PRASHANT BHUSHAN STYLE REFERENDUMS ON NATIONAL SECURITY ISSUES-what are arrvind kejriwals views

PRASHANT BHUSHAN STYLE REFERENDUMS ON NATIONAL SECURITY ISSUES After Prashant Bhushan, a senior member of the Aam Aadmi Party, controversially recommended a referendum on deployment of the army in Kashmir, the party was constrained to distance itself from Bhushan’s views. Security requirements could not be decided by the people, clarified party chief Arvind Kejriwal, while insisting, more generally and unexceptionably, that local sentiments must be respected. This controversy foregrounds the AAP’s wobbly judgement on what political representation entails — the ways in which people exercise their voice in a democracy, and how their will is made manifest. Meanwhile, as if in response to the impression it has created, the AAP is reaching out to Kashmiris. It is texting messages to people, seeking ‘ideas’ and ‘act­ion plans’ from potential volunteers about this year’s parliamentary and assembly polls. Those int­­e­­rested have been asked to approach the party. “For now, AAP’s focus is on the parliamentary elections. After that, definitely the assembly elections in J&K,” says Samir Sar, a Gurgaon-based Kashmiri Pandit who is handling AAP’s J&K chapter.Elections to the state assembly are exp­ec­ted in autumn, when the Omar Abdullah government completes its six-year term. After stoking controversy with his remarks on Kashmir, Aam Aadmi Party leader Prashant Bhushan on Sunday drew flak from all for saying that there should be a referendum for deployment of security forces against Maoists in the affected areas. Bhushan, whose demand for a referendum on deployment of security forces in Kashmir had raised hackles, with his party AAP also distancing itself from it, called for a vote on the issue of deploying central paramilitary forces in Naxal-infested areas. BJP spokesperson Nirmala Sitharaman said the efforts of the Centre, which is trying to tackle the issue with the help of state governments, will be negated by such statements and security forces will be demoralized.The party asked the AAP leadership and CM Arvind Kejriwal to make clear their stand on the issue. All are astonished at the way Prashant Bhushan is speaking out on issues which have serious implications on national security. Only on Saturday he talked about referendum for deploying central forces in Naxal-infested areas. We should condemns such kind of periodic statements which have a direct relation on internal security. When Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has himself termed Naxals an the most serious threat to India's internal security, such statements are not good for the nation. "None of us have any business to demoralize the security forces who are tackling the Maoists and Naxals waging a war against the Indian government." Prashant Bhushan is challenging the integrity of the sovereign nation. All they want is a cheap publicity. Unfortunately India has so many anti India stance people living on generous policies of the nation abusing freedom afforded to them. Prashant Bhushan fond of referendums. Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Prashant Bhushan is evidently fond of referendums. In this, he's not alone, AAP itself having conducted mass SMS voting on whether it should form government in Delhi. However, Bhushan's view involving the popular polling exercise, extending to letting Kashmiris decide via referendum whether they'd like the armed forces to exit or stay, earned him hostility from all patriotic Indians. Yet, Bhushan remains keen on a great big referendum — adding a new location too. He now reportedly wishes to have a referendum on whether deployment of central paramilitary forces in Naxalite-affected areas should continue. Expectedly, as his party shivers with deja vu, All are demanding to know what AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal has to say. While Kejriwal figures out an AAP-appropriate response, Bhushan could helpfully elaborate on his vision — who would vote in this referendum? Would middle-class metro citizens, thousands of miles away from dangerous Dantewada, voice their views? Would the area's tribal communities, caught between a rock and a hard place, express themselves via postcard or mobile phone? And would the Naxalites themselves take a break between encounter and extortion to type: 'Yes', 'No' or 'Maybe'? Suggestions like his only trivialise serious security issues, lost in the sound and fury that ensue around them. If we must have a referendum to while away wintry days, instead of pondering diverse security arrangements, let's have one on Prashant Bhushan and whether it's time he gave his referendum fever a rest. We need a referendum whether to send him to Timbuktu or else where?The 24 Hour TV Channels could cover this momentous event all day showing trends. We hope that the election commission will not ban the exit polls. We have had licence raj and other similar Rajs. Are we heading for Refrundum Raj? By this can we expect to rule a country? Once every five years, the Elecction Commission conducts a credible referendum, nationally and in the states, about how Indians wish to be governed. That is supplemented by elections to local bodies, rural and urban. In such a large, diverse, populous land, that referendum is enough.