Mockery of Code of Conduct

On March 16, 2024, the Election Commission of India announced a surprisingly long duration of the Lok Sabha elections and with it came into force the Model Code of Conduct (MCC). The MCC is a set of guidelines issued to regulate political parties and candidates prior to elections. The rules range from issues related to speeches, polling day, polling booths, portfolios, the content of election manifestos, processions, and general conduct, so that free and fair elections are conducted. One of the most important points in the MCC for a diverse country like India is:

“No party or candidate shall include in any activity which may aggravate existing differences or create mutual hatred or cause tension between different castes and communities, religious or linguistic.”

The MCC also says:

 “..Criticism of other parties or their workers based on unverified allegations or distortion shall be avoided.”

“There shall be no appeal to caste or communal feelings for securing votes. Mosques, Churches, Temples or other places of worship shall not be used as forum for election propaganda.”

Sadly, it is neither surprising nor unexpected that the BJP leaders and campaigners are blatantly spreading hate on the basis of religion and lies. I wrote about BJP’s numero uno campaigner’s hate and lies in this blog post. Scroll journalists Tabassum Barnagarwala and Abhik Deb did the unenvious job of going through 5 days worth of speeches by the numero uno and fact checking each and every claim. They found a plethora of lies and divisive statements.

Other ministers and campaigners of the BJP took their cue from the parivar pramukh and spread similar lies and hate. Here are just some highlights low lights:

Amit Shah said in West Bengal that Mamta Banerjee’s government is one of “mullas, madrassas and mafia”

Violating multiple points of the MCC in one speech in West Bengal, the UP chief minister, Ajay Bisht said that “Bengali Hindus participated in the Ram Janmabhoomi movement to demolish the structure of slavery”

(HindutvaWatch is an excellent resource to see the amount of hate done by Hindutvavadis. But it is extremely depressing as well. Please use discretion while going through their timeline. Kudos to them for doing this amazing documentation work!)

Union Minister Anurag Thakur (of goli maaro saalo ko fame) said in Himachal Pradesh that in Congress manifesto it is written that they plan to give your (Hindu) children's property to Muslims.

It says a lot about our political discourse and mainstream media that the BJP believes it can get away with spreading lies about what is written in the Congress manifesto when it is the easiest fact check in the world. On 1^st May, students from Galgotiya University in Noida marched to the Congress headquarters in Delhi to protest against supposed references to inheritance tax and wealth redistribution in their manifesto. Sadly, many students could not answer simple questions about their concern, motive or placards. Even more depressing and concerning were the reading skills of some of the college students.

The BJP’s Instagram account went many steps further in spreading hate and lies. They uploaded this horrible crude video building on the lies about the Congress manifesto redistributing wealth but going many steps further (and back) directly comparing it to the Muslim league. The video, which has thankfully been taken down, also says that ancient India was so prosperous that ‘each and every’ average citizen had plenty of gold and ‘invaders’ looted us and destroyed temples. It actually has this line – “If you are a non-Muslim, Congress will snatch your wealth and distribute it to Muslims”.

Meanwhile, the Election Commission of India (an independent, constitutional body in charge of conducting free and fair elections) seems to have adopted the original Japanese proverb – “see not, hear not, say not.” They have taken no action themselves against BJP for the blatant lies, hate speech, use of religious symbols or targeting of minorities. When the Congress party, CPI(M) and civil society activists urged them to act, they behaved as if the Prime Minister is Lord Voldemort and sent a notice to BJP President JP Nadda asking for comments on behalf of BJP's “star campaigners” instead of directly seeking explanations from the biggest “star” himself.

In related news, there is also a huge concern over the Election Commission’s voter turnout data. There was an unprecedented delay in releasing the data after the first two phases of the election. The voter turnout data for the first phase was released 11 days after  polling ended, while the second phase data was released 4 days afterwards.

It is indeed sad that the Election Commission of India is in such disarray. It has an illustrious history of conducting successful elections in the biggest democracy in the world. The first Chief Election Commissioner of India, Sukumar Sen, not only oversaw India’s first two elections, but also was the first Chief Election Commissioner of Sudan. This excellent episode on the Bharatiya Junta Podcast talks about him in the context of India’s first ever elections.

Why are the current Election Commission members acting so helpless then? The answer may lie in how they are being appointed. Last year in March, a Supreme Court Constitution Bench ruled that the appointment of the Chief Election Commissioner and Election Commissioners must be done on the recommendation of a committee consisting of the Chief Justice of India (CJI), the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha. This would ensure an impartial selection. However, on 12^th December 2023, the BJP cleared a Bill which changed the committee to remove the CJI and instead replace him/her with a Union Cabinet minister nominated by the prime minister. Oh and it just so happens that when this Bill was cleared, 146 opposition MPs were suspended from Parliament. This again was unprecedented.

3 months after passing the new law to appoint Election Commissioners and just weeks before the biggest election in the world, Arun Goel, whose term was supposed to last till 2027, quit suddenly. No one knows the reason but there are rumours of rifts with the current CEC, Rajiv Kumar. Goel is not the only Commissioner to quit suddenly. In August 2020, Ashok Lavasa, resigned just months short of becoming the Chief Election Commissioner. He was the only member of the 3-person commission to rule that PM Modi violated the Model Code of Conduct while campaigning for the 2019 general elections. His demand that dissent notes should be recorded in the commission’s orders on model code violations was rejected with a majority vote. ‘Coincidentally,’ his wife, sister and son had all received notices from the Income Tax department.

After Arun Goel resigned suddenly, the Government of India appointed 2 new Election Commissioners just two days before the elections were announced. The ‘impartial’ committee headed by PM Modi did not give any time to the only opposition member in the committee - Congress Leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury. The names of shortlisted officers were not made available to him in advance despite his request. The Government sent him the names of over 200 officers just one day before on Wednesday, 13^th March. On Thursday, he was given a short list of 6 names just moments before the meeting. Then Amit Shah proposed two names and PM Modi asked him for his “opinion”. Small mercy for following process, at least for the sake of it. For what its worth, Chowdhury recorded his formal dissent and the Supreme Court heard the case due to many petitions filed challenging the validity of the law on the appointment of election commissioners. However, since the general elections were just around the corner, the Supreme Court did not want to take any actions and just “reprimanded” the government and said that they could have examined the names more slowly. Thank you, my lords! This wonderful cartoon by PenPencilDraw completely sums up the current situation:

 

 

 

Lagegi Aag

On the night of April 21, 2024, I happened to read and get deeply invested in two seemingly disconnected news items, which I realise now how related they are:

First

Our great supreme leader, the honourable fancy dress competition winner, said yesterday in an election rally in Rajasthan that the Congress party wants to take your wealth and give it to those who have more children and (if that particularly horrible stereotype peddling wasn't enough) "infiltrators". Then he went on to say that they are planning to take wealth and gold from women and give them to Muslims and that they will also take your mangalsutra. Oh, and if all of this wasn't enough, he used the dog whistle of "urban naxals" too. This was all in a 2 minute clip. I haven't heard the full speech from the rally. All of these are lies, hate speech and propaganda. That the PM of a country which has 22 crore Muslim citizens says this is just unimaginably horrible. If a fact check is needed, one can read this statement in the PMO archives themselves (from an era where PMO actually stood for something). The clarification is really worth reading. It is something which each and every Indian government as well as the powerful elite should strive to do. The Congress manifesto of 2024 too is worth reading. It is well made as opposed to the BJP manifesto which was released as a formality and contains 56 photos of Modi in different fancy dresses. My favourite is the CPI(M) manifesto but that's a different conversation. In the meantime, instead of reading different links, just see this amazing video on the hate speech and its fact check by Dr. Medussa:

Second

Chinmay Mandlekar (popular Marathi actor) and his wife Neha are facing immense trolling ever since the right wing trolls found out that their son's name is Jehangir. Trolls are pouncing on the fact that Chinmay has played Shivaji Maharaj multiple times on film and TV. They both have released statements. Neha's statement is good and worth hearing. Chinmay's statement has some problematic aspects like patriarchal language ("head of the household") and refusing to utter any 'M' words like Mughal or Muslim. Chinmay is also fiercely 'apolitical' and says that he has voted for different parties in every election and has never promoted any specific party. That holds up well upon a cursory glance of his Instagram timeline. But he has played the significant role of Farooq Ahmed Dar a.k.a Bitta Karate in the "oscar award worthy" film Kashmir Files. The film resulted in actual Islamophobic slogans in theatres and its success prompted a glut of other propaganda films. Granted that Chinmay did not make the film and perhaps for him getting a role in a big Bollywood film was a big deal. He might have acted very well too (I haven't seen it) but after the movie came out and he saw it (hopefully) and the reactions and discourse around it, shouldn't he be feeling any remorse? It’s a difficult question to answer but it is an important question to ponder. On a related note, Adil Hussain recently expressed regret on playing a role in the horribly misogynist film Kabir Singh made by Sandeep Reddy Vanga (director of ‘Animal’). Adil said that he finished his scene in one day but after seeing the movie he felt embarrased and hoped that his wife will never see the movie. This is the kind of reflection that we need.

Coming back to our supreme leader behaving like a Bajrang Dal shakha pramukh and making deplorable comments – the rot stems from the top. Seeing the PM make such statements gives impetus to all his ministers (chief or otherwise) to say similar and more horrible things. The Election Commission of India being mute spectators and mainstream media just ‘reporting’ the speech as it is without fact checks or calling it out, gives even more leeway to hate mongers. This trickles down to common people and they start believing that it is normal and actually rewarding to say such statements. And ultimately, social media which breaks the barrier between celebrities and their fans/haters makes it possible to say whatever you like to celebrities. The trolls who are hounding the Madlekars for naming their son Jehnagir are just building on the Muslim hate espoused by their hero, the Prime Minister. 

I really feel bad for the Mandlekars and even more so for their 11 year old son. They should not have to go through this. It’s great that they are standing up for this, albeit with some misplaced beliefs. But they and their oppressor caste community members (like me) need to realize soon that remaining ‘apolitical’ is a privilege and a complete disservice to humanity. Chinmay Mandlekar remaining apolitical, deciding to act in a propaganda film, remaining aloof about what is happening in his country and the world never thought that he will be personally affected by this just for naming his son Jehangir. But, as Rahat Indori has said, 

“Lagegi aag toh aayenge ghar kayi zad main

Yahan pe sirf hamara makaan thodi hai”

(Rough translation)

“Any fire will consume the whole neighbourhood

My house doesn’t stand apart on its own”

The Secularist's Conundrum

On Monday, 7th April 2014, India will begin it's longest and according to many people the most important election since Independence. The pre-election opinion polls have confirmed the 'Modi wave' and the lotus seems to be blooming. 

There is no doubt in my mind that from the point of view of development, economics, jobs etc. BJP is the best party for India. The Congress, AAP and Third Front don't even come close. Narendra Modi's Gujrat model, track record and proven credentials as mentioned very nicely in this article cannot be doubted. Sure there are questions about health, education, inclusive growth etc. but there is no doubt regarding the development. People who have been visiting or staying in Gujrat since the last decade and dealing with its extremely efficient bureaucracy say the same things. Unlike Rahul Gandhi who is just talking and that too sparingly and Arvind Kejriwal who is only interested in activism, Narendra Modi has shown his merit time and time again. It is not easy to win 3 elections on a trot. I think that the Indian voters are quite clever and they always support development. I'm sure people of Gujrat wouldn't have voted for Modi unless there was a reason even leaving aside the polarization of votes. Even Modi haters (and there are many) need to appreciate these facts just like Modi lovers need to appreciate the fallibleness of their beloved leader. So the real and only question which remains is whether you can forgive or ignore or brush aside or neglect the incidents in Ayodhya 1992 and Godhra 2002? And that is the big conundrum faced by the secularists.

I have thought a lot about this and have gone back and forth, but I don't think I will be be able to just blank out the pogrom of 2002 and horrible riots of 1992. Recently Cobrapost released videos of a sting operation about the Babri Masjid demolition in '92. Basically, it proved what was known all along that BJP, Shiv Sena, VHP and Bajrang Dal leaders had planned the demolition and it was not a mob gone crazy as they claim. While BJP has cried foul over the timing of the sting, Pramod Muthalik is confused why BJP are denying their involvement and says the sting is completely true. Sanjay Raut has defiantly said that the fact that Shiv Sena and BJP had conspired to demolish the mosque is nothing new. Some of the details really shocked me, like the fact that there was a training cum brainwashing camp a month ago and they wanted some Hindus to die at the hands of the police so that it will prove to be a catalyst. Apparently Shiv Sena were planning to blow up the mosque using dynamites if petrol bombs and other techniques failed. More than 2000 people died in the resulting communal violence. This does not include loss of property and the tremendous blot on communal harmony. The 1993 bomb blasts were also done as a revenge to this incident.

Godhra and the resulting communal violence is another issue. It is true that the SIT appointed by the Supreme Court haven't been able to prove anything against Narendra Modi yet. But the fact remains that Modi has not shown adequate remorse nor did he take adequate action to stem the riots. It was a political move to polarize Hindu votes or worse a planned revenge. There has been a sting operation by Tehelka on this too where in people have confessed saying that the state helped them and supported them. Maya Kodnani, who was convicted and sentenced to 28 years in prison was till 2009 the Minister for Women and Child Development of Gujarat in Narendra Modi's BJP government. Whatever be the situation, the 2002 riots will be a huge blot on Modi's efficient governance.

India does not have a direct democracy so let's take Modi out of the picture. So the real question is whether you want to vote for BJP or not. My stance is that I am not willing to vote for BJP even though I think that they are the best party for India at this moment. The reason is that I cannot bring myself to vote for a party which came into prominence and power based on planned communal violence and a publicly anti-secular policy. Leaders who instigated the violence like L.K. Advani and Uma Bharti are still very much active in tihe BJP. Their ideology and hunger for power has cost thousands of innocent Indian lives and a double digit economic growth is not enough for me to forget that fact. Shiv Sena who came into prominence by beating up innocent South Indians, planned to blow up the Babri Masjid and have done everything they can to spread communal disharmony in India are the long term ally of BJP. There is no way I can vote for these kind of parties whatever be the big picture.

So what're the options while going for voting? Congress is definitely not one. Their shamefulness while dealing with scams, only populous moves and "convenient" secularism is not worth voting for. Plus, they have also actively contributed to the pogrom of Sikhs in 1984. The AAP is the biggest disappointment of the year. For me in Pune, the only option seems to be the People's Guardian Party whose candidate is Arun Bhatia. A clean and incorruptible guy who gets things done.

The reality is that Arun Bhatia won't win. I think that he will get even lesser votes than last time when many young voters voted for him and his campaign was really active. There is almost a certainty that the BJP and its present and future allies (new ones always come up after the results) will form the government. I am optimistic that the Indian media, the opposition and our leaders in and outside politics will keep the BJP in check. They might have no other option than showing inclusive growth and development to ensure that their government stays in power. So all is not lost. But in the end your vote is your choice. You have to make the choice whether you can forget the deeds of BJP in 1992 and the pogrom of 2002. If yes, go ahead with BJP. I cannot.

IS Voting == Responsible Citizen ??

I am writing this post on the day of Phase II of the General Elections in the largest democracy in the world. I have just come home after Voting for the first time in my life and there is a sense of achievement which I am feeling right now :)

The voting process for me I would say was not at all smooth. To be frank I am not an avid follower of politics. I try my best to keep abreast of all the happenings through print media, NDTV 24x7 and other knowledgeable people but if I do get an option I choose Sports over politics. But I am aware of the importance of voting and hence was keen to cast my first vote. I was awaken from my slumber by my friend on a day which was supposedly the last day for registration (though there were many like this !!) We took our documents, attested photo copies and registered ourselves. But that unfortunately was just the beginning. The EC people came to our house on a Sunday with a list but only my name from my family was absent from it.

After that I went through a host of search engines but my name was never found. I also went through a manual list where I found my parent's names but mine wasn't there. I resigned to the fact that maybe I won't be able to vote this time until my friend confirmed that my name is present. On voting day I went in with my parents but as expected my name was not in the list. However a different list of ALL the parts which was thankfully arranged alphabetically and in English :) was available where in I found my name. Though it was spelled as "Vinit" the rest of the details were correct. Also the name in devnagri was correctly spelled. I went inside, pressed the button on the EVM and came out feeling extremely happy. The only damper was that this time there was not black dot on my finger as expected but a blue line :)

In all this voting process which started with campaigns by jaagore.com, Aamir Khan's advertisements, different groups urging everyone to vote one thing which I always heard was "If you are a responsible citizen you should vote". I am completely in agreement with all this. I believe that every citizen eligible for voting should vote and excuses like "What's the use", "I don't know how to register", "Everyone is the same" are not at all valid. Especially in a city like Pune where everything is smooth and we don't face any violence as seen in other places it's a crime to give excuses. When people can vote in sensitive areas like Kashmir where their lives are in danger then we have NO right to stay at home on Election day.

However I feel that just casting your vote does not at all make one a responsible citizen. According to me there are many other duties or responsibilities or qualities which one must have and perform to be a responsible citizen. To name a few I would say following traffic rules, not throwing garbage on the streets, not spreading rumors during tense situations, cooperating with law enforcement officials, not indulging in bribing and even maintaining the secular nature of our country are some of the qualities which I see in a responsible citizen of India. If you do all this or at least try your level best for it then you have a right to admonish others for not being a responsible citizen. But if you are breaking rules and throwing garbage and thinking that pressing a button on a machine is making you a responsible citizen then think again. It will be of no use if we vote for the right person but we as an individual and a nation don't do anything to maintain the law, cleanliness and order in the country.

Now that so many people are being made aware of their duty to vote I hope that this awareness drive continues to other aspects as well. When we are telling people who are going to turn 18 or anyone else about casting vote it's important we don't neglect the other things which constitute a responsible citizen. Voting is just one of the many things. After all the whole is always greater than the sum of the parts !!