Shiban Khaibri
” You can sometimes camouflage the hand but you cannot camouflage the man behind it ,”
The people of this country , it can be felt, are matured enough to see through the political tricks played by some disgruntled politicians with intent to grab power who otherwise seem to be quite unmindful of consequences of playing such tricks , for the country , its democratic set up , its autonomous democratic institutions , constitutional obligations and values , a well established rule of law and a just equilibrium between different state organs. Come lawlessness and unrest for any reason whatsoever, devastation and huge losses of assets built over decades are the only “gains” to them . A few very over ambitious politicians are seemingly nursing the prospects of some type of Sri-Lanka, Bangladesh and Nepal unrest and violence to happen here, in this country too. Rahul Gandhi’s Save Samvidhan call to Gen-Z , youth and students , “stop vote theft, “protect” democracy , I stand with Gen-Z , students , youth ….” cannot be brushed aside as an ordinary clarion call. But he must clarify explicitly as to which provision of the constitution is violated, even in the least, and when ? Where is the need arisen to ”defend” democracy and only at the hands of the Gen-Z , the youth, students etc? Which vote theft , where and whence ? In which court, is the case of such a ”theft” being heard ? We heard a lot about detonating some Atom Bomb followed by a Hydrogen Bomb but to quote famous lines of Mirza Galib – “Thee khabar garam, ki Galib kay udain gay purzay ; dekhney hum bhi gaye , par tamasha na hua ” . Or, there was a hot news that Galib would be blown to pieces, however, we too set out to see that really happening but it was not even a damp squib .The only and only aim behind this ”clarion call” appears to unseating of a constitutionally elected government as through the well established constitutional route and devised manner , the dislodgment could not take place because the people willed so, all these three general elections. This “protecting” is therefore a camouflage to spreading unrest and anarchy . This “call” is seen as a politically cryptic coloration. These few politicians, unfortunately frustrated and anguished , for reasons of being out of power , cannot be allowed, in any case , to cause any damage , even in the least, to the constitutional and democratic writ and system of the country . People will neither tolerate such tantrums nor fall in any trap and never ever allow that to happen here. India is neither Bangladesh nor Nepal , India is Bharat, an awakened Bharat.
On the other hand, it is interesting as well as disturbing to see that most of the countries including the US having been enviably all praises for our election process , while Congress and some supportive parties have chosen to strike at the very roots of the probity, fully independent and autonomous character, non partisan role and transparent working of the Election Commission of India . ”Vote Chori” or vote theft , a manufactured narrative against the Election Commission , perhaps , as a last political resort for the time being, has put the political standard of this country at the lowest ebb, doing no service either to the pilots of such narrative or to the country in itself. Elon Musk is on record having praised eloquently our election process saying “India successfully counted 640 million votes in a single day using voting machines (EVMs), California is still counting votes even after 19 days “. He further lamented , “Our system is broken.” Greek PM Mitsotakis praised India saying it is an example how democracy can deliver stronger economic growth , ” you are an example to the world”. He increasingly hailed India’s election system saying ”the country’s poll system is an example that convincingly challenges any flawed notion that significant scale is a barrier to democracy.” Not only that , 75 delegates from 23 countries witnessed the poll process in 2024 general elections which drew international admiration not merely attention . These delegates are on record highly appreciating transparency in election process and innovative Green Polling Stations as “inspirational “. These delegates from foreign countries evoked keen interest in and highly appreciated the technology driven process – at scale- including during randomization of EVM – VVPATs. What is absolutely important to note is that these delegates from 23 countries were wonder struck by noticing an unwavering faith and commitment of Indian voters towards strengthening democratic ideals.
A country where some opposition parties have traditionally thrived and want to continue to thrive politically by getting votes from the gullible voters on the worn out , obsolete, redundant and irrelevant narrative of “poverty” , “people dying of hunger”, “nothing to eat” , ”no employment” , “reeling under high inflation” etc etc, are quite upset and undone over such a conventional “treasure” of theirs getting gradually exhausted. They have no alternative but to keep continuing to negate any achievement of development and alleviation of poverty by the government , not to speak of lifting as many as 25 crore of poor people from out of absolute poverty to claim niches in neo middle class and above, on account of experiencing an upward income trajectory and directly benefitting from numerous social welfare schemes and fruits of economic liberalisation .
These political parties , therefore, must find fault with improved education, infrastructural boom, better healthcare facilities and health insurance, using more of consumer goods and the like by this new ”aspirational” class . A rough estimate of mobile phones in use in the country puts it at above a whooping 96 crore , means as many owners can afford to spare a minimum of Rs.300 to Rs.500 per month towards recharging expenses .The current CPI inflation of 2.7% is 20 years lowest , still cries of “Mehengai” are made to spread gloom and pessimism. A strong , stable government with fastest growing economy backed by drastic cuts in GST rates recently appears to cause upending of the applecart of some opposition parties ? They should instead celebrate each and every achievement but agreeably not compromising on their right to question , hold accountable and criticise the government on genuine issues. We , however, are seeing how economic welfare policies introduced by the government backed by direct benefit to the beneficiaries through Bank accounts, circumventing any misuse , have taken the wind out of the sails of most of the opposition parties who expect their boats in the deep political waters to be very less propelling not to move any forward hence to implicitly try enacting the likes of more of Shaheen Baghs, more of Kissan agitations and blockades , even giving a clarion call to GEN-Z to “redeem ” their lost fortunes.
Alas, this very commitment and unflinching faith of Indian voters in the election process and system is frantically sought to be shaken to hilt to create all round confusion, doubt, scepticism, gloom and anger . That bis precariously against the tenets of democracy . The alibi that the Election Commission not only indulged in ”vote theft” and various manipulations as also “votes deleted using fake logins” but was “shielding destroyers of democracy” should be proved beyond any doubt to give accountability and responsibility their decisive role to play . But who are these “destroyers” of democracy in the scheme of things of the leader of the Congress ? We cannot speculate anymore on it as it is no difficult to understand. However , needless to add PM Narendra Modi holds the PM’s chair on account of the people of the country voting for him overwhelmingly . Under democracy , traditions and conventions and more importantly “entitlements” keep getting reviewed by voters through election process .
Therefore, any party or in particular Congress should not nurse any doubts. Therefore, the hullabaloo created in respect of “Vote Chori” could cause tremendous damage to the well established system , mistrust and pessimism attempted to be sown in the minds of the people about the very institution of election and election process that have all these decades given governments at the centre and in states translated from the valuable votes of the voters, is tantamount to undermining democracy . Agreed, there could be mistakes, goofs and errors unintentionally committed by the ECI in a country of 140 crores but to out rightly brand the entire process as manipulated and unscrupulous, is totally unwarranted and unjustified.
And, it may be reiterated that desperately dreaming by some political leaders a Gen-Z driven Nepal replica in this country to redeem their ”lost political fortunes ” is hoping against the hope , rather it could boomerang. The ire in both the countries of the Gen-z was against corruption and corrupt leaders, swindlers, nepotism, scammers, dynastic politics and other local issues , hence those living in glass houses need to think twice before expecting any Gen-Z to be swayed by such narrative. However, democratic and constitutional orderly system in our country is very secure, impregnable, irreversible and indestructible. It will always remain so , governments may come and go – that is a well known time tested democratic and constitutional process.
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