WHEN APPRECIATION COMES FROM DR. A.P.J ABDUL KALAM

Dr. A.P.J Abdul Kalam

15^th October, 1931 to 27^th July, 2015

Hon’ble President of India from 2002 to 2007

In 2007, erstwhile Hon’ble President of India asked the world, “What should we do to free our planet from terrorism?” on YAHOO! ANSWERS. Often referred to as Missile Man of India, because of his nearly single handed contribution and leading role in developing India’s missile defence system, his heart indeed yearned for peace and universal brotherhood, as evidenced from his speeches, writings and this question in particular. Deeply rooted to his motherland, his thoughts concentrated around universal peace and cohabitation. A great soul, idolized by multitudes of people across diverse nationalities, religions and age groups, Dr. Kalam will possibly remain, India’s most beloved President of all times. 

Dr. A.P.J Abdul Kalam

Naturally, the question received 31,255 responses across the world, which included celebrities like Sri Sri Ravishankar, Kiran Bedi and Leander Paes. I believe that anyone who came across the question was enthused with an urge to share her/his ideas with the great humanitarian. Even someone as insignificant as myself sat down to think deeply as to how best to satisfy Dr. Kalam regarding his question on a problem spanning the globe and threatening to tear civilization apart.

I could not believe my eyes when I saw that my answer, submitted under the pseudonym Modest had been selected as the best answer by the great man himself. Tiny achievements that have come in my life faded into insignificance at the appreciation from Dr. Kalam and will remain the single biggest achievement in my life.

I salute you my President. May your soul rest in everlasting peace. May your life and ideas enlighten and enthuse millions of youngsters for years to come.

For anyone interested in reading the answer, the link is given below.

https://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20070112135510AAD7SB8&guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cudGhlaW5kaWFudGFsa3MuY29tL2ZlYXR1cmVkL3JlYWQtdGhlLXF1ZXN0aW9uLWFza2VkLWJ5LWFwai1hYmR1bC1rYWxhbS1vbi15YWhvby1hbnN3ZXJzLzEwNzYwLw&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAGQEp2oPUzrLrJweP64W-7ifQ5v0xiGr0jaXu-iyAYTPO-_1i-m-wWsX4NhbU4mX8wIRtkwQDk94Gj_XbCgu-VQFIL3dfbxlvfGq_3L9eb2PbbsE8ZO0Li1rF4DRnc9DhSawQuebbrMCrN0mBw21oHWdZOpeHuxGjbwnMtNsMVyA

Thank you YAHOO! ANSWERS. 

© Sugato Mitra

05.45 PM 12^th July, 2019

Bhopal

JAI SHREE RAM IN THE LOK SABHA – II

“I, ………… (Name), having been elected a member of the House of the People (Lok Sabha) do swear in the name of God/solemnly affirm that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the Constitution of India as by law established, that I will uphold the sovereignty and integrity of India and that I will faithfully discharge the duty upon which I am about to enter.” This is the oath that a newly elected member of the Lok Sabha takes. While the MP can swear in the name of God while taking the oath, it is not binding on her/him to do so. She/he is free to solemnly affirm her/his allegiance to the Constitution of India and not swear in the name of God, if she/he so chooses.

This format of oath or affirmation is enunciated in the Third Schedule of the Constitution of India in Article 99. Thereby, there is no scope to add words or sentences, whether it is “Jai Shree Ram” or anything else; even patriotic ones; to the format that constitutes the oath of newly elected member. Neither can words or sentences be deleted from the format of the oath. Either way, it will no longer constitute an oath of office and will be treated as a violation of the Constitution. In my opinion, there is only one course of action that can follow an act of violation of the Constitution – disqualification of the member. 

Locket Chatterjee, BJP MP from West Bengal shouts Jai Shree Ram in the course of her oath taking in the Lok Sabha

The words of religious belief that accompanied the oaths of BJP and AITC Parliamentarians from West Bengal will no doubt be expunged. Is it enough? Keep in mind, that the same was spoken in the course of oath taking and not during a Parliamentary discourse. There is a clear line of distinction between unparliamentary and unconstitutional conduct. It is not a thin line either. Surprisingly, Hon’ble Speaker of the Lok Sabha, Mr. Om Birla far from reprimanding the errant members, wore an amused expression as the charade was enacted. A newly appointed Government servant cannot suffix his pledge with “Jai Shree Ram” or “Jai Ma Kali”. She/he will be asked to take the oath again as per format. Failure to do so, will lead to cancellation of her/his appointment. Our Parliamentarians have extraordinary privileges indeed. 

Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, AITC MP from West Bengal shouts religious slogans in the course of her oath taking in the Lok Sabha

Through the 42^nd Amendment of the Constitution of India enacted in 1976, the Preamble to the Constitution declared India as a secular nation. Secularism in the Indian context signifies: –

·         The state has no religion of its own. Every citizen, irrespective of her/his religious faith is equal before the law of the land. No preferential treatment will be accorded by the state to the followers of any particular religion. Neither will the state discriminate against the followers of any particular religion.

·         Citizens are free to practice, profess and preach their own religions. There will be no Government interference in this regard.

Parliament is the place, where not only laws of the land are not only enacted, but also protected against abuse. Do our religious slogan shouting lawmakers even realize that by chanting “Jai Shree Ram” or “Jai Ma Kali” within the hallowed precincts of Parliament, they have abused the Preamble and violated the Constitution? I am sure they don’t, because they don’t care for Constitutional propriety. The word ‘Secularism’ that is so distinctly enshrined in the Preamble and the values it signifies have been tossed out of the windows with disdain by the very people whom the Constitution has empowered to uphold it. The hopes which the citizens elected their representatives died when the law makers broke the law with impunity in the very hall where laws are made and secured.

One thing that the errant MPs must have forgotten in exhibiting their religious zeal was that the constituencies they represent, consists of citizens of multiple faiths. When an MP shouts “Jai Shree Ram” or “Allah Hu Akbar”, the followers of other faiths in his constituency naturally feel left out of her/his attention. Such open exhibition of religious bias and that too in the temple of democracy is not expected from an elected law maker of a secular nation. Temples, mosques, churches, gurdwaras etc. or even a person’s own home are the appropriate places for pursuing one’s own religious beliefs. Parliament is the place to deliberate on issues of national development and cannot be appropriated for frivolities. The religious cries of the MPs indicate that not only are they irresponsible, they are indisciplined as well.

Already, enlightened, intelligent debates from stalwart Parliamentarians, which used to be the pride of the Indian Parliament, are things of the past barring a few rare exceptions. It has become a norm for MPs from both treasury as well as opposition benches to rudely interrupt another MP in the course of his speech with catcalls and boos. What could possibly be more unfortunate than being vocally drowned out with religious cries in addition, brazenly reeking of communal intent in the sanctum sanctorum of a secular democracy. If such deviant behavior is not dealt with firmly from the outset, errant MPs will be emboldened to repeat such indecency time and again and the casualty will be the interests of the common man.

Finally, MPs are representatives of people of all religious faiths of their electoral constituency. They should not exhibit their personal religious faiths openly in Parliament and thereby create a notion of religious bias. Else, people of other faiths will feel discriminated against and also feel being excluded from the attention of their elected representative. This is not desirable in a secular, democratic nation, especially in the modern age. Let us not forget that people of all faiths work in important Government institutions like defense, police, education, healthcare etc. Each and every one of them serve the nation in their own way. As a nation, we cannot afford to exclude anyone from the nation building process and from process of creating national progress and prosperity. It will hurt every Indian citizen and cost the nation a lot if a soldier put down his gun during a war or a doctor hung his stethoscope in the middle of a treatment, because they felt that as citizens they were denied equality and given an unfair deal because of their religious faiths. God forbid, but India could see such a calamity if our unruly politicians are not reined in without delay.   

© Sugato Mitra

12.59 PM, 10^th July, 2019

Bhopal

JAI SHREE RAM IN THE LOK SABHA – I

June 17, 2019. The first day of the inaugural session of the 17^th Lok Sabha. It should have been a red letter day for the MPs from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), whose party had been re–elected to power with a massive 303 seats on its own, while the size of the BJP led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) was a stunning 353 seats. Yet, from Day 1, the party in power started to trivialize its position in Parliament and gave the impression that its MPs were immature and incapable of discharging the immense responsibility that was bestowed on them by way of a massive national mandate. 

Parliament of India

Yes, I am referring to the cries of “Jai Shree Ram” that emanated from the Treasury Benches on 17^th and 18^th June, 2019, as the MPs from the BJP and the opposition All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) elected from West Bengal came to take oath as members of the Lok Sabha one after the other. Controversial BJP MP from Bhopal, Ms. Pragya Singh Thakur, prefixed the word ‘Sadhvi’ and suffixed her guru’s name to her own name as she took her oath. 

It is not difficult to guess that while for the BJP MPs, the cries of “Jai Shree Ram” were meant to cheer, for their AITC brethren, it was meant to jeer. Not to be outdone, the Parliamentarians from the AITC retorted with cries of “Jai Ma Kali”, “Jai Ma Durga”, “Jai Bangla”, “Mamata Banerjee Zindabad”, “Ma, Mati, Manusher Jai” and even the patriotic “Jai Hind”. Mr. Kalyan Banerjee, an AITC MP even chanted hymns in obeisance to Goddess Kali. Muslim MPs chanted from their own religious scriptures. This was worse than a tamasha. It was an outright insult to all those patriotic citizens, who had exercised their franchise only weeks ago in the expectation of a better future for themselves and the nation. Sceptics refrain from voting considering it to be a fruitless exercise. With this mockery of Constitutional values on the opening days of the first Parliamentary session itself, their skepticism was vindicated too.      

Chanting “Jai Shree Ram” has become a political issue in West Bengal, hotter than the Ram Mandir issue in Uttar Pradesh, ever since West Bengal’s Chief Minister and AITC supremo Mamata Banerjee halted her motorcade on her way to Bhatpara on 30^th May, 2019 to attend a sit–in of party workers, as cries of “Jai Shree Ram” from a group of locals gathered on the wayside assailed her ears. If the act of getting down from her car and confronting the mischievous gathering was not stupid enough for a person of her stature, she went on to brand the chant in praise of Lord Ram as a verbal abuse. No wonder, the motley group that had chanted praises of the most politicized divine being in the nation within her earshot, were BJP supporters. It is quite possible that the entire act was sponsored by her sworn antagonist, the BJP. The area falls under the Barrackpore Lok Sabha constituency which had elected Arjun Singh, erstwhile AITC MLA and dreaded muscleman, who had crossed over to the BJP only days before the election. Predictably, he had earned the wrath of his former party chief, who had publicly termed him a traitor on more than one occasion. His ardent supporters must have thought that praising the Lord was the best way to return the compliment.

Having exacted sweet retribution through his electoral victory, Arjun Singh and his band of merry men had gone about engineering defections of AITC Councilors to the BJP in the municipalities in his constituency as also taking over the AITC party offices and painting them saffron. Shocked by the almost unexpected electoral reverse as also the onslaught unleashed by the BJP and Arjun Singh, the once omnipotent AITC was on virtual retreat in the area as in many other areas of the state. A quickly depleting party strength was ominous for the party which would be put to the test again in two years’ time as West Bengal goes to the Legislative Assembly elections in 2021. Instilling confidence in party workers and reorganizing them for the tough fight ahead against a formidable adversary was the precise purpose of Mamata Banerjee’s journey to Bhatpara that day. It is not difficult to guess that having gradually become accustomed to political smooth sailing in the last eight years, she must have been particularly high–strung with her party’s recent electoral debacle. The chants of “Jai Shree Ram”, associated with the BJP, could only have added fuel to fire on someone, who, at the best of times, is renowned for her tempestuous personae.

Whatever the provocation, Mamata Banerjee, through her conduct, failed herself as a Chief Minister and as a leader of the masses that day. She should have ignored the chants and moved on. If she wanted to slap (a word incidentally made famous by no less than herself) administrative action against the chanters, which I maintain to be strictly illegal and also politically unwise, she could have done it discreetly instead of creating a ruckus in public.

Incidentally, Mamata Banerjee was earlier on 4^th May, 2019, confronted with a similar situation in Chandrakona town, again from the BJP supporters and had come up with a similar vitriolic response. It was this incident that made the BJP in West Bengal realize that the religious slogan could be inflicted as an ammunition on Mamata Banerjee, who is pathologically allergic to the BJP and anything that is associated with the party. Needless to say, their calculation was exact and had elicited the precise response that they had desired when it was repeated in Bhatpara. This time its impact was much larger and created a national furore. Although arguments flew thick and fast on both sides of the issue, clearly Mamata Banerjee had become a victim of her own unwise, volatile, knee jerk reaction. From a firebrand opposition leader, she had become the cynosure of attention for all the wrong reasons.

The elections being over and with a new Government in place, everyone, especially in West Bengal had expected the insanity to die a natural death. Shockingly and belying common sense, it reached the Central Hall of Parliament, a place which is so sanctimonious that it is considered strictly out of bounds for religious posturing. Thanks to some irresponsible BJP MPs, who lack the ability to distinguish between religion and Constitutional propriety, religious slugfests made a grand entry in the hallowed portals of the 17^th Lok Sabha. The day they took their oaths swearing allegiance to the Constitution of India, was the very day they started to violate the Constitution. AITC MPs in their effort to match the madness, only managed to tarnish themselves as much as the BJP did. Sadly, more than any political party or politician, it is the indignity of our beloved nation and it is for the world to see and snigger at.

© Sugato Mitra

12.15 PM, 10^th July, 2019                                                                      

Bhopal