Congress leader and Rajya Sabha MP Jairam Ramesh
Stating that there was no difference between “tanashaahi” and “Amitshahi”, Rajya Sabha MP and former environment minister Jairam Ramesh said on Saturday that India was faced with a situation where the “shehnai” of democracy was being silenced, by the cannons of autocracy. “Sabse bada khatara mein aaj jo dekhta hoon hamare desh mein, woh yeh hai ki, Loktantra ki shenai ko khamosh kiya ja raha hai, aur ektantra ka top chalaya ja raha hai (The biggest danger that I see today in our country is that the shenai of democracy is being silenced, while cannon of autocracy is being fired),” said Ramesh while speaking at the centenary celebrations of eminent Gandhian and Sarvoday leader Chunibhai Vaidya at the Gujarat Vidyapith campus.
“Do vyakti usko top pakadke aage chal raha. Ek vyakti usko pakad raha hai, aur dusra uss top ko chala raha hai (Two people are operating this canon. One is holding it, while the other is firing it,” he said.
Ramesh told the audience that he had recently written a book on former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and her love for the environment, but he personally felt that the decision to impose the Emergency by Mrs Gandhi was a wrong move. “I am against Emergency. What happened was wrong… It was a wrong decision. But today what we are seeing and feeling, this is an
undeclared emergency. These are not my words, but that of a senior minister of Atal Biharji Vajpayee’s government, Arun Shourie,” said the MP.
“The way democracy was extinguished 40 years ago in a legal manner, today the same political atmosphere has been created, without using any constitutional means,” he added.
Talking about the effect the present government was having on the functioning of social activists and civil societies, Ramesh said, “When I was a minister, everyday social activists used to agitate before my office. They used to shout slogans and burn my effigies. Where are they today. When I ask them, they tell me that they need to continue living in Hindustan, and cannot go elsewhere. This is the atmosphere of fear among social activists and civil societies. If they take an opposite view, action will be initiated…. Democratic elections will happen, political parties will also remain, but the soul of democracy is being sniffed out and destroyed.”
“Please do not feel bad, but there is no difference between taanashahi and amitshahi,” he said, as the audience applauded. Ramesh said had Chunibhai been alive, he would have agitated against the present situation the same way he had done against Indira Gandhi during the Emergency. Talking about demonetisation, the former minister in UPA government said, “Aarthik khatare toh hai hi… Ek tarike se dekha jaaye toh yeh notebandi, aarthik nasbandhi thi (There are of course economic dangers…In one way the demonetisation was an economic vasectomy,)” he said, adding that the demonetisation move adversely affected our country’s economy.
“Those sitting in power today, do pooja of the environment, recite Sanskrit shlokas, but look at the work they are doing… Their work is to dilute all existing laws; their work is to push forward one or two elected representatives; the laws safeguarding environment, forests and tribal rights are all in danger, because today we do pooja of a selected few capitalists and we think that they will usher in economic progress.”
