Who should be the next prime minister of India?

Nine years of BJP rule in India and just one question. Who should be the next prime minister? We are less than a year away from next general election. Congress is active across India with various campaigns. 'Nine years and nine questions', is part of their campaign. Recently Rahul Gandhi visited USA and many among IOC leaders abroad addressed Rahul Gandhi as future prime minister of India. What IOC leaders abroad and the Congress workers  in India say will only make Rahul Gandhi the prime ministerial candidate of UPA. But Rahul Gandhi can become prime minister, only if people elects UPA. Preparedness of Congress party to face next general election tells us that they can win few more seats than they have. But Congress will not be able to cross one hundred mark. If they win few more seats than what they currently have, then it is only because of the strong anti-incumbency. Congress has not done much to make people vote for them.

Again, the question is, who should be the next prime minister? BJP has no doubt about it. If Congress were to answer this question, then is it going to be Rahul Gandhi? Rahul Gandhi's preparedness to become next prime minister of India is that he is no more an MP and cannot contest election for the next ten years. He forgot that he should be eligible to contest elections to become the next prime minister of India. Instead, Rahul Gandhi has become an international celebrity soon after his Bharath Jodo Yathra. He went to USA after UK and delivered political sermons in different venues. Ruling BJP is not at all happy with his sermons abroad which are meant to show India in bad light. Rahul Gandhi should have approached higher court to challenge Surat court verdict. The Congress should have pressurized union government and court to revoke his disqualification. 

It is needless to say that BJP will exert all sorts of pressure to ensure that Rahul Gandhi will not return to parliament and will not contest 2024 general election. Rahul Gandhi continuing to be disqualified is the best mantra to divide Congress. Soon National Herald case will haunt Rahul Gandhi.  It is very likely that Rahul Gandhi's political career will come to an end. And Congress leaders will treat him like a burden. So, is it going to be Priyanka Gandhi the next prime ministerial candidate? She got into politics few years ago to help her little brother become prime minister. 

So, who should be the next prime minister? Is it going to be Mallikarjun Kharge? Will Congress leaders from across India and other UPA leaders accept Mr. Kharge as their prime ministerial candidate? The opposition in India is weak and divided. Each party in opposition with small stake wants their leader to be the next prime minister. But all of them put together cannot win next Lok Sabha election. For example, Farooq Abdullah attended Tamilnadu chief minister MK Stalin's seventieth birthday. When Farooq Abdullah was asked about chances of Mr. Stalin becoming the next prime minister, he replied to reporters; "Why not"? 

Karunanidhi was much more powerful than MK Stalin and was a self made leader. Karunanidhi served as chief minister of Tamilnadu for five terms. Yet he didn't aspire to become prime minister of India. MK Stalin celebrated his seventieth birthday during his first term as chief minister of Tamilnadu with all his political legacy. Can anyone think of MK Stalin addressing a gathering in Kashmir, Bihar, UP, Karnataka or in Andhra Pradesh? If yes, what language is it going to be in? This is the hypocrisy that revolves around opposition. 

Opposition leaders appreciating each other and blaming union government on social media will not make people vote for them. Opposition in India is in danger and not democracy. Minority in India is not oppressed as much as opposition is. It is true that the union government is harsh on critics and dissenters. It is mainly because the opposition is too weak. The opposition is least bothered about problems of voters and have lost focus. In India, atrocities on rich Dalit or religious minority is treated differently than those on poor Dalits and religious minorities. Rahul Gandhi visiting UK and USA is not a solution for this problem. Leaders from religious minority are increasingly joining BJP. It tells us that the union government is against Congress and not against religious minority. 

Foul-mouthed Rahul Gandhi made foreign trips to inform the world that democracy in India is in danger. The western medias glorified this frivolous allegation. Western medias bully the world assuming that they are the custodian of democracy and human rights. China is trying to destroy America and is trying to replace dollar with Yuan. Their geopolitics is not limited to Indo-Pacific. It goes all the way till Cuba. China is a real threat to the world. In China, Muslims are not allowed to fast during Ramzan and are being massacred. Dissenters will face harsh punishment which includes death. Those escaped from China are being intimidated abroad using their secret police stations across the world. There is no scope for elections in China. Yet, journalists like Sabrina Siddiqui finds human rights violation in India and not in China. Isn't this hypocrisy?  

Prime minister Modi's state visit to US was meant to improve economy, trade and bilateral relationship. It was to strengthen partnership between the world's oldest democracy and the world's biggest democracy. PM Modi met business leaders, led international yoga day celebration at UN headquarters and addressed joint session of U.S. Congress. White house hosted grand state dinner for PM Modi. India and United States issued a joint statement. PM Modi addressed Indian diaspora at the end of his three-day state visit to the US. PM Modi's state visit to United States will help the world to contain Chinese aggression. China has already acknowledged it. 

We are misled that nationalism is above all other sentiments. The reality in India is individual first, then comes the family and extended family. After family comes the Caste, religion, Language, regional sentiments and political ideology. Nationalism takes the last seat when it is within India. Nationalism is above all other sentiments only when we see things globally. Money can reduce the weightage of any other sentiments like caste, religion or political ideology. This means, political parties don't select the best candidate based on ones ability. Often seats are shared among different caste and religious members. The wealthiest among the caste and religion are likely to become leaders. The exception are only those who are very popular among people and can win elections. In such country, atrocities on minority and Dalits or even saying that democracy is in danger won't help to win elections. Oppression is also secular like how our country is.

Always people and media will follow leaders. Leaders are problem solvers. Leaders are not those who blame media and solicit help from other countries to solve domestic issues. Opposition leaders should be able to exert pressure on ruling government to change anti-people policies. They should fight for problems of students, farmers, traders and labors. Its been more than three months since Rahul Gandhi was disqualified and there wasn't any sincere effort from Congress to approach higher court. There wasn't any nationwide protest even for a day. How will Congress fight for people, when the party cannot fight for their own leader? Indian National Congress was known for their pressure tactics. Congress was good at making any individual break the usual social order to uphold justice. Now the same party is begging for help from media and international community. Congress can never think of winning general election without they influencing government policies. The media and public won't trust them unless they come up with solutions for the problems of voters. If at all democracy is dying in India, then it is only because of the death of its watch dog.

Once UK's opposition leader Keir Starmer proposed an idea for reforms and told Rishi Sunak that labor party MP's will vote in favor of it, if Sunak fails to get required votes from Conservative Party members to pass the bill in parliament. Will opposition leaders in India say anything like that in parliament on issues relating to farmers, students, labors or public health care. They always stick to social media protests, Condemnation and blame media. Media will continue to sing the glory of union government, unless opposition does something to impress media, if not the public. Even the Congress used strong arm tactics while in power. During UPA II, the media exposed scam after scam because the government was corrupt, and opposition led by BJP was strong. The UPA II could have easily silenced media, if the opposition was weak. So, blaming media will not help Congress. Media the fourth pillar of democracy will shake, if the opposition is too weak. But a section of media in India still remains unbiased. 

BJP lost Karnataka election due to their poor governance, corruption and the arrogance of local BJP leaders. The election manifesto of BJP was far better than that of Congress. It is also true that Congress spent lot of money for campaign. It was visible in their campaign in Karnataka. One of the question among the nine questions of Congress is about black money. Soon after BJP's failure in Karnataka election, the union government declared withdrawal of rupees 2000 denomination notes which can be exchanged only till 30 September 2023. This means, the demonetization about which the opposition rants even now was aimed to destroy black money which was accumulated in huge quantities. The BJP which drained opposition's wealth is withdrawing rupees 2000 denomination notes after loosing Karnataka election. We can see Congress leaders acknowledging it in the below video.

There is no doubt that the union government under prime minister Modi's leadership is doing far better than any government that ruled India. They are doing good in infrastructure development, ease of doing business and over all development of India. This means, welfare of people from all caste and religion. They are also happy to accept ideas for development from anyone in the country. The last article in flamesofdissent.com blamed union government for keeping vacant positions in various departments of union and state governments. The government was quick to respond by prime minister Narendra Modi distributing 71,000 appointment letters to newly inducted recruits from different government organizations under Rozgar Mela. Rozgar Mela, a drive announced by the PM in 2022 to give jobs to 10 lakh people. Similarly, you can see some of the issues cited in two articles published before annual budget were addressed in the union budget 2023-24.

If majority of Indians are of the opinion that the union government is doing extremely well, then It is only due to the failure of opposition. During 2011, I thought that the Congress should be destroyed forever. Congress was instrumental in spoiling my life and career. Back then, I knew nothing about politics. After nine years of BJP rule, I see many going through what I went through and I am sure that they think what I thought back then about Congress. What we repeatedly do is what we are. What we do when nobody is watching is what we really are. As far as union government is concerned, they do wrong things time and again when the world is watching. In the below picture you  can see Dahod BJP MP Jasvantsinh Bhabhor and LimKheda MLA Sailesh Bhabhor were seen sharing the stage with Shailesh Bhatt, one of the 11 people convicted of gangraping Bilkis Bano. Convicts in the Bilkis Bano rape case were garlanded at the VHP office in Gujarat.

BJP stood with their leader MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar who raped a minor. Kuldeep Singh Sengar was eventually imprisoned. But he destroyed victim's family and killed her brutally with the help of police and rowdies. Wrestlers who won Olympic medals protested since January this year. It ended with power broker Amit Shah brokering a deal by insulting the minor victim. She changed her statement in the court. Intimidating victim's parents to change her statement was after several days  since her complaint under POSCO and there wasn't any sort of action taken by police. The police registered FIR only after supreme court questioning it. Bridge Bushan Sharan Singh was not arrested and ample time was given to intimidate victim's parents. Punishing Bridge Bushan Sharan Singh a murderer, an unpleasent person because of whom his son committed suicide wouldn't have brought down the government. But BJP leadership choose to protect their tainted leader as always. These are few examples. There is a lengthy list of victims who felt that the BJP shouldn't exist.

The union government wants to bring Uniform Civil Code (UCC) ahead of next general election. All opposition parties are against it saying that it is meant to target  religious minority. In fact, Nehru and Ambedkar wanted to bring UCC. Most of the families from all religion are giving as much as they could to their girl child as dowry at the time of wedding. They are willing to support their girl child even after wedding. Every other aspects covered in UCC is in practice now. But the vulnerable and those deceived cannot demand justice because it is governed by religious laws. The religious laws are often dictated by people who didn't have much of schooling. The opposition is against UCC, because union government bringing UCC will help them to get more minority votes in the next general election. The below video will give you an idea about UCC. 

We all know that union government is spending lot of taxpayer's money for public health care. Rupees 7,200 crores has been allocated to Ayushman Bharat and Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PMJAY) in annual budget 2023-24. This is in addition to what our respective state governments are spending for public healthcare. Beneficiaries of public healthcare are mostly the poor and uneducated. Desi-Daru (Indian-made Commercial Liquor) is a real threat to people who consume it regularly. Ironically, the poisonous country liquor is mostly preferred by countryside poor uneducated people. Around 2/3 of alcohol consumed in India is Desi Daru. Some of these drinks has an important role in the local festivals, ceremonies and events. But those who sell it throughout the year for profit will do adulteration. These local drinks are sold with and without FSSAI certification. Some of these certifications remain only on the label. Often the doctors will say that the cause of an illness as alcohol but will not specify that it is due to the poisonous liquor. Popular Desi-Darus sold in India are shown in the table below. 

Unfortunately, the union government has done nothing to bring an end to this shameless liquor policy. It helps local leaders and bureaucrats to earn lot of black money. For example, the TODDY sold in Kerala is nothing, but poisonous chemicals mixed in water. As per this report in The Hindu and Manorama, a chemical brought from Tamil Nadu or Bangalore worth rupees 500 is mixed into 1000 liters of water to make 1000 liters of TODDY.  The same report states that 90% is the profit in this spurious Toddy business, out of which 60% is given to politicians and bearcats. The remaining 30% is for those who run it.  These people say that it will provide market for coconut farmers. But the toddy sale in Kerala is not helping even 5% of coconut farmers. All those who produce and sell poisonous liquor in India will have similar story to justify this exploitation. 

A bill banning spurious liquor sale across India like the Toddy in Kerala will help BJP to increase their vote share. The women who suffer due to their men's drinking  habit will vote for BJP in the next general election. It will help BJP to make inroads into Kerala in the next election. A complete liquor ban will lead to increase in hooch production and substance abuse. But banning Desi Daru which are prepared using poisonous chemicals will bring noticeable positive impact on public health. It will increase the lifespan of rural India. A bill banning poisonous Desi Daru across India, stringent regulations for certification of liquor and taxation on all sorts of liquor sales will help poverty reduction. Lack of availability will reduce the abuse of alcohol.

It's been more than a year, since union government banned identified Single Use Plastic Items from 1st July 2022.  In the 4th united Nations Environment Assembly held in 2019, India has piloted a resolution on addressing single-use plastic products pollution, recognizing the urgent need for the global community to address this issue. However, there wasn't any significant change so far. Production, sale and use of identified Single Use Plastic Items continues unabated across India. It is a serious threat to health and environment. And opposition seems to be happy with it. 

Political discussions in all venues in India should be serious, insightful and enlightening. Political leaders should not descend to the level of mocking each other. There could be a sentence in between to cheer supporters. But the entire topic cannot be meant to make fun of other side. Delhi liquor scam helped AAP to fund Punjab election. The scam was exposed, and Manish Sisodia was imprisoned. His letter from prison made Arvind Kejriwal make fun of Prime minister. Watch the below video to see Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal insulting prime minister in Delhi assembly.  

Arvind Kejriwal was summoned and questioned by CBI for his alleged involvement in Delhi liquorgate. Recently, he was in the news for Delhi CM's residence renovation row. It is said that renovation of chief minister Arvind Kejriwal's official residence incurred a total cost of rupees 52.71 crore as per Delhi government's Vigilance Directorate. 

The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India is conducting a 'special audit' into the alleged administrative and financial irregularities in the renovation of Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal’s official residence at 6, Flag Staff Road Civil Lines. The move follows a request by the…

— ANI (@ANI) June 27, 2023

We have had many successful political leaders who haven't passed tenth grade. Many communist leaders haven't had much of formal education. Few years in school and party classes made them successful leaders.  Audience used to have goose bumps, when they spoke. Rahul Gandhi and Arvind Kejriwal lags far behind them with all their education. When prime minister Modi addressed joint session of U.S. Congress with his broken English, house members were attentive, cheered and applauded him. They are well educated and were agreeing to his views. Today, the world accepts prime minister Modi as global leader and appreciates his towering personality. 

 Let me introduce you to another irresponsible way of thinking, and ridiculous political discussion. When I first saw this video, I thought that it is stand-up comedy. Renowned scholars like Shashi Tharoor does it. So, why not a tainted businessman? But he was not standing. It made me think that it is new form called sit-down-comedy. Watch this video. It is entertaining. 

India is a vast country with one of the world's largest army, navy and Airforce. We have various law enforcement agencies like police, income tax, revenue, road transport and court. Their salaries are paid by taxpayer's money and the service is required for everyone. The priority in such service is often given to people like Ashneer Grover. We are still a developing country and need to improve in every sphere to be in par with the west. We also need to spend a lot for educational institutions to produce competent work force. I am sure that Ashneer Grover uses underground drainage system other than the streetlights. Such selfish motive and ridiculous discussions won't help tainted businessmen in India. I am sure that he with all his wealth (790 crores) will never become a MP or MLA, regardless of the party he joins. 

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