Recent Happenings

Some happenings in the country during the last few days caught my attention, and I would like to share the same with you.

1 After the Congress party won the Karnataka state elections, one thing which has come out in the open is that Congress is really a party for Muslims. During the election campaign, to please the Muslim voters they announced in their manifesto that after coming to power they will ban the Bajrang Dal, a Hindu outfit. But when there was widespread agitation against this they had to backtrack this banning. After the election results were announced and the Congress party was busy deciding about who will become CM, that time a Karnataka Muslim leader’s video went viral on social media where he openly said the Muslim voters of Karnataka are instrumental in the Congress’ victory. More than 70 seats were won by Congress because in those constituencies Muslim voters en block voted in favour of the Congress. He went on demanding that there should be a Muslim Deputy CM, and the Congress party should also give important portfolios such as Home, Revenue, and Education to Muslim MLAs.

It looks like in Karnataka Muslims ditched other regional and national parties like Janata Dal S, AAP, Left Block, and others. This kind of development is giving sleepless nights to regional parties like BSP, Samajwadi Party, TMC, AAP as they are also dependent on Muslim votes for winning Assembly and Parliament seats.

Now after winning the Karnataka State elections, Congress seems to be riding on a high horse, as if they have found the formula for winning the elections against BJP. But they are not realizing that in Karnataka they were the main opposition party, but what is their state in states like UP, Bihar, West Bengal, North East, Gujarat, Punjab, Andhra, Telengana, Tamilnadu where they have marginal or no presence. In this kind of scenario, how they can think about congressmen becoming PM after the general elections in 2024?

I heard that in a recent interview with the Urdu newspaper The Inquilab, Rahul Gandhi clearly stated that Congress is now a Muslim party, and all Muslims should back Congress. Who can forget the statement of then PM Manmohan Singh when he said “ The Muslims should have first rights on the national resources”. It looks like the Congress has decided to play their Muslim card to counter the popularity of PM Modi, and they are ready to sacrifice Hindu votes, I fail to understand with this Muslim card how they plan to win back the states of Rajasthan and Chhatisgarh which are in the Hindu heartland. Are they ready to sacrifice these states, to dislodge PM Modi at the centre?

2 New Parliament building- from the time the construction of the new Parliament building commenced, the opposition parties are against this building, and are questioning what was the necessity of spending hundred of Crore Rupees for this new building when there is an existing Parliament building. The fact is that the proposal for a new Parliament building came during the rule of UPA -2, and it was decided at that time there is a need for a new Parliament building as the present building is not capable of handling the present and future requirements of Parliament, considering the modern technology which will be needed in future.

Then there was criticism of why its construction was started during the Covid pandemic time when funds could have been better utilized for fighting Covid. In this regard, my opinion is that the government led by PM Modi did not economise in spending on Covid, the pandemic was fought on all fronts and there was no fund crunch for any spending on Covid, including free vaccines to the majority of the country’s population. So along with this if the government could spend on the construction of a new Parliament building, then what was wrong with that?

Along with the new parliament building, there is criticism of why so many Crores are being spent on the PM’s house, and new office buildings near the parliament. As per the government, it has been decided to locate all the central government main offices near the Parliament ( the total area is being named Central Vista) for smooth government functioning and to save time. Secondly, it will also save massive rents which are being paid, where the offices are located in privately owned buildings. The PM’s residence will be close to Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) and offices of the other important ministries.

Now The Congress party has started one more controversy saying that the new Parliament building which is being inaugurated on 28^th May 2023 by the PM should be inaugurated by President Draupadi Murmu. Their view is that the President being the constitutional head of the government should inaugurate. Now the Congress party has remembered that Draupadi Murmu is  President and the constitutional head, but the same Congress party humiliated the President and constitutional head of the government a few months back when she addressed the parliament while opening the new session.

Now parties like AAP, TMC, and the left block are supporting this move of the Congress that the Parliament building should be inaugurated by the President, and they have announced that they will boycott this ceremony. The Congress party has still not clarified whether they will boycott or attend the ceremony.

The Congress party is forgetting that when the Parliament annex building was ready in 1975, it was inaugurated by then PM Indira Gandhi and not by the President. The Congress party has a habit of raking controversies where none exist. While President is the Head of State, the PM is the Head of the government and leads the Parliament on behalf of the government, whose policies are effected in the form of laws.

The problem is that Congress and other opposition parties have decided to oppose anything which is associated with PM Modi. Even for the next general election, they have only one agenda to defeat BJP by hook and crook so that Narendra Modi should not become PM.

Waiting for your views on this blog.

Anil Malik

Mumbai, India

24^th May 2023