Any move to arrest Thackeray may give the Sena-BJP a political edge. But if the Congress doesn’t act, it may lose the Muslim vote
Any move to arrest Thackeray may give the Sena-BJP a political edge. But if the Congress doesn’t act, it may lose the Muslim vote
The renewed demands for implementation of the Justice BN Srikrishna Commission report into the Mumbai riots of 1992-’93 has put the Democratic Front government in a piquant situation. The promise was part of the last election manifesto and now the 2009 assembly elections loom.
As of now, the thorn in the Congress’s side is the apparent political proximity between the Shiv Sena and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP). The Congress finds that Home minister RR Patil (NCP) has stumped by saying that it cannot proceed against the Sena’s leaders for lack of adequate evidence
Almost 48 hours after Patil’s remark, chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh swung into damage control and held hectic parleys with minority leaders. He said, “My government is committed to implementing the Srikrishna report.”
Maharashtra’s major forces have remained the same for years. The ties between the Congress and the Sena were strong, long before the NCP. Therefore, the underlying currents are countless. The Congress is at this moment worried by the NCP’s gameplan to distance the Muslims (16 per cent) from them. Rizwan Haidar a generation next Congress worker said, “We are going to expose NCP’s double standards. On one hand they support Sena and on the other hold rallies demanding implementation of the report.”
Of Mumbai’s 24 assembly segments, Muslims play a decisive role in 12. If this becomes a major election issue, the Muslims may well look for alternatives in the Samajwadi Party (SP) and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP).
What remains unexplained in all the “fast track progress” is whether the police department has been directed to gather evidence against politicians and police who led the rioting mobs. The other big question is the apparent reluctance to arrest Sena MLC Madhukar Sarpotdar, who was caught with weapons by the Army.
According to Maulana Zaheer Abbas, secretary of the Muslim Personal Law Board, “There should be some sincere efforts from the government to implement the report. What happens in court is a different matter.
The administration has to ensure people don’t feel there are two different laws for different sections in the state.”
On their part, the Sena and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) are sanguine. Said, BJP general secretary Vinod Tawde, “We have nothing to lose. In Gujarat when Sonia Gandhi called chief minister Narendra Modi a “maut ka saudagar”, it brought the Hindutva to the centrestage which worked to BJP’s advantage.”
Politics at all costs must win over justice, it seems.
k_shubhangi@dnaindia.net
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