From: Jyothi Raj <jyothi.dalitreds@gmail.com>
Date: Sat, Aug 28, 2010 at 9:15 PM
Subject: Will Gandhi Turn in his grave?
T
Coimbatore Conference
It was real galaxy of eminent leaders in the Conference in Coimbatore. The Campaign for Electoral Reforms inIndia (CERI) organized the Tamilnadu Western Regional Conference at the Nirmala College in Coimbatore. Tamilnadu has changed tremendously from the time the State Conference was held in Chennai a year ago. The highlight of the day was that M C Raj did not need to reply to many questions that were raised about Proportionate Electoral System. There were many in the audience who were able to take up the questions by themselves and answer them as experts. Astonishing development! This is a clear indication that people have become truly serious about electoral reforms towards the proportionate electoral system.
What else! Even the former Chief Election Commissioner of Tamilnadu, Mr. Naresh Gupta who flew from Chennai asserted that the Election Commission of India has expended its energy on
conducting elections in India without corruption and violence but has never focused its attention on the possibility of introducing another system. The commission never exercised itself on reflecting whether what it was doing for good for India or not. This never occurred to the Election Commission. It is time that all of us begin an exercise on this. "I am very happy that CERI has
started this process through serious researches on different electoral systems by Mr. M C Raj". Hey, that was something to have come from Mr.Naresh Gupta IAS. Earlier it was Mr. Lyngdoh, the former Chief Election Commissioner of India who thundered that he is for full proportionate electoral system in India. He did this in the Andhra Pradesh Conference.
But more interesting than Mr. Naresh Gupta were the other stellar assertions by other stars of the day. Prominent among them was Professor Rahmatulla who is the leader of the Tamilnadu Progressive Muslim Front. He had come with some of his followers and remained through the whole day till the end. He was in his elements and pledged that the Front will be part and parcel of CERI till proportionate electoral system comes to India. Wow! This is something Professor! Let your tribe increase. Not to be outdone was Sudar Ozhi Sundaram from the Irular community
in Tamilandu. They are an indigenous people in India. Discovery Channel has presented them as the snake catching tribe of India. He asserted the right of the Indigenous people of Tamilnadu to be an essential part of CERI.
Trends have changed now, drastically for that matter. CERI does not have to ask people to join the Campaign. They are openly asserting that they want to be part of this Campaign.
Hare Wa, what a turn around this is!
It is not isolated you know! There was a chain, a chain of positive energy and assertion. Neelavendan of Adi Tamilar Peravai, which is the official Forum of the Bhangi people in Tamilandu
not only asserted its right to be part of CERI but also convinced many others that this is the need of the hour in India for all those who want to see equality and dignity in the governance mechanism of India. He is a young man who has his head and heart in the right place. A promising youngster! Raj took it as a point to proudly announce to the audience that was more than 175 that he is now dispensable in the Campaign as Gurusamy, another leader from the Bhangi community took on himself the mission of clarifying all questions about PR system. Oh, this Campaign will be carried on now by many others. Sorry Raj, we may not need you for too long now.
Of course there was Mr. Chumber from Punjab who travelled all the way to Coimbatore only to participate in the Conference and Kristine's presence was an added advantage as she is from
Sweden, a country that has one of the best PR systems in the world today. But do not forget that the Netherlands has the best Proportionate Electoral System in the world today.
It was also a very interesting phenomenon in the Conference of CERI to have a full pledged Ghandian, the former Vice Chancellor of Gandhi Gram University to assert that this is what
Gandhi also wanted for India. He was an elderly person but was a post modernist in his outlook. He said that everything that made itself irrelevant for today should be thrown out lock, stock and barrel including some ideas of Gandhi. But Gandhi was clear on transferring political power to the villages. Mr. Markandan, the Vice Chancellor was categorical in his statement that the
Proportionate Electoral System will fulfill the dream of Gandhi for the poor of India. A hard bargain indeed! If Gandhi can turn in his grave towards the proportionate electoral system the fate of India would turn many times in favor of the marginalized poor of India. Gandhi, will you do it now in your grave after going on a fast unto death to deny separate electorate for Dalits? If
only you did not use the most violent weapon in your hands, the fast unto death, we Dalits would have been different type of dignified citizens in this country. We shall now atone for your obvious sins against Dalits.
The release of CERI Manifesto in Tamilnadu and the serious planning that all the participants did to carry the Campaign forward in their respective Districts faded into oblivion with the
type of involvement of the students of Nirmala College who organized, volunteered and took the whole event into their hands. With this we have also got a very powerful presence of Christians in the Campaign. One by one, slowly but steadily the Campaign will march forward. People of India, not for me and not for you but for our country let us join hands to bring proportionate electoral system to ensure the representation of all peoples in the Instruments and Mechanisms of governance.
CERI TEAM
--
Mrs. Jyothiraj
Director
Rural Education for Development Society
REDS Road, Shanthinagar
Tumkur 572102, Karnataka, India
Ph: ++91-816-2277026
Fax: ++91-816-2272515
Mobile: ++91-9880184667
--
Palash Biswas
Pl Read:
http://nandigramunited-banga.blogspot.com/
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