People's Democracy

       Stop Machinations To Subvert Democracy

THE ‘Defeat BJP Forum’, a platform of academics, writers and social activists, which has been actively campaigning to mobilise the secular vote in the elections, has expressed shock at the attempts of the BJP, frustrated in defeat, to derail the legitimate democratic process. It demanded that if the BJP/RSS fail to respect the Constitution and the verdict of the people, the party, its affiliated organisations and its individual leaders must be proceeded against and punished by the appropriate constitutional authorities.

Using the political gimmick of resignations from the Rajya Sabha by Sushma Swaraj and her husband, and the outrageous statements of Madhya Pradesh chief minister Uma Bharti and her mentor Govindacharya, the party and its affiliated organisations had begun a so-called ‘rashtryia swabhimaan’ campaign against the democratically elected leader of the Congress Party. Raising once again the already over-publicised slogan of ‘videshi mool’ or ‘foreign origin’, which has been completely rejected by electorate, they are desperately trying to create conditions in which the verdict of the people is overturned, charged the Forum.

It unequivocally condemned this reprehensible move and demanded a public apology from the BJP leadership and immediate cessation of their anti-democratic campaign. The people have spoken and the BJP must accept their verdict, underlined the Forum.

It also felt that the pernicious ‘videshi mool’ slogan is racist, and discriminates against a citizen on the basis of place of birth. It is a direct violation of the fundamental equality granted to all Indian citizens by the Constitution. To undermine or withdraw any aspect of this equality threatens the very basis of the Constitution and can be used to deny fundamental rights to any or all citizens. In fact, the BJP/RSS have already extended the argument with talk of limiting the rights of citizens who belong to religions of a ‘videshi mool’, the forum pointed out.

The Sangh Parivar is opposed to India’s republican, democratic constitution and BJP-led government had tried to amend it during its term in office. However, the Constitution is the law of the land and the Parivar has to be made to function with it. The BJP-led NDA government had protected them so far, but now the people have thrown out the NDA government, and the law must be allowed to take its own course, stated the forum.

It also appealed to the media to ensure that as much prominence is given to democratic opinions such as these as is currently being given to the BJP’s disruptive designs. In particular, it appealed to the electronic media not to uncritically air the views of those who are violating the law and inadvertently facilitate the spread of a pernicious and illegal campaign.