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By:

Quaid Najmi

4 January 2025 at 3:26:24 pm

MVA protests for third day:

Mumbai: The Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) allies continued their agitation for the third day in different parts of Maharashtra with an aggressive state Congress hitting the streets today to protest the detention of Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, his sister Priyanka Gandhi-Vadra and other Congress leaders yesterday, here on Wednesday. State and city Youth Congress again carried out vociferous protests near Mantralaya raising slogans, carrying banners and placards slamming the...

MVA protests for third day:

Mumbai: The Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) allies continued their agitation for the third day in different parts of Maharashtra with an aggressive state Congress hitting the streets today to protest the detention of Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, his sister Priyanka Gandhi-Vadra and other Congress leaders yesterday, here on Wednesday. State and city Youth Congress again carried out vociferous protests near Mantralaya raising slogans, carrying banners and placards slamming the state and central Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and when some attempted to enter inside, they were prevented by a strong posse of Mumbai Police deployed there since Monday. As tensions appeared to escalate, the police clamped down by detaining top state and city Youth Congress leaders including President Harshwardhan Sapkal, Vijay Wadettiwar, Bhai Jagtap, Hussain Dalwai, and many others. Thousands of students carried out a fresh demonstration at Dadar west Shivaji Park to vent their ire at the police action on Cockroach Janta Party (CJP)’s agitation in New Delhi on Monday. Several MVA leaders and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray visited or expressed solidarity with the protesting youth, comprising many women. Opposition’s Voice The Congress leaders alleged that Rahul Gandhi was targeted by the BJP-led government to muzzle democratic dissent, suppress the Opposition voices inside and outside Parliament and trampling upon the peoples' Constitutional Rights to protest peacefully. Defying pouring rains in the city on Wednesday, Congress workers along with activists of MVA allies, staged a noisy demonstration in Chembur and another group attempted to storm the BJP office in south Mumbai, condemning the assault on students in New Delhi and the detention of the Gandhi siblings. Senior Congress leader Hussain Dalwai flayed the government for “misusing the police” to gag democratic rights and the protests were intended to defend the Constitution and democracy against the BJP’s policy of intolerance of dissent in any form. “This is gross injustice. We are not allowed to protest against the government failures as they are misusing the police. The PM is scared of taking the resignation of Dharmendra Pradhan as he could be the next. We want to highlight to the BJP to govern the country as per the Constitution,” Dalwai declared, interacting with the media at Nariman Point. As the BJP also threatened to launch counter-protests, the police cordoned off and deployed a precautionary security ring around Tilak Bhavan, the state Congress headquarters, as leaders from both sides exchanged political darts and looked aggressive enough for a confrontation. MVA ‘bandh’, ‘Tricolour’ march today The state is set for another two days of political turmoil as the MVA has announced a Maharashtra shutdown (‘bandh’) on Thursday followed by a non-partisan ‘Tricolour Peace March’ on Friday. MVA allies, Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) President Prakash Ambedkar and Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Aaditya Thackeray, besides other leaders of the alliance, informed of the state and city level actions today. Ambedkar appealed to the masses and also the BJP youth to participate wholeheartedly in the bandh tomorrow and claimed that students’ bodies, parent-teachers associations, colleges, universities, other institutes of higher education, private coaching institutions, and other governmental departments could support the shutdown, as it has now become a national issue. Aaditya sought the peoples’ participation in the ‘Tricolour Peace March’ on the theme of “One Nation, One Emotion” planned on July 24 afternoon to Shivaji Park, in support of environmentalist Sonam Wangchuk, the Cockroach Janta Party, plus the youth and students protesting in New Delhi. Terming it as a national citizens’ movement rather than a political party, he called upon the people not to carry any party flags but unite under the National Tricolour to assert democratic rights and express resentment against the government’s high-handed policies. Meanwhile, Mumbai Police have already imposed prohibitory orders under Section 144 across the city from July 23-to- August 6, apprehending the possibility of law-and-order disturbances.

Sinking Ship

Barely a month after the BJP’s historic landslide ended 15 years of Trinamool Congress rule, Mamata Banerjee’s once-invincible party is rapidly disintegrating into a spectacle of opportunism, defections and panic.


The speed of the collapse has been breathtaking. The first crack appeared in the Assembly last week when 58 TMC legislators openly defied the party line and backed rebel leader Ritabrata Banerjee’s claim to the post of Leader of the Opposition. The revolt was a public declaration that Mamata Banerjee’s authority no longer commands unquestioning obedience.


Now the contagion has spread to Parliament with at least 14 TMC MPs meeting in Delhi to discuss breaking away from the party. Leading the charge was Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, who has asserted that she and 19 other MPs are willing to support the NDA. If enough MPs cross over to meet the two-thirds threshold, the TMC’s Lok Sabha unit could effectively implode.


The symbolism could scarcely have been more humiliating. Even as Mamata Banerjee attended an INDIA bloc meeting, rebel TMC MPs were huddled elsewhere with BJP leaders and strategists.


None of this should come as a surprise. For over 15 years Mamata Banerjee had projected herself as Bengal’s undisputed political colossus. Far from being a democratic political party held by any ideology, the Trinamool Congress was a party of rampant opportunism held together by Mamata Banerjee’s cult of personality.


Those who joined the TMC did so because it controlled municipalities, contracts and licences. The moment power disappeared, so too did much of the loyalty.


The TMC’s urban structure is crumbling as well. The resignations of Kolkata Mayor Firhad Hakim and Bidhannagar Mayor Krishna Chakraborty have only reinforced the impression of a leadership losing control over its own ranks.


Meanwhile, the chickens are coming home to roost as the new BJP regime under Suvendu Adhikari has wasted no time in going after the TMC’s criminal elements. Across the state, former TMC strongmen who once appeared untouchable are finding themselves under investigation or behind bars. Former municipal officials face extortion allegations. TMC leader Jahangir Khan has been arrested in connection with cases involving extortion, voter intimidation and post-poll violence. Another party leader was reportedly found hiding under a pile of sarees while evading arrest. Scores of local leaders are either facing scrutiny or hurriedly returning allegedly extorted ‘cut money’ collected through welfare schemes.


There is a delicious irony in this downfall. Mamata Banerjee rose to power promising to dismantle the arrogance of the Left Front after 34 years of uninterrupted rule. Yet her own regime eventually acquired many of the same characteristics of the Left. For years, allegations of corruption, political intimidation and patronage politics swirled around the TMC government. Electoral success had insulated the party from accountability. Defeat has now removed that shield. Now that power is gone, the rats are leaving the ship.

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