Today's situation worse than Emergency: Arun Shourie
Mumbai: Former Union minister Arun Shourie Sunday said ex-Prime Minister Indira Gandhi had a "great sense of remorse" for imposing Emergency, but the situation today is "graver" than it was in 1975-77.
He said Prime Minister Narendra Modi's juggernaut can be stopped in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls if the entire Opposition unites and follows the principle of one candidate against the BJP in every seat.
The journalist-turned-politician was addressing a session on 'Danger within the Judicial System' at Tata Literature Festival here.
"In 1975 (Emergency) there was much better defined opponent. Today there is widespread opponent. I can tell you this, the difference between Gandhi and Narendra Modi is that Gandhi had a great sense of remorse about what she had done," he said.
"Today, there is no remorse. In Gandhi's case I feel, in spite of the fact that she put 1,75,000 people in jail, there was a sense of limit...isse aage nahi jana hai (not beyond this point). But today there is no sense of limit," he added.
The Emergency lasted for 19 months, but today there is much more sustained and relentless assault at undermining institutions, Shourie said.
"...so I feel the situation now is much more graver than it was in 1975," he added.
Shourie asserted that opposition unity is key to defeating Modi in 2019.
"After all, Modi at the peak of his popularity (in 2014)... how many votes he got? Only 31 per cent. So if the opposition unites, it starts with 69 per cent of the votes," he said.
"In any case the BJP has no presence in the states where regional parties are strong. We should think of the Congress and support the Congress in those places where it is a dominant regional party," he said.
He added that if the leaders of the other parties don't agree on the principle of one candidate against a BJP candidate, then people should be approached to teach them a lesson for splitting opposition votes.
A former minister in Atal Bihari Vajpayee's government, Shourie said people should look within themselves to bring change.
"If we're not prepared to do anything, situation will be the way it is," he said.
He claimed all institutions are under assault, especially during the last four years, and have been destroyed by the "termite" inside them. "Institutions in India, I fear, are hollow," he said.
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Congress, Raijor Dal finalise alliance; state party gets 11 seats
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Guwahati (PTI): After days of negotiation and uncertainty, the Congress and Raijor Dal finalised seat-sharing arrangements for the Assam assembly polls, and decided that the national party will leave 11 constituencies for the other one, and there will be a friendly contest in two. In a late-night development on Thursday at Jorhat, leaders of the two parties, headed by state Congress president Gaurav Gogoi and Raijor Dal chief Akhil Gogoi, signed the agreement.
Akhil Gogoi will contest from Sivasagar, a seat he won in the last polls while still in prison on sedition charges for allegedly instigating violence during the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) protests.
The Congress had given the Margherita seat to the Raijor Dal. Earlier, the national party had given it to Prateek Bordoloi, who decided not to contest on a Congress ticket after his father defected to the BJP earlier this week.
The other seats to be contested by Raijor Dal are Dalgaon, Dhing, Sissiborgaon, Digboi, Bokakhat, Manas, Tezpur and Kaliabor, while friendly contests will take place between the two parties in Goalpara (East) and Gauripur.
The party has nominated a woman candidate, Gyanashree Bora, from the Mariani constituency.
The opposition alliance now comprises six parties -- Congress, Raijor Dal, Assam Jatiya Parishad (AJP), CPI(M), All Party Hill Leaders Conference (APHLC) and the CPI(ML).
The Congress has announced its complete list of 87 seats, the AJP in 10 seats while the CPI(M) and APHLC will contest in two seats each.
Gaurav Gogoi thanked the Raijor Dal president, his team, and everyone who worked to ensure the alliance took place.
"It is not easy for a party like Congress to give up seats, but the national leadership agreed in the interest of the state and its future," the Congress state chief said.
''After assessing the ground realities and being satisfied with our answers to the queries raised by the high command, it was agreed that the alliance takes place,” he added.
Gaurav Gogoi said that several sections of the society, particularly some renowned civil society leaders, played a prominent role in ensuring the alliance takes place in the interest of the state and its people.
He appealed to all to work for the win of all candidates put up by the alliance's six parties.
"We have many dreams and aims to create a new Assam where the development of all and not just one person and his family, is ensured," Gogoi said.
People of Assam want to be free of Himanta Biswa Sarma's ''low level of politics'' where he uses fear and threats to intimidate people so he can remain in power, he claimed.
The Raijor Dal president said that they decided to contest the elections unitedly to oust the BJP government, led by Himanta Biswa Sarma, and make Gaurav Gogoi the chief minister.
''People of Assam are dissatisfied with the BJP-RSS as they have changed the social fabric of the state, and there is a need to overthrow Sarma's undemocratic, corrupt and communal government,'' he said.
Akhil Gogoi urged the Jorhat electorate to vote for the Congress president, stating they have a ''historic opportunity to elect the state's future CM and help build a new Assam.
"Jorhat will get a CM, and the entire state will get a youth leader who has made a mark on the national arena," he said.
Raijor Dal is contesting only 13 seats in the interest of the people and the future of the state to ensure that the BJP is defeated, he said.
Akhil also apologised to those from the party who could not get a ticket.
The elections to the 126-member Assam assembly will be held on April 9. Votes will be counted on May 4.
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