“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.
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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.