Maharashtra, known for its progressive, cultural and noble tradition of liberal politics, will bow down in shame today to see how the leaders of the ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi government in the state conspired and leveled false allegations against the leaders. Opposition – Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Out of revenge, the leaders of the ruling coalition hatched a conspiracy and filed charges against the BJP leaders. This was recently exposed in the Legislature by Leader of the Opposition and former Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, when he presented evidence of how senior BJP leaders, including himself, were being implicated in various cases. He also gave full evidence of how the public prosecutors put pressure on the police personnel and tried to implicate BJP leaders.
Such acts of retaliation against political opponents are very common in dictatorial regimes. But this is something unimaginable in a democratic set up like ours. I am sure that even those who drafted the Constitution would not have imagined the decline of politics in our country at such a low level.
Unfortunately, a section of the media does not dare to raise its voice against this repression of the coalition government. It may be recalled that during the Emergency, Indira Gandhi, for her monstrous ambition of having complete control over the country, not only banned the common man, but also denied the media, his freedom of expression.
During the then Janata government formed in 1977, senior BJP leader and Information and Broadcasting Minister LK Advani had made scathing remarks about the role of some media houses during the Emergency. He had said, “The media was asked to bow down, but they started crawling.” The pressure exerted by the authorities on the media houses during the Emergency was so inhuman that the media houses were left with no option but to bow down.
Surprisingly, today some media houses in Maharashtra are refraining from saying anything against the dictatorship of the ruling coalition government, even though emergency-like restrictions have not been imposed on them. Is this due to some kind of pressure from the government or is it for some ‘personal gain’ – is it for the public to decide?
The most shocking revelation was the evidence presented in the Legislature by Devendra Fadnavis in which the name of a senior leader also known as ‘Janata Raja’ was mentioned. This leader claims to be a disciple of the first Chief Minister of Maharashtra – Yashwantrao Chavan.
The leader’s supporters, his media well-wishers and other litterateurs often claim that the leader has always tried to maintain a healthy relationship with the opposition, bypassing his political objectives. This leader, who makes tall claims of liberal democracy and brotherhood, is colluding with some police officers to implicate BJP leaders.
The leader is also at the forefront of the ongoing crackdown on the leaders of the coalition government by departments such as the Enforcement Directorate (ED), Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Income Tax for their alleged illegal transactions. The action taken by these investigative agencies can be appealed in court. At present, the detained leaders tried to approach the court, but so far they have not got any relief.
Police also have the right to take necessary action against BJP leaders if found guilty. But conspiracy and fabricating evidence against BJP leaders is serious. The evidence presented by Leader of Opposition Devendra Fadnavis is only the tip of the iceberg.
The leaders of the Maha Vikas Aghadi government have on several occasions trampled on the democratic values and displayed their brutal mentality of taking political revenge by implicating the leaders of the opposition in various cases and crimes. The country might not have seen such reckless and indiscriminate use of power. Maybe the ruling party is not sure about coming back to power and that is why they have now stooped so low in desperation.
The leaders of the Maha Vikas Aghadi may have forgotten how the fate of dictators around the world has paid off, including Indira Gandhi.
It may be recalled how during the Emergency there was no institutional framework to protect democracy from the dictatorship of those in power. How the bureaucracy of that time considered being a slave to the ruling dictatorship as a boon. The bureaucracy had no objection to throttling the freedom of expression even of the common citizens. The ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi has also made fun of democracy by forcing the bureaucracy in the state to dance to its tune.
There are many such examples in the evidence presented by Devendra Fadnavis that show how the police were used to file charges against 28 people. The evidence also shows how the Public Prosecutor had given directions to implicate whom in MCOCA citing drug trade. It also showed how the evidence was shot on camera, how the reconnaissance was done to ensure that the cameras were not installed when the evidence was being set, and for these meetings, including the Chief Minister and the Director General of Police. How were the senior officers present?
Also, Devendra Fadnavis, based on ‘CDR’, accused the then policeman Sachin Waje in the murder of businessman Mansukh Hiran. Vaze was charged in connection with a car laden with explosives outside the Antilia residence of industrialist Mukesh Ambani. At that time the Chief Minister covered Waze by saying that ‘Sachin Waze is not Osama bin Laden’. But after Fadnavis submitted the CDR, the government had no option but to act against Waze. The evidence presented by Fadnavis in the current assembly session is as strong as the CDR. It is disheartening to see politics in Maharashtra falling so low.
The country has seen repression during Indira Gandhi’s tenure as prime minister. During his tenure, there were a few deaths, the mysteries surrounding which are yet to be solved. Even today people have not forgotten the Nagarwala Bank scam, where on May 24, 1971, a call was received from the office of the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, purportedly from the State Bank of India’s Delhi branch, demanding Rs 60 lakh. The caller had directed the bank official to collect the transaction receipt from the Prime Minister’s Office. Later it was found that a person named Rustom Nagarwala had misappropriated money from the State Bank of India in the name of the Prime Minister.
Nagarwala was arrested. He later died mysteriously during the investigation. The bank manager and some other witnesses involved also died under suspicious circumstances. It was said that the then Indira Gandhi-led government had shown no interest in bringing out the truth in this investigation.
Also during Indira Gandhi’s tenure as Prime Minister, a Congress leader Lalit Narayan Mishra, who was also the Railway Minister, had died suspiciously. His wife had exposed flaws in the CBI investigation. Renowned jurist VM Tarkunde had submitted a report to the Bihar government. Tarkunde had publicly expressed surprise how the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi had shown no interest in investigating the entire matter.
The reason behind mentioning both these incidents here is that during both the incidents the Congress was in power at the Center and today it is one of the coalition partners in the state government. The suspicious death of Mansukh Hiran, his connection to explosives found outside Antilia – all these cases are reminiscent of the above two incidents.
The evidence shows the mindset of big leaders of Shiv Sena and NCP. The conspiracy by the leaders of Maha Vikas Aghadi to hide their bad deeds and implicate BJP leaders in various crimes on the basis of false evidence is an insult to democracy. If this continues, it will not be wrong to say that ‘Maharashtra is in a state of despair’.
Disclaimer
The views expressed above are those of the author.
end of article