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| Cong, PM with communal and defiant Law Minister? | | Wooing Muslim Voters | | Rustam
JAMMU, Feb 14: The Election Commission of India (ECI) is feeling outraged and moving heaven and earth to make the Congress-led UPA Government initiate action against the "defiant" Law Minister Salman Khurshid. Khurshid had challenged the authority of the ECI and stated and restated that he would go on advocating religion-based quota for Muslims even if the ECI "hangs him". The ECI has even approached the President of India and urged her to intervene so that the credibility of this constitutional institution is not dented. The ECI sought the President's intervention two days ago. The President acted swiftly and sent the complaint of the ECI to the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) asking it to take "appropriate" action in the matter. The President's intervention has not moved the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister would, it appears, not take any action against the erring Law Minister because the Sonia Congress is there to prevent him from taking action against a man who, it thinks, could garner Muslim votes for the party in the crucial UP elections. The fact is that the very credibility of the President is at stake.
That there is a perfect understanding between the Sonia Congress and the Prime Minister could be seen from the fact that at least three Union Ministers - Sriprakash Jaiswal, Beni Prasad Verma and Harish Rawat - have been openly supporting the Law Minister, who should have been sacked by now for communalising the election scene in UP. That the PMO and the Sonia Congress are working in unison could also be seen from what the senior Congress leaders like Digvijaya Singh have been doing in UP. They have been defending the Law Minister saying he committed no wrong by promising 9 per cent (read 33 per cent) sub-quota for Muslims out of the 27 per cent (read 100 per cent) quota for the Other Backward Classes, all Hindus. The attitude of Sonia Gandhi's daughter Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, who has even launched her two small children for influencing the UP voters, has been no different. She has been refusing to make any comment on the issue that has created a fierce debate across the country and made the people believe that the Congress is undermining and subverting the institutions and creating anarchy in the country. Her silence on the issue means full support to Salman Khurshid.
The fact of the matter is that the Sonia Congress and the PMO are working as per a strategy to win the UP elections. It's true that the Congress media in-charge and AICC general secretary Janardhan Dwivedi said two days ago that "people occupying posts of responsibility should speak responsibly" and that the "Congress upholds the dignity of the constitutional offices". But it was only a ploy used to deflect the people's attention away from the real issue. He didn't mean what he said and this is evident from the statements being made by Congress leaders who have been campaigning for the Congress party in UP.
It's also true that yesterday Salman wrote a letter to the ECI saying he has full respect for it and that what he said was what was provided in the Congress party's 2009 election manifesto. In other words, he stuck to his original stand and virtually snubbed the ECI.
All this has been happening despite the outrage at national level and despite the well-meaning and well-intentioned campaign unleashed against the Law Minister and the Congress party by the BJP, the JD-U, the CPI-M, and even the SP, itself a votary of religion-based quota. The BJP is demanding resignation of Salman Khurshid saying this is the minimum that needs to be done to salvage the situation. But this is not going to happen because you are dealing with a party that has no respect whatever for the constitution and constitutional institutions. It's a sad state of affairs. |
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