India's Elections and The Facts

[Guest guest]

>bjpnews

>bjp-l (BJP Discussion Group)

>vaidika1008

>[bJP News] Who got the real mandate?

>Fri, 4 Jun 2004 10:28:22 -0500

>

>Who got the real mandate?

>M.V. KAMATH

>Cybernoon.com

>Friday, June 04, 2004 12:32:39 IST

>

>SLOWLY but surely, Congress pretensions to having the peoples' 'mandate' to

>govern are being torn to shreds. The last to attempt to mindwash the people

>is

>H.Y. Sharada Prasad, a confirmed Nehru-ite and long-time Press Adviser to

>Indira Gandhi. Writing in Deccan Chronicle (May 26) Sharada Prasad

>said:

>"look at the paradox. Sonia Gandhi's foreign origin is seized upon the BJP

>and

>elevated into a principal issue in the election. The voters reject the

>argument

>and give their mandate to the Congress". A more ridiculous statement it is

>hard

>to come by. The people giving a mandate to the Congress to rule? Dr. P.C.

>Alexander, a former official working for India Gandhi, a former governor of

>Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra and presently a member of the Rajya Sabha who is

>known for his objectivity laughed the theory of mandate given to the

>Congress

>out of court.

>

>

>Alliance's agenda

>

>In his regular column appearing in the Asian Age (May 27), Dr. Alexander

>first

>pointed out that "the two main criteria of mandate are the adequacy of the

>number of seats received by a political party or an alliance and the

>endorsement of the party's or alliance's agenda by the electors." If one

>applied these criteria, wrote Dr. Alexander, "no party or alliance in

>Election

>2004 can be said to have received the mandate for governance." Quoting from

>election results Dr. Alexander said that had there been no BJP partners'

>reverses in Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, "the NDA would have merged as

>the

>single largest alliance in Parliament making it difficult for the

>Congress-led

>alliance to form a government". Dr. Alexander pointed out that the NDA has

>received "35.50 per cent of the vote share which is slightly higher than

>the

>35.19 per cent received by the Congress and its allies. Dr. Alexander

>sharply

>noted that in six states, namely, Madhya Pradesh (2/20), Rajasthan (4/25),

>Chattisgarh (1/11), Bihar (3/40), Punjab (2/13) and Orissa (2/21),

>"Congress

>share has been miserably low." He added: "It is equally important to note

>that

>in some states where the Congress has been the ruling party, namely,

>Karnataka,

>Punjab and Uttaranchal, its performance has been dismal." The worst case,

>said

>Dr. Alexander "was that of Kerala where the Congress experienced the

>humiliation of a total whitewash." His conclusion: "Untenable is the claim

>of

>the Congress Party and its allies that the electorate have given the

>Congress-led alliance the mandate to govern the country...It would be wrong

>on

>the part of the Congress and its allies to think that they are forming the

>government because they have the mandate of the people to do so."

>This is an opinion shared by an independent journal, the London-based The

>Economist (May 22). The journal made it clear that for all the tom-tomming

>of

>Sonia Gandhi's contribution to Congress victory indulged in by Indian

>newspapers "Congress gained just under 27 per cent of the national vote,

>about

>1.5 percentage points less than in the last election in 1999." (emphasis

>added). And the journal added: "Her party'######### in the election was

>hardly

>a clear-cut endorsement either of its policies or its leader." The

>English-language press in its desperate effort to build up Sonia Gandhi has

>been lying through its teeth about the great success Sonia had achieved for

>her party. That is increasingly being shown as pure nonsense. She did

>nothing of

>that sort. In fact, strictly in terms of percentage points, the Congress

>did

>worse than it did in 1999. But if the

>English media wants to propagate lies, it is its privilege.

>Then there is the greater hoax perpetrated on the public by the same media

>by

>people who call themselves 'intellectuals'. Thus there is the case of

>Rajeev

>Dhavan, writing in Deccan Herald (May 24) about The Citizenship Act and how

>it

>applies to Sonia Gandhi. Abusive words are used. Bad logic is applied. Says

>Dhavan: "To harp on Sonia Gandhi's foreign origin is part of communal

>agenda".

>There is nothing communal or racist about it. The BJP just does not want a

>foreign-born and non-Indian origin individual to rule over India. Again

>Dhawan

>writes: What is wrong with that? Mr. Jindal may have "nearly become the

>governor of Louisiana" as Mr. Dhawan says but then there are millions of

>Indian-born citizens in the US who have taken American citizenships. How

>many

>million Italians have taken Indian citizenship? Secondly, the US cannot be

>compared to India. The US is a country hardly 250 years old. India is a

>nation

>with a five thousand year past and has had the misfortune to be constantly

>invaded and subsequently ruled by foreigners. The country and the people

>are

>sick of that. It is neither a matter of jingoism or racism or communalism.

>It

>is a matter of self-respect that some of our "liberal intellectuals" may

>not

>have but the BJP has in abundance. There has to be a limit to mud-slinging

>such

>as practiced by

>Mr. Dhawan and the English media. That the media has to be sharply brought

>to

>order was recently made by Prof. U.R. Rao, a former chairman of ISRO and a

>former chairman of Prasar Bharati, at a meeting in Bangalore.

>

>

>Dangerous falsehood

>

>"The time has come" said Prof. Rao, "for the government to institute a

>watch-dog

>committee consisting of a few eminent journalists and citizens who should

>be

>empowered to warn, heavily fine and if necessary even revoke licence to

>offending journalists." He added: "If this is not instituted, the Fourth

>Estate

>would lose all credibility and possibly freedom also. Today, reporting news

>is

>propagation of dangerous falsehood... The social effects of reckless

>commercialisation of mass media has become a major concern in policy

>formulation..." Hardly any newspaper published Prof. Rao's comments.

>The one which did publish it is 'Deccan Herald' ( May 27). Newspapers which

>sell

>news columns have no place for truth. Among the sternest critics of the

>Manmohan Singh cabinet is The Statesman ( May 26) which has taken strong

>objection to the inclusion of Laloo Prasad Yadav (charged with seven counts

>in

>the Fodder Scam case), Jay Prakash Narayan Jadhav (who had to go to jail in

>a

>scam for award of fake BE degrees) and M.A.A. Fatimi." Said 'The

>Statesman':

>"It should go some way towards dispelling the saintly halo that Sonia has

>acquired of late, with some going so far as to compare her with Mahatma

>Gandhi

>when she gave up the prime ministership." The paper said Dr. Singh's

>cabinet

>has "some polish, plenty deadwood and termites". And it added: "Perhaps

>there's

>another message too: a conspicuous lack of talent." Now that is telling it

>as

>it is. Thank God for newspapers like The Statesman. We still have guardians

>of

>truth in the media, which have the courage to hold the mirror to the

>Congress.

>

>

>

>

>

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