VOX POPULI
by
S Kamat
as
Aam Admi
Issue: 260 Date: 10.12.2018
Contents:
1. A Lame Government Looking For Scapegoats
2. The HC Needs To Cut Through The Obfuscation On Parrikar's Ability Now To Run The Government
3. Make Rasthrapati Bhawan Into Loktantra Bhawan
A Lame Government Looking For Scapegoats
The submission that the Director and his deputy, Asthana were fighting like Kilkenny cats by the AG in the Supreme Court in the on-going CBI case about Director Verma's removal is to say the least very amusing. What were the Ministers in charge of the CBI doing? Why were they not able to get their own appointees to toe the line. Surely this is a failure of the present government. Again with the simmering feud between the two officers coming out in the media from July, one needs to surely ask - What was the government doing all along? Common management practice indicates that Asthana should have been removed since Verma's appointment was done by a Committee. But then since Asthana was brought into the CBI by this self-same government to skirmish with the Director and consequently undermine its working, they were caught in a bind. This is precisely what happens when you try to sabotage your own working. It is also reflective of the incompetence of this government and its tendency to govern by agendas rather than on principle and policy. We have seen lately how the present government has been blaming the past regimes for almost everything little realising that for the four years that it has been in power, it has to show at least some achievements. But all it has to show is the failed measures of Demonetisation, GST and the moving to a Cashless Economy. Modi & his team has to wake up since the day of reckoning is not too far off.
The HC Needs To Cut Through The Obfuscation On Parrikar's Ability
Now To Run The Government
The tangential manner in which the Chief Secretary has responded in his affidavit to the High Court in the matter of the PIL related to the health of the CM and his consequential inability to attend office and in that manner run the government of Goa is, to say the least, very disturbing. This process also shows up the stonewalling approach of the administration while refusing to accept the fact that governance has been suffering since March 2018. It highlights the lack of responsibility on the part of Manohar Parrikar himself and the BJP to perform the onerous task of providing a government in Goa after accepting the charge of it. Parrikar though claiming that he is not interested to remain Chief Minister has been using extraneous reasons like the BJP central leadership wanting him to retain the seat so that his own public image is not sullied. But he needs to recognise that - You can fool some of the people some of the time. You can fool all the people some of the time. But you cannot fool all the people all the time. Look at the matter in another perspective. Parrikar's primary plank for governance was development. But if he is MIA - Missing In Action, for such a long time, the bus of development is obviously not able to move ahead with its driver missing! As far as the PIL is concerned, it is accepted that an individual medical's records are a private matter but a line needs to be drawn when these records pertain to a public figure particularly the head of government of a State. This is more so when the person does not attend office and participates in the normal activities of the office that he holds. This has been clear from the beginning when the fact that Parrikar was suffering from cancer was hidden from the public to the extent that a police case was filed against an individual for publishing the truth. Therefore such of the medical records that relate to the capability of the individual in the performance of his official duties should be disclosed so that the public satisfies itself whether the current status quo be allowed to continue or whether any alternatives are to be resorted to. Otherwise the court can ask that a medical panel of doctors be constituted to assess the health of Manohar Parrikar and report if he is fit to perform his official duties. This can be done in conjunction with a press report that had appeared in the papers recently that Parrikar's illness has been affecting his faculties. Thus the present PIL seen in the light of the above and in conjunction with the suo moto recognition of the above news report can form the basis for a more factual advice to the people of Goa on the health of their beloved Chief Minister. In any case, the present situation cannot be allowed to continue and the people of Goa deserve someone to be at the helm of affairs to run its government.
Make Rasthrapati Bhawan Into Loktantra Bhawan
We have been a democracy for more than seven decades now. We also pride ourselves in being the world's largest democracy. But we continue with the ostentation and protocol of the office of the President, Vice-President and the Governors of our States. The pomp and pageantry that is associated with these offices is out of place in a democratic set-up and is a hangover from colonial times. Take the case of the President, one does not see why he needs to stay at Rasthrapati Bhawan? Is it because it is named as such? Then we should maybe appropriately change its name to its intended use. Like the Vice-President why cannot the President stay in a Lutyens bungalow? This will be more aligned to democratic thinking than him staying in a palace. Additionally it will save on security expenses since a smaller area needs to be secured for the safety of the President rather than a huge palace. The Rasthrapati Bhawan like Hyderabad House can be used by the President and other dignitaries for official functions like receiving and sending off visiting heads of state and/or government as we are doing now as also for other purposes. The other parts of the building can be converted to a museum highlighting India's transition to a democracy and its achievements since that time. The public visits at particular seasonal times to the Mughal Gardens and also maybe to the stables to see the horses can be organised which can be called an Equine Museum. This will lead to better use of the building. We could in fact call it Loktantra Bhawan, as the primary edifice of the Indian democratic tradition. The problem is that we pay lip service to democracy but continue to carry hangovers of the colonial legacy of the past and try to emulate the European nations with their roots of evolution to democracy in royalty.
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