BJP Archives - Page 2 of 4 - Voice from the rooftop

Congressification of BJP

Posted on September 17, 2011 by Vincent Augustine D'Souza

There was a time when BJP claimed it had discipline and was a party with a difference. Later on the differences among members became public knowledge and people referred to it as party with differences. As years passed BJP started to resemble Congress.

Like Congress, BJP does not have inner-party democracy. Decisions are imposed from above. Leaders in Delhi decide who should be chief minister or leader of opposition in Legislative Assembly. That is like Congress high command. MLAs defying central leadership, as happened in Karnataka, is an exception.

BJP did not associate with Gandhi except for a time when it talked of Gandhian socialism which was soon abandoned. BJP leaders were not known to fast. Raj Ghat was not a place where one expected BJP members to be present. That changed when BJP members had one day fast at Raj Ghat. Sushma Swaraj dancing to a song led to a controversy. She claimed it was a patriotic song.

BJP should expel Ram Jethmalani

Posted on September 16, 2011 by Vincent Augustine D'Souza

Ram Jethmalani has consistently contradicted BJPâ€™s stand. He had quit BJP and contested against Atal Behari Vajpayee. BJP took him back and made him a Rajya Sabha member. He continued in his ways. He took up cases against BJP governments or policies. He appeared for Binayak Sen against Chhattisgarh government. BJP wants death penalty for terrorists. He takes up their cases. BJP accuses UPA of corruption in 2G spectrum allocation. He took up Kanimozhiâ€™s case. Now in cash-for-votes case he has taken the defence of Amar Singh and has argued that the money might have come from BJP. Instead of taking disciplinary action BJP is quiet with the lame excuse that he is expressing his clientâ€™s views. BJPâ€™s statements on terror and corruption sound hollow. BJP seems to be consumed with death wish.

Resolution on death penalty

Posted on September 1, 2011 by Vincent Augustine D'Souza

Tamil Nadu is a fit case for imposition of Presidentâ€™s Rule as it is not run as per constitution and its Legislative Assembly passed a resolution asking for mercy to criminals whose petitions had been rejected by the President. Omar Abdullah was right in questioning whether the reaction would have been as muted if Jammu & Kashmir had passed a similar resolution in favour of Afzal Guru. In that case BJP and many other parties would have gone ballistic. There is hypocrisy in Tamil Nadu. Some years back Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly had passed a resolution favouring death penalty for the criminals. Parties headed by Karunanidhi and Vaiko were part of NDA which rejected mercy petitions. Ram Jethmalani was member of BJP and did not oppose death penalty then. Madras High Court should not have entertained the petitions and stayed the executions for eight weeks and when that happened Supreme Court should have intervened and vacated the stay. If waiting for death penalty is cruel why extend it by eight weeks? That shows the falsehood of the claim that waiting for death penalty is cruel and an excuse to get death penalty commuted to life imprisonment. What happens in India puts banana republics to shame and there should be a new phrase to describe India.

Parliamentary privileges

Posted on August 30, 2011 by Vincent Augustine D'Souza

MPs are free to move privilege motion against anyone including PM. Sometime back BJP had moved a privilege motion against PM. Article 105 of the Constitution does not define the privileges of MPs. It does not say Parliament can send someone to jail. Some MPs want to punish Om Puri and Kiran Bedi for what they said against MPs. MPs say the dignity of Parliament has been violated. Om Puri has issued a qualified apology on TV channels. He said he was offended when Manish Tewari accused Anna Hazare of corruption. Kiran Bedi has stood by her words. She said it was a game changer.

Where is the dignity of Parliament when MPs repeatedly disrupt Parliament? Days pass without doing any work. Sometimes whole sessions are disrupted. Many MPs donâ€™t attend Parliament for most of the days. Foul means are adopted to get majority in Parliament. When there is need of SP, BSP and RJD votes CBI finds no evidence in cases against Mayawati, Mulayam Singh Yadav and Laloo Prasad Yadav. MPs are not to hold offices of profit however they declare them as not offices of profit and hold them.

2G accused and bail

Posted on July 12, 2011 by Vincent Augustine D'Souza

There is a campaign in the media that 2G accused should get bail. I see a lobbyist behind it.

Radia tapes revealed a lobbyist connected to politicians, bureaucrats, industrialists and journalists. In an Anil Ambani versus Mukesh Ambani case when the judgment went in favour of Anil Ambani she asked Vir Sanghvi to write an article attacking the judge. Barkha Dutt was ready to do her bidding.

The campaign began with Jaswant Singh appearing on CNN-IBN and saying the 2G accused should get bail. TV discussions followed. Ex-CJI Vishwanath Khare and Ex-SG Harish Salve sent unsolicited legal opinions to CBI. On 6/7/2011 the Supreme Court told CBI lawyer K. K. Venugopal â€œDonâ€™t take these legal opinions into consideration. You reject them outright.â€

Tyranny of the unelected

Posted on June 18, 2011 by Vincent Augustine D'Souza

Some Congress members refer to the demands by Anna Hazare group about Lokpal Bill as tyranny of the unelected and unelectable. They are against fast as protest and call it blackmail. Congress has a history of tyranny of the unelected.

In 1939 Mohandas Gandhiâ€™s candidate Pattabhi Sitaramaiah lost and Subhash Chandra Bose won the election to become Congress President. Mohandas Gandhi said Pattabhi Sitaramaiahâ€™s defeat is my defeat. It became difficult for Subhash Chandra Bose to function as Congress President. He had to resign some months later.

In January 1948 India was fighting a war with Pakistan over Kashmir. India had stopped transfer of 55 crore rupees to Pakistan as that would have been used against India. Mohandas Gandhi went on fast against government decision and the government that had Jawaharlal Nehru and Vallabhbhai Patel agreed to Mohandas Gandhiâ€™s demand.

Anna, Baba and Congress

Posted on June 9, 2011 by Vincent Augustine D'Souza

Veerappa Moily must be a happy man. When four ministers went to meet Baba Ramdev at airport he was not one of them. It was interpreted as he was losing favour. By 5/6/2011 the tide had turned, the pendulum had swung, Kapil Sibal was under attack.

Anna Hazare led a fast for Lokpal Bill and was successful. Baba Ramdev was unhappy about the composition of the drafting committee for Lokpal Bill which had Shanti Bhushan, Prashant Bhushan and Arvind Kejriwal among others. He said, father is chairman, son is member and the secret of Arvind Kejriwalâ€™s seat. Shanti Bhushan replied drafting committee needs legal experts not yoga guru. Anna Hazare spoke to Baba Ramdev and Baba Ramdev muted his criticism.

Land acquisition

Posted on May 17, 2011 by Vincent Augustine D'Souza

The protests by farmers against land acquisition in UP and support to them by politicians belonging to Congress, BJP, SP and RLD have raised questions about land acquisition. The central government has announced introduction of a bill in the monsoon session. Politicians oppose land acquisitions in states where they are not in power and justify land acquisitions in states where they are in power.

Cash for votes

Posted on March 19, 2011 by Vincent Augustine D'Souza

Wikileaks cables are making news for its revelations about paying cash to get votes. Candidates paying money to voters or UPA paying money to MPs to survive trust vote is back in news.

Azhagiri is said to have paid Rs.5,000 per voter in Thirumangalam. Previous bribe was Rs.500 per voter. In Sivaganga, Karti Chidamabram, son of P. Chidambaram, is said to have paid voters. Asaduddin Owaisi is said to have paid money to fund worthy requests in his constituency and according to him the legal spending limit of 25 lakh rupees on election was a joke and he spends 25 lakh rupees on polling day alone.

Telangana and small states

Posted on January 8, 2011 by Vincent Augustine D'Souza

Telangana is back in news. TRS, BJP and CPI want statehood for Telangana. Congress is divided. TDP, PRP and CPM are opposed to statehood for Telangana. Many times politicians make promises they do not intend to keep. They have to pay the price. Congress had promised statehood for Telangana in 2004 and 2009. In Telangana…