While voters mull on whom to vote for the upcoming assembly elections, Gujarat Social Watch has gone ahead and released an analysis of state assembly proceedings. GSW chose the 10th session of the state assembly for its research.
The analysis, which was released at Gujarat Vidyapith on Tuesday, paints a picture that there isn’t much difference between elected leaders of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Gujarat Congress.
As per the report, Gujarat’s most popular orator – CM Narendra Modi – has spoken only three times in the state assembly, two times of which were to condole death of former members of the state assembly.
“The chief minister doesn’t actively participate in the assembly discussions. Reason for which might be that he will have to speak in the parliamentary tongue, which he is not quite adept at,” said Mahesh Pandya, who is an environmental activist and member of the GSW.
Vice-chancellor of the Gujarat Vidyapith, Sudarshan Iyengar believes, “It is necessary to check whether the democratic institution (state assembly) is working in accordance with Constitution of India.”
“The state may follow any ideology – capitalist, socialist or humanitarian – but questions need to be asked to lend legitimacy to its system,” said Iyengar.
Others who spoke at the unveiling of the analysis were political scientists, Prof Ghanshyam Shah and Prof Rohit Shukla, and social activist Gagan Sethi.
