RSS, Jana Sangh were not foremost fighters of Emergency: CPI-M
New Delhi, June 28 : The BJP seeks to project the RSS and the Jana Sangh as the foremost fighters against Emergency but this amounts to economising with the truth, the CPI-M has said.
"While it is true that a large number of RSS leaders and workers were put in jail (during Emergency), it is also a fact that a number of them tendered apologies and declared support for the 20-point programme of the Indira government to facilitate their release," said an editorial in the CPI-M journal "People's Democracy".
"They did so, probably taking the cue from the RSS sarsanghchalak Balasaheb Deoras who (from) jail wrote two letters to Indira Gandhi offering to cooperate with the government and declaring support for the `constructive programmes' of the government." it said.
"Thus, the doughty fighters against the Emergency were shown to be craven and vacillating in the face of State repression."
The editorial follows the 43rd anniversary of the 1975-77 Emergency rule when thousands of political activists of all hues were jailed and fundamental rights guaranteed by the Constitution were suspended.
The CPI-M editorial said that the occasion "became, as usual, an occasion for the BJP leadership to put out its own distorted and boastful version of this eventful period in post-independent India".
It said that the four years of Modi government had witnessed an "'undeclared Emergency' which is nothing but the institutionalisation of an authoritarian regime.
"When the BJP talks about the Emergency era of four decades ago, it blithely sidesteps the fact that a far worse authoritarian regime has been put in place marked by a systematic encroachment of civil liberties and democratic rights; subversion of the institutions under the Constitution; State-aided vigilantism and lynch mobs; and intimidation of the media and suppression of dissent."
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Guarantees: Siddaramaiah accuses Maharashtra BJP of 'spreading lies,' warns of legal action
Mumbai/Bengaluru, Nov 16: Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Saturday said he was considering taking legal action against the BJP’s Maharashtra unit alleging it 'spread lies' about the five guarantees implemented by his government.
Addressing a press conference in Mangalwedha in Maharashtra, Siddaramaiah said: “They (BJP) have given a false advertisement in order to mislead the people of Maharashtra." Furthermore, he said he was considering filing a suit against the Maharashtra BJP for spreading lies about the guarantee schemes and its implementation. The Chief Minister said all the five guarantees have been effectively implemented in Karnataka benefiting crores of people.
The CM, his deputy D K Shivakumar and a host of Karnataka ministers, who are campaigning in Maharashtra for elections are reaching out to the people on the five guarantees being implemented in their state.
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These five guarantees are 'Gruha Jyoti' offering up 200 units of free electricity for household connection, 'Gruha Lakshmi' providing Rs 2,000 to the women heads of BPL families, 'Shakti' fare-free bus travel scheme for women, 'Yuva Nidhi' offering Rs 3,000 and Rs 1,500 to unemployed graduates and diploma holders respectively and 'Anna Bhagya' food security scheme for BPL families.
Siddaramaiah asked the Maharashtra leaders to visit Karnataka and see for themselves if the guarantees have been implemented or not.
Attacking the BJP-led Centre for ‘injustice’ to states in the devolution of taxes, the Chief Minister said Karnataka every year pays more than Rs 4.5 lakh crore as central tax and in return gets only Rs 60,000 crore.
"According to my information, Maharashtra is paying Rs 8.78 lakh crore, whereas the Maharashtra government is getting Rs 1.30 lakh crore. That means the Government of India is causing injustice to Karnataka and Maharashtra though Maharashtra is number one and Karnataka is number two in the country in tax collection," the Chief Minister said.
According to him, Maharashtra government was getting 15 paise for each rupee it pays, while Karnataka gets about 13 to 14 paise out of every rupee. Also, the CM said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had claimed that the five guarantee schemes could not be implemented and if at all implemented, the state governments doing so will go bankrupt. While this was the case, the BJP has ironically come up with guarantees in Jharkhand and Maharashtra.
