Two statements that encapsulate why we should vote out the current BJP led NDA govt in New Delhi

The election season is heating up in Bengaluru faster than the summer heat. So speeches aplenty !

The actions of individuals and organizations form a much stronger component of my assessment of their personality and intent; their speeches and its semantics are a minor factor. Unfortunately – or may be fortunately, I am not sure – most people do not invest that much time and effort to analyse an individual or party and are easily influenced by words. So here’s a quick post on two statements from the ruling BJP that came out yesterday, April 11th, 2019. These encapsulate why we need to vote them out, not just vote for another party, but vote to defeat the ruling dispensation.

Quote #1:

Transparency cannot be applied without appreciating the problem faced by the legislature, which believed this to be the best way of solving it. The voter has the right to know what? They already know every single aspect about the candidate! Why are they concerned about the source of money of the political party?

– Attorney General of India, K.K. Venugopal

There are many things the current dispensation has done to torpedo efforts towards accountability and transparency. Starting with  moving important bills through the legislature as money bills, to trying to amend the RTI Act, to amendments to laws governing taxes and companies. The most insidious of the lot is the amendment to the Representation of The People Act and a bunch of other ones to allow for anonymous donations to political parties by ANYONE – including any corporate entity from ANY country – through instruments called Electoral Bonds. This thread of tweets from Meghnad has an amazing collection of resources to educate oneself about what these bonds are, how they came about and why every voter should be worried about it.

The AG defends this in open court hinting that any strictures would go against the legislature good intention ! Boss, your political masters DID NOT move it through the legislative process as it was intended in the constitution. The entire bunch of amendments setting up Electoral Bonds were passed as a Money Bill to side step the legislative process !

Quote #2:

We will ensure implementation of NRC in the entire country. We will remove every single infiltrator from the country, except Buddha, Hindus and Sikhs: Shri @AmitShah

Original Preamble to the Constitution of India

The BJP and its right wing affiliates (aka hindutva organizations) are bound by a common goal to shape India into a Hindu State. A deep rooted feeling they harbor and espouse – Pakistan chose to be an Islamic Republic, therefore India should be a Hindu Republic. But The leaders drafting the constitution of India chose it to be a DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC. Consciously. And enshrined it in the preamble of the constitution. There is no way a country can stand for Justice, Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity while putting religious restrictions on those it provides refuge to. Anyone fleeing persecution deserves a fair and transparent hearing that is in keeping with the constitution. The BJP president has implicitly called for the very foundation of the country – its constitution to be overturned.

The BJP is looking to further its agenda of building a HINDU RASHTRA. We, the People, have to stand up and defend INDIA and its ethos.

A clarification – many of the current govt.’s policies that we oppose were brought in a slightly different form by earlier Congress led governments. We opposed it then. We oppose it now. We shall oppose such measures in the future.

Religion & Recycling

Religion gets shadowed or covered up in various ways in our day to day lives. Every now and then it does peek through and such glimpses linger.

Cleaning up the computer that my father uses, I sorted through the bunch of (data) CDs he had accumulated over the years and many needed to be disposed off. In one of those rare moments, my father, a proud pack rat, asked me to take out all the old electronic items tucked away in different attics! When it was all gathered, the waste pile included a floppies and CDs, a 20 year old TV, and even older space heater, coils from tube lights, and lots of wires bought almost 30 years ago when the house was constructed.

After a string of phone calls and searching online, I found out that Ash Recyclers was the only company / organization in all of Bangalore that recycled all types of electronic waste. I was more than glad when they offered to pick up the stuff from our house. When they did arrive to pick up the material, I was very curious to know how it worked out for them to pick up a relatively small consignment from a residence. Kumar, the collections manager, started showing the national and international media coverage that their work had recieved. I then asked what they did with the material and if they had the necessary permits and licenses. Syed bhai, who seemed relatively silent and reserved, made an impassioned speech about how most benefits from his operations go to a non profit working with muslim communities in urban, semi-urban, and rural areas. He went on to lay out some of the human development indicies in which muslims lag behind their counter parts from different communities and shared his motivation to taking up this work.

His strong convictions made me look within. I had not asked that question till I had seen the page of their brochure that mentioned that most of the proceeds are disbursed by the Masha Allah Trust. The progressive in me makes me think that I would have questioned with equal intensity if the benefits were distributed through a Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, or Jain institution. But then, the luxury of hind sight does pamper the progressive in each of us …