by Harish Gupta, National Editor, Lokmat Group
The question is why are India's secularists indeed looking so truly 'pseudo'? The most curious response is that of Samajwadi Party headed by Mulayam Singh Yadav, and his son Akhilesh Yadav, chief minister, Uttar Pradesh, where Bisada is situated. Obviously winked at by the Yadav duo, officials of the state government, while sending a report of the incident to the Union Ministry of Home Affairs, coolly downplayed the lynching part of the story and did not even mention the word "beef" or the term "cow". Instead, the report talked about some 'prohibited animal' (pratibandhit pashu), thus offering a fig leaf for the BJP brass who termed the incident as an "accident". Chief minister Akhilesh met members of Akhlaq's family in Lucknow, but it was a move to silence them with unprecedented compensation.
Also curious is the generally cautious campaigning in Bihar by Nitish, and scrupulous avoidance of the 'B' word by West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee in a slew of high-profile municipal elections in her state last week. Significantly, an excessive violence by the thugs of Trinamool Congress at Salt Lake where BJP has a reasonable presence, met with an unexpected counterpunch. The court-ordered CBI probe on Bengal's Saradha chit fund scam was advancing in a lackadaisical way. However, the Bureau suddenly woke up after the violence at Salt Lake and took to custody a city businessman, Santanu Ghosh, who is reportedly a key player in the scam. Such calculated ambush, coupled with the fact that Madan Mitra, a minister known to be a potential key witness in the Saradha case, is under detention for nearly a year, sets a clear limit to Mamata's ability to take on Modi. The Biju Janata Dal is also feeling the heat of the chit fund scam and his voice was not heard as well on the issue.
As far as Mulayam and Akhilesh Yadav are concerned, the disproportionate assets case against the family is still hanging on them like the proverbial Damocles' sword. It was lifted by the UPA government in 2008, following CPI(M) withdrawing support as it was supposedly incensed by the US-India nuclear agreement. The Yadavs immediately got the SP to fill the vacuum and negotiated peace with the UPA following which CBI became lukewarm in pursuing the case, a behaviour that came under strong criticism of the Supreme Court. Later on, after SP wresting government from Mayawati in 2012, the apex court gave the case a boost by ordering CBI to report its progress to the court and not to the government. A year later, CBI, true to its "caged parrot" role, stated it would close the case as there was not sufficient evidence against the family. BJP, after coming to power at the Centre, has neither allowed CBI to go to the court seeking its nod for closure of the case nor has it sought from the court a review of its 2012 order. It restricts SP's ability to challenge Modi. On the other hand, the partial reprieve that RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav secured from Jharkhand High Court in the 'fodder case', is now being critically reviewed by the Supreme Court. It simply means the end of the story for Lalu is a far cry. Similarly, Tamil Nadu chief minister and AIADMK chief J. Jayalalithaa is also not out yet of CBI's DA case dragnet even though she has been acquitted by the Karnataka High Court.
Still, Modi's untrammelled dominance in politics means a lot for the way in which India is governed and its global image. The 'secularists' could still gather around a cause if the Congress, which has been their traditional core, had remained intact. But the Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi duo seem to be in some serious trouble themselves. The National Herald case, now before the Delhi High Court, can turn out to be Gandhis waterloo. While the allegations of financial misappropriations and cheating are serious, the Enforcement Directorate has added an extra sting to it by charging them under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), a tough law in which it is the onus of the accused to prove his or her innocence. Sonia's son-in-law Robert Vadra is already facing a probe by a Commission of Inquiry in Haryana.
The BSP supremo Mayawati is set to face her worst as BJP is now trying hard to win over the Dalits, be it in Bihar or Maharashtra or UP.
The Dadri incident may have dented the image of the Modi government. But it has also exposed the emptiness of the secular lobby's bluster. Of course Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal visited Bisada village in Greater Noida. But the visitors' list ends there. While the visits of Rahul and Kejriwal were muted, the rest of opposition politicians were far from being jolted by it. Lalu Prasad Yadav, now a bit down as his current ally and Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar has remained cold to him, overshot the mark as usual by saying that there were many Hindus who ate beef. It was believed to be an invitation to counter-volleys the BJP.
The question is why are India's secularists indeed looking so truly 'pseudo'? The most curious response is that of Samajwadi Party headed by Mulayam Singh Yadav, and his son Akhilesh Yadav, chief minister, Uttar Pradesh, where Bisada is situated. Obviously winked at by the Yadav duo, officials of the state government, while sending a report of the incident to the Union Ministry of Home Affairs, coolly downplayed the lynching part of the story and did not even mention the word "beef" or the term "cow". Instead, the report talked about some 'prohibited animal' (pratibandhit pashu), thus offering a fig leaf for the BJP brass who termed the incident as an "accident". Chief minister Akhilesh met members of Akhlaq's family in Lucknow, but it was a move to silence them with unprecedented compensation.
Also curious is the generally cautious campaigning in Bihar by Nitish, and scrupulous avoidance of the 'B' word by West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee in a slew of high-profile municipal elections in her state last week. Significantly, an excessive violence by the thugs of Trinamool Congress at Salt Lake where BJP has a reasonable presence, met with an unexpected counterpunch. The court-ordered CBI probe on Bengal's Saradha chit fund scam was advancing in a lackadaisical way. However, the Bureau suddenly woke up after the violence at Salt Lake and took to custody a city businessman, Santanu Ghosh, who is reportedly a key player in the scam. Such calculated ambush, coupled with the fact that Madan Mitra, a minister known to be a potential key witness in the Saradha case, is under detention for nearly a year, sets a clear limit to Mamata's ability to take on Modi. The Biju Janata Dal is also feeling the heat of the chit fund scam and his voice was not heard as well on the issue.
As far as Mulayam and Akhilesh Yadav are concerned, the disproportionate assets case against the family is still hanging on them like the proverbial Damocles' sword. It was lifted by the UPA government in 2008, following CPI(M) withdrawing support as it was supposedly incensed by the US-India nuclear agreement. The Yadavs immediately got the SP to fill the vacuum and negotiated peace with the UPA following which CBI became lukewarm in pursuing the case, a behaviour that came under strong criticism of the Supreme Court. Later on, after SP wresting government from Mayawati in 2012, the apex court gave the case a boost by ordering CBI to report its progress to the court and not to the government. A year later, CBI, true to its "caged parrot" role, stated it would close the case as there was not sufficient evidence against the family. BJP, after coming to power at the Centre, has neither allowed CBI to go to the court seeking its nod for closure of the case nor has it sought from the court a review of its 2012 order. It restricts SP's ability to challenge Modi. On the other hand, the partial reprieve that RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav secured from Jharkhand High Court in the 'fodder case', is now being critically reviewed by the Supreme Court. It simply means the end of the story for Lalu is a far cry. Similarly, Tamil Nadu chief minister and AIADMK chief J. Jayalalithaa is also not out yet of CBI's DA case dragnet even though she has been acquitted by the Karnataka High Court.
Still, Modi's untrammelled dominance in politics means a lot for the way in which India is governed and its global image. The 'secularists' could still gather around a cause if the Congress, which has been their traditional core, had remained intact. But the Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi duo seem to be in some serious trouble themselves. The National Herald case, now before the Delhi High Court, can turn out to be Gandhis waterloo. While the allegations of financial misappropriations and cheating are serious, the Enforcement Directorate has added an extra sting to it by charging them under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), a tough law in which it is the onus of the accused to prove his or her innocence. Sonia's son-in-law Robert Vadra is already facing a probe by a Commission of Inquiry in Haryana.
The BSP supremo Mayawati is set to face her worst as BJP is now trying hard to win over the Dalits, be it in Bihar or Maharashtra or UP.
The 'secularists' could still gather around a
cause if the Congress, which has been their traditional core,
These pseudo 'secularists' escaped full probe and trial of the charges of malfeasance because most of them were either part of a corrupt government at the Centre or its supporter. But if the law finally takes its course, and Modi’s critics feel the heat, is he to be blamed? There has been no record of corruption by Modi’s ministers yet, except allegations of favouritism against External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj. On the other hand, Congress is out of power at the Centre 16 months now but is still witnessing one ex-minister after the other facing action by anti-corruption agencies. Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh has also run out of luck. The moral of the story is, in politics it is not enough to wear the secular badge; it is also important to keep one’s nose clean.
