Tharoor said the "one nation, one election" initiative would be against the existing system, which is based on parliamentary democracy.
Published Sep 02, 2023 | 10:23 PM ⚊ Updated Sep 02, 2023 | 10:23 PM
Shashi Tharoor speaking to the press in Thiruvananthapuram. (Shashi Tharoor/ X)
Congress leader Shashi Tharoor visited his Lok Sabha constituency on Friday, 1 September after becoming a member of the Congress Working Committee.
Talking to reporters in Thiruvananthapuram, the MP accused the BJP-led Union government of failing to contain the Chinese aggression across the border.
In a scathing attack on the Narendra Modi-led dispensation on the matter, Shashi Tharoor said, “Unless we stopped hoodwinking the people by saying that China has taken nothing and there is no change.”
He further added, “The country stood in danger of losing a significant amount of territory and a strategic advantage against this seemingly powerful neighbour.”
The MP further said the Chinese aggression issue is not just a map but a much larger problem.
“This cartographic aggression is a way for the Chinese to erase certain markers and when they sense vulnerability, they move according to their idea of the map,” Tharoor said.
He said earlier there were about 65 points where both armies used to patrol along the frontier, and there were no incidents for 45 years.
“Suddenly, on 26 of these points, the Chinese Army comes and establishes permanent positions, which means that our Army, which used to patrol, can no longer patrol,” Tharoor said.
He said in Ladakh, where Indian shepherds used to graze their sheep can no longer go and graze.
“Rahul Gandhi, who visited these herders recently, heard it from their own lips. Even a local BJP councillor said the same,” Tharoor claimed.
He said the Indian government has been talking about showing “Lal Aankhen” (Red Eyes) to the Chinese, but there are no red eyes, only red flags of the neighbour.
He said that it is now of paramount importance that the Congress party and the Opposition hold the government’s feet to the fire.
Tharoor said the statement of External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar that Beijing had even put out such maps in the past, claiming territories that were not theirs, and that it was “an old habit” of China was not true.
Shashi Tharoor further criticised the BJP-led Centre’s proposal for “one nation, one election”, saying there is no practical way in which such a system can be implemented.
Tharoor said the “one nation, one election” initiative of the government would be against the existing system, which is based on parliamentary democracy, where parties cannot continue in power if they lose the majority in the house.
“There is no practical way in which you can implement such a system. The second concern that many of us have is that the big diversity of India actually benefits from the staggered calendar that has evolved over the years,” Tharoor said.
Former president Ram Nath Kovind was on Friday, tasked by the Union government with the responsibility of heading a committee to explore the feasibility of “one nation, one election”.
The committee will explore how the country can go back to having simultaneous Lok Sabha and state assembly polls, as was the case till 1967.
Tharoor said the chief executive of the country is selected by a parliamentary majority and a legislative majority, and the moment that majority goes, for whatever reason, the government falls.
Then a new election has to be held out of sync with the calendar.
He said that between 1947 and 1967, India had all national and state elections on the same date, but the system collapsed when the coalition government fell in 1967, and the calendar slipped.
Then the national government fell in 1970, and elections were held in 1971, he said.
“Therefore, that calendar also slipped. There’s been a number of changes, and that’s why now there are different calendars for different states. The same thing will happen again in the future,” Tharoor said.
He said the opposition would attentively listen to Ramnath Kovind’s committee on this.
“Let us see if Mr Kovind’s committee can come up with any practical solutions. We will listen attentively, but we have every reason to have a lot of scepticism about this entire initiative,” Tharoor added.
About the impromptu Parliament session called by the central government, Tharoor said no one was informed about the agenda.
In an aside, he said the central government may be thinking that it may not get a chance to function out of the new Parliament building, which’s why it called for the session.
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