Isha Foundation founder Jaggi Vasudev extended his support to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 'one nation one election' pitch. The spiritual leader said when politicians are in campaign mode throughout the year, you can expect only fluff and megalomania and not much sense.
"I am glad Prime Minister Narendra Modi has taken it up. There must be one parliamentary election in 5 years and after two and a half years, assembly polls should be held together. So, twice you are getting the opportunity to find your political grip. When a politician is in election mode throughout the year, you can't expect much reason but only rhetoric," Sadhguru said at the India Today conclave.
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He asserted a 90-120 day limit should be fixed for campaigning as "if the campaigning is taking place throughout the year, it looks like the entire country is in election mode", adding the Election Commission needs to be made more powerful.
The spiritual leader added membership of political parties should be limited to 10,000-15,000 since it is "as vitiated as a religion", adding one loses a sense of reason when they become a member. He said, "Those who cannot win the election, they try to make losses on the street. Now, one can easily bring 10,000-20,000 people on the streets and bring a city to a standstill, making everybody's life miserable."
He asserted the wonder of democracy was a shift of power without shedding blood.
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Prime Minister Modi and the Bharatiya Janata Party have been espousing the idea of conducting simultaneous elections on multiple occasions since their landslide victory in the 2014 General Elections.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had argued in support of simultaneous elections for Lok Sabha and state assemblies by citing better utilisation of resources and financial savings at a NITI Aayog meeting in June 2019. The Election Commission had put forward the idea of conducting simultaneous polls for the Lok Sabha and state assemblies originally in 1983.
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