Opinion Taking on EC

It must understand why it has been given a constitutional status

March 2, 2012 12:18 AM IST First published on: Mar 2, 2012 at 12:18 AM IST

Taking on EC

The BJP may have targeted Union law minister Salman Khurshid during his run-in with the Election Commission,but the RSS seems to have an entirely different take on the recent controversies surrounding the poll panel. An article in the RSS weekly Organiser attacked the EC,saying it has limited functions and should not be too big for its boots… It must understand why it has been given a constitutional status. It is not for policing or autocratic functioning. The sole purpose is to ensure authority to conduct elections in a free and fair manner. The EC was not designed to become a guardian of the democracy but an efficient servant,who would function with loyalty to elect a pro-people regime. It adds: It is unfortunate that the EC has been trying to act bigger than the democracy and treats politicians with least respect. When it does so,it loses its own respect and authority.

About the Khurshid controversy,it says: in the case of whether Khurshid (and) Beni Prasad Verma on their assurance on [the Muslim quota or listening to complaints on the construction of Ram Mandir,what the EC has been trying to do is choke the voice of the campaigners… The political parties also need to ask the EC why it should try to censor statements or tell campaigners what to speak or not. It concludes that this is a clear violation of the mandate the EC has been bestowed with.

States of the nation

An Organiser editorial attacks the UPA government for its decision to set up the National Counter-Terrorism Centre (NCTC).

It is not for want of laws or agencies that anti-terror investigations in India are stumbled. It is the lack of political will. Instead of acting tough on terror suspects and punishing those convicted,the UPA government is playing footsie with them, it says,adding it was the UPA which repealed POTA to pander to the minority community.

The editorial,while opposing the NCTC,deviates and talks about Hindu terror. About the Samjhauta Express blast case,it says the home ministry has come up with the Hindu terror theory even after investigations had been closed.

It also mentions the Batla House controversy: it is the performance of the Central government and its kid-glove attitude towards terrorism that is making its intentions suspect in the setting up of the NCTC… what makes the NCTC a bad move is the fact that it is not an independent body but answerable to the political power of the home ministry,superseding elected chief ministers.

Secret Sonia

AMIDST reports that UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi has declined to disclose the details of her income tax returns under the RTI Act,an article in the Organiser asks why is she so secretive and still in public life.

First it was her religion,then her relatives and then her illness and now her income tax returns. Sonia Gandhi has consistently refused to reveal details regarding these, the article says. It says information regarding her trip abroad for treatment too was denied to the public on grounds of her privacy.

The media played along in such reverential obedience. If public money had been spent on her,it has to be accounted for and the citizens of the country have a right to know how much and why the money was spent; if the treatment she received abroad was not available in India etc, it says.