Cost of promises: on the Bihar election and poll-eve welfare measures
All this follows a familiar pattern of governments using welfare as an instrument of election-eve management of popular sentiment. The absence of any serious planning or vision behind such sporadic announcements is evident. They are often in response to the promises of a political rival. In Bihar, the Opposition Rashtriya Janata Dal has said that the Nitish Kumar government's welfare catalogue is a forced reaction to its promises of similar measures if voted to power. Ahead of the Maharashtra Assembly elections, the Mahayuti government rolled out a cash transfer scheme for women which helped it win. Later, the new government pruned the list, admitting that there were undeserving beneficiaries. Free electricity schemes now exist in several States. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has often questioned the rationale of 'freebies', but arbitrary new schemes continue to proliferate. In Bihar, the scramble among parties is also in the context of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's advancing age. His party, the Janata Dal (United), is smaller than the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and the election could further alter the dynamics of State coalition politics. The control of power had increasingly shifted from Mr. Kumar to the BJP in the last five years and the future of the JD(U) is set to decline. Competitive welfarism is all that remains in the toolkits of all parties to woo voters.
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The Print
9 minutes ago
- The Print
Dhankhar's resignation: How Modi-Shah's ‘capable' BJP has served another strong message to RSS
Preparing to vacate the Vice President's Enclave barely three km from there, Jagdeep Dhankhar would have been bemused had he heard the BJP leader's assertions about the party's ideological moorings and priorities. The last time I visited the old VP House, his wife, Sudesh Dhankhar, wasn't very keen on moving to the new official residence that was under construction then. 'Almost two years are already gone. Why to move to a new place (for the remaining tenure)?' she had told me over breakfast. It wasn't going to be their choice, obviously. In hindsight, her reluctance turned out to be a sort of premonition. Their daughter and her family never shifted to the VP House and preferred to stay put in Gurgaon. These facts give us a glimpse of how the Dhankhar family was always practical and modest, and harboured no vaulting ambitions. The Congress, said the above-mentioned BJP functionary, is a leader-driven political party with the sole objective to attain power. 'We are not a political party. We are a cadre-driven ideological party,' he said. If someone felt a pinch of salt in the chaat, it was deliberate. To validate his point, the BJP leader narrated the story of the demolition of Ayodhya's Babri mosque in 1992. Only two persons knew about the plan — Moropant Pingle and Ashok Singhal. Even LK Advani and Kalyan Singh had no idea about it, he said. Pingle was 'very clear' that the mosque had to go even if it meant the BJP not coming to power for 500 years. 'So, you see, ours is an ideology-driven party,' the BJP MP summed up. At Shashi Tharoor's 'mango and chaat' party last Thursday, a BJP spokesman and parliamentarian — a brainy, erudite one, not one of those peddlers of banality — was holding forth on how his party was different. A few Congress politicians from Kerala had sneaked in and out, noticing the conspicuous absence of senior leaders. BJP leaders could, therefore, relish the succulent mangoes and talk about the virtues of their party without having to care about any spoilsport lurking around. The 'reasons' Jagdeep Dhankhar would know why he was suddenly in the BJP's crosshairs. His 'ouster' had much to do with the party's ideological fountainhead, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), and what JP Nadda would call the BJP's 'sakshamta' or capability. I will come to it a bit later. Let's first look at the reasons for Dhankhar's resignation. Nobody is buying the medical reason as mentioned in his resignation letter. That he quit under duress is an open secret. Let's examine the reasons that BJP leaders have been giving on the condition of anonymity. First, that the Narendra Modi-led government was uneasy about his diatribe against the judiciary. Really! The National Judicial Appointments Commission Act, 2014 was one of the first legislations brought by the Modi-led government. Remember the 'tyranny of the unelected' remark by then-finance minister Arun Jaitley when the Supreme Court struck it down? Senior ministers and BJP leaders have been attacking the highest judiciary since then. In April, BJP MP Nishikant Dubey said that the Supreme Court was responsible for 'inciting religious wars' and then-Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna for 'civil wars' in India. Now compare their scathing remarks about the judiciary with those of ex-VP Dhankhar. Do you still think that the VP's criticism of the judiciary could be one of the reasons for his ouster? No way. In 2018, a few weeks after four Supreme Court judges had addressed a press conference, triggering a huge controversy, Prime Minister Narendra Modi met a few journalists from a prominent English newspaper. I have it from authoritative sources that when they asked him about the judges' presser, he told them, 'You should know that a handful of families control the entire judiciary — just 60. But you media people don't write about it.' As a brilliant investigation done by my colleague, Apoorva Mandhani, early this year, PM Modi's figure was a bit exaggerated but he was right about the prevalence of dynasties and nepotism in the judiciary. Apoorva found out that 60 per cent of the SC judges were from lawyer or judge families. And one in three High Court judges were related to judges, ex-judges or lawyers. These figures vindicate Modi whose government has perpetually been at odds with the Supreme Court collegium over judicial appointments. In this backdrop, one has to be incredibly credulous to buy BJP spin masters' argument that the government got rid of VP Dhankhar for harmonious relationship with the judiciary. Another explanation offered by them is that Dhankhar had started embarrassing the government by publicly criticising it. They offer just one instance — when Dhankhar had, in the presence of Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, questioned the government for not fulfilling its promises to farmers. 'How could he say that to Shivraj Chouhan?' — is the usual refrain of spin masters. Their sympathy is touching given how Chouhan was denied CMship even after leading his party to a historic victory in Madhya Pradesh in the last Assembly election. Also, Dhankhar had prefaced his sympathy for farmers with dollops of praise for the government. 'For the first time, I have seen India changing…India was never at such great heights…when this is happening, why are farmers suffering?' he had said. As it was, Dhankhar seemed to be playing to the gallery. Besides, that was the only time he said something that might be construed as remotely critical of the government. The spin masters would have us believe that the BJP top brass remembered Shivraj Singh Chouhan's pain seven months later and decided to oust the VP. I am not sure if Chouhan is shedding copious tears of joy to see the party high command's sudden love and respect for him. For all we know, he may be dismayed. Yet another reason being offered by spin masters is that Dhankhar, without consulting the government, presented the Opposition's motion to remove Allahabad High Court Judge Yashwant Varma in the Rajya Sabha. The government wanted to move the motion, supported by all parties, in the Lok Sabha. What's the big deal? Dhankhar had only spoken about the Opposition's motion, as any chairperson should ideally do. He had not admitted their motion yet. That's why the government has now declared that they will first go ahead with the motion in the Lok Sabha. The government could have done the same even without throwing Dhankhar under the bus. They just needed to visit Dhankhar in his chamber and ask him not to admit it. Yet another reason being cited is that he was dusting off the Opposition's pending motion to remove Justice Shekhar Yadav for his alleged hate speech case. But how could he have kept mum about one motion against one judge when a similar motion against another judge that was moved later was being taken up by both Houses of Parliament? Also read: Jagdeep Dhankhar's abrupt exit says three things about the Modi govt Dhankhar and the RSS If you have heard of or read more explanations from the government and the party's spin masters for Dhankhar's resignation — nay, removal — just put them through a test of logic and reason. They all sound ludicrous. Just think of the above-mentioned explanations. Are these spin masters listening to what they are saying? Because their explanations project the Modi-led government as so dictatorial and insecure that it won't allow the occupant of the second-highest Constitutional office in India to use his discretion even in routine matters in the Rajya Sabha. Those spin doctors suggest that top BJP leadership has become so arrogant that they can boot out the Vice President of India for acting without taking their permission even in trivial matters. That would be a bigger cause of worry for us. Thankfully, those are not the exact reasons for Dhankhar's ouster. It's a message to the RSS. To be precise, it serves as a response to RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat's reference to the 75-year ceiling. We often heard Dhankhar singing paeans of the RSS inside and outside the Rajya Sabha. Given that Dhankhar's ideological moorings were not in the RSS, his effusive praise of the Sangh was seen as an outreach to the BJP's ideological patron. The fact is that Dhankhar had grown close to RSS top functionaries over the years and was in constant touch with them. The Sangh was using his legal advice on different issues, including in the Ayodhya Ram Janmabhoomi case. They grew only closer when he, as the West Bengal Governor, went after the Mamata Banerjee government. Its failure to govern Syama Prasad Mookerjee's home state has always been a sore point for the Sangh. The RSS was instrumental in getting Dhankhar into the Vice President's House. They could only watch in silence as the BJP sent him packing without consulting the Sangh. The chain of events leading to Dhankhar's resignation last Monday had started with Leader of the Rajya Sabha JP Nadda snubbing Dhankhar by skipping the Rajya Sabha Business Advisory Committee meeting called by the latter at 4:30 pm. It must be a coincidence that it was Nadda who had declared last year that the BJP was saksham or capable now and could manage its own affairs without the RSS' interference. Amid the stalemate over the choice of the next BJP president, Dhankhar's sudden ouster is another message to the RSS that the BJP is saksham now and can manage its own affairs. DK Singh is Political Editor at ThePrint. He tweets @dksingh73. Views are personal. (Edited by Aamaan Alam Khan)
Hans India
9 minutes ago
- Hans India
Take action against obscene content: Pany
Dhenkanal: Parliament has enacted laws against obscenity but continuous effort is needed to create awareness against vulgarity. This involves educating individuals and communities about the legal and social implications of obscene content, promoting ethical media consumption and advocating for responsible content creation. There should be strict action against those who use obscenity as weapon to commit crime against women. This was stated by Dhenkanal MP Rudra Narayan Pany while launching YouTube channel 'Mission News,' run by Mission Reconstruction, a voluntary organisation. The channel will focus on development issues, entertainment and podcast. Referring to increasing crime against women, Pany said collective action is needed to oppose obscenity, be it through social media, mass media or individuals. 'We all should oppose obscenity. Social media can be powerful tool for increasing participation in democracy by facilitating access to information,' he said. Referring to RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat's remarks on political retirement at the age of 75 years, Pany said if anybody is elected by people before attaining the age of 75 years, the lawmaker has to continue in the best interests of the country. Atal Bihari Vajpayee continued in power up to the age of 80 years. Senior BJP leader L K Advani was the prime ministerial candidate of the BJP at the age of 82 years though he did not become the prime minister. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who will turn 75 this September, has national mandate till 2029. Mission Reconstruction chairman Bijay Chandra Mohapatra, secretary Manoj Kumar Patnaik and Red Cross vice-president Biranchi Narayan Pany were present on the occasion.
India Today
9 minutes ago
- India Today
Chidambaram's 'homegrown terrorists' remark stirs row, MP slams 'misinformation'
Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram on Monday hit back at what he called a "deliberate misinformation campaign" over his recent remarks on the Pahalgam terror attack, after the BJP accused him of giving a "clean chit to Pakistan" and echoing its to X, Chidambaram said his comments were being misrepresented by selectively muting and clipping portions of his are of different kinds and use different tools to spread misinformation. The worst kind is a troll who suppresses the full recorded interview, takes two sentences, mutes some words, and paints the speaker in a black colour!" he wrote. The controversy erupted after an interview Chidambaram gave to The Quint, in which he questioned the government's evidence linking Pakistan to the April 22 attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pahalgam that left 26 people dead, mostly civilians."Have they identified the terrorists? Where they came from? I mean, for all we know, they could be homegrown terrorists. Why do you assume that they came from Pakistan? There's no evidence of that," he had said in the HITS BACKThe BJP reacted sharply, accusing the Congress of undermining national security and echoing Pakistan's IT cell head Amit Malviya posted on X, 'Once again, the Congress rushes to give a clean chit to Pakistan, this time after the Pahalgam terror attack. Why is it that every time our forces confront Pakistan-sponsored terrorism, Congress leaders sound more like Islamabad's defence lawyers than India's opposition?"BJP MP Nishikant Dubey went a step further, calling the Congress a "traitor organisation". "Rahul Gandhi signs MoUs with China's Communist Party, they are tainted with corruption. They had decided to sell the nation away, but PM Modi came in between. Now they can't digest strong leadership," Dubey said while speaking to news agency similar sentiments, BJP MP Deepak Prakash accused the Congress of siding with 'traitors' and said the people of India "will never forgive" such LEADERS BACK P CHIDAMBARAMSeveral Congress MPs rallied behind Chidambaram, accusing the BJP of trying to deflect attention from its own failures in tackling MP Manickam Tagore said, 'The BJP wants to divert from the real issue—the Pahalgam terror attack and the failure of the Modi government to follow through with Operation Sindoor. This is a diversionary tactic. Congress stands with the Forces in the fight against terror.'Senior Congress leader Pramod Tiwari questioned why the attackers remain unidentified even after three months. 'We want to know where the terrorists are who killed the husbands of our 26 sisters. The government has failed till now. The dangerous game being played in Kashmir is not beneficial for the nation,' he Sena (UBT) MP Priyanka Chaturvedi also pushed back against Chidambaram's remarks. 'He is a former Home Minister and has served in many ministries. But we need no proof—Pakistan has been behind such attacks for decades. The TRF (The Resistance Front) initially claimed responsibility and then retracted. Pakistan even speaks for them at the UN. It is clear where the threat comes from,' she said.- EndsMust Watch
