SUNDAY, APRIL 28, 2024
Mariano Correia
At the very outset, I would like to begin with a question. Are we really ruled democratically or in other words is India a really democratic country? If one reads and observes the ground realities, the answer would be in the negative or an emphatic ‘NO’. By democracy, it would mean a country ruled by the, of the and for the people. But what we see in reality is exactly the opposite. It is by the, of the and for the few people. Our Constitution grants us the liberty, secularism, to preach and practice the religion of one’s choice, without any hinderance and discrimination, right to free speech and press without fear of dissent and sedition, which has been criminalized and labelling those raising their voice against the Government as anti-nationals. The Constitution also provides the right to eat food of one’s own choice, freedom of movement and many other rights due to the various faiths and culture of the people which entails unity in the midst of diversity.
Politics and religion should never be mixed and if done so, it becomes a deadly cocktail of hatred creating havoc. The Country is governed by the majoritarian BJP which is a two-man army with one man’s show and a rule. The BJP is trying to capture all the States in the Union, under one banner of the Saffron flag. The majority of the laws passed by the Government is by virtue of its sheer majority, not allowing for any discussion and deliberation in the Parliament (the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha). The utterly poor Congress party with its allies is totally incompetent to face the likes of the PM, Mr Modiji and H.M. Shah, at the helm of affairs. The trump card is in their hands. Whatever laws enacted by the BJP are made sure to see the light of the day. For them passing the laws is a child’s play, as the opposition is non existing and if at all it exists, it is reduced to a toothless tiger.
Take for instance the 3 anti-Agri laws, which are passed with impunity to please their corporate friends. Our farmer brethren are fighting tooth and nail, demanding and protesting against the Central Government to repeal them. This agitation of the farmers from Punjab, Haryana and Utter Pradesh have been passed since over 4 months and it is still going strong. The central Government is immune to their agitation. If Modiji, the numero uno and his right hand man Shah relent and repeal the 3 draconian anti-farmers law, it will be like slapping their own face along with their EGO. So also we have in our beautiful and beloved Goa, 3 major controversial projects hatched in Delhi and wants to bulldoze on us Goans, which will be detrimental to us and our progeny. If (God forbid) the BJP gets another term at the helm of the affairs, at the Centre and the State level, it will be the beginning of dictatorial democracy slowly but definitely paving way for dictatorship.
