To narrowly try and see an effort that was made in that point in time as some kind of a reform initiative which was only specific or uniqueness to the Congress would be misreading of that effort, he said.”It is essential to locate it in the larger context in which there was a certain collective thinking. The time has come for the second generation of democratic reforms which is the more intensive democratisation of the political parties which underpin the great Indian democratic experiment,” he said.To that extent, Tewari said, the Congress is the only party today with a democratically elected president, where by a full democratic process played itself out, and there was the co option of people who had even fought that internal election and lost into the decision-making bodies of the party.”I think the one thing which possibly was never understood or perhaps we were not able to convey was that the impulse and the trigger was much larger and was aimed at ensuring that we are proud of the fact that we are the largest democracy in the world, the proliferation of that democratic experiment, should be both vertical and horizontal,” he argued.Asked if he felt marginalised by the party when he was member of the G23 group seeking widescale reforms in party, Tewari answered in the negative and said one suffers from a sense of alienation if his or her objective of coming into politics is limited to aspiring for a post which had not been the case for him.On assembly polls in Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir, Maharashtra and Jharkhand, Tewari said like the positive impact the 2024 Lok Sabha poll results had on India’s democratic structure, the results of assembly polls, which would be in favour of the Congress and its allies, would strengthen the democratic structures of the country.On Modi 3.0’s initial weeks that saw rollback of the lateral entry in bureaucracy move, sending of Waqf (Amendment) Bill to Parliament’s joint committee, reworking of the broadcast bill and the Unified Pension Scheme being brought in, Tewari said there were many things on which this government was very adamant but now seems flexible.”The main reason for this is a coalition government and that is a reality. They may acknowledge it or not acknowledge it but that is a reality which will be seen in every decision,” Tewari said.The Union Budget was full of mention of Andhra Pradesh and Bihar as the government is standing on “two crutches”, he said in an apparent reference to TDP of Andhra and JD(U) of Bihar.”The U-turns are reflective of the realities of coalition politics,” he said.
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