Shashi Tharoor Slams BJP In Parliament Speech

Brut India

“Name your government schemes Sit Down India, Shut Down India and Shut Up India.” Shashi Tharoor also invoked the flying ban on Kunal Kamra in this Lok Sabha speech.

Transcript

00:00In 1947, Mr. Chair, we had a partition of the Indian soil. In 2020, this government

00:10is giving us a partition of the Indian soil. And of course, there was the usual lip service

00:21paid to Skill India, Digital India and Startup India, but no mention of Standup India since

00:27you are so busy banning stand-up comedians. And no admission that your government's scheme

00:35should really be renamed Sit Down India, Shut Down India and Shut Up India. To take just

00:44one example, Mr. Chairman, this government holds the world record for the largest number

00:52of internet shutdowns, and in Jammu and Kashmir, the longest communications blockade and internet

00:58suspension of any country in the world. So many examples of poor governance by this government

01:06in the last year, that it is very clear that their clarion call recently quoted by an ally

01:12of theirs of sabka saath, sabka vikas, sabka vishwas, honestly reminds me of what Napoleon

01:20said about the Holy Roman Empire, that it was neither holy nor Roman or an empire.

01:26Na sabka saath hai, na vikas hai, na vishwas hai. All of these aspects pale in comparison

01:34with the larger crisis that is holding hostage the future of the India we cherish. In these

01:40last few months, under this government, we have witnessed a fundamental assault on the

01:45democratic, secular and constitutional fabric of India that our forefathers, giants like

01:50Mahatma Gandhi ji, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, Dr. Ambedkar, Maulana Azad,

01:56and so many other giants of the independence movement gave their lives for. Even as they've

02:01driven the economy into the doldrums, the present ruling dispensation has become a tukde tukde gang.

02:08They are dividing this country into tukde, Hindus versus Muslims, desh trohis versus

02:16desh bhakts, Ramzadeh versus mein bolunga nahin, Hindus versus Muslims, Hindi speakers versus non

02:24Hindi speakers, us versus them. In 1947, Mr. Chair, we had a partition of the Indian soil.

02:32In 2020, this government is giving us a partition of the Indian soil.

02:41Just starting with what has happened within the walls of this house, with the passing of far

02:45reaching legislation, such as the disemboweling of the RTI Act, the UAPA bill with its draconian

02:51measures, the Jammu and Kashmir reorganization bill, the CAA, plus the declared intention by

02:58the Home Minister to launch a nationwide NRC, and of course the statements made by the ruling

03:04party's members outside the house, which I will not quote because they would demean

03:08the dignity of this house. We are facing an existential threat to the future of our democracy

03:14and the freedoms that we have taken for granted since our independence from colonial rule over

03:1975 years ago. To you, that is the old India, and you want in its place to replace it with a hollow

03:25facade that you have dubbed the new India. In the old India, fought for by the blood of our

03:31forefathers, birthed in the crucible of our national struggle, the fundamental premise

03:36that was ultimately forged was that of access to a historically inalienable set of rights and

03:43freedoms. Prime was the freedom to choose, to choose what government you wanted, the freedom

03:49to choose what set of convictions to have, the freedom to choose what to wear, what to eat,

03:54what to drink, to speak, the freedom to move freely within the sovereign borders of our republic,

03:59and the freedom to choose how and in what manner you would bow your head before your understanding

04:06of the force that guides the cosmos. All of these were freedoms enshrined in our constitution

04:12and embedded not just in the letter of the law but in the spirit of the constitution and in the

04:18lived experience of India and its people. It is lamentable that those who followed us in government

04:24have not had the capacity, the vision, or the inclination to uphold this timeless legacy.

04:31Instead, in today's times, that vision of India is questioned by rising intolerance in which the

04:37forces unleashed by our present rulers have appropriated the tools of the state to marginalize

04:43and exclude. Though their language is modern, they seek to take India backward, not forward.

04:50For all, after all, they made no sacrifices to shape India's destiny. And for them, our country

04:56is a plaything for the satisfaction of personal glories, for their narrow-minded ideology,

05:03and their communal prejudices. Their modern jargon conceals pre-modern beliefs, Mr. Chairperson.

05:11And it is our duty in the opposition to pull away the hypocrisy and reveal the darkness

05:15lurking beneath. It was appalling and distressing to see this government actually make the president

05:22selectively quote the father of our nation, Mahatma Gandhi ji, whose ideals they have willfully

05:27disregarded in an attempt to legitimize the desecration of the very national unity the

05:32Mahatma Gandhi gave his life for. The president's address quoted that the Mahatma said,

05:38said Hindus and Sikhs of Pakistan who do not wish to live there can come to India. It is the duty

05:44of the government of India to ensure a normal life for them. No one disagrees with that. Congress

05:48party supports that fully. But this quote was then used to make the absurd claim that the draconian

05:53censorship citizenship amendment was a fulfillment of the Mahatma's wishes. Now, by reproducing a

06:00line without its context, not only has the government misled the Rashtrapati about the

06:05Rashtrapita, but they have attempted yet another affront to a man who spent his lifetime advocating

06:12Hindu Muslim unity, a man who fought till the very end to resist the idea that religion should

06:18determine nationhood, which is sadly the idea they have embraced. Frankly, sir, the president

06:24should have continued to quote Mahatma Gandhi's words. He has said at the same time, to drive

06:31every Muslim from India would mean war and eternal ruin for the country.

06:36If such a suicidal policy is followed, it would spell the ruin of Hinduism in the union.

Category

Transcript

Recommended