A STUNNING MOMENT IN THE RAJYA SABHA proceedings on the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill (CAB) was symptomatic of the larger political and governance context in which Union Home Minister Amit Shah and his associates in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government were pushing through this controversial piece of legislation. Amit Shah was arguing that the CAB posed no threat to the Assamese people and that the government would protect their rights. Members of the opposition, raising their voices in unison, vociferously contested the claim, which led to an animated and heated situation.
Both Houses of Parliament have witnessed many such occasions in the past, and people across the country and the world have had the opportunity to witness them through the live telecast of the proceedings. But on December 11, this moment of heightened tensions was followed by something strange and unprecedented: the stoppage of the live telecast of the proceedings. Just before this extraordinary development, Rajya Sabha Chairperson M. Venkaiah Naidu was heard telling opposition members not to interrupt the Minister and even warning them that they would be “named”, a procedure that prevents an MP from participating in the proceedings of the House for the rest of the day. As he said that, he also ordered that nothing the opposition members were saying would go on record. Immediately after this, Rajya Sabha TV stopped its live broadcast. Although the House-run channel gave no official explanation for this stoppage, informal indications from within the organisation were that this unparalleled situation arose because the Chair had pressed the red light button in his controls, giving the signal to stop the telecast. It was resumed only after the opposition voices had been silenced and Amit Shah had the floor entirely to himself.
This story is from the January 3, 2020 edition of FRONTLINE.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the January 3, 2020 edition of FRONTLINE.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
Sarpanchs as game changers
Odisha manages to keep COVID-19 well under control because of the strong participation of panchayati raj institutions and the community at the grass-roots level under the leadership of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.
New worries
Kerala’s measured approach to the pandemic and lockdown has yielded results. But it still has to grapple with their huge economic impact on its economy, which it feels the Centre’s special financial relief package does little to alleviate.
Capital's Malthusian moment
In a world that needs substantial reorienting of production and distribution, Indian capital is resorting to a militant form of moribund neoliberalism to overcome its current crisis. In this pursuit of profit, it is ready and willing to throw into mortal peril millions whom it adjudicates as not worth their means—an admixture of social Darwinism born of capital’s avarice and brutalism spawned by Hindutva. .
Waiting for Jabalpur moment
The Supreme Court’s role in ensuring executive accountability during the ongoing lockdown leaves much to be desired. Standing in shining contrast is the record of some High Courts.
An empty package
The Modi regime, which has been unable to control the COVID-19 infection, restore economic activity and provide relief to millions exposed to starvation, trains its sights on Indian democracy, making use of the panic generated by fear and a lockdown that forecloses paths of resistance.
Job Offers Withdrawn, Internships Now Unpaid
Engineering and business school graduates stare at a bleak future as job offers are withdrawn or revised, while delays in joining dates add to the climate of uncertainty.
In search of a road map
It is now increasingly clear that the government did not think through and provide for the consequences of the lockdown.
Clueless captain
As the nation longs for relief from the pandemic and the economic misery caused by an ill-planned lockdown, the government prefers symbolism over substance, exposing its lack of meaningful leadership.
RISING TREND
There are no signs of any let-up in the COVID case numbers well into the third phase of the lockdown even as issues of violation of physical distancing norms, mistreatment of front-line health workers, inadequate public health infrastructure and increasing distress among the poor come to the fore in most States, besides of course the low testing numbers and haphazard screening and isolation of suspect cases.
Dystopian pipe dream
The reluctance of the Narendra Modi regime to extend fiscal support to those in real need of help during a prolonged lockdown suggests that it is promoting further concentration of capital. Dire consequences await the economy and the polity.