Open Letter To Rahul Gandhi, Part-3

 Respected Sir,

 

Karnataka State Assembly election results have shown that BJP can be given a devastating defeat. We had written two open letters addressed to you dated 11.06.2017 and 23.03.2023.  We repeat what we had written two months back.

 

Presently the political environment in India needs an extraordinary sacrifice from you for a much higher calling i.e. to publicly announce:

 

·        that you would not be the Indian National Congress candidate for Prime Ministership,

·        that you would spend all your energies till 2024 General Elections to try getting opposition parties to fight elections unitedly; that this united opposition will pitch only one candidate against the ruling party’s official aspirant in all constituencies of the country,

·        that a broad based committee having representatives from each of the political parties – howsoever small – would oversee that this process is set in motion and reaches its mandated conclusion, and

·        that the Indian National Congress party will exhibit an attitude which makes it clear that it is not bigger than any of the constituents of this united opposition.

 

This would ensure that any political leader with experience could aspire to become the Prime Minister of India – both from within the Indian National Congress Party or any opposition party were the united coalition to win in the 2024 General Elections.

 

This strategy would ensure that all non-BJP parties would unite to defeat the fascist forces in power.

 

Thanks.

Yours Sincerely,

Shobha Aggarwal & P.S. Sahni

PIL Watch Group

Same-sex marriage pleas in the Supreme Court of India: LGBTQIA Community at the Crossroads

 

Press Release

 

The ongoing hearings on same-sex marriage petitions have resulted in a minor concession being offered to the LGBTQIA community by way of welfarist steps. A government committee would be constituted to address the issues which could at best benefit a small section of the LGBTQIA community.

 

Meanwhile the Supreme Court has indicated clearly that Parliament alone can legislate on the right to same-sex marriage. Therefore a national level consultation process of LGBTQIA community and their allies for decades is urgently called for. A few petitioners cannot represent the entire LGBTQIA community – reportedly between 80 to 100 million.

 

The Court having opened its mind on not granting same-sex marriage right, there is a greater need now to build a powerful movement and occupy Parliament Street, New Delhi to ensure the ‘Gay Manifesto’ to be debated and conceded by lawmakers in the Parliament. Sacrifices will have to be made in a long drawn-out struggle.

 

The Court is likely to pronounce its judgement after the summer vacation break sometimes in July 2023. If these 5 judges of the constitution bench declare in their judgement that Parliament alone can legislate on same-sex marriage, it will create a problem for future generations (again the section which opts for judicial route rather than parliament for their liberation) who will then have to ensure a larger bench of more than 5 judges to reverse the judgement awaited in the present case. A Herculean task indeed!

 

In such a scenario withdrawing cases from the court is a tactical retreat dictated by one’s conscience and wisdom; then at least the petitioners and their lawyers will come out with their self-respect and dignity intact and their heads held high.

 

ABVA Collective

Shobha’s take on same-sex marriage issue needing debate in Parliament turning out to be prophetic

 

Shobha Aggarwal’s interview with Namrata Kolachalam, an American journalist based in Mumbai doing a radio piece for ‘The World’, was conducted through Zoom on 23 December 2022. Not a world/line of the interview lasting 47 minutes 23 seconds was used by the journalist in her piece which was run on 6 January 2023.

 

Shobha’s philosophy all along has been that Parliament alone is the forum which could legislate on same-sex marriage. ABVA has been petitioning the Parliament to implement its Gay Manifesto since 1991 which includes the demand for same-sex marriage. In the interview Shobha, a lawyer by profession, had emphasized that the “issue needs to be debated in the Parliament.”

 

Now in the ongoing hearing of the same-sex marriage petitions by a 5-judge constitution bench of the Supreme Court of India, the Chief Justice has reportedly articulated – after several days of hearing arguments from both sides – that Parliament alone can legislate on same-sex marriage!!

 

This is in consonance with and echoes Shobha’s views.

 

Full interview is available with ABVA Collective.

 

P.S. Sahni

Member, ABVA