NaMo trampling democracy misusing central agencies

Unmesh Gujarathi
Editor in Chief

आली जरी कष्टदशा अपार। न टाकती धैर्य तथापि थोर।। केला जरी पोत बळेचि खाले। ज्वाला तरी ते वरती उफाळे।। ( The great people do not lose courage despite extreme hard work. Even if a torch is lowered, its flames rise upwards).

These are the verses of one of the poems contained in the school textbooks. The message is simple and clear. Even the burning torch is lowered, its flames rise upwards. This poem came to mind after the Uddhav Thackeray-led faction of Shiv Sena was allotted the symbol of a flaming torch by the Election Commission (EC) for the Andheri Assembly by-poll on Monday.

The Narendra Modi Government at the center has already been misusing the Central agencies like ED, CBI and NCB to harass the opponents and now the Union Government has begun pressurising even the EC.

Now the NaMo Government has decided to decimate the Shiv Sena misusing the EC. As a first step towards this mission the Shiv Sena’s election symbol “Bow & Arrow” was frozen by the EC. Other parties like MNS might have felt happy with the action taken against the Shiv Sena. But the plight of other parties will not only be the same, but it will be worse.

Narendra Modi and Amit Shah are moving towards dictatorship and strangulating democracy. History has proved that even when the flaming torch is lowered, the flames not only rise upwards but burst out. The leaders like Indira Gandhi and Jagmohan faced the worst situation and rose from the ashes and marking the dawn of a new revolution.

Uddhav Thackeray carries tremendous goodwill and sympathy and youth are attracted to him. This was proved by the massive crowds that gathered at Uddhav’s Dussehra rally at Shivaji Park.

The fiasco of Shinde’s Dussehra rally

Shinde gave advertisements worth lakhs of rupees to the media for publicity. He spent several crores on hiring state transport buses to ferry the people to his rally at BKC. In fact, it was a hired crowd and Shinde couldn’t impress the people. In short, Shinde’s Dussehra rally was a flop show.

Before the next Dussehra, the BMC elections will be over and the Shinde faction will be cut to size. It could even officially merge with the BJP by that time. The fact that BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis would emerge as the chief minister before the 2024 assembly elections are almost certain.