The Strangulation of Democracy

 

The Strangulation of Democracy

What we are witnessing in Maharashtra is a political earthquake.  On 2 July, In a shocking development, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Ajit Pawar-nephew of the NCP Founder-President Sharad Pawar, Martha strong man- as Deputy Chief Minister, along with eight other NCP MLAs as Ministers in the BJP-Shiv Sena government. The closest aids of Sharad Pawar ditched him to fulfill their personal ambition of seeking power, and to escape probe by the central investigative agency Enforcement Directorate (ED) for alleged corrupt practices and money laundering. It is a repeat of what Eknath Shinde did a year ago by walking away from the Shiv Sena with his supporters to become the Chief Minister, in a conspiracy hatched by the BJP. The BJP carried out the ‘Operation Lotus’ twice in Maharashtra, in a short span of one year, splitting two mainstream regional parties, through coercion and intimidation and inducement, a very disturbing phenomenon of Indian politics.

 

The rebellion and split in the Shiv Sena resemble the events unfolding in the NCP. What the BJP did to engineering defections in the Shiv Sena is reorchestrated with the NCP- to grab power and retain it at any cost. The persons accused of serious corruption are now partners in the government, with the BJP becoming a ‘Washing machine’, as the Opposition accuses, to cleanse the corruption taint.  The NCP legislators under the scanner of the IT, CBI and ED do not want to be the victims of vendetta politics ditched the party’s President, to whom they owe their positions. If they remain in the opposition, they would continue to face police and penal action.

 

Maharashtra politics since the toppling of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA)government last year has been akin to blood sport, reflecting the extremely polarised nature of the state polity, with the corrupt and power-hungry politicians fighting for spoils of office, disregarding constitutional values and democratic principles and political morality. It is a new political culture devoid of ethics and morals in public life. Only on 27 June, Narendra Modi was accusing the NCP of being involved in a scam worth Rs.70,000 crore.  And a few days later the BJP embraced the NCP leader Ajit Pawar, a prime accused in the irrigation and cooperative banks scams, and made him Deputy CM with the BJP’s Devendra Fadnavis in a government led by Eknath Shinde. This what has happened with several politicians, like the Himanta Biswas Sarma-CM of Assam- West Bengal and other states whose cases were pushed to the backburner after they joined the BJP.  It is this reprieve the defectors from non-BJP parties want.

 

The political developments in Mumbai underline a dismal pattern of the BJP using unfair means ‘to improve its numbers in states where it does not have a clear mandate, selectively deploying central agencies to target its political opponents. In the past few years, the BJP has deservedly invited accusations of engineering defections and splits to form governments in states including Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka and Goa, after it failed to win the election”(Editorial, IE 4/7). The tearing hurry the BJP has displayed in engineering yet another split shows its desperation. It is afraid of major opposition parties uniting to dislodge it from power at the Centre.   The Ajit Pawar was blamed by Shinde and other MLAs as the reason why the MVA government of Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress alliance was toppled, but now both the sides are shaking hands.  A supreme irony for the Shinde camp as their tormentor returns to cabinet.

 

What is happening in Maharashtra raises serious concern about the ethical standards of governance and the politicization of investigative agencies. Causing the Leaders of Opposition (LOP)in the State Assembly to defect is a new pattern. A few years ago, in 2014 on the eve of Assembly elections, the BJP made the Congress party’s LOP Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil to defect; last year the Shiv Sena’s LOP Eknath Shinde was made to ditch his party and now NCP’s LOP Ajit Pawar to defect and joint the government. The Opposition is virtually eliminated. It is a murdering of parliamentary democracy.

 

The BJP’s modus operandi is to grab power and hold on to it, since it can’t imagine  reconciling to loss of power, with the elections due in five states this year and the Parliamentary election early next year. That explains why Narendra Modi and  Amit Shah give first priority to elections, at the expense of all other burning issues that need immediate attention, and invest all their energy and resources in winning elections somehow.

The ruling party’s exploitation of the investigative agencies to achieve its political objectives is an affront to the principles of justice, fairness and due process of law. And ‘by weaponizing the ED and the CBI, the BJP undermines the integrity of these institutions turning them into tools of political vendetta rather than impartial bodies serving the cause of justice” (Editorial, FPJ 5/7).

 

The opportunistic unprincipled alliance and overnight ideological shifts erodes the trust of the people and defeats the democratic mandate. It is the strangulation of democracy.   It is strange that without merging of a faction of the party with the ruling party, the split in the original party is formalized. And without the merger, the governor administers oath as ministers to defectors from the rival party. This has happened twice in Maharashtra in a year.

 

Addressing his supporters, Ajit Pawar spelled out his ambition: ‘I want to be the Chief Minister. I want to undertake certain projects in the state which can be done only when I have the Chief Minister’s post” (The Economic Times 6/7). Obviously, he didn’t ditch his uncle only to play a second fiddle to Eknath Shinde. It is not the end of political drama and jugglery in the state.  

 

The people of Maharashtra are not fools. They understand the immoral practices and machinations of power grabbing politicians. They will not accept the unholy alliance of the corrupt. The BJP and the Shinde and Ajit Pawar factions are not likely to derive electoral dividends. They may lose out eventually, with Sharad Pawar and Uday Thackeray winning the people’s sympathy.  The MVA stands to gain electorally. Fed up with the shenanigans of the BJP and its allies, the people of Maharashtra may turn to the Congress. It is advantage Congress. And the political developments in the state are bound to influence the electoral outcome in the states going for elections this year and the general election next year.