Operation Kamala: Shameless show of lust for power
People are seething with the developments in state politics since the last few days. BJP had tried to clinch power through the ‘Operation Kamala’ route soon after the assembly election results had been out. It had even submitted a memorandum to the governor seeking permission to form the government despite knowing the fact that the party didn’t have required number of seats to do so. But owing to the strong political acumen of DK Shivakumar Operation Kamala fell flat on its face.
Yeddyurappa was humiliated to no end during that time even by his own party members. Owing to BJP’s hunger for power, HD Kumaraswamy’s installation as CM was delayed. Just when people assumed that BJP has taken the role of a responsible opposition leader allowing the coalition government to work on its duties, BJP has started out to play dirty politics again to clinch the chair of the CM. Since the last two weeks, BJP has taken all its MLAs and is sitting in a resort outside the state. Those MLAs who have totally forgotten their duties towards the people who voted for them and are totally drowned in luxury. Yeddyurappa has undergone humiliation second time over. The media kept crying hoarse that the government would be toppled by Sankranthi and dissenting MLAs would join the BJP soon. But that hasn’t happened, and the dissidents have returned to identify themselves with Congress.
This has given rise to some anxiety in the Congress camp and they have now taken their MLAs to another resort in the state, and have been safeguarding them with great care. This bad politics by the BJP is having a negative effect on the state administration. This has not only led to the loss of face for Yeddyurappa, his image is suffering a beating with every such move of his. People are viewing BJP with a lot of mistrust. Normally when the election results are out, every party would consider its possibilities of clinching power in some manner or the other. BJP did that and unsuccessfully too since they couldn’t get even a handful MLAs to be on their side.
With this being the case, Yeddyurappa should have spent time consolidating and organizing people to turn into a successful opposition leader passing on the benefits to the people of the state. A leader needn’t be a CM to serve the people. One can do that even as the leader of opposition by identifying the mistakes of the government and forcing the administration to correct its course. If the ruling party has to work well, it needs to have a good opposition party. Yeddyurappa is a very able opposition leader. But instead of using that, trying shortcuts to gain access to the seat of CM does not suit Yeddyurappa. His repeated failures do not show him in good light. Some leaders within the BJP are encouraging Operation Kamala most probably to turn Yeddyurappa into a laughing stock. And BSY is falling into their trap.
But one cannot blame only BJP for these developments. When goods are on sale, there’d be prospective buyers too. Those who are ready to sell their integrity for the sake of money, despite having won elections from one party and now all set to defect to another, are enemies of democracy as well. They are selling all the faith people have placed on them. Those who are in coalition government should know when they slip into the cesspool of operation Kamala, they are going to lose the faith of people forever.
They are using the greed of BJP to gain power, to ensure their own greed for power and money is met. Had they joined hands with other parties over ideological differences with their party leaders, that move would have had some weight. Instead, they are ‘using’ the BJP like the party is using them. They are pretending to join BJP only to threaten the leaders within JD(S) and Cong. And BJP is jumping with joy even at the mere projection of their willingness to join. Even the dissenting MLAs know BJP can never clinch the power. But the victims of lust for power, the opportunism within the coalition government and the others happen to be the hapless voters.
The BJP is spending crores on resort politics hosting their leaders in luxury resorts away from the state. MLAs who had to attend to people’s works are spending time in the resort. Tragically enough, some media are projecting ‘Operation Kamala’ as some moment of pride for the BJP. Media is an inseparable part of this dirty exercise. This happens when media and politics become illicit partners to defeat the democracy. BJP needs to gain foothold in the next elections in some states at least. Since it lost base in the five central states, it is now being anxious. As a result of this, BJP leaders are wondering if they can gain some power in Karnataka by hook or crook.
Recently, a Modi bhakt had said people had to walk for Modi, leaving hesitation behind. ‘Lajje Bittu Hejje Haaki’ when written in Kannada also means leave the ‘shame’ behind. This slogan was for people, but looks like the leaders themselves have taken this way too seriously that they have left shame behind. These are the most tragic moments in the history of democracy in this country.
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Actress sexual assault: Court says Prosecution 'miserably' failed to prove conspiracy against Dileep
Kochi (PTI): The prosecution had "miserably" failed to prove the conspiracy charge against Dileep in the sensational 2017 actress sexual assault case, a local court has observed while citing inconsistencies and lack of sufficient evidence against the Malayalam star.
The full judgement of Ernakulam District and Principal Sessions Court Judge Honey M Varghese was released late on Friday, and has revealed the judge also pointing out at unsustainable arguments put forth by the prosecution.
"The prosecution miserably failed to prove the conspiracy between accused No.1 (Pulsar Suni) and accused No.8 (Dileep) in executing the offence against the victim," the court held.
It examined in detail, the prosecution's allegation that Dileep had hired the prime accused to sexually assault the survivor and record visuals, including close-up footage of a gold ring she was wearing, to establish her identity.
On page 1130 of the judgment, under paragraph 703, the court framed the issue as whether the prosecution's contention that NS Sunil (Pulsar Suni) recorded visuals of the gold ring worn by the victim at the time of the occurrence, so as to clearly disclose her identity, was sustainable.
The prosecution contended Dileep and Suni had planned the recording so that the actress' identity would be unmistakable, with the video of the gold ring intended to convince Dileep that the visuals were genuine.
However, the court noted that this contention was not stated in the first charge sheet and was introduced only in the second one.
As part of this claim, a gold ring was seized after the victim produced it before the police.
The court observed that multiple statements of the victim were recorded from February 18, 2017, following the incident, and that she first raised allegations against Dileep only on June 3, 2017.
Even on that day, nothing was mentioned about filming of the ring as claimed by the prosecution, the court said.
The prosecution failed to explain why the victim did not disclose this fact at the earliest available opportunities.
It further noted that although the victim had viewed the sexual assault visuals twice, she did not mention any specific recording of the gold ring on those occasions, which remained unexplained.
The court also examined the approvers' statements.
One approver told the magistrate that Dileep had instructed Pulsar Suni to record the victim's wedding ring.
The court observed that no such wedding ring was available with her at that time.
During the trial, the approver changed his version, the court said.
The Special Public Prosecutor put a leading question to the approver on whether Dileep had instructed the recording of the ring, after which he deposed that the instruction was to record it to prove the victim's identity.
The court observed that the approver changed his account to corroborate the victim's evidence.
When the same question was put to another approver, he repeated the claim during the trial but admitted he had never stated this fact before the investigating officer.
The court noted that the second approver even went to the extent of claiming Dileep had instructed the execution of the crime as the victim's engagement was over.
This showed that the evidence of the second approver regarding the shooting of the ring was untrue, as her engagement had taken place after the crime.
The court further observed that the visuals themselves clearly revealed the victim's identity and that there was no need to capture images of the ring to establish identity.
In paragraph 887, the court examined the alleged motive behind the crime and noted that in the first charge sheet, the prosecution had claimed that accused persons 1 to 6 had kidnapped the victim with the common intention of capturing nude visuals to extort money by threatening to circulate them and there was no mention about Dileep's role in it.
The court also rejected the prosecution's claim that the accused had been planning the assault on Dileep's instructions since 2013, noting that the allegation was not supported by reliable evidence.
It similarly ruled out the claim that Suni attempted to sexually assault the victim in Goa in January 2017, stating that witness statements showed no such misconduct when he served as the driver of the vehicle used by the actress there.
The court also discussed various controversies that followed Dileep's arrest and the evidence relied upon by the prosecution, ultimately finding that the case had not been proved.
Pronouning its verdict on the sensational case on December 8, the court acquitted Dileep and three others.
Later, the court sentenced six accused, including the prime accused Suni, to 20 years' rigorous imprisonment.
The assault on the multilingual actress, after the accused allegedly forced their way into her car and held it under their control for two hours on February 17, 2017, had shocked Kerala.
Pulsar Suni sexually assaulted the actress and video recorded the act with the help of the other convicted persons in the moving car.
