Self Goal? Jaitley Opens Can Of Worms By His Hypocritical-Criticism Of The Emergency

Senior BJP leader Arun Jaitley is in the news for doing something which seems to take up most of his time these days- writing blog posts. That he is out of sync with popular sentiment stood revealed when his latest posts criticising the 1975 emergency were mocked and called out for hypocrisy.

A cartoon published in The Times of India marking the anniversary of the emergency depicted the situation more appropriately:

It is no secret that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his sidekick Amit Shah preside over the largest hate-inciting propaganda machinery in the world. India has slipped to the 42nd place on an annual Global Democracy Index, compiled by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU). India also continues to slip on the world press freedom rankings with even Myanmar and Palestine being considered safer. Dalits and minorities face atrocities and discrimination regularly. Lynching fellow countrymen to death has become the new normal. Forget about common people, even senior ministers are threatened on social media. The news stories related to the ruling party’s chief vanish from websites. India, in other words, is facing a situation of undeclared emergency. It was, therefore, no surprise that Jaitley and the Modi government came in for severe criticism after his posts on the emergency.

Reacting to Jaitley’s comment that “dissent became a sin” during the Emergency, a Twitterati Mathew Jacob asserted that the senior BJP leader should “get hold” of “his boss and look into the mirror”.

Modi A Propagandist Par Excellence: Prashant Bhushan

Speaking to NewsCentral24x7, senior lawyer Prashant Bhushan said: “What Jaitley has written applies equally or with greater force in the current scenario. Modi is a propagandist par excellence. He has not done anything substantial for the people of the country. He is polarising the country to win elections”.

The Current Lot

In his post, Jaitley compared Indira Gandhi with Hitler. Senior Advocate Sanjay Hegde however, begs to differ and underlined that unlike Indira, Hitler never called for elections. Speaking to NewsCentral24x7, he said:

“Indira Gandhi was a Democrat who strayed into a dictatorship. The current lot belongs to an organisation of command and control.”

His comments assume significance as former Intelligence Bureau (IB) chief T V Rajeswar had claimed in an interview with Karan Thapar that the RSS had supported Emergency and the then Sangh chief Balasaheb Deoras had tried to establish contact with Indira Gandhi.

True Indira Tried To Control Power, But She Never Spread Hatred: Syed Irfan Habib

Commenting on the comparison between Indira Gandhi and Hitler historian Syed Irfan Habib said, “Emergency is a blot in our history. But, both Hitler and Indira Gandhi were different and their actions lead to different consequences. Look at the current times, one can be controlling (can control everything) even without declaring an emergency. Indira Gandhi tried to control power. She did not really spread hatred. Today that hatred is state-sponsored.”

Indira Apologised For Emergency, Has BJP Apologised For Babri? Swati Chaturvedi

“Indira Gandhi had apologised for the Emergency. Did the BJP apologise for Babri Masjid demolition and Gujarat riots? Nobody is safe in the country now. Modi has ensured that there is no rule of law,” senior journalist Swati Chaturvedi said.

Dalits And Minorities Are Being Bulldozed: Santosh Hegde

From 2012 until December 8, 2017, 78 cow-related hate crimes have been reported across the country. Most of these–97 per cent of all incidents–have occurred over the last three years since the Bharatiya Janata Party and Prime Minister Narendra Modi assumed power in May 2014, according to an IndiaSpend report. The report also added that among those killed, most of the people were Muslims.

“They don’t have democratic instincts. Although they are a democratically elected government, they don’t run the country on democratic principles,” Hegde lamented.

“Dalits and Minorities are threatened and bulldozed by the current regime. This reflects their undemocratic instincts. It is like an undeclared emergency,” he added.

In 2016 alone, 40,801 new crimes against Dalits were registered under the Prevention of Atrocities Act; less than 15,000 cases completed trial that year. The number of trials completed in court has dropped by 28%–from 20,495 in 2006 to 14,615 in 2016. UP with 33,455 such cases pending fared worst, IndiaSpend reported.

Arrests And Punishments

While those opposing the ruling dispensation were jailed during Emergency, the situation is not much different now. On the instructions of the BJP leaders, arrests are made simply for speaking against Modi and his ilk on any forum. For instance, Thirumurugan, a 19-year-old engineering diploma holder, was picked up from Srivilliputhur town in November, based on a complaint from the BJP district secretary, for his allegedly abusive remarks on Modi. “This is the manner in which Indira Gandhi acted during Emergency. She surrounded herself with minions and cheerleaders and put those against her in jail. Modi does the same,” Bhushan said.

Not Born When The Emergency Was Imposed But Modi Has Given Me First Hand Insight On It: Swati Chaturvedi

Another important question that arises now is what is the role of Jaitley in the current government. He is no longer the in charge of the Finance Ministry as Piyush Goyal is handling it. “This is a classic sign of an emergency. Modi and (Amit) Shah have not made it clear who is the treasurer of the BJP and who is the finance minister now. I have written about it too,” senior journalist Swati Chaturvedi said. She underlined that Jaitley is making these “ludicrous comparisons” out of frustration.

“Although I was not born when Emergency was imposed, Modi has given me a first-hand insight on it,” she added.

Swaraj India president Yogendra Yadav posted on microblogging website Twitter that “democracy can be subverted by insecure leaders, obedient officers, pliant judges and malleable media”. He asked Jaitley to read his note “aloud to his Cabinet colleagues.”

Lt Gen HS Panag had a sarcastic take on Jaitley’s post.

CPI (M) leader Sitaram Yechury asserted that he is continuing his fight against the BJP and RSS.

अब आप न्यूज़ सेंट्रल 24x7 को हिंदी में पढ़ सकते हैं।यहाँ क्लिक करें
+