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Rahul right in opposing ordinance

Rahul Gandhi has dubbed the ordinance a 'complete nonsense'. In fact, right-thinking people in the country are feeling exactly so. It is strange that the proactive media is only concerned about why Rahul Gandhi has reacted like this now and why not earlier.

The BJP, on small and insignificant reasons, demands the resignation of the Prime Minister by reducing politics to a farce. It is a fact that the ordinance would have scuttled the court's orders to purge politics of criminals. Nowhere in our Constitution has been found that the government cannot retreat from bringing an ordinance which would undermine the principles of ethics of politics. The country in general and the Opposition and the media in particular

should appreciate Rahul Gandhi's political honesty to right a wrong. He is the only political leader in the country now who can criticise his government’s wrong decision. There was a strong and spontaneous reaction by people and the proactive media against this ordinance, all such major decisions of the government are decided on the people's reaction. This is neither an embarrassment to the UPA government nor to the PM; in fact this will help rid politics of criminals who were the main beneficiaries of this ill-conceived and unwarranted ordinance. We must understand and appreciate the initiative of Rahul Gandhi to bar the entry of criminals in politics. It is also a wrong presumption that ‘Rahul’s action has diminished the stature of the Prime Minister of India’ (the editorial 'Rahul rights a wrong’ — September 28).

CAPT AMAR JEET KUMAR (RETD), Mohali

II

The country should be thankful to Rahul Gandhi for intervening in the manner he did in such a “suicidal” ordinance. No other politician would have dared to undo it in the near future had President Pranab Mukherjee signed it, and it would have left the entire country wide open for loot and plunder by criminals of all shades prevalent in the Indian polity.

The current ground reality is that the whole government machinery is corrupt, whether at the Centre or in the states. There is no accountability and nobody bothers about the laws. It is shocking but true.

T S SHERGILL, Chandigarh

III

I fully endorse the core argument of The Tribune editorial that Rahul Gandhi has righted a wrong but embarrassed his own government. I am of the view that it is a positive development that Rahul Gandhi has given voice to his own feelings on a very important Bill which can decimate the role of tainted leaders in national politics. Many Congress leaders have openly defended his public outburst saying, “This is the Congress's actual stand”. But they should not forget that many people in this big country (including political pundits) felt startled at his harsh words "complete nonsense". It is an open condemnation of the Union Cabinet which decided collectively to send the controversial ordinance to President Pranab Mukherjee for the final approval. The position of our Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has become really shaky and quite untenable. It is a big setback to the personal image of Dr Singh, who happens to be nearly 80 years old.

I personally think that Rahul Gandhi could have used more thoughtful and proper words to express his judicious dissent over the Bill. He forgot that he was running down his own Prime Minister, who had on one occasion in the recent past, had expressed his desire to work under him. Now, the only respectable option left with the Prime Minister is either to ignore Rahul's criticism and defend his Cabinet's collective decision or to put in his papers quietly. I feel that Dr Singh's two eventful innings from 2004 onwards as Prime Minister of India are drawing to a close and he may himself be painfully aware of his evening shadows.

RAJ BAHADUR YADAV, Fatehabad

IV

Rahul’s impromptu outburst on the ordinance shows that he is an immature brat like his uncle, the late Sanjay Gandhi, and thoroughly incompetent to hold the august office of Prime Minister. Secondly, the culture of extreme sycophancy in the Congress party has arrived with gusto. The leaders who were highlighting the virtues of the ordinance till yesterday suddenly started criticising it with one voice “what Rahul Gandhi said is true” something like “Na khata na bahi, jo Kesri bole wo sahi”. This level of sycophancy is worse than what we saw during the Emergency when the Congress President remarked “India is Indira and Indira is India”. The statement of Rahul Gandhi has rubbished (not embarrassed) both the ordinance and the Cabinet. ‘Nonsense’ is an unparliamentary word and will be expunged if it is used in Parliamentary debates.

Rahul Gandhi has every right to differ with the contents of the ordinance but he must use a highly dignified language to express and elaborate his displeasure becoming of a future Prime Minister of India. The review of the provisions of the ordinance by the Cabinet in the light of Rahul Gandhi's remarks on October 3 is frivolous.

YATIN MALIK, Gurgaon