Thursday, March 28, 2024
spot_img

Role of the triangular trio in the Maharashtra saga

Date:

Share post:

spot_img
spot_img

By Albert Thyrniang

Uddhav Thackeray was sworn in as the 18th Chief Minister of Maharashtra on November 28 in Shivaji Park, the very venue his father, Balasaheb Thackeray founded the Shiv Sena in 1966. The first Thackeray’s occupation of the Chief Minister’s chair ended an extraordinary drama that engulfed the country for four days. Let us review the saga to delve deeper into the roles of ‘The triangular trio’.

The Mumbai trio

By the evening of November 22, the Shiv Sena Chief, Uddhav Thackeray emerged as the consensus leader of the ‘Tripartite parties’. This alarmed the Delhi BJP top brass. Unless something was done swiftly India’s richest state would slip out of their hands. With their blessings, Devendra Fadnavis met Ajit Pawar late at night. It was a match fixing secret ‘summit’. In all likelihood Fadnavis proposed the junior Pawar to be his Deputy. It is intelligently guessed that the Rs 25,000-crore money laundering case and the multi-crore irrigation scam figured prominently. A deal might have been struck that the ED and other investigating agencies would go slow on the above cases.

Pawar handed the names of all 54 NCP MLAs with their signatures to the delighted Fadnavis. The next day NCP revealed that the signatures were in fact an attendance for the party meeting held the previous evening. With his letter of support to the BJP stating that his action had the knowledge of Sharad Pawar, the scheming Pawar attached the signed list of ‘his’ MLAs to make it appear the MLAs supported the BJP to form the next government in the state.

Armed with the letter Fadnavis approached the governor, Bhagat Singh Koshyari, to stake claim to form the next government. Koshyari readily facilitated his former Chief Minister to fulfil his dream for a second term. The RSS veteran willingly accepted the documents to be genuine in intent and purpose. It must be remembered that prior to Fadnavis’ late night claim the governor had in his possession a letter from Uddhav Thackeray claiming the support of 166 MLAs. But he was biased and hence saw the sudden claim of Fadnavis the better option. He urgently wrote to the Centre recommending end of President’s Rule pre or post-midnight. That governors are mere puppets is exhibited here. He actively agreed to be a key complicit party to the ‘midnight coup’. He has lowered the prestige of Raj Bhavan.

Meanwhile ‘WTFadnavis’, as one daily headlined, carried out the command of his bosses in New Delhi. He knew Ajit Pawar did not have his uncle on board. He knew it would be a herculean task for the revolting Pawar to effect a three fourth split in NCP. He knew he did not have the numbers. However, he took the plunge. As he grabbed power thoughtlessly today he is called ‘the 80 hour Chief Minister’. He had to unceremoniously quit even before stepping into the Vidhan Sabha.

The Delhi trio

Now over to New Delhi! What followed was a well-coordinated midnight operation between the Prime Minister, the Home Minister and Rashtrapati Bhavan. Having received the ‘report’ from the Maharashtra governor, Prime Minister Modi and Home Minister Shah decided to go for the kill to make the lotus bloom again in Maharashtra. The duo, considered masters in installing BJP governments wherever there were hung Assemblies, blatantly and brazenly by-passed the well-established constitutional law of revoking President’s Rules only on recommendation of the Cabinet. They instead invoked the rarely heard Rule 12 of the Allocation of Business Rules 1961 thus achieving their goal via the shortcut method

The above rule says that the Prime Minister can take a call on matters to “meet a situation of extreme urgency or unforeseen contingency”. Was the Maharashtra situation one of extreme urgency and unforeseen contingency? The action only reiterated the fact that the duo have become the most powerful leaders in the country. The same pattern was followed when Article 370 was abrogated. The Council of Ministers does not matter much. There is not one to question the power centres. Mahua Moitra had already warned us, ‘These are signs we are moving towards fascism and totalitarianism.’ The two most powerful men swear by the Constitution but have no qualms in subverting the ‘Holy Book’ by conveniently employing loopholes to  their advantage.

The final draft to withdraw President’s Rule in the western state was now ready. Only the nod of the President was required. To speed up the process the First Citizen was woken up at 4 am. It did not warrant such urgency as it was no emergency. It was not a war, not a man-made nor a natural disaster, not even a break-down of law and order. It is a total disrespect for the highest office by betraying all norms of etiquette. Without much of a thought the President signed on the dotted line sans Cabinet’s recommendation. Presumably he never doubted that there was any unconstitutionality. The highest institution needs to play a more assured role rather than just fulfil the functions of a titular and nominal head.

At dawn the ball was back in the financial capital. With central rule lifted, the governor hurriedly and guardedly administered the oath of office to the second youngest Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Devendra Fadnavis for a second term and Ajit Pawar as his deputy at 7.30/8.00 am on Nov 23. In western parts of the country the sun was just rising over the waters. Swearing in ceremony at sunrise? Never heard before! The totally unexpected development stunned not only the Shiv Sena, Congress and NCP who had declared Uddhav Thackeray as CM-designate less than 24 hours earlier, but the whole nation. Citizens woke up to the astonishing news.

The Tripartite parties

Shiv Sena fought the Assembly election in alliance with the BJP. The combine won 161 (BJP 105 and Shiv Sena 56) seats, way ahead of the 145 majority mark. The pre-poll alliance completely broke down after the Sena insisted on 50-50 policy, including sharing the Chief Minister’s post on rational basis. As no government could be formed,  President’s rule was imposed. To make the story short, an unlikely post poll Congress-NCP-Sena alliance was stitched to keep the BJP at bay.

The BJP carried out a vicious campaign particularly against the NCP. But also the fight between the Congress and NCP on one hand and the Shiv Sena on the other hand was bitter. Ideologically the two are diametrically poles apart. The Congress-NCP’s core ideology is supposedly secularism and inclusiveness. The Shiv Sena swears by Hindutva and Hindu Nationalism. The party strongly advocates the construction of Ram Temple in Ayodhya. Scenes of Shiv Sainiks assaulting ‘non-Maharashtrians’ still linger.  The present Chief Minister ,Uddhav Thackeray had in 2013, said Nathuram Godse was a staunch patriot.

By aligning with the ‘Army of Shivaji’, Congress in particular has made a paradigm departure from its core principles.  The tag of secularism is now dropped. This was evident post Ayodhya judgment. No Congress leader spoke for the ‘wronged’minority. It has not been established that Babri Masjid was built on a destroyed Hindu temple. Then how can a temple be ordered to be built on the demolished mosque? How can a secular court in a secular state commission the construction of a temple? If the disputed land in the ‘birth place’ of Ram belonged to Hindu groups it should have been handed over to rightful owners without ordering a temple to be built. After all it was an ownership law suit.

The Apex Court might have got Ayodhya wrong but in Maharashtra it got it right. It played fair thus sparing impending unimaginable chaos. Leaving its judgment on Maharashtra governor’s alleged “arbitrary and malafide actions” and the ‘unconstitutional revoking of President’s Rule’ at a later date, the Supreme Court ordered Fadnavis to prove his majority within 24 hours through an open ballot to ‘uphold the democratic values and foster constitutional morality and to prevent horse trading’.

Now, a word about hotel/resort politics! Public representatives are supposed to be mature. However, in times of fractured mandates they look like kids willing to be huddled in a room. They appear fickle-minded. They are tempted by bribes and allurement. They don’t even mind to be traded like horses. They act contrary to their conscience. They easily forget their ideology and display little loyalty. That is the reason why the Congress and NCP elected legislators had to be housed in a luxury hotel for fear of the BJP’s lucrative offers.

The drama has ended. We have a government in place. But whether stability will prevail is debatable. Will the common minimum programme be sufficient to sail the MahaVikas Aghadi through? Will the inherent contradictions weigh the tripartite parties down? Will a Karnataka like situation arise? Will the Maharashtra governor and the big men in Delhi dramatize and traumatise Maharashtra again?

spot_img
spot_img

Related articles

Arunachal was, is, and will remain an integral part of India: MEA

New Delhi, Mar 28:  The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said on Thursday that China's repetitive claims on...

SP injured in Arunachal’s Longding as crowd pelt stones during scrutiny of nominations

Itanagar, March 28: Superintendent of Police of Arunachal Pradesh's Longding district, Dekio Gumja, was injured after some people...

Aditi Rao Hydari confirms union with Siddharth

Shillong, March 28: Actress Aditi Rao Hydari, who secretly got engaged to actor Siddharth on Wednesday, confirmed their...

India’s core sector industries clock 6.7 percent growth in February

Shillong, March 28: The eight core industries that include sectors such as coal, cement, steel and electricity posted...