NEW DELHI: A direct result of the legislation underway to delink politics and religion will be the Muslim League cannot exist by that name. That is one prominent party which bears a religious name. Shiv Sena and Akali Dal are two others. And a religious name is a disqualification for a political party under the amendment proposed for the Representation of the People Act.
The amendment says: “Provided that no association or body shall be registered as a political party under this subsection if (a) the association or body bears a religious name, or (b) the memorandum or rules and regulations of such association or body do not conform to the provisions of subsection(S).”
NEW SECTION: This is no prospective provision, If an association or body with a religious name already enjoys the status of a political party, that will be cancelled too. For this a new section is sought to be added to the Act. It reads:
“Where (a) any political party bears a religious name; or (b) the memorandum or rules and regulations of the political party no longer conform 10 the provisions of sub section(5) of section 29; or (c) the activities of the political party are not in accordance with its memorandum or rules and regulations referred to in subsection(5) of section 29A, its registration as a political party under section 29A shall be liable to be cancelled by an order of the High Court within whose jurisdiction the main office of that political party is situated.”
Telugu Desam and Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (four varieties) also could have been in trouble if the Constitution Amendment Bill proposed for this purpose was not amenable to convenient interpretation. Those parties can claim that, though they may seem to invoke language or race, they do not breed ill will between different people which really is the offence mentioned in the new amendment. The proposed constitution amendment Says:
“Parliament may, by law, provide that any association or body of individuals be banned, if, it by words, either spoken or written, or by signs or by visible representations or otherwise, promotes or attempts to pro mote disharmony or feelings of enmity, hatred or ill will between different classes of citizens of India (i) on ground of religion; or (ii) on grounds of race, place of birth, residence, language, Caste or community.
An amendment to Article 102 and 191 proposed in the current legislation can create interesting situations. These Articles, when amended, will provide for disqualification for being elected to Parliament or Legislative Assembly or Council if a person “after making and subscribing the oath of affirmation accordance with the form set out for the purpose in the Third Schedule for election…makes use of religion, including religious symbols, for the purposes of the said election” and “if he promotes or attempts to pro mote feelings of enmity or hatred or ill will between different classes of citizens of India on grounds of religion, race, caste, community or language.”
SYMBOL CODE NEEDED: What this amendment will immediately require is a codification of religious symbols. It is significant that it is not merely the use of “religion” but the use of “religious symbols” also that will be made a ground for disqualification. Indian semiology is essentially religious. There is perhaps no sign or symbol which is clinically secular. Whether it is hand or cow or wheel or lotus or crescent has an acute religious association in the Indian context. Will the use of these symbols attract the newly proposed constitutional pro vision? The apostles of secularism, particularly communists, will not have to worry. Sickle or hammer are not seen as religious symbols.
The current legislation with the declared purpose of delinking politics and religion can also raise questions about the propriety of oath being taken in the name of God or sayings from Vedas being inscribed even on Parliament’s walls. There can be questions about the use of names also, The Representation of the People Act is being amended to provide for a ban on political par ties with religious names, after all, on the assumption that names transmit a religious message. If that 15 the philosophy behind this legislation, when a party’s name can send a religious message, will not an individual’s? Will not Narasimha Rao’s?
But the danger of the current amendment lies not in disqualification to be decided by the President: Legal experts fear that every returning officer will get the power to decide whether person is disqualified. He can reject the nomination of a candidate at the very stage of scrutiny on these grounds. If a re turning officer feels that a candidate, after taking oath, has made use of religion or promoted ill will between classes of citizens on the grounds mentioned in the amendment, he can reject the nomination outright. The effect of the proposed amendment would thus be to take India towards a “controlled democracy.”
Article extracted from this publication >> August 27, 1993
