BJP, to be different, it has to shun the love of power

The parliamentarians seem to be shameless and spineless creatures. Even Kindergarten children seem to have more discipline than these scoundrels. Why do they frequently stall the parliament and hold the nation to ransom? Why not debate and work out solutions in a disciplined and dignified manner instead of only playing the blame game and tricks of toppling the government? In this game nothing will materialize, as both will stick to their guns and the ultimate loser is the ‘aam admi’. The washed out winter session of parliament, stalled daily for 22 consecutive days due to opposition protests and adjournments, had translated into a loss of a staggering over Rs.171 crore to the nation. The amount if worked out with the expenditure for each day of a session calculates at an astronomical Rs.7.8 crore. Never before in the history of the Indian Parliament has a complete session been washed out without transacting any business. This is violative of all rules of business and ethics, it is rather criminal. Even question hour and private members’ business have been made a casualty. Shame on our democracy!

Regarding, BJP’s stand of stalling Parliament on the issue of price rise, it is an accepted fact that this phenomenon is a global issue. The global economy is in a crisis. And things are only going to get worse. Inflation is one of the manifestations of the global crisis, and arises from changes in the relationship between the volume of commodities and of money in the economy. A characteristic feature of international inflation is its global character. It affects all countries to one extent or another, lowering the buying power of all monetary units to varying degrees. At present, the fastest price rises are for goods of primary necessity that are constantly consumed - food and fuel. Presently, world economic crisis is at a precarious stage, manifesting itself primarily in the area of finance (destabilisation of stock markets, bank losses, growing inflation, and rising interest rates); the crisis will affect all countries that are part of the world economy, and will usher in a prolonged depression. The global economic de-stabilisation will have enormously destructive consequences. The crisis has seen a recession in the US and the beginning of an industrial downturn in other countries. Instead of BJP holding the nation to hostage, why they not give any suggestions to curb or control price rise? It is a constitutional duty of the opposition to play a helping hand in the progress of the nation instead of destabilizing the functioning of government.

On the second issue where the BJP has been training its guns on government, is their theory on intelligence failure of terror strike on Mumbai. However, it is strange for BJP to attack the government on terrorism and government failure. In fact, they should not forget that BJP during its rule had brought the terrorists right inside the Parliament. Further terrorism took its roots in the country only after L.K.Advani rath yatra and demolition of Babri Masjid. Thereafter, terrorist attacks on the country have been at regular intervals. All this goes on while recorded evidence shows that Advani led the symbolic religious caravan (rath yatra) across the country, which left behind a trail of anti-Muslims riots killing over 3000 Muslims and burning and looting their properties in many states. The BJP people have grossly misused their platform to air their biases, misinformation and lies. In government they have tried to change the secular outlook of the State. Of course, Advani and others who cons pirated the demolition are both criminals and mass murderers on a colossal scale. While Advani masterminded the Babri Masjid demolition and arranged for the subsequent mass murder of thousands of Muslims across the country he himself played a major role.

Later, the decision of the Vajpayee government to release three dreaded terrorists including Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) chief Masood Azhar in December, 1999 received a lot of flak from various political parties, more so because the then external affairs minister Jaswant Singh accompanied them (terrorists) to Kandahar. Azhar’s name had subsequently figured in the December 2001 terror attack on Parliament and the attack outside Jammu and Kashmir Assembly in Srinagar in the same month.  As a nation we do not have the guts to stand up to terrorism. We cannot take hits and suffer casualties. We start counting our dead even before a battle has been won or lost. We make a great show of honouring those who die on the battlefield and lionise brave hearts of history. We are, if truth be told, a nation of cowards who don’t have the courage to admit one’s weakness but are happy to blame others.  Nearly, after a decade after the incident, many people still hold the BJP-led NDA Government responsible for the ‘shameful’ denouement.

Lastly, just 24 hours after 3 blasts ripped through Mumbai, Congress and BJP had locked horns. With the BJP blaming the government policy on terror, saying vote bank politics had weakened the fight against terror, the government asked the Opposition to stop the petty politics. The BJP besides playing the blame game and accusing has nothing fruitful to offer to the nation. Terrorists strikes have been a regular affair and BJP-NDA during their rule had done nothing to stop them and now they are proudly preaching. It is not that we have not witnessed the acts of terror before. Starting from attack on Parliament, Ansal Plaza, Akshrdham temple, Raghunath Temple in Jammu; during NDA regime to blasts in Malegaon, Samjhauta express, Nanded, Jalna , Parbhani, attack on RSS headquarters in Nagpur and Chennai, killing of two Bajrang Dal workers in Nanded while making bombs, Hyderabad blasts and Jaipur one's the country has suffered enormously during the past decade.

Finally, the BJP always claimed itself to be a party with a difference but in practice it appears no different. Now, it’s high time it shuns its gimmicks and goes on the job of constitutional politics and shy aside the blame game. To be different, it has to shun the love of power. And to project itself as ‘a party with a difference’, it will have to put certain ideals ahead of power.