Kerala CPI(M) secretary M.V. Govindan accuses UDF of distorting his remarks on Emergency-era alliance
He accused the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) and sections of the media of 'twisting' his recent comments to a television channel regarding the CPI(M) being a part of the Janata Party during the Emergency era, when Jana Sangh, the precursor to the Bharatiya Janata Party, was also a part of the umbrella alliance.
Mr. Govindan was speaking to presspersons here on Wednesday (June 18, 2025), on the eve of the crucial Nilambur byelection.
His comments had led to leaders of the UDF reiterating allegations of an understanding between the CPI(M) and the BJP, forcing LDF candidate M. Swaraj to explain the larger context of the umbrella alliance during the Emergency period.
Mr. Govindan said that in the face of the 'semi-fascist rule of the Congress during the Emergency, during which democratic rights had ceased to exist, parties of various hues had come together to resist it.'
'Several parties, including the socialists and the Swatantra Party, were part of this larger alliance. The CPI(M) has never its history had a direct political alliance with the RSS or the BJP. Nor would it happen in the future. In the elections after the Emergency, EMS Namboodiripad had uncategorically stated that the CPI(M) did not want any any vote from the RSS,' said Mr. Govindan.
Slams Congress
He accused the Congress on the other hand of having electoral alliances with the BJP and Sangh Parivar organisations on multiple occasions. 'After the Liberation Struggle as well as later in Vadakara and Beypore, the Congress allied with the Sangh to defeat the LDF. But we were able to overcome these challenges and win the elections,' he said.
He accused the Congress of 'whitewashing' Jamaat e-Islami, 'even though it has never rejected its original agenda of turning the nation into a theocracy.'
'For the first time, a democratic political organisation has allied with Jamaat e-Islami, which is acting as a counterpart to the RSS, which is implmenting a Hindutva agenda in the country. This act of the Congress and the Muslim League (IUML) with an eye on short term electoral gains will have long-term repercussions for our polity and the State. The LDF has taken a clear stance, rejecting both majority and minority communalism,' he said.
Mr. Govindan also alleged that Raj Bhavan is bring turned into 'the nerve centre of communalism.'
'Photographs of RSS leaders Hedgewar and Golwalkar have now been placed at Raj Bhavan. We are wondering whether they would also place the photographs of Godse and Savarkar, as the RSS considers them to be more important than Gandhi,' he said.
He also criticised the Kerala Governor's recent remarks against politicisation of higher educational institutions. 'Rather than rejecting all politics, we should be able to equip our students with the right kind of politics. How else would we get the next generation of leaders for the country?,' asked Mr. Govindan.
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Hindustan Times
17 minutes ago
- Hindustan Times
Paper trails, lost salaries: Stories of struggle, success in Bihar SIR drive
The first phase of the controversial special intensive revision (SIR) in Bihar excised 6.56 million names from the state's voter rolls. The exclusions have generated a political firestorm and reverberated in Parliament and the Supreme Court. But another key facet are the 72.4 million people who managed to fill their forms. Across five districts, HT attempts to sketch the contours of the exercise, shaped by identities, differing access to government services, migration and socioeconomic status. Paper trails, lost salaries: Stories of struggle, success in Bihar SIR drive Chandan Das, Tilhari Village A flight of three steep steps leads a visitor to the meeting room of Tilhari village chief Shakunta Devi and her husband, Chandan Das. Under framed faces of Bhagat Singh, BR Ambedkar and Ravidas, the room teems with clots of people anxious about their names on the electoral roll – one has a brother toiling away in Hyderabad who cannot come back to fill the forms, a second has no document other than Aadhaar card in her name since her marriage in this village five years ago, and a third is worried that she might have missed her BLO and will be marked absent. In this peri-urban village of 900-odd people dominated by marginalised castes, a white sheet of paper stamped with the panchayat logo, signed by Das, and a photograph of the applicant affixed is lucrative. Das has signed roughly 250 of these letters since July 1, filling the gap in access to formal documentation. 'In our village, most are poor. The problem here is birth certificates and only 10% of people have caste papers. So what else can we do to help them?' asked Das, who was once associated with the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist). In his early 30s, the husband of the village chief unofficially executes many of the official functions of his wife. He had thought that the publication of the draft roll on August 1 would mean an end to the frenetic pace of work. 'Not a lot of names in this village were deleted so that's a relief. It means the letters worked,' he said. But now, there is a new problem. 'Naam bohot ka gadbad kar diya hai (they've made a lot of mistakes with the names) – Rai in place of Ram, father-in-law in place of father,' Das said. 'I went through the draft list for an hour with the BLO and found 6-7 such mistakes,' he added. In front of him is Rekha Devi, whose father-in-law Yaddu Manjhi's name is misspelt. Next to her is Ruby Devi whose husband's name Bhagiran Manjhi is now spelt as Jhageru Manjhi. Behind them on the floor are Ram Bhuvan whose name is spelt as Rai Bhuvan and Rukmini Devi, now erroneously spelt as Kamini Devi. They all have to fill a form and submit it to the BLO before September 1. Such errors are not new but the stringent SIR process has locals worried. 'We are illiterate so we have come to request pradhan sahab to help us,' said Rekha Devi. It's back to the grind for the young politician. Kaiser Alam, Asura village The tranquil waters of the Kankai river hug the international border between India and Nepal through most of its course, before spilling into the Mahananda in Bihar's Kishanganj district. Its banks on either side are dotted with hundreds of villages and the occasional makeshift bridge – like the one on the edges of Asura village. In this part of the world, formal jobs are scarce and most people are manual labourers, farm hands or fishers. The few skilled people either migrate out of the state or the country for decently paying jobs. Kaiser Alam, a stonemason, is one of them. Courtesy his travel, the 41-year-old has a passport – one of the 11 documents the Election Commission of India is accepting as proof of address. But his wife, Mohsina Khatun, has largely remained at home. She doesn't have a passport or an educational certificate. For people like her, the most-popular choice of document is the niwasi or the permanent residency certificate, which is issued by the block office and usually takes between 10 and 15 days. A filled form, a letter from the panchayat and Aadhaar card is all that usually takes. And a bit of luck. Khatun fears her luck might have run out. The mother of five cast her vote in the 2020 assembly polls and the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. 'I applied for it (the certificate) soon after the declaration of SIR on July 3; since then I have been frequenting the block office but till now I haven't got it,' said Alam. This is not uncommon. Across many blocks in Kishanganj, Purnia, and Araria districts, officials temporarily froze the issuance of new certificates in July and August after seeing a sharp spike – tenfold on average – in applications. While this helped ease verification stress, it hurt many applicants. 'I am worried that my wife will be deprived of her franchise,' Alam said. But her luck might turn again. Last week, the Supreme Court told the EC to start allowing the submission of Aadhaar details.. Ajit Rishi, Palasi village Since his teenage years, Ajit Rishi has been somewhat of a busybody. In his village of Palasi in Bihar's Araria district, most people are migrant labourers and hail from the Mahadalit Musahar caste. Rishi himself is Dalit, having appended Rishi to his name in an attempt to dispel the stigma binding the impoverished community once forced to eat rats to stave off hunger. Rishi spent most of his teenage years in odd jobs. By his early 30s, he had become a ward member in the panchayat, leveraging his community ties and numerous small favours he was owed. Literacy remains low among the 537 voters, most of whom are from the Dalit communities and work as day labourers. 'You can understand that very few people here understood what the papers meant when the SIR forms were first given out,' said Rishi. The partially pre-filled forms were distributed by the local schoolteacher BLO. But when he came back to pick up the documents days later, he refused to accept Aadhaar or voter identity card – most villagers had photocopied these two and affixed it to the forms – as supporting documents. 'First they said fill only the form, then said give it with documents. Then, they said only the form will do. After that, they said they'll come back for a document check. For us villagers, it was very confusing,' said Tuntun Rishi, a resident. That's when Rishi stepped in. 'We formed a strategy. For some, I helped them fill the form in Hindi and added their Mahadalit certificate or card myself. For some others, I filled out the form and asked them to add as many documents as they could, especially any card they had got as beneficiary for a SC-specific scheme. We then spoke to the BLO to accept it,' he said. But there were still outliers. Farmhands Baidyanath Rishi and his wife Minti Devi were both in Punjab, having migrated up north for the harvest season, and only their small children were back at their village home in Palasi. 'There were at least 30-40 people from our samaj (community) who were out because the wages at this time of the year are good,' said Rishi. Some responded to missives by their family members but many didn't – in any case, many simply didn't have the kind of documents the BLO was looking for. As July entered its final lap, the pressure on Rishi was mounting as people frequented his house with their anxieties about being struck off the rolls. In a village election, a disgruntled household is enough to swing the polls away from a candidate. Rishi had to keep everyone happy. 'In every village, there is a vikas mitra appointed by the state government to help Mahadalits access official schemes. He has a list of families and dependents. We told him to give us a copy of the list and shared it with the BLO, who we told to mark voters based on that list,' said Rishi. 'People who are outside and couldn't fill their form but were Mahadalit were also helped by this parivarik suchi (family listing),' Rishi said. The workaround sidestepped the document soup as the BLO directly picked up names from the list. 'For some people, who didn't even have Aadhaar, the parivarik suchi was enough,' he said. It was a relief for Rishi, who was increasingly getting anxious about lost labour wages for the many hours he spent filling forms, effectively securing his votes. 'An hour lost means ₹400 gone,' he said. His work, however, is not done yet. Sarima Devi and her husband Jittan Rishi are at sea because he is a migrant labourer who has lately stopped returning home, sending between ₹2,000 and ₹3,000 occasionally for her upkeep. 'My husband has not filled out the form. Plus my name is not on any welfare document so what do I submit?' she asked. Rishi sighed. It is not uncommon in the countryside for a woman to be abandoned by her migrant husband. But for now, getting her name into the voter list is of bigger importance than her personal tragedy. 'I'll talk to someone,' Rishi said. Abdul Javed, Mahendrapur For decades, brothers Abdul Javed and Abdul Hamid shared a common mud courtyard between their huts, a separate kitchen room off to the right, and two string cots outside to entertain evening visitors. In the village of Mahendrapur, the farm hands lived off the main lane, the entrances of their houses marked by dented sheets of tin stapled together in the likeness of a gate. When their children were in school, it became clear that there were no jobs available in the countryside to support the family. Javed's two sons quickly migrated – first to state capital Patna and then to Karnal town in Haryana, where they alternate between working on construction sites and agricultural fields. Pay is more regular and at least four times the rate given in Bihar. 'There are six people in our house and eight people in Hamid's house. It was all going well when the SIR was announced,' Javed said. After one week of confusion, the household swung into action. Now in his 70s, Javed requested a young man from the village to help them understand what was being asked. He then called his elder son Sabbar to spare a day from his otherwise gruelling manual labour schedule, and click photos of every document available with him. As the elder brother, he held all the documents (which included passports because the brothers earlier worked as contract labour in west Asia) and sent photographs of every document on WhatsApp. 'I went to the block headquarters and got the photos printed. I then used the details to fill the form myself on their behalf. The BLO accepted them,' said Javed. Here, every household has more than one member working outside – either in an industrial town in India, or in west Asia. Complicating their already difficult lives are increasing polarisation and stereotypes about Muslims, especially those who speak Bengali. This is all too apparent next door, in Chatia village, where most young men leave home at 18. Ruksana Khatun and her friend Jainur Khatun have helped fill the forms of several male relatives, including their husbands and children, who are in Haryana working in tile factories. 'They only take scanned copies of Aadhaar with them, so we were lucky that the rest of the cards were all at home. We just filled the forms thanks to them,' said Ruksana. Almost everyone here is a migrant, but the share of Muslim people has surged in recent years, bringing with it anxieties and sometimes unfounded allegations about infiltration. In Rampur Kodarkatti, where Muslims make up two-thirds of the population, village chief Rajesh Kumar Singh is a proponent of these theories. Two years ago, he hit the local news when he contacted the police about a man he alleged was Bangladeshi. 'Bengali and Bangladeshi here are the same. 70% came here after Bangladesh was born and changed our demographic,' he said. Girija Devi, Naya Tola For most of her 47 years, Girija Devi has been on the move. Born in a village in Uttar Pradesh near the border with Bihar, Devi was married in Gopalganj district to her husband, Ramprit Prasad, but the first home she built, in Tangrahi village, was engulfed by the Gandak river during a seasonal flood. Bankrupted by the tragedy, Devi and her husband moved to higher ground, to a village named simply as Naya Tola or new neighbourhood – an amalgam of people who'd moved here from various parts of the district after being rendered homeless by Bihar's monsoon sorrow. A mud-and-cement embankment protects most of the settlements in Naya Tola, but also makes life difficult for people like Devi who double up as farmhands. In this slushy landscape, building roads is difficult and the moped is the perfect all-weather vehicle. But the proximity to Kuchaikote town helps in securing odd jobs. For the labourer couple, a day's work means between ₹300 and ₹400. But for the past month, earning has been somewhat sporadic because the couple has skipped days hunting for documents to affix to their electoral forms. Prasad had thought that a family member's name in the land records, or Khatian, would suffice, but has been told by the BLO that it has to be his own name for the document to count. 'Neither I nor my wife are educated. I have given my Aadhaar but they're asking for my birth certificate. Where will I get it?' he asked. Devi faces a bigger conundrum. Women have been asked by the authorities to affix proof that traces their lineage to their fathers. All Devi has is proof of her marriage. 'My parents are dead, and in any case, who will give me any proof there? Women don't get ration cards made in their name,' she said. Across the state, the controversial SIR has erected hurdles to confirm one's place in the voter rolls. But women such as Devi face an additional set of hindrances, because they typically reside away from natal homes from where they have to trace lineage and access documents. Devi doesn't care much about voting or whether her name stays in the rolls. But she's worried about spillover effects. 'Who will put my name back in the rolls once it's struck off? And what'll happen to my ration or schemes?' .
Time of India
28 minutes ago
- Time of India
Bills for removal of PM, CMs, ministers tabled in Lok Sabha, sent to JPC
Amit Shah NEW DELHI: The ongoing acrimony between the opposition and the treasury, witnessed throughout the monsoon session of Parliament, reached a flashpoint in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday when Union home minister Amit Shah introduced the three bills that provide a legal framework for removing the Prime Minister, Union ministers, chief ministers, and ministers in states and Union territories arrested and detained on serious criminal charges. Shah said that the three legislations will be referred to a joint parliamentary committee for detailed scrutiny even as opposition MPs, essentially from Trinamool Congress and Congress, launched into aggressive protests and tore copies of the bills. They trooped into the well of the House, near Shah's front-row seat. Bill is in violation of presumption of innocence, says oppn in Lok Sabha Opposition MPs said the bills violated constitutional principles, undermined federalism, and inverted the principle of "innocent until proven guilty." They warned of potential misuse for political purposes and the risk of transforming India into a police state. Pandemonium broke out as soon as home minister Amit Shah sought to move the three bills — the Government of Union Territories (Amendment) Bill, 2025; the Constitution (130th Amendment) Bill, 2025; and Jammu & Kashmir Reorganisation (Amendment) Bill, 2025 — which propose that if the PM, ministers or CMs are arrested and detained for 30 days for offences carrying a jail term of at least five years, they will lose their positions on the 31st day. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like The 5 Books Warren Buffett Recommends You To Read in 2025 Blinkist: Warren Buffett's Reading List Undo Shah justified the legislations, 'We cannot be so shameless (ham itne nirlajj nahi ho sakte) as to occupy constitutional positions while facing charges,' home minister said. Initially, only Trinamool MPs, led by Kalyan Banerjee, stormed the well. After Congress netas K C Venugopal and Manish Tewari spoke, Venugopal tore a copy of the bill, and Congress MPs joined TMC in protest. Venugopal questioned Shah's claim of upholding public morality, referring to Shah's 2010 arrest as Gujarat's home minister. Shah countered, stating he had resigned on moral grounds before his arrest on 'false' allegations and refrained from holding constitutional positions until cleared by courts. 'I want to remind Congress that I had already resigned before being arrested, and even after being released on bail, I did not take any constitutional position until I was proven innocent by the court.' He added, 'The court dismissed the false case against me, stating that it was motivated by political vendetta. ' Three opposition MPs — Asaduddin Owaisi (AIMIM), N K Premachandran (RSP) and Manish Tewari (Congress) — opposed the bill saying that it is in violation of presumption of innocence, which is the bedrock of administration and a marked assualt on the basic structure of the Constitution. Tewari called the bills 'squarely destructive' to the Constitution's basic structure, arguing they bypassed due process and made investigating officers the 'boss of the Prime Minister'. Owaisi accused the govt of enabling executive agencies to act as judge, jury, and executioner based on flimsy allegations, likening the proposed system to Nazi Germany's Gestapo. Venugopal claimed the bills aimed to sabotage India's federal structure. Shah rejected Premachandran's contention that the bills were brought in haste, saying they will be sent to a joint panel, where members of both Houses would get an opportunity to give their suggestions. The constitutional amendment bill requires two-thirds support in both Houses — a majority that the governing alliance currently lacks. One opposition MP twisted Shah's mic, while others continued throwing bits of paper at him, prompting treasury MPs to rush into the well. MPs from both sides stood face-to-face, exchanging threats, and even after the House was adjourned, opposition MPs continued shouting slogans. BJP MPs, including ministers Kiren Rijiju and Ravneet Bittu, moved to block opposition MPs from approaching Shah. The home minister, however, asked his colleagues to return to their seats. Congress MP Deepender Hooda also intervened, preventing opposition MPs from entering the aisle. Normalcy returned only after Shah and other ministers left the House as the opposition members jeered. When House resumed an hour later, the bills were referred to JPC, but proceedings occurred under tight security, with marshals present. Shah, instead of taking his front row seat, sat in the third row as opposition MPs again occupied the well. Govt sources said that their focus was on getting the legislations passed.
NDTV
an hour ago
- NDTV
"Draconian Act": Congress Slams Centre Over Constitution Amendment Bill
New Delhi: Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury on Wednesday criticised the 130th Constitution Amendment Bill that sought to allow the removal of the Prime Minister, Chief Ministers, and ministers if they were held on serious criminal charges. The Congress leader accused the ruling BJP of using its majority in Parliament to push through the bill with the intention of targeting the opposition. He called the move "draconian" and politically motivated. The 130th Constitution Amendment Bill seeks to remove the Prime Minister or Chief Ministers who are facing allegations of corruption or serious offences and have been detained for 30 consecutive days. Speaking to ANI, the Congress leader called the bill a political weapon and said, "The intention of the ruling side to pass this bill using its majority is not right. This will be used as a tool to target the opposition. This is a draconian act." He further questioned the timing of the bill, linking it to ongoing debates over the allegation on the Election Commission of 'vote theft'. "At a time when questions are rising against the Election Commission, there is panic in the ruling party, and this issue has now been raised to divert attention from it?" Adhir Ranjan told ANI. Earlier in the day, slamming the BJP government over the introduction of the 130th Constitution Amendment Bill in Lok Sabha, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin said that legislation, if passed, will allow the ruling party at the Centre to register false cases against Chief Ministers of the opposition parties and it will shake the democratic foundations of the country. In a post on X, Mr Stalin said that the BJP Government has decided to "defile" the Constitution."The 130th Constitutional Amendment is not reform -- this is a Black Day and this is a Black Bill. 30-day arrest = Removal of an elected CM. No trial, no conviction -- just BJP's DIKTAT. This is how DICTATORSHIPS begin: Steal votes, Silence rivals and Crush States," wrote Mr Stalin while condemning the bill. The Tamil Nadu CM pointed out that the introduction of the said bill is the BJP's government diversion tactic to bring the bill at a time when it is facing allegations over "vote theft". "After the expose of #VoteTheft, the very mandate on which the Union BJP Government was formed is in serious question. Its legitimacy is doubtful. Having stolen the mandate of the people through fraud, the BJP is now desperate to distract public attention from this expose. To do that, they have brought in the 130th Constitutional Amendment Bill," he said. Expressing faith in the judiciary, CM Stalin said that the Constitution Amendment bill will be struck down by the courts. Union Home Minister Amit Shah introduced the Constitution (One Hundred and Thirtieth Amendment) Bill, 2025, to further amend the Constitution of India and the Government of Union Territories (Amendment) Bill, 2025, apart from the bill to amend the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019. He also proposed sending the bllls to a joint committee of Parliament.
