VPP okay with ‘one nation, one election’ but opposes renaming country

Meghalaya’s Voice of the People Party (VPP) has stated that while it concurs with the Centre’s proposal on ‘one nation, one election’, the party has raised questions behind the motive.

“We see that in India we have elections every half year, and I used to wonder how the prime minister will run the country when he is busy electioneering most of the time,” VPP spokesperson Batskhem Myrboh said.

Myrboh pointed out that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which is leading the government at the Centre, has brought up this idea “not for anyone’s good but for their own political benefit”.

Myrboh said that the prime minister and the Cabinet ministers, busy with state elections, affect the quality of governance in the country. However, he said that there is difficulty in the idea of ‘one nation, one election’ because the Constitution does not allow it.

One-nation, one-election would need a constitutional amendment and then it would need to be taken to state assemblies. It is not a new concept having taken place four times in the 1950s and 60s but India has fewer states and a smaller population that could vote.

Myrboh further said out that as long as there are by-elections or the prime minister or the chief ministers have the power to dissolve the House before its term ends, ‘one nation, one election’ cannot be held.

“We have to amend the Constitution so that ‘one nation, one election’ can be implemented,” the VPP spokesperson added.

Pointing out that the voting pattern in the country is different in parliamentary and state polls. Myrboh said: “This may have led the BJP to think that if there is only one election at once all over the country it can be profitable for them because they can create issues which will touch the sentiments (of the voters) at the same time it will be favourable for them.”

The VPP spokesperson added that according to reports, the approval ratings for Prime Minister Narendra Modi are high at present, and the BJP thinks that this will play a factor even in the state elections.

He said, however, the BJP does not have a majority in the Rajya Sabha at present and therefore it needs to form government in many states to gain control of the Upper House of Parliament.

“If they control the Rajya Sabha it will be easier for them (BJP) to bring changes in the country, but at present, they have to cajole the smaller parties to support them to vote for the government,” Myrboh added.

On the issue of the possible change of name of the country from India to Bharat, the VPP spokesperson said that the word is already mentioned in the Constitution. Myrboh said that both names are parallel, he said.

“When they write in Hindi, they write Bharat, and in English, they write India,” Myrboh added.

He said that “to use the word Bharat and forget India is not possible”. The framers of the Constitution gave it a proper thought and the present generation should respect their intelligence, the VVP spokesperson added.

“The word India was used a long time back and from that angle too we think that we cannot accept that the name should be replaced,” he said.

Myrboh also said that the southern and eastern parts of the country, especially the non-Hindi-speaking states are fond of using the word India.

“When we use it, we have a sense of belonging to it but when we use the word Bharat, there may be a psychological implication wherein people may feel alienated,” said Myrboh.

The Centre has reportedly constituted a committee headed by former president Ram Nath Kovind to explore the possibility of much-talked-about “one nation, one election”.

The development comes a day after the government called a special session of Parliament between September 18 and 22, the agenda for which is under wraps.

Over the years, PM Modi has pushed strongly for the idea of simultaneous Lok Sabha and state assembly polls,