The festivities of Diwali with muted ‘crackers,’ are being matched an even more explosive electoral campaign. Modi seized upon the explosions at his rally at Patna to polarize debate in his favour. The RSS/BJP is steadily launching a rightist ideological campaign. The secular/Left parties are yet to go full steam. Modi has hailed Patel, but it is a fact that Gandhi was not provided adequate security. Further, after Gandhi’s assassination the RSS was forced to agree to be a solely “cultural” organization, a commitment that Nehru and Patel insisted upon, has not kept. The falsity of the BJP campaign must be challenged frontally. The concept of “composite culture” enshrined in the Constitution should be explained. Balasaheb Ambedkar, was well aware that the core of the Constitution had to be egalitarian, multi-caste and multi-class, so that all sections lived in harmony, and hierarchies were systematically abolished. Why doesn’t Modi talk of these? The unkept promises of the Congress at its Karachi Congress, and how these are relevant even today has to be explained. The Congress’ dalliance with neo-liberalism, and the threat it poses to economic independence has to be stressed. The link between neo-liberalism, the current shape of the economy, including high inflation, massive tax evasion, a massive balance of trade deficit, privatization all have made the poor and middle classes economically vulnerable. Scams have proliferated including the coal block scam, which has cost the exchequer greatly, in which the PMO is also reportedly involved.
Posted on: Sun, 03 Nov 2013 07:27:04 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015