Making predictions in politics is a hazardous task journalists have often to perform. After having burnt their hands in Bihar, Delhi and now in Uttarakhand, the prime minister and BJP may in future be forced to observe some caution in toppling democratically elected opposition-ruled state governments. They and their ideological mentor RSS cannot be oblivious of the fact that except in dictatorial regimes, centralization of power and authoritarianism do not work for long. Being a realist with his ears to the ground, Modi may also have to henceforth observe some caution in taking decisions on sensitive political issues potentially damaging for his government and the party.
This, however, could not be said with certainty that Arun Jaitley, the second member of the decision-taking trio - the third being the party president Amit Shah - will follow suit. Considered BJP’s legal eagle and rejected by Amritsar voters by a huge margin in 2014 Lok Sabha polls, Jaitley was presumably the brain behind the ruling party’s failed Uttarakhand strategy. His reaction on the issue is a tell-taleof his frustration.
On May 12, a popular English Daily quoted him: “Speaking in Rajya Sabha (Jaitley) urged MPs not to hand over budgetary and taxation powers to the judiciary. He also claimed that the judiciary had been encroaching on legislature and executive authority. Step by step, brick by brick, the edifice of India’s legislature, which is becoming a repository of increasing number of persons facing criminal charges, is being destroyed…..For heaven’s sake, I beseech you in the interest of Indian democracy (!) not to go on the misadventure”. He was obviously perturbed by the proactive role the judiciary is playing in protecting the aggrieved seeking justice against excesses committed by the ruling class and the executive, particularly police.
Habits, they say, die hard. The failed attempt to topple the democratically elected government is being replicated in different forms in some of the BJP-ruled states. The forms include charges of political vendetta against the ruling party’s opponents and adoption of double standards on important issues.
The biggest example, as mentioned in these columns sometime back, is that of the Modi government using different yardsticks to deal with political and governance situations in Arunachal, Uttarakhand and Haryana. While in the first two states, the governments were dethroned and President’s rule imposed due to what the Modi government alleged, breakdown of Constitutional machinery. However, the step later proved counter-productive in Uttaranchal as the Harish Rawat-led Congress won the Supreme Court-ordered floor test and returned to power in the state. BJP’s image was deeply dented.
But in the case of Haryana, ruled by the prime minister’s favourite RSS parcharak Manohar Lal Khattar, no action was taken though there was complete breakdown of the constitutional machinery during the week-long Jat agitation in February. Even senior civil officers had reported to the government that even some police officers in the affected districts had deserted their places of duty for three days with some even participating in unlawful activities. Army had to be summoned to deal with the situation.
And look at the hypocritical attitude our politicians adopt on crucial issues. Haryana BJP in-charge Anil Jain brazenly praised the Khattar government saying it “controlled the agitation within three days”.
The worst case of double standards used by the Haryana and Maharashtra governments is on the issue of re-allocation of land to the Nehru family-owned English Daily National Herald (now defunct) in Panchkula (Hayana) and allotment of plot to BJP MP and the actress-turned politician Hema Malini in Maharashtra.
In the case of National Herald the Haryana State Vigilance Bureau has registered a case of alleged cheating and corruption against former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, the then chairman of Haryana Urban Development Authority for “illegal” re-allotment of plot to the newspaper’s owner company Associated Journals and its trustees. The plot measuring 3360 sq metres was re-allotted to the company on June 29, 2005. The plot was originally allotted to the company in 1982 but it failed to make use of it and the plot was resumed in 1986. After the Congress came to power in 2005, the plot was re-allotted to the company which planned to start publication of the newspaper. The media reported on May 9 that the Khattar government has also withdrawn the Cabinet minister status from Hooda.
In Hema Malini’s case, a plot measuring 2000 sq metres at Ambivli in the fashionable western suburbs Andheri was given in 2016 for the actor’s dance school at throwaway price of Rs 70,000. Reports said that the current market value of the same plot is estimated to be around Rs 50 crore. The plot was re-allotted this year, it was valued according to the rates prevailing on February 1, 1976.
She had earlier been allotted a plot at Versova village in Andheri for Rs. 10 lakh in 1997 “A part of that land was under Coastal Regulation Zone regulations, she did not construct on the plot.” The plot remains in her possession. Thus, she now owns two plots allotted by the government. On February 10, Devendra Fadnavis-led BJP government, however, said that it won’t cancel government land allotted in Mumbai at a concessional rate to Hema Malini. (IPA Service)
INDIA
WILL BJP LEARN FROM UTTARAKHAND DEBACLE?
MODI NEEDS BETTER ADVISERS THAN JAITLEY, SHAH
B.K. Chum - 2016-05-18 07:39
Adversities teach lessons but only to those willing to learn. Will the BJP/RSS and the Modi government learn any lesson from their Uttarakhand debacle?