Andhra Pradesh, either the erstwhile undivided state or present state, has a rich history of politicians who has shown their mark at national level and valiantly stood for democracy. But it seems the present day Telugu politicians are pale reflection of those leaders and really have no command or commitment towards Indian democracy. The spineless conduct of two main political parties in AP – Telugu Desam Party and YSRCP- in case of ‘One Nation One Election’ bill proves this beyond doubt.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been batting for ‘One Nation One Election’ in India and only God knows why he is so adamant on it, inspite of it being posing a serious threat to democracy.
Every party and leader has right to have their opinions and even PM Modi and BJP might have their desire for simultaneous elections across India. We cannot say no to them. But when it comes to such a key issue, a debate and widespread consultations need to be taken up, which is missing in this issue.
While BJP is proposing ‘One Nation One Election’, opposition Congress Party and its allies are opposing it.
What’s painful is, instead of a meaningful discussion, all NDA parties supported the bill when it was introduced in Parliament on Tuesday.
Congress and its allies Samajwadi Party, Trinamool Congress, DMK opposed it. Even a small party AIMIM, which is maintaining equal distance from BJP and Congress has shown guts to oppose it.
But unfortunately two main political parties of AP, Chandrababu Naidu’s TDP and YS Jagan’s YSRCP supported it, without any debate or widespread consultations. Pawan Kalyan’s Janasena is also on the same line with TDP and YSRCP on this issue.
Every party has freedom to choose its stance on any issue. But why are AP politicians are not even taking up discussions or public debate on such a key issue and meekly following PM Modi’s diktats?
AP has seen stalwarts like PV Narasimha Rao, Neelam Sanjeeva Reddy, Nandamuri Taraka Rama Rao (NTR) who had vision and courage to take on powers in Delhi. But why an equally towering leader like Chandrababu Naidu or a supremely confident YS Jaganmohan Reddy not even making efforts to assess the pros and cons of ‘One Nation One Election’?
Irrespective of various social and economic issues plauging India, what makes it a free and fair nation is its vibrant democracy. The foundation of this is our election system, which is by and large very efficient and just. So tampering with this will only lead to serious issues.
So it needs serious thought and conviction on the part of all political parties, when they take stance on ‘One Nation One Election’. Hope the main political parties of Andhra Pradesh and their leaders wake up to this reality.
