Will the state witness a rerun of 2008?
Looks like the time of political turmoil of 2008 is probably going to haunt us again. Yeddyurappa, who is now the chief minister of Karnataka and the lone member of his cabinet, took oath to the office of CM, wore the same metaphor of a green shawl around his shoulders as he had done when he became the CM for the first time in 2008. That day, he had 110 seats with him. Today, he has only 104 seats to his party as electoral victory. The shortage of seats to show majority stood at just 3. And to his advantage JD(S) and Congress together hadn’t shown any inclination to form the government. Hence, the party began buying out the MLAs from other quarters. This was hailed as the finest example of political acumen by the majority of the media.
‘Operation Kamala’ thus was seen as a very smart move where an elected representative could be bought over for money or greed of power. This was democracy on sale. While people chose their representatives through votes, BJP could choose the buying price of any MLA through money. It meant, a mandate could be twisted and turned for money. Reddy brothers had played a major role in government formation on that day and hence they could gain control over the government headed by BS Yeddyurappa. As a result, though BSY was the CM, Reddys could run a quasi-government through him or without him. Now it could be an irony of time that the same Reddys who aided BSY’s elevation as CM, were also responsible for his ouster with their blatant misuse of power. People of the state consider the BJP government of that day some sort of a nightmare owing to the fact that the state saw three chief ministers and two deputy chief ministers during the five year tenure. The party that always stood in the opposition could never bring itself to be responsible about the office of the CM and government it had occupied. As a result of this, BJP was decimated in the next round of elections.
Now, the history has repeated itself. Compared to 2008, BJP’s position is even more concerning. This time the party needs over 10 members to ensure the government is stable. More significant development that happened this time around, was the coming together of JD(S) and Congress rather quickly just as the results began to roll out. Congress announced its open support to JD(S) to form the government and JD(S) quickly lapped it up to stake claim on forming the government with its rival-once-partner-now party. Their only agenda was to keep BJP out of power. Hence, Congress with its higher numbers of elected representatives and vote share, didn’t hesitate even once to offer the CM’s post to JD(S) which has only 37 seats. Including Siddaramaiah, all leaders set their differences aside and came together to make Kumaraswamy the Chief Minister. And till such time, the discussion of ‘Dalit CM’ that was in circulation, took a different turn. In this coalition, Dr S Parameshwar will be made the Deputy CM thus ensuring dalits are represented well in this government should it come into existence. Bath parties have informed the governor about their coming together to form the government and that they also have the numbers. But the governor has favoured BJP and invited BSY to form the government. In case of two parties not coming together, had the governor invited BJP, the move would have been appropriate. But what has now happened is that BJP does not have the numbers, and yet they have been called to form the government. Does this not amount to governor indirectly aiding trade of MLAs by giving time and opportunity to BJP? Though the Supreme Court will hear this case again this morning, there is no guarantee that the ruling could be fair. In other states, the example is contrary to that of what has happened in Karnataka. Though other parties were the largest in numbers, BJP and coalition were invited to form the government. The court may consider these examples of subverting of power and democracy by BJP through various offices when the case is presented. But then, it may rule differently too, considering the influence BJP has on several agencies of the government.
All said and done the Reddy brothers who were being designated to some random corner, have now come to the forefront again. Today, an MLA is said to fetch more than 100 cr in the ‘market’ created by the BJP. Why would a party spend more than Rs 500 cr on buying MLAs? And what message does it send about BJP possessing that money even after all the measures they took to curb corruption and black money? The common man stands penniless before ATMs today and all the black money claimed to have been curbed by the BJP seems to have accumulated at one point. It is not difficult to guess who holds all the money now. Horse trading is in progress.
Should the BJP get the numbers and stay put in the office, state will witness days worse than 2008 in the near future.
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Trouble ‘Miyas’ everywhere only then they will leave Assam: Himanta Biswa Sarma
Says “Himanta Biswa Sarma, BJP are openly against them, we are saying it openly
New Delhi: Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Tuesday said that four to five lakh “Miya voters” would be removed from the electoral rolls in the state once the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voter lists is carried out. He also made a series of controversial remarks openly targeting the Miya community, a term commonly used in Assam in a derogatory sense to refer to Bengali-speaking Muslims.
Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of an official programme in Digboi in Tinsukia district, Sarma said it was his responsibility to create difficulties for the Miya community and claimed that both he and the BJP were “directly against Miyas”.
“Four to five lakh Miya votes will have to be deleted in Assam when the SIR happens,” Sarma said, adding that such voters “should ideally not be allowed to vote in Assam, but in Bangladesh”. He asserted that the government was ensuring that they would not be able to vote in the state.
The chief minister was responding to questions about notices issued to thousands of Bengali-speaking Muslims during the claims and objections phase of the ongoing Special Revision (SR) of electoral rolls in Assam. While the Election Commission is conducting SIR exercises in 12 states and Union Territories, Assam is currently undergoing an SR, which is usually meant for routine updates.
Calling the current SR “preliminary”, Sarma said that a full-fledged SIR in Assam would lead to large-scale deletion of Miya voters. He said he was unconcerned about criticism from opposition parties over the issue.
“Let the Congress abuse me as much as they want. My job is to make the Miya people suffer,” Sarma said. He claimed that complaints filed against members of the community were done on his instructions and that he had encouraged BJP workers to keep filing complaints.
“I have told people wherever possible they should fill Form 7 so that they have to run around a little and are troubled,” he said, adding that such actions were meant to send a message that “the Assamese people are still living”.
In remarks that drew further outrage, Sarma urged people to trouble members of the Miya community in everyday life, claiming that “only if they face troubles will they leave Assam”. He also accused the media of sympathising with the community and warned journalists against such coverage.
“So you all should also trouble, and you should not do news that sympathise with them. There will be love jihad in your own house.” He said.
The comments triggered reactions from opposition leaders. Raijor Dal president and MLA Akhil Gogoi said the people of Assam had not elected Sarma to keep one community under constant pressure. Congress leader Aman Wadud accused the chief minister of rendering the Constitution meaningless in the state, saying his remarks showed a complete disregard for constitutional values.
According to the draft electoral rolls published on December 27, Assam currently has 2.51 crore voters. Election officials said 4.78 lakh names were marked as deceased, 5.23 lakh as having shifted, and 53,619 duplicate entries were removed during the revision process. Authorities also claimed that verification had been completed for over 61 lakh households.
On January 25, six opposition parties the Congress, Raijor Dal, Assam Jatiya Parishad, CPI, CPI(M) and CPI(M-L) submitted a memorandum to the state’s chief electoral officer. They alleged widespread legal violations, political interference and selective targeting of genuine voters during the SR exercise, describing it as arbitrary, unlawful and unconstitutional.
