The pathetic state of India's opposition parties
By Justice Markandey Katju
The strong
objection by the Congress and other opposition parties in India to use of the
word Bharatinstead of India in the invitations to dinner by the President of India
to foreignleaders attending the G 20 Summit, shows the patheticstate of India's opposition, and is really much ado about nothing.
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| India that is Bharat: The pathetic state of India's opposition parties, Justice Katju's article |
''India, that is Bharat, shall be a union of states''.
Thus, the word Bharat has been used in the Indian Constitution and is not foreign to it, and one can use either the word India or Bharat at one's option. So what is all the fuss about?
Moreover, as I have repeatedly said, the test of every political activity is whether it raises the standard of living of the people, and gives them better lives. How does it affect the lives of the Indian people whether the country is called India or Bharat? So the issue is really irrelevant.
The opposition parties, in raising such issues, appear more and more like a drowning man clutching at a straw.
Their alliance INDIA appears to be stillborn, with no announcement of a leader of the alliance or even of the Core Committee constituted by it in its recent Mumbai meeting, nor even the date of its next meeting. I have called the alliance a stunt
The alliance is totally confused over the recent statement of Tamil Nadu Minister Udayanidhi Stalin who called Sanatan Dharma a disease which had to be eradicated. Some of its members have disassociated themselves from this statement, but none have condemned it, and Rahul Gandhi has not even referred to it.
With 80% of India's population being Hindu, and most Hindus regarding Sanatan Dharma and Hinduism as synonymous, I dont see how the opposition can even retain the present number of its seats in the Lok Sabha after the 2024 parliamentary elections.
(Justice Katju is a retired judge of the Supreme Court of India. These are his personal views.)
