Raghunandan TR Diary: Saviors of Secularism and AAP Candidates

A diary from the wall of Raghunandan TR, former Joint Secretary at Govt of India. 

In Shanthinagar Constituency, over the past 3 months Renuka has been receiving a terrific response. We have grown from strength to strength and are now a serious challenger for the seat. The BJP has lost credibility because their candidate was last time the JDS candidate. And because one of his Competitors from the BJP did not get the seat, he overnight took a crash course in secularism and emerged as a JDS butterfly from a saffron cocoon! So he has also lost his credibility! The Congress candidate was not even sure about getting a seat till the last minute.

But now, a new bogey is making its rounds. Messages are going around that since secularism is in danger, the secular vote should not be split.

That is a commendable and self-evident sentiment. Any right-thinking individual who is concerned about preserving India’s secularism and multiculturalism would certainly not want the secular vote to be split.

So lets see who is the preserver of secularism, based on their recent track record.

It can’t be the BJP, right? Their spelling for it is ‘sickularism’. Our very talkative and emotional Prime Minister has generally remained silent about secularism in all his speeches.

The JDS? The last time the JDS was in power in Karnataka, they were supported by the BJP from outside. I suppose they will think its time to return the favour.

Now lets turn to the Congress. The Congress has been strongly making the point that they ought to be the natural choice for the protection of secular ideals.

What is their track record in recent years? Here are some case studies

Case study 1: Goa, 2017:
In Goa, even though the Congress was the largest party, they could not form the government. They were done in by Vijay Sardesai a Congress MLA who quit the party in 2012 when he was denied a Congress ticket and formed a new political formation, the Goa Forward Party along with his colleagues, Jayesh Salgoankar and Vinod Palekar, who were district leaders of Goa Congress. The GFP adopted an anti-BJP plank. The AICC also did not field candidates against these three to signal an electoral understanding. However, Goa PCC chief Luizinho Falerio, who has personal differences with Sardesai, unilaterally handed out a Congress nomination to a local leader to fight against Sardesai.

Sardesai won.

In revenge, the victorious Sardesai refused to back Falerio for CM and demanded that Pratapsinh Rane be made CM. But before the Congress could decide, the trio from the GFP crossed over to BJP and became ministers in Parikkar’s cabinet.

To rub salt into the Congress’s wounds, Rane’s legislator son, Viswajeet, quit the Congress promptly and became a minister in Parikkar’s BJP government.

Case study 2: Uttarakhand 2017: 
In Uttarakhand, 13 Congress ministers and MLAs defected to BJP to provide support in fighting against the Harish Rawat-led Congress. They included Satpal Maharaj, Harak Singh Rawat, Yashpal Arya, Subodh Uniyal, Pratap Batra, Pranav Singh Champion, Rekha Arya, Shailesh Mohan Singh, Umesh Sharma, Kedar Singh Rawat and ex-CM Vijay Bahuguna’s son Saurabh. Of these, Satpal Maharaj, Harak Singh Rawat Yashpal Arya and Rekha Arya were rewarded with Ministerships in the Ministry of CM Trivendra Singh Rawat, who incidentally, started his political career as a Swayamsevak of the RSS.

To keep the post brief, I will not go into other case studies. Only bullet points will suffice.

Manipur: 
Nongthombam Biren Singh. Former Deputy leader of the Congress party, now BJP Chief Minister. Congress had 28 seats, BJP 21, still BJP formed the government, tying up with other bitter political rivals. Also veteran Congress leader Yumkham Erabot joined the BJP.

Actually, no. Its going to take more space. So let me just reel off names. 
In UP, Rita Bahuguna. Dhirender Singh. 
In Gujarat, Shankarsinh Vaghela, Vitthal Radadiya, Poonam Madam, Devusinh Chauhan, Devij Fathepara, Lalisinh Vadodiya, Prabhu Vasava
In Delhi, Krishna Tirath, Arvinder Singh Lovely.
In Karnataka, S.M. Krishna.
In Tripura; entire Congress team migrates wholesale to BJP

And in Parliament, some of the Congress defectors who are now in the BJP are Rao Indrajit Singh, Om Prakash Yadav, Sushil Kumar Singh, Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, Jagdambika Pal, Dharamvir Singh, Ajay Nishad, Santosh Kumar, Mehboob Ali Kaiser, Ashok Kumar Dohare, Vidyut Baran Mahato, Col Sonaram Choudhary, Ram Kripal Yadav, and Heena Gavit.

I must really stop. I’m not going to list out the locally powerful leaders, the ones with small but numerically significant numbers of followers in state after state, who have abandoned the Congress and joined the BJP from the congress in hundreds, usually after a big ceremonial procession to legitimize and draw attention to their ideological change of heart.

Half the reason for Congress-mukt bharat is the congress's own moth eaten rank and file.

So please don’t have any confidence that a party that allows corrupt and opportunistic people to join and grow within it, will have the courage and integrity to protect secularism.

Some well meaning people say that the fight against corruption can take a backseat in the fight against communalism.

Sorry folks, Corruption is the FOUNDATION of communalism.

Because, if you are corrupt, you are also opportunistic, because you want to preserve your ill gotten money. So two things happen. 

1. First, your secularism is for sale, as is amply shown by the case studies above.
2. Second, if you show any resistance to switching sides, then you can be blackmailed, because the other side knows everything about you. So if you do not succumb to temptation, you are threatened.

That is why every corrupt individual in the congress is vulnerable.

So, who are the people who have been able to defeat the BJP even in one state on their own strength? Which is the government that was able not only to thrash the BJP, but virtually humiliated the prime minister right under his nose? Who is still delivering good governance in spite of the daily harassments and obstructions that are spearheaded by the BJP with the Congress standing aside and applauding? Which party has had the maximum number of false criminal cases foisted against it, most of which have been thrown out and rejected by courts with strictures? Which party got an order passed by the President of India on disqualification of MLAs overturned in a court of law?

It is sad to see the 130 year old congress so scared of the 5 year old AAP. Because finally, a party has emerged that has the courage to actually stand up for constitutional ideals such as secularism. Don’t get me wrong, I am terribly sad to see this. Neither Renuka Viswanathan nor I would have joined politics if it were not for the congress being so corrupt. Both my sister and I have done enough and more of dedicated work for congress and JDS governments. Ask Siddaramaiah, if you wish. Ask Deve Gowda, if you wish.

I do not want to name all the individuals in the Congress standing for elections in Bangalore city, who have made fortunes from their corrupt dealings. But one thing is sure, if the time comes when secularism is in serious danger, they will not stand up for it. Some of the Congress people one hope will protect the interests of the minorities and Dalits, will surely fail the country. It is not a question of whether it will happen, but when.

As long as the minorities live in fear and they condone corruption as the price that they pay in order to get protection, they will be exploited by the congress. And their safety will be bartered.

Not a single one of Karnataka’s AAP candidates will barter away the rights and protections of anybody and particularly people from the minorities. The Constitution gives everybody in India the right to practice religion without fear and obstruction. We will give our lives and political careers for that. Period.

Invite us for an open debate, and then decide whether it is fair to ask the one party that is genuinely pursuing good and corruption free governance to concede space to a bunch of corrupt thugs who use the slogan of secularism to scare people into voting for them, so that they can make even more money.

And the last point, one could use the emotional line to tug at your hearts. But both Renuka and I do not want to bring in the details of our family background into this campaign. We are private persons and the privacy of our family members will be protected. Suffice to say that we are multicultural.

But more than that, we are people of integrity who have served the country and protected the Constitution.

Nobody can bribe us to give up our secular ideals.


Don’t split the secular vote. Vote for the AAP. 

Original post can be read here on Facebook.