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| The Battle Lines are not between the parties but between civil society and the political parties |
The premise of this is that although we may be fighting each other backing one party or the other, the true battle lines are between we citizens one one hand and all political parties on the other.
So, lets start with economic policy: Both leading parties - Congress as well as BJP and almost all regional parties with few exceptions are offering us the same neo-liberal agenda. What we citizens should demand is that during policy making there be public debate and public information on specifics of the law whether it is Land Acquisition Bill or Food Security Act or resolution on FDI in retail. Now that's about future changes. But what about implementation of existing programs and policies. I think we should all agree on common non-negotiable principles that no law be violated in the name of development. As an example - If land acquisition law requires a public hearing with impacted people, we must vehemently support that regardless of whether we support the project itself or not. In the past, this particular provision of the law was broken by Congress in several land acquisitions in Haryana; there were gross violations in POSCO project in Orissa under the rule of a regional party, Biju Janata Dal, and of course the king of all violations, Narendra Modi's BJP govt in Gujarat went to great extent ensuring that no legitimate public hearing occurs for the Mithi Virdi nuclear power plant in Gujarat. We all talk about Adani but how often do we mention Mithi Virdi which has long term repercussions. So, the point is if we see a project in future, we must fight for the legitimate process irrespective of which party we support.
Lets take another provision - Every large project requires Environmental Impact Assessment. We have heard all kinds of debates in this election but we hardly heard the word - ecology or environment. Does that concern you? Do you know that we are exploiting natural resources 10 times faster in last 10 years than we did in first 50 years? There is widespread deforestation, abysmal water pollution and we are turning mountains into empty bowls for extravagant mining. Most importantly, Govt of India is only getting 10% of the selling price in most cases. Rest of the profits are going to private hands and most of the minerals are going to China. In short, our collective natural resource is transferred into private hands for windfall profits.
The Lavasa project supported by NCP in Maharashtra blatantly violated all environmental provisions, same was the case with mining in Yeddyrappa's BJP govt in Karnataka. Again, Gujarat is no exception except that it leads in complete destruction of top soil and mangrove forests on the entire coast of Saurashtra for whom? Either for Adani's international port or for Nirma's limestone quarries. I hope you all realize that once we destroy the environment, it takes several thousand years to replenish that natural resource. Do also recognize that repercussions are not direct and immediate but make no mistake - They are devastating. Nature's fury knows no bounds. For example, if the Mangrove forest of Gujarat coast is destroyed, the possibility of 2002 like cyclone has increased manifold because there mangroves serve as protection.
Bottom line - Lets pledge that we citizens will not allow rupturing of environmental laws in the name of development irrespective of whether Modi comes to power or Rahul Gandhi or if Arvind Kejriwal is part of some coalition.
Let us also understand that this is not a matter of socialism or capitalism.It is simply a question of whether the law of the land is respected or not.
Good Night and Good Luck
