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It was in October 1999, that third Vajpayee government took office with a not so slender majority of 27 seats of which 8 is contributed by Mamata Banerjee. In return she got three ministers. Mamata with what she is made of could never hide her emotions and used every excuse to threaten the coalition with her party’s resignation.
Vinay Sitapati, in his Jugalbandi mentions how Vajpayee dexterously managed Mamata Banerjee. Once when she had handed over her resignation, Vajpayee leveraged his good relationship with Mamata’s mother and landed in Calcutta and invited himself to Mamata’s house for lunch. During the meal while complimenting mothers cooking of fish he commented on her daughter ‘Sometimes she gets angry over small things, she should not give that too much weight.’ Mamata Banerjee withdrew her resignation later that evening.
Narendra Damodardas Modi is not Atal Bihari Vajpayee neither is coalition politics of 1999 comparable with single party hegemony of 2021. We knew about the missing benevolence of the ruling but what about the camaraderie and bonhomie of our opposition leaders. Raising holding hands to announce Gadbandhans were good optics but behind it hidden in display was the corrupt dynastic power sharing electoral adjustments. Voter rarely missed that. Forget about alignment on ideas around social justice, secularism, and developmental economics there is not even an agreed common minimum program to address conflicts.
Indira Priyadarshini with her emergency excesses did something good that defined the Indian politics for next 45 years. She incarcerated entire opposition irrespective of whether they were Socialist or Sanghi. When you land up in Tihar with all the time in hand and only vocation you have is to read and play badminton what else is there to do? You talk, you debate with your fellow prisoners till you realise with humility that ‘Right’ has multiple shades.
Built on that camaraderie and mutual respect we got the Janata(s) and its coalition politics impact of which lasted for decades. As Modi is not Vajpayee neither is he Indira. Jail is for Kanaiya(s), Khalid(s), urban naxals and occasionally for journo(s). One time visit by former HM is the extent to which it can go, motivation for that as we know well, does not reside in political opposition.
As the chances of finding, Rahul, Tejashwi (not MP from Bangalore South without ‘h’), Akhilesh, Azad and Aditya in the same cell is remote unless may be (even then it is unlikely) Ajay Mohan Bhisht decides to take control of our flailing state in 2024. At present the chances of it looks remote like Bumra hitting a yorker for a six, but you never know anything can happen in Indian cricket so true to Indian politics.
We should not wait for that unlikely event rather make a call to Kumaraswamy in Bangalore and ask him to book a resort and pack Rahul along with our next generation political leaders to engage in nonstop talking Vipassana with breaks allowed only for few rounds of golf. If you have plans to better it, I would suggest one of the uninhabited islands in Lakshadweep which gives a chance to swim, dive in the sea and to play some cricket. It may be more gratifying for some while being politically correct.
Do you have better thoughts for a stable coalition of opposition? Be serious, our future depends on it.
–Sanjeev Sivadasan
Despite never-seen criticism by Indian and international media on poor Covid-management, the Indian government appears surprisingly nonchalant. Recent articles by senior journalists like Mr. Vir Sanghvi (a feeling of ‘smugness’ with the government), Mr. Shekhar Gupta (2024 can be challenging for Modi) and Dr. Yogendra Yadav (Government might look shaky but there is a lack of alternative) indicate government is on firm ground. What gives the government the confidence to remain smug?
They believe that theirs is the only approach to manage pandemic (or any other situation). Is it just the lack of defining leadership in the opposition? Why are they always eager to justify their actions and sermon about positivity? I have evaluated a few possibilities.
- Why is the government not that worried—Even countries like US and UK couldn’t do any better. The Indian government projects low death-rate as a success parameter, which technically is low. Overall, except in the last few months, India did surprisingly well. The govt has a convenient excuse of attributing the second-wave to mutated variants. Further, it’s already spun that ‘health’ is a state-subject; all blames for failure finally rest with state governments.
Anyway, except UP/Karnataka, states that witnessed heightened cases/deaths have non-BJP governments and this will be used during the next elections. The PR machinery is well-set for image-strengthening and silencing critics on these technical grounds.
- The second wave has been a giant killer that affected even the rich and upper-middle class. In the last wave, the poor and migrant workers were affected severely hence pandemic-related discussions were just academic. The moment the rich and upper-middle class are out of trouble, the uproar will vanish. Price-rise and unemployment seem to be non-issues at present.
- Again, technically, any govt can only provide guidelines and enforce shutdowns. The ultimate onus lies on citizens to abide and follow ‘social-distancing’. Hardcore BJP-supporters already remark that the citizens (who organized marriages, ignored covid-protocols) rather than Modi should be blamed. Small towns actually doubted the existence of coronavirus; I witnessed this firsthand when I was in India in February. If anything, the government policies worsened the situation by not preparing for the medical emergencies that would arise after people are infected.
- The Government reeks of confidence from experiences with ‘demonetization’ and other policies that didn’t get desired success. Though people suffered, they anticipated a better future through these ‘bitter pills’. People essentially want development and they have always tried to go an extra mile when persuaded by leaders in the past (Shashtri, JP), and they will do it again.
- Several decisions were taken keeping in mind the sentiments of orthodox majority-voters. Article 370, ‘triple talaq’, Shri Raman temple at Ayodhya and CAA elated the core-supporters, and they will vote on these bases alone. The report card looks terrific to them along with most media houses who are still gaga over Modi.
- Many Hindutva-supporters dwell in islamophobia worrying about Muslim-dominance in near future. Thus, their priorities are a bit misplaced. They prefer policies that keep Muslims under check to plans that uplift society holistically. Hence ‘triple talaq’ outweighs financial/medical reforms.
- The Government knows it has the luxury of support. State-level elections won’t affect national results as long as Modi is the tallest leader in India. Covid and vaccine-fiasco dented his image, but it is still better than other leaders. His ratings, though lower, are decent on Morningconsult.com (better than any Indian/world politician). Most Indians will anyway be vaccinated by next year and his ratings will improve.
- Opposition is lackluster. Opposition parties don’t have national-stature charismatic leaders. Though angry with Modi, people wonder about another suitable prime ministerial candidate. Congress party expects votes just because of this anger. Well, that hasn’t got them votes even in the state elections. The most that opposition parties do is Modi-bashing over twitter and fight among themselves while playing to government narratives.
- Modi keeps evolving and learns from mistakes. 2024 is still three years away. With ample time, money and resources, and public memory being short, pandemic-days will be forgotten soon. Moreover, BJP has a hunger to win, and they do work hard. Though they lost in Bengal, it is noteworthy that they improved from single-digit to near-triple-digit numbers.
- Any unprecedented incident can unite the on-fence Modi supporters. As seen around the 2019 election, the ‘surgical strike’ resulted in several extra votes for BJP. During any future crises, citizens will choose Modi than bringing in a new person at the helm of affairs.
No wonder BJP shows no signs of worry and asks everyone to be positive.
–Piyush Kumar
COVID-19 pandemic has adversely hit several vulnerable groups, pushing them further to the realm of periphery and depriving them of their rights as a citizen of our nation.
Whether it was women, or elderly, children or migrant workers, differently-abled or intellectually challenged, the lockdown and pandemic were gruesome for many marginalized groups. India’s oldest transgender group, the ‘Hijra community’ is one such group that struggled to cope up mentally, physically and financially with the unprecedented times of public health emergency of COVID-19 pandemic and yet continue to remain invisible during India’s mass vaccination program.
The nationwide lockdown in India brought a plight of misfortune on many daily wage workers and marginalized groups. India even witnessed a huge migrant exodus and reverse migration with millions of migrant and daily wage workers walking thousands of kilometres with their children and families to return to their homes.
The pandemic created insecurity, ambiguity and psychological distress amongst many daily wage workers which compelled them to take this drastic step of risking their lives and travelling back home. But, within such a crisis, one community that is already stigmatized and battling with discrimination and phobia was left unnoticed. It is the same community whose blessings are considered most pivotal for a newborn and the newlywed couple but, when it comes to their own life, society ostracizes them because of their gender and sexual identity.
India’s Hijra community, continue to live on the margins of society and has been extremely hard-hit by the pandemic. Being daily wage earners themselves, the lockdown decimated their livelihoods as they predominantly rely on begging, flamboyant dancing, sex work and collection of alms. The pandemic for them was extremely ruthless and entrenched in stigma, depriving them of the public health care facilities and mobility to access basic goods and services.
When the struggle of Delhi continues through the second wave of the pandemic, it is the Hijra community that has faced the most marginalization as they remain beyond the purview of the state-sponsored welfare schemes and also are discriminated against the mainstream society due to the prejudices surmounting their culture and sexuality.
Although some measures were taken by the National Institute of Social Defense (NISD) to reach out to Transgender people during the first phase of lockdown last year, these efforts were mostly negligible. The Census 2011 records around 488,000 trans people in our country but the NISD allowance hardly reached 1500 people which is almost 1% of the total Transgender population. Several activists demanded Government recognize trans people in the relief packages without giving much importance to the Ration Card, keeping in spirit the 2014 judgement of the Supreme in NALSA vs Union of India. However, no affirmative action has been taken in this regard.
Last year this community faced the brunt of fake news propaganda running against them during the lockdown, invoking violence against transgender persons. This year they continue to remain missing out on India’s vaccination program. Already several factors related to health like HIV, SRS make this community immune-compromised and now their invisibility at the vaccination centres conforms to the prevailing social exclusion the community has been grappling with. The instructions issued by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment in a letter to the states for conducting an awareness drive for this community is a welcome step. But does it fills the gap of the digital divide, lack of government identity cards and inaccessibility to the vaccination centres?
Data has shown that so far only 0.013% of the vaccinated population is transgender. Hence it remains extremely pivotal to ramp up the distribution of vaccines especially to the group of the population that has been ostracized by the dominant discourses. Establishing separate centres for the transgender population, rigorous awareness campaigns, ground-level engagement of social workers, fixing the daily amount of dosages for transgenders and easing the process of registration are some of the quick measures Centre can take to vaccinate the sexual minorities.
Considering the ongoing public health emergency in our country, it is proposed that the governments through the collective partnership with the corporate sector and the NGO sector should proactively consider the unprecedented difficulties faced by the Hijra community and implement corrective strategies to uplift this group from being further marginalized.
Chavi Ilwadhi
Reference to last week’s opinion piece by TN Ninan, I wish to add some perspective to the brilliant article. https://theprint.in/opinion/that-dream-home-is-still-a-dream-as-state-govts-civic-bodies-have-to-catch-up-with-centre/672141/
While all the points raised by him are true, one reason, in my opinion is most important of all the listed reasons. And that is high rate of taxation in various shapes.
I can give example of my state, UP.
It starts with registration of land which is 8% of land value. Followed by land conversion charges, for converting agriculture land to non agriculture, 1%.
This is followed by applying to local development authority for a sanction to develop a housing project. The development fees and other charges amount to around Rs. 3 Lakh for a small house of around 80-90 sq yards.
Thereafter all sales are charged a GST of 1 or 5 %, while no input is granted to builder, under revised GST rules, for materials purchased. At least 80% of purchases and labour should be GST paid otherwise builder has to pay a reverse charge GST on balance purchases or labour costs.
Definition of Carpet area is not still clarified under GST so there is always a risk of builder being penalized later for charging 1% GST while some assessing officer will insist that 5% was to be levied. Some builders charge flat 5% GST to avoid such a risk, ultimately this is to be paid by client.
Of the material going into building a house, Cement and paint are charged a 28% GST.
Once the house is ready, there is another charge of 8% of house value for registering in client’s name.
As per a study done by CREDAI, the portion of government charges and taxes is close to 60% of total cost of the house. Meaning thereby that if government forgoes a major portion of these charges, a HUGE boom can happen in housing sector which will ensure own house to so many people who can’t afford it currently and at the same time generating so much of direct and indirect employment, which is one of the highest in real estate sector.
Regards
Jaideep Lunial
Title: Democracy – An Example of Murphy’s law?
In my school days, I studied the definition of Democracy as
“जनता द्वारा, जनता के लिए, जनता का शासन” (Government of the people, by the people, for the people).
Only one part of this sentence makes sense now, and it is quite evident. Where do we lose those two words and especially the importance of these words?
From my school days to college, many things have changed so far. But when as a citizen I see outside, things look more dangerous now. We read about riots in the name of caste/religion/politics, suppression of voices of the general public and journalists, and use of sedition, UAPA laws, etc., on a daily basis.
It is not the only our country where these things are more frequent. In some countries, Institutions seem to be stronger and take firm and decisive actions, but institutes are weak more than ever when it comes to India. So, the question comes to a young person, where are we headed? Will this environment will be safe for my future kids?
This perplexing situation leads to many debates based on different ideologies. Ideologies seem more important than any scientific fact. When many known educated people fight for the wrong reason based on some ideology, I doubt the education system. Education is the backbone of development, but it seems contradicted without any social fibers.
We live in a world of climate change, pollution, degraded environment, pandemic, but wasting our resources on unlawful activities and destroying our society and culture. People are now declared Antinational instantly with just a question. People fear, and they are unable to speak. We have rights, right?
Fear makes someone’s life either horrible or sometimes it makes fearless. Both have repercussions that cost a lot. A student is watching polarization related stuff all around him, and social media and various news channels make it even worse.
When he turns 18, he will probably vote for parties based on caste/religion because even the academic syllabus is getting changed now. So, the same education is going to cost this society. Murphy’s law states that ‘Anything that can go wrong will go wrong.’ Democracy with a weak fourth pillar, “Media,” will push it into a dangerous building that can convert into debris. Prime times are comedy shows filled full hatred and drama. Even these comedy shows are not attracting enough spectators, and as a result, these are faking TRP Ratings. It seems quite funny, but that’s the sad reality.
With depleted natural resources, polluted environment, hatred-filled society, etc., we will be responsible for the upcoming generation’s sorrowful life. Everyone says, ‘every problem has a solution.’ Yes, the solution lies in the definition of Democracy only. The lost two parts of definition can be restored by that single part “By the people.” We, as citizens of India, need to oppose and stay united to restore constitutional values. We have to vote for an educated candidate instead of parties and ideologies. No more caste and religions are required for electoral purposes. We need to oppose certain things with unity; otherwise, days are near to have One Party One Rule. The need of the hour is to restore constitutional values and make the right decisions for society’s betterment.
— Rajpal Bijarnia
These pieces are being published as they have been received – they have not been edited/fact-checked by ThePrint.