Yashwant Sinha’s ‘Jan Morcha’ moment: Left absent

“We are here because we are not afraid,” declared former Railway Minister and AITC (Trinamool Congress) MP, Dinesh Trivedi. BJP Member of Parliament Shatrughan Sinha, asked why he could not raise his concerns with the Prime Minister or in party fora, was equally candid. “Had we received a hearing, we would not have been here,” he asserted.

Both of them were among a motley group of ‘leaders’ who assembled at the Constitution Club on Tuesday to announce the formation of a ‘ National Forum’ (Jan Manch), which former union minister and BJP leader Yashwant Sinha emphasised would ‘never turn into a political party’. Someone in the crowd quipped , “ Didn’t VP Singh’s Jan Morcha begin the same way ?”

Former Gujarat Chief Minister Suresh Mehta, former diplomat KC Singh, JD(U) MP Pavan Varma, Shahid Siddiqui lately representing Vivekananda Foundation, AAP leaders Ashutosh and newly elected to the Rajya Sabha, Sanjay Singh, former MPs Sompal Shashtri and Jayant Chaudhary were among the known faces at the short function. Renuka Choudhury, former Congress MP, came in late and a host of farmers’ representatives from Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh and a vociferous group of AAP supporters waving the Tricolour and shouting ‘ Bharat Mata Ki Jai’ made up the audience.

Yashwant Sinha, the disgruntled BJP leader dismissed not too long ago by Arun Jaitley as a ‘ job seeker at the age of 80’, began by reminding people about the martyrdom of Mahatma Gandhi on this very day 70 years ago. But at the Raj Ghat on Tuesday in the morning, he found his way barred by security. Ordinary citizens had been barred from going inside and it was only after the intervention of Dinesh Trivedi, who was declared the ‘best parliamentarian’ during the day, and after a great deal of delay and difficulty that they were finally allowed in.

70 years after Gandhi’s assassination, he reminded his audience, the nation has the same concerns as it had in 1947. Both democracy and democratic institutions were undergoing a crisis. The Government, he lamented, took neither the Parliament nor the Union budget seriously any longer. “Earlier at least nine days would be set aside for debates on the budget and the President’s address to the joint session of Parliament. But the Government, after curtailing the winter session and delaying it for Gujarat election, has now set aside just six working days including two Fridays, effectively four days, for debate on the union budget and the President’s address.

He touched on the economic crisis and the unprecedented concerns voiced by four Supreme Court judges in public before alleging that central agencies like the CBI, ED, Income Tax department etc. were all being misused by the Government to hunt and harass political rivals. The sudden death of CBI special court judge B.H. Loya was also referred by him.

Silence was no longer an option. With the farmers reduced to begging for remunerative prices for their produce, there was urgent need for people to come together to flag these concerns.

The former finance minister added for good measure that he did not consider Demonetisation a step towards ‘reform’. It was a completely arbitrary and whimsical step that has caused havoc in the economy and the informal sector, he held.