'One nation, one election' is unconstitutional and impractical: Prashant Bhushan
Nagpur, Dec 24: Lawyer-activist Prashant Bhushan on Tuesday strongly opposed the idea of 'one nation, one election', calling it as "ridiculous and unconstitutional", and said holding simultaneous polls was impractical in a parliamentary democracy.
He also hailed the recent apex court judgements that gave a stay on lawsuits about reclaiming religious places, especially mosques, and 'bulldozer justice'.
Bhushan spoke at Parwana Oration 2024 organised here on the topic "Whither economic democracy in India' organised by Comrade H L Parwana Memorial Trust.
Answering reporters' query on 'one nation, one election' after his speech, he said, "It is ridiculous and unconstitutional because one cannot have simultaneous polls in parliamentary democracy for the reason that the government depends on enjoying the confidence of the majority in the House."
Two bills that lay down the mechanism to hold simultaneous elections were introduced in the Lok Sabha after a fiery debate last week.
"If there is a split in the party or if some people defect, then the government can fall and if the government falls and no other government can be formed then what will you do? Either you impose President's rule for the remaining term and if the central government falls, what do you do? You cannot impose President's rule there. Therefore, you will have to have fresh elections otherwise it is against democracy," he noted.
"Now, they are saying that fresh elections will be only for the remainder of the term. So how is that helping? You are now increasing the number of elections because now you are holding elections only for the remaining two years if say two years are left. This is totally bogus...There is no way this is practical and in my view this is totally unconstitutional," he said.
Equating 'bulldozer justice' with a lawless state of affairs where might is right, the Supreme Court last month laid down pan-India guidelines and said no property should be demolished without a prior show cause notice and the affected must be given 15 days to respond.
Recently, the apex court restrained till further directions the courts in the country from entertaining fresh lawsuits and passing any effective interim or final orders in pending ones seeking to reclaim religious places, especially mosques and dargahs (a Muslim shrine).
Speaking about it, he said, "We have seen that a few good things happened in the Supreme Court. One is the stay on all these suits about mosques being taken over for temples or being investigated as to whether there are temples below that or not."
"They (SC) have said that for the time being, these suits will not proceed. This is a very important development that has taken place," he said.
The other important decision is about ' bulldozer justice', he said.
"They have passed a very good judgement effectively putting a stay on it. They have also passed many judgements regarding the misuse of powers of the Enforcement directorate. ED has become the main instrument of harassing opposition leaders or activists, journalists, etc, wherein anything can be said to be money laundering and therefore ED gets into anything, whatsoever," he said.
Fortunately, in the recent last few months, there have been a number of judgements which have put brakes on the power of the ED, he added.
On a query about Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's statement that 18 per cent GST will be imposed on the margin value of used car sales, Bhushan said it should be scrapped.
"I don't know whether she misunderstood what the scheme is and if this is the scheme it will have to go. It will also struck down in the court," he said.
When asked about Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis' statement that pro-urban Naxal organisations supported the 'Bharat Jodo Yatra' of Rahul Gandhi, Bhushan said, "That is all absolutely bunk. I mean they call any dissenter urban Naxalite..."
Addressing the gathering earlier, Bhushan called for the need to understand the difference between 'economic democracy' and 'political democracy'.
Economic inequality has increased so much that 10 to 20 families of this country own more wealth than the bottom 50 percent people of this country together, he claimed.
"We say that we have political democracy, but is the system in the country is run by the opinion of the people?" he asked.
A lot could have been done to reduce the economic inequality by implementing progressive tax, which means that tax will increase as the income increases. Maximum personal income tax in India is around 35 per cent, which is less than most of the other countries that are regarded as capitalist countries, he said.
Secondly, progressive wealth tax could have been implemented be it one, two or three percent, but we did not apply wealth tax, he said.
Bhushan made a pitch for inheritance tax, and said corporate tax has decreased in the country in the recent past.
The government should ensure that a person lives a dignified life with basic food, education, health care and shelter, he said.
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Bengal: On way to PM's rally, 3 mowed down by train amid dense fog
Kolkata (PTI): Three persons died and three others were injured after being hit by a train amid dense fog on Saturday, while travelling to attend Prime Minister Narendra Modi's rally at Taherpur in West Bengal's Nadia district, a senior official said.
The incident occurred between Taherpur and Badkulla railway stations under the Sealdah-Krishnanagar section of Eastern Railway, he said.
Modi, whose helicopter could not land at Taherpur due to dense fog and low visibility, condoled the death of the “BJP workers” in his virtual address from Kolkata airport.
“I have come to know that some BJP workers, while travelling to the rally, lost their lives in a rail accident. My condolences are with the families of those who have lost their loved ones, and I pray for the speedy recovery of the injured,” Modi said.
The Eastern Railway official told PTI that the incident occurred in the morning when these people, who were travelling by a bus, had stopped the vehicle and walked to the railway tracks to answer nature's call.
"While three persons died on the spot, two others with injuries were admitted to a local hospital," he said.
Another person with minor injuries was released after having been administered first aid, the official said.
The deceased have been identified as Ramprasad Ghosh (74), Shaktipada Sutradhar (55) and Gopinath Das (38).
Meanwhile, Mahua Moitra, Trinamool Congress MP from Krishnanagar constituency in Nadia district, alleged that the BJP ignored the incident and went ahead with the rally.
"Terrible tragedy hushed up at altar of @narendramodi ego. @BJP4India supporters brought from far Murshidabad for PM rally in Ranaghat today," she said in a post on X.
"4 went to answer nature's call and were killed by 31814 down local train near Taherpur. BJP ignored, blacked out & went ahead with rally," Moitra claimed.
Reacting to her remarks, the West Bengal BJP, in a post on X, asserted that the TMC "has always been adept at milking tragedies", and was being "disrespectful to the unfortunate victims of this tragedy".
The TMC alleged that BJP leaders have not shown "neither concern nor compassion" over the mishap.
"The loss of three lives in Taherpur should have united everyone in grief. But @BJP4India leaders showed neither concern nor compassion," it said in another post on X.
"At this painful moment, Smt @MamataOfficial and Shri @abhishekaitc put humanity above party lines and stood beside the families of the deceased," the party said.
TMC’s on-ground leaders promptly reached out to the grieving family members, ensuring them of help and assistance, it said.
"While Delhi’s rulers chase Bengal with arrogance, our leadership chose empathy. This is the difference between politics of power and politics of people!" the TMC added.
