Vote Chori: Opposition MPs should resign and not legitimise the actions of BJP: Parakala Prabhakar

Political economist and author Parakala Prabhakar on Saturday said that the Opposition parties should discard the ‘Casino syndrome’ while speaking about “voter fraud” and urged their MPs to seriously consider resigning from their posts, so as to not end up “legitimising” the BJP and their decisions in Parliament.

Speaking on the topic ‘Defend Democracy, Stop Electoral Fraud’ in an event organised by Chennai Thinker’s Forum, Mr. Prabhakar said, “Representatives of Parliament and State Assemblies have everything at stake. Please fight. The entire country is worried, anxious and concerned about it. If we let this moment slip, forget about democracy in India. It is already a farce. My contention is that, if Lok Sabha was elected on the flawed voters list, then, this Lok Sabha has no legitimacy.” 

“The body that is responsible for this kind of irregularity, it needs to go,” he said.

“They ask me, if the entire Opposition resigns, the government will have a free run. If all these parties boycott elections, they will have 400. By sitting in the Lok Sabha, what are they (Opposition) achieving? When the government wanted to pass some crucial Bills…for instance, Election Commission, suspended more than 140 MPs, making it easier for the government to pass the Bill. By not resigning, are you stalling anything? You are just legitimising it by sitting there,” he added.

Mr. Prabhakar further said, “What are you talking about? You are talking about Vote Chori. So, when you win Wayanad there is no Vote Chori? When you win Rae Bareli, there is no Vote Chori? When you win in Tamil Nadu, Jharkhand, Telangana, Karnataka, Kerala and Himachal Pradesh….there is no Vote Chori? Only when you lose, there is Vote Chori? When this question is posed, I am sorry to say, all the political parties keep quiet. I want to propose an answer to this…how many of you know about casinos? If you go to a casino and you lose every game, will you go play? So what Casino does is that… you win one game, you are excited. After that you lose… but then you have hope that you will win again. You will play again… then you lose two games. Then you lose four, you win one. So that your hope of winning is kept alive, but at the end of the day, the Casino wins.”

N. Ram, Director, The Hindu Publishing Group and former Editor-in-Chief, The Hindu, said the citizenship of every Indian itself has come under pressure and assault in certain parts of this country. “For the first time in the history of independent India, particularly after our Republican Constitution was given…religion has been used as a marker for citizenship. Today, in the Bihar election…franchise has come under attack, more than six million have been deleted in the process called Special Intensive Revision. The Congress leader Rahul Gandhi deserves a lot of credit for taking the issue it to the people. In the context of Bihar, we must all acknowledge, Mr. Rahul Gandhi’s spirit, courage and focus on this issue. I believe it has made a difference. It has altered the outlook…trust in the Election Commission of India has come down,” he said. 

Former Union Minister and Lok Sabha MP A. Raja said that he would convey Mr. Prabhakar’s suggestions to Chief Minister and DMK president, M.K. Stalin, and said that the opposition to it would once again start from Tamil Nadu.