Hyderabad: Former justice B Sudarshan Reddy assured that if elected as the vice-president of India, he will try to set right the things that shouldn’t have happened, stop the comments being made against the judiciary, and change the narrative being built that the parliament is supreme.
Making it clear that he is apolitical and that he has no intention to join any political party, he reiterated that he is a liberal constitutional democrat.
“This is going to be the most decent and fair election in the recent times,” he hoped, while interacting with the media persons during ‘Meet the Press’ event held at Basheerbagh Press Club by Telangana Union of Working Journalists (TUWJ) on Monday, September 1.
He said that the two reason for him to enter the vice-presidential race were that he will be the candidate representing 63.7 percent of the country’s population on behalf of the opposition, and to try and prevent the democratic processes in the country from going backwards.
“Sadak jab khamosh rahega, sadan abaad rahega. I’m sure that Rahul (Gandhi) won’t let the sadak be khamosh,” he said, underlining that the BJP has created an environment of fear, which has been haunting everybody including the educated, uneducated, advocates, journalists and others.
He said the country has lost the basic right of questioning the ruling establishment, which could be seen in the parliamentary proceedings.
“The Constitution didn’t give special powers to anybody. In fact the Constitution is essentially a document that imposes limitations on power,” he observed.
Also pointing out that neither questions were being allowed to be asked in he parliament, nor were any answers being given by the government, he said that the vice-president’s position is crucial in restoring the principles of democracy, as the vice-president is also the custodian of the Constitution as the chairman of the Rajya Sabha.
Also ReadTelangana CM asks MPs to ‘listen to conscience’ while voting for India’s next VP
He spoke at length about the importance of electoral rolls in the democratic electoral process.
Recollecting that the draft electoral rolls were prepared within 30 days of India becoming independent (by September 1947), much before the Constitution was drafted, he detailed out the challenges faced, and how the first government of the country could overcome the challenges in preparing the draft electoral rolls.
“It was an effort made to include the people, empower them and make them feel that they were not under the colonial rule. The district magistrates (collectors) were asked to engage the services of the most respected officials in the localities to prepare the voter list. There were around 148 million people in the country who were given the right to vote by including them in the electoral rolls, among whom 84 percent had never voted before because of the requirements for voting in the colonial era,” he recalled.
On the contrary, he said the present ruling dispensation was excluding the citizens from the electoral process in the name of ‘Special Intensive Revision’ of the electoral rolls.
“The electoral rolls are the roots of conducting free and fair elections. You can’t exclude the people in the name of suspicion,” he noted, urging a meaningful debate on the issue of electoral rolls in the country.
On the role of the Election Commission of India (ECI), he felt that if there was no interference from those in power, the system will perform effectively.
On the judgement on Salwa Judum, a private army created by Mahendra Karma in Chhattisgarh, against which he had delivered a historic verdict terming it unconstitutional, Reddy said that it was the judgement of the Supreme Court and not his own.
He also referred to the District Reserve Guards (DRG) personnel employed by the Chhattisgarh government, as another ‘avatar’ of ‘Salwa Judum’.
However, when asked by Siasat.com how he felt about the counter-insurgency operations of the BJP at the Centre on the Maoists, and if elected as the vice-president what he would do differently on the issue, he said that he was not an expert in security issues, and that the issue doesn’t fall under the duties of the vice-president.
“I don’t think I will frame my moral response, and I don’t know how to integrate the issue into the framework of the constitution,” he replied, adding that it would be an apt question if asked after he became the vice-president.
He said that within 24 hours of him being proposed as the INDIA Bloc’s candidate for the vice-presidential election, he also became the opposition’s candidate for the election.
He said that he has received support from parties that were not part of the INDIA alliance, and that he would seek the support from Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) chief K Chandrasekhar Rao, whom he described as a close friend.
On BRS working president KT Rama Rao announcing his party’s support for any party which will assure supply of urea to Telangana for the present Kharif season, he said he couldn’t afford to ‘give urea for votes’.
He also praised Telugu Desam Party (TDP) chief N Chandrababu Naidu and YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) chief YS Jagan Mohan Reddy as able leaders.
“I have spent the last 53 years of my life carrying the constitution. If elected as the vice-president, I will strive to protect it,” he assured.
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