी क्यों हारी, इसकी समीक्षा करनी पड़ेगी लेकिन 2 कारण से यह अच्छा हुआ| पहला, आप का घमंड चरम पर था, अब जमीन पर आ जाएंगे| दूसरा, विपक्ष में बैठकर जनता का विश्वास जीत सकते हैं| भगवंत मान जैसों को सर ना चढ़ाये, जो अपने लोकसभा क्षेत्र में एक विधानसभा न जीत पाये, ऐसा नेता किसी काम का नहीं|

उत्तराखंड - बड़े भाई उत्तर प्रदेश के नक्शेकदम चल कर पूरा राज्य भगवा में रंग गया है| कांग्रेस की बड़ी दुर्गति हुई है| हालाँकि, जीती हुई भाजपा में काफी अवसरवादी कांग्रेसी भरे पड़े हैं|

गोवा - मनोहर पर्रिकर को दिल्ली बुलाने से भाजपा को बड़ा नुक्सान हुआ है| कांग्रेस सबसे बड़ी पार्टी जरूर बनकर उभरी है लेकिन बहुमत से दूर है| मोदी जी की कुछ और सभाएं हुई होती तो वहां भी भाजपा जीत सकती थी|

मणिपुर - 15 साल शाषन करने के बाद भी कांग्रेस सबसे बड़ी पार्टी बन गयी है लेकिन बहुमत से दूर| लेकिन यहाँ 2 रोचक घटनाएं हुई| भाजपा ने 0 से दूसरी सबसे बड़ी पार्टी बनने का सफर तय किया है| राम माधव और उनकी टीम ने बेहतरीन काम किया है| देखना रोचक होगा किसकी सरकार बनती है| लेकिन इसी के साथ अपना पूरा जीवन मणिपुर को समर्पित करने वाली 'आयरन लेडी' इरोम शर्मिला बुरी तरह चुनाव हार गयी हैं| उनके लिए दुःख महसूस कर रहा हूँ, उनके जज़्बे को सलाम|

और अब एक-एक लाइन कुछ बड़े नेताओं के लिए -

नरेंद्र मोदी - प्रधानमंत्री मोदी आज के समय में अजय हैं। जनता ने इन पर भरोसा जताया है, उम्मीद है वह उसपर खरे उतरेंगे|

अखिलेश यादव - बड़ों का अपमान करके चुनाव नहीं जीते जाते| अपनों को छोड़कर , डूबती नैया की सवारी करने का खामियाजा भुगतना पड़ा|

मायावती - इनका तो अब दलितों ने भी साथ छोड़ दिया| महलों में रहकर गरीबों की राजनीति अब नहीं चल पाएगी|

अरविन्द केजरीवाल - इनको मैं 3 सुझाव दें चाहूंगा। जमीन पर आ जाईये, सुबह शाम मोदी जाप करना बंद कीजिये और दिल्ली में काम करिये।

राहुल गांधी - यह अगर कांग्रेस और देश का भला चाहते हैं तो तुरंत राजनीति से संन्यास ले लें|

एक रिटायर्ड आई.ए.एस का अरविन्द केजरीवाल पर अटूट विश्वास

पिछले दिनों की बात है, बैंकाक से दिल्ली आ रहा था| विमान की बगल वाली सीट पे एक बुजुर्ग बैठे थे| शुरू के एक घंटे में तो हम दोनों खुद मे ही मशगूल थे की तभी उन्होंने मुझसे पुछा “कहाँ के रहने वाले हो?”, मैंने बड़ी विनम्रता से कहा “जयपुर”| उन्होंने तपाक से कहा बीजेपी के राज में मजे कर रहे हो| मैंने कहा नहीं ऐसी तो कोई बात नहीं है और उनसे पुछा आप कहाँ रहते हैं? उम्मीद के अनुसार उन्होंने कहा दिल्ली!

बस फिर क्या था, पूरी वार्ता केजरीवाल बनाम मोदी हो गयी| मैंने पुछा क्या लगता है केजरीवाल सही काम कर रहा है? वो बोले “केजरीवाल करना तो बहुत कुछ चाहता है, लेकिन मोदी को गद्दी छिनने का डर है और वो केजरीवाल को काम नहीं करने दे रहा!” वो यही नहीं रुके, बोले मैं इतने साल से दिल्ली का निवासी हूँ, कभी नहीं देखा की इमानदारी से काम हो रहा हो| लोग कहते हैं की वो बंगले में रहता है, सरकारी गाडी में चलता है, विज्ञापन देता है... मैं उन सबसे पूछना चाहता हूँ क्या पुरानी सरकारें सड़क पे रहती थीं? वो भी यही सब करती थी और इसके साथ-साथ भ्रष्टाचार भी करती थी| उनसे तो बेहतर ही है केजरीवाल|”

मैंने पुछा आपका मोदी जी के बारे में क्या ख्याल है? वो बोले, आदमी इमानदार है पर घमंडी है| उसे केजरीवाल से डर लगता है, इसलिए ही वो केजरीवाल को परेशांन कर रहा है| अगर सच में देश का भला चाहता तो केजरीवाल को साथ लेकर चलता| पूरे देश में क्या आम आदमी पार्टी के एम् एल ए ही ख़राब हैं?

अब हम खाने में मशगूल थे, फिर वो अपनी एक किताब में मशगूल हो गए| मैं भी अपने आप में मशगूल हो गया| फिर वो तपाक से बोले “केजरीवाल ही देश का भविष्य है, यही एक इंसान है जो देश बदल सकता है|” मैंने कुछ न कहना ही बेहतर समझा|

अब हम दिल्ली पहुँच चुके थे| मैंने उनसे पुछा, आप इतनी बारीकी से हर बात को समझाते हैं, इसका कारण? वो बोले “I am a retired IAS and have worked with different governments, इसलिए ही इतने विश्वास से कहता हूँ केजरीवाल में विश्वास रखो, वो हम सभी को एक बेहतर कल देगा! ”

Smart Cities and RSS: Two contradictory sides of Narendra Modi

Soon after coming to power, Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a grand announcement of setting up 100 new smart cities in the country. Later, the ministry of urban development has prepared a draft concept note on the smart city scheme. The government had announced a plan to develop 100 smart cities to provide better amenities in urban areas. The 100 smart cities will include all state capitals and union territories. It will also comprise 44 cities in the population range of 1-4 million people, nine satellite cities with a population of 4 million or more, 10 cities that are of religious and tourist importance and 20 cities in the 0.5 to 1 million population range.

India is urbanizing at an unprecedented rate, so much which estimates suggest nearly 600 million of Indians will be living in cities by 2030, up from 290 million as reported in the 2001 census. It is clear that Prime Minister wants to take the living standard for big cities to a new level where 24X7 utility services becomes an essential part of public service delivery mechanism.  High quality infrastructure and technology based governance will be provided to the citizens.

The whole idea looks good for India as it will change the face of country in global market. But there are many other aspects too, which requires lot of brain storming. The very basic requirement to build a new smart city will required land pulling, that will add more fuel to the heat created due to the suggested changes in Land Acquisition Bill by NDA government. Even on ground, farmers are reluctant to give up their plots of land as they know their employment prospects in the new cities are dim, concentrated in low-wage and insecure informal work.

The other and the most interesting facet of smart cities concept is RSS, which is also a serious ‘backstage’ stakeholder in Narendra Modi lead government. It may be an 89 year old organisation, identified as representing a more conservative set of values. But the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) is witnessing steady progress by introducing many technologically advance programs. RSS knows that its growth is inversely proportional to the development of smart cities and there will be no place for RSS’s core Hindu ideology is any of the smart city and that will act as a barrier in its expansion.

It is evident that according to RSS, two different nations India and Bharat resides in our nation and RSS always bats for the very idea of ‘Bharat’. Their view suggest that the very idea of westernization persists deeply in the urban class which they called India.

RSS knows the idea of smart cities is so appealing that it will openly fascinate the rural crowd and will directly impact to their aspirations. It will be wrong to say that RSS is present in urban cities but majorly in terms of ideological connect, it is very strong among rural masses. Even today, ‘Shakha’ plays a vital role in the personality development of many rural and small town children.

On the other hand, smart cities will follow the western pattern of development which will consist of tall buildings, largely English speaking crowd, well decorative public spaces and high class infrastructure. It is obvious to understand that such places have no space for RSS to hold ‘Shakhas’ for engaging masses. A study suggests that in last one year ‘Shakhas’ have grown by 18% across country. No doubt, Modi’s popularity has played a key role in the sudden growth of RSS and enhanced its reachability towards urban youth.

Modi’s smart city plan is, commendably, linked to expanding manufacturing jobs. Newer and better urban infrastructure, in theory, will attract investment and jobs, but the principle of “if you build it, they will come,” in India as well as elsewhere in the world, has produced more white elephants than thriving cities. RSS used the same argument when Rajiv Gandhi was keen on introducing computers based infrastructure in India but now things are different. This time RSS can’t dare to oppose the idea at open platforms because of two very strong reasons. First, this time the ruling party is BJP, which considers RSS its ideological parent. Secondly, in this globalized era, RSS can’t afford the hating of aspiring youth which constitutes 65% of India’s population in total.

From a distance, it appears that RSS going through its golden phase but the truth is, RSS top brass is actually worried about the future of their organization. Modi’s political and ideological background deeply connected with RSS but since 2002, when Modi crown as the CM of Gujarat, their relationship saw many ups and down. During his 12 years long regime, he sidelined RSS, VHP and many other organizations which consider BJP as their political brother. But, you may call it the beauty of Indian politics, the same organization put their all weight and efforts behind Modi during 2014 general elections.    

Things are different now, despite of having differences on many issues, Modi and RSS are incomplete without each other and shaping up the idea of smart cities is need of the hour.  

This article was first published in Janta Ka Reporter.

The Battle of Uttar Pradesh: Here people vote for caste not leaders

The principal architect of Indian constitution Dr. BR Ambedkar once said “Caste is not a physical object like a wall of bricks or a line of barbed wire which prevents the Hindus from co-mingling and which has, therefore, to be pulled down. Caste is a notion; it is a state of the mind.” But in India’s largest state, Uttar Pradesh, where the name of Dr. Ambedkar holds a big impact, these words seem to be wrong. 

The debate between casting the vote and voting for caste has always been a heated one when it comes to elections in the Hindi heartland, and more so in Uttar Pradesh, which is not only bigger than many countries of the world, but is also a key player in deciding the national vote with its 80 Lok Sabha seats.

It is so evident in UP that the party which will be able to get 30% votes will emerge as a winner. But the whole ‘Dangal’ has stuck among 23% upper caste population, 41% other backward castes, 21.1% Dalits and 19.3% Muslims. In the battlefield, BSP chief Mayawati is considered to be the savior of Dalits whereas SP chief Mulayam is considered to be the rescuer of Muslims.

In last General elections, BJP won 73 seats out of 80 and that was because of the brilliant arithmetic BJP followed along with polarization while distributing tickets. In 2014, BJP fielded 25 OBCs, 17 Brahmins, 14 Thakurs, 17 Dalits, 3 Vaishays and one Pasi and Bhumihar each while 2 seats were given to Apna Dal. It means 27 tickets were given to OBC candidates if the Apna Dal is included. Interestingly, the BJP has always fought for 50 percent of the total votes since the remaining have traditionally never voted for the BJP.

This time too, the Bhartiya Janta Party is playing strategically and has appointed 23 OBCs as District level heads and 2 Dalits. The focus of BJP is to get 60% of upper caste vote and 32% of other backward castes. Party understands in presence of SP, BSP and Congress, it will not be able to woo Muslim voters towards itself. If Muslim votes will get split into BSP and fractions of SP then it will be beneficial for BJP and that’s the reason some SP leaders are blaming BJP for the fractions emerged in SP.

Recently, Supreme Court of India ruled out that politicians cant’s seek votes on the basis of religion, caste, creed or language and on the very next day BSP chief Mayawati releases a list of 403 candidates citing their religious and caste background. One may consider it as contempt of court but that represents the reality of political battleground of Uttar Pradesh.

Everyone understands the ticket distribution game of Mayawati. If three dominant castes and religions are added, the constitute 51 percent of the vote. If Muslim voters go in favour of the BSP, the scenario will be changed drastically if not then Muslims votes will be fragmented. If Muslims vote for Mayawati’s share may touch 40 percent but it seems unlikely. The changes in the pattern of the BSP’s ticket distribution in UP reflect these objectives. BSP is focusing on Dalit-Muslim-Brahmin combination.

This time Dalit Tsaritsa Mayawati has played a master stroke by giving more tickets to Muslims as she is keen to take advantage of split in Samajwadi Party, which usually a favorable option for Muslim community. Overall, Mayawati has given 97 tickets to Muslim candidates, 87 to Dalits, 106 to OBCs, 113 to upper castes (66 to Brahmins, 36 to Kshetriyas and 11 to Kayasthas, Vaishyas, Punjabis). This is actually the original formula which lead to a grand victory of Mayawati in year 2007.

On the other hand, another key player of Uttar Pradesh, Samajwadi Party, which is on the verge to split into two sections always focused on Muslims and Yadavs. According to a study, 80% of Yadav votes and 50% of Muslim votes usually go with Samajwadi Party along with that party always able to get some votes from other communities as well. This time too, the ruling party is focusing to get 65% of Yadav-Muslim votes, 14% of Brahmin votes and the other 30% of backward castes. But their real problem is the party has divided into 2 camps and this may benefit BSP a way as Muslim vote will divert to it.

As far as Congress is concerned, it has no base left in Uttar Pradesh and it is solely looking towards SP for a tie up. Rahul Gandhi had rounds of Yatras but that will hardly be going to make an impact among voters.

The Election Commission has announced elections in 5 states and this battle will get more interesting in coming days. So far only BSP has officially announced a list of candidates and other key players, SP, BJP and Congress are holding their cards to make sure no way they make a wrong choice.

BJP, like in Bihar will go with the face of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and is keen to take advantage of Demonatisation. From the recent Opinion Polls, BJP seems to be a frontrunner and majority of people has supported PM Modi’s Demonitisation move but it will not so easy in absence of a CM face. The other and most popular face of UP, Akhilesh Yadav who is looking for a second term is having a tough time because of the fractions in family which lead to split in party. The stark reality is that caste and religion are the deciding factor in state politics and it will be interesting to see which party will emerge as champion.

                                                                                         

This article was first published in The Quint.