‘landmark day’

PRIME Minister Mr. Narendra Modi’s description of December 11, 2019, as a ‘landmark day’ in India’s contemporary history, stands out as a mark of positivism and farsightedness against the description of the same day as a ‘dark day’ by Interim Congress President Mrs. Sonia Gandhi. Though these two differing descriptions indicate differing perceptions, they also bring to fore the fundamental difference between politics based on nationalism and politics based on narrow vote-bank considerations.

The Prime Minister saw the passage of the Bill by both the Houses of Parliament as a landmark, mainly because he and his Government had seen the correct details of the scenario that had actually twisted out of shape the national discourse on an issue as critical as citizenship to foreigners taking refuge in India under traumatic circumstances. And as the Government proceeded with the Bill in Parliament, Union Home Minister Mr. Amit Shah and his colleagues explained very well how the Bill was not in the least aimed against any one particular community.

“Indian Muslims were, are and will be Indians all the time,” Mr. Shah declared as he defended the Bill in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha. Obviously, the Government was determined to bust the Opposition’s divisive politics that sought to drive a wedge between the Muslims and other communities. It is good fortune that both the Houses of Parliament cleared the Bill with a clear-cut majority favouring it. No matter, then, that Mrs. Sonia Gandhi sought to use the phrase ‘dark day’ to describe the development. In fact, this development must act as a fresh lesson to the Opposition that has never missed trying to block every move by the Government just for the heck of it. The Opposition must understand that its antagonism has little to do with reason and more to do with a political ideology nursed by the idea of electoral gains, no matter how detrimental those might turn to be in the ultimate analysis.

It must realise that a lop-sided political narrative that it has been pushing for decades has only harmed the country in the short and the long runs. And finally, it must realise that whatever happened in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha was not just a numbers game, but also a signal that a new thought-process was demonstrating its presence to the nation and the world, indicating that a clear-headed nationalism was going to be the order of the day from now on. The manner in which the two Houses voted showed clearly that nationalistic philosophy prevailed beyond numbers, and asserted itself defeating the usual political cluster activity which the Opposition has been indulging in in the past some years somehow to beat the Modi wave. Prudence prevailed over politics and a right law is now all set to be ushered in. In fact, this law should make the Opposition understand that it would be in the best national interest not to fan shallow feelings of anger of a certain community without reason.

When wrong reasoning is used to instigate people, then what ensues is dirty politics. The Opposition must understand this -- by going beyond the normal trappings of political action. The quality of Opposition’s participation in the debate on the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill in both Houses of Parliament bared the unintellectual and thoughtless manner some leaders adopted while opposing the Bill. Not only did they not follow rules of participation in parliamentary activity but also defied simple logic that should have governed their overall collective conduct. They appeared obstinate on most occasions. Let alone all that, the nation did achieve a landmark in its constitutional history, which Mr. Narendra Modi captured in appropriate words. There is a reason why the nation should pat itself.