MyVoice: Views of our readers 30th March 2021

BJP can still win Telugu hearts in AP

It is preposterous to say that there is no light at the end of tunnel for BJP in AP ( THI , 29 March ). The mighty national party, being what it is ,may be a" zero "today in AP, but if the Chanakyas of BJP have ears to listen to the 'Man ki baat' of the people, the BJP can become a hero in AP.

It is right time for BJP to introspect its role in making a prosperous AP into a BIMARU state today.

Had BJP-TDP combine not broken its own promise of special category status to AP, the mighty BJP would have become a super star in AP. Not to speak of the BJP's U- turn politics in not implementing the various economic projects to AP under AP Reorganisation Act.

Adding insult to the injury, is the privatisation of VSP. As such the beleaguered Telugu people cannot forgive the BJP today as it is responsible for bread and butter issues like joblessness, incessant price rise, farmer unrest ,bad economy and host of others.

Thanks to the good governance of Jagan's government,people have successfully faced the bad days of Covid-19. Against this background , the BJP-TDP combine is seen in poor light today and Jagan is seen as saviour of the people with his innovative schemes and cash incentives to tide over the crisis in the state.

Hence, it is time for BJP to sit under a Bodhi tree and get political enlightenment. To win the Telugu hearts, the BJP should keep up its promises made to the people and help a well performing GoAP, to achieve all-round progress, development and economic prosperity.

P H Hema Sagar, Secunderabad

A blow for democracy

The Supreme Court has betrayed its lack of will to give precedence to the sanctity of democracy vis-a-vis the electoral system by its decision to not stay the issuance of electoral bonds, if it may be put so bluntly.

The electoral bonds scheme as it exists today is not even remotely transparent. It is hard to believe that it is completely kosher. By its very nature, the scheme undermines the right to know of voters, time and again upheld as a constitutional right by the apex court.

There is no valid reason why the voters should not know the identities of the donors and recipients and the amounts of donated money through the electoral bonds. The Election Commission and banks cannot substitute the people when it comes to possession of knowledge of details of political funding. There is no reason why the public should not know what the Election and the banks know.

The anonymity enjoyed by corporate donors renders it difficult for people to detect the influence of donations on formulation of policies to their benefit. We are not gullible enough to think that there is no quid pro quo; there's no such thing as a free lunch. The opacity of the scheme makes it harder to be sure that no black money is used to fund parties.

The absence of a donation ceiling can result in donor-friendly parties being flush with money. Needless to say, the party in power is the main beneficiary of the scheme. It is an open secret that the bulk of the contributions from the poll bonds have gone to the BJP so far. BJP is not just the world's largest party, but also the world's richest party!

Disproportionate money power in electoral politics undermines democracy. The country's top court can strike a blow for democracy by striking down the electoral bonds. That it may not be favoured by the ruling class should not dissuade it from what it should do to advance the cause of democracy.

G David Milton, Maruthancode, Tamil Nadu

II

The electoral bonds system is not helpful for flourishing a healthy democracy as it favours the ruling party or a party with more winning chances. It takes away level playing field among parties.

The anonymity of donor or the party being donated makes the voter uninformed about the flow of funds and the relation between these two. If the voter is empowered to know the criminal precedents and income details of the contestant in elections, why shouldn't he be equipped with the knowledge of his party's funding patterns and details?

After all such information makes him well informed to take a call.The transperancy factor in electoral process can discourage the quid pro quo arrangements between corporates and political parties.

Dr D V G Sankararao, Nellimarla