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By:

Abhijit Mulye

21 August 2024 at 11:29:11 am

Tension within Mahayuti in MBMC

Mumbai: As the final date for filing nominations is advancing, the tension within Mahayuti has started mounting. While the tension remained confined only to BJP in corporations like Nashik and Solapur, in the Mira-Bhayandar Municipal Corporation (MBMC) neighbouring Mumbai, the BJP’s tough stand has upset minister Pratap Sarnaik who has given an ultimatum of 24 hours to the BJP, to forge an alliance in the city. Owing to the paucity of time the final alignments are being made in all the...

Tension within Mahayuti in MBMC

Mumbai: As the final date for filing nominations is advancing, the tension within Mahayuti has started mounting. While the tension remained confined only to BJP in corporations like Nashik and Solapur, in the Mira-Bhayandar Municipal Corporation (MBMC) neighbouring Mumbai, the BJP’s tough stand has upset minister Pratap Sarnaik who has given an ultimatum of 24 hours to the BJP, to forge an alliance in the city. Owing to the paucity of time the final alignments are being made in all the Municipal Corporations across the state. Series are meetings - with party workers and prospective candidates; with prospective allies; with prospective defectors from opposition parties - are being conducted by almost all the leaders of all the political parties. These meetings are likely to continue throughout the Sunday night and even Monday so that the party candidates will be able to file nominations on Tuesday. On the background, the grand picture about alliances is likely to be clear on Monday. However, the as the deadline is approaching, the tension within the alliance parties too is seen rising everywhere. In MBMC it crossed the threshold and made the minister Pratap Sarnaik call a press conference and issue a public ultimatum to it stronger ally. Stronger Party The BJP has been stronger than the Shiv Sena in MBMC. Moreover the recent incoming from all parties, including Shiv Sena, has made the BJP stronger in the city. On the contrary, the Shiv Sena is weaker even though it inducted some on the disgruntled BJP workers in the city. Owing to this ‘Big Brother’ image in the city the BJP had put forth several conditions before even beginning seat sharing talks with the Shiv Sena. Some of the conditions laid down for alliance indicated at the real reasons of tensions between the two parties. One such was about ‘Shivar Garden’ a public facility developed by the corporation. While it has been handed over to a Shiv Sena worker close to minister Pratap Sarnaik, the BJP laid a condition that it should be returned to the Corporation. Another condition was more peculiar. It said all the party workers inducted from the BJP should be sent back. Sarnaik today made it clear that while issues related to Shivar Garden can be resolved and decision regarding newly inducted workers too can be made on party level, it would warrent beginning of formal seat sharing talks. “Without talks being held how can any conditions be accepted,” Sarnaik asked adding that Shiv Sena will be free to take its own decision if the decision is not made within next 24 hours. Past Equation The BJP held 61 seats of the total 95 in MBMC while the Shiv Sena held only 22. Sarnaik compared that to the equation in Thane, where the Shiv Sena holds 82 seats and the BJP has 24, and raised question whether the BJP really wants to forge an alliance in MBMC. He also suggested that the alliance in MBMC will reflect the alliance in Thane. However, BJP MLA Narendra Mehta, who is in charge of seat sharing talks for the MBMC, tried to brush off the suggestion stating that the Shiv Sena too has thrived on the basis of the alliance in the city. This kind of tough bargain is expected to go on till tomorrow but the real picture regarding alliance will be clear only in the new year after the last day for withdrawing the nominations. Congress, Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi seal alliance Mumbai:  The Congress and the Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA), led by B.R. Ambedkar's grandson, Prakash Ambedkar, announced an alliance for the upcoming Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections on Sunday, with the VBA set to contest 62 of the 227 seats. Congress will contest more than 150 seats, while some seats will be allocated to the Rashtriya Samaj Paksha and RPI (Gavai), sources said. The tie-up decision was announced by Maharashtra Congress president Harshwardhan Sapkal and VBA state vice-president Dhairyavardhan Pundkar. Sapkal said that decisions on alliances for the remaining 28 municipal corporations in the state would be taken at the local level, and both parties had authorised their local leaderships to take appropriate calls. He said the Congress-VBA tie-up was a "natural alliance" based on shared ideology rather than mere electoral arithmetic. "This is not a game of numbers, but a coming together of ideas. Both parties believe in the Constitution and in building India envisioned by it, based on equality, fraternity, and social justice," he said. Recalling that the two parties had earlier come together during the 1998 and 1999 elections, Sapkal said that after a gap of 25 years, a new chapter had begun. "It took time for the process, but from today, a new phase in state politics has started," he added. VBA leader Pundkar said the alliance had been formed to stop "the divisive politics of the BJP. He said Sapkal had taken the initiative for the alliance and maintained a positive approach from the beginning. "In the Mumbai civic elections, the Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi will contest 62 seats," he reiterated. VBA state vice-president and chief spokesperson Siddharth Mokale said seat-sharing talks in alliances were never fully satisfactory but required consensus from both sides. Elections to 29 municipal corporations are scheduled for January 15, 2026. The formal schedule of ZP polls is awaited. Notably, the Congress had announced to contest the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation elections solo. In the 2017 BMC elections, the Congress won only 31 seats, far behind the then undivided Shiv Sena and the BJP. Verification shows 16,574 as repeat voters Thane:  The Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) has completed a comprehensive verification exercise to identify and scrutinise potential repeat voters in the January 15 civic polls, officials said on Sunday. In a release, the TMC said 83,645 voters flagged as potential repeat voters were examined in detail during the verification of the electoral rolls. "The scrutiny revealed that the names and photographs of 67,071 voters did not match, confirming they were not repeat voters. In view of the verification findings, the star mark appearing against the names of 67,071 voters will be removed," the release quoted Deputy Commissioner (Elections) Umesh Birari as saying. This would ensure these voters can exercise their franchise without any inconvenience or restriction on polling day, he added. "The verification process confirmed 16,574 voters as genuine repeat voters, as their names and photographs were found to be identical in the electoral rolls. The star mark against the names of such voters will be retained. Their names will be clearly stamped as 'repeat voter' in the voter list," Birari informed. Such voters would be allowed to vote only after submitting a written undertaking in the prescribed format at the polling station, declaring that they are voting at the same location and only once, he said. "Special attention will be paid to these voters to prevent any possibility of double voting. Polling officials will closely monitor the process. The verification drive was undertaken to uphold transparency in the electoral process, prevent double or bogus voting, and safeguard the rights of genuine voters," the release said. An accurate and error-free voter list is essential for a healthy democracy, it asserted. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ “Unanimity has been reached on 207 seats in the BMC, of which the BJP will contest 128 and the Shinde-led Shiv Sena 79. Talks are underway on the remaining 20 seats. Decisions on these seats will be taken after considering the candidates in the fray.” Ameet Satam President, Mumbai BJP ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ “How long will you deceive the people with emotional politics? Put up banners about the promised dams for Thane’s water security or the transportation issues that have plagued the city for 20 years. Thane is asking: what does this ‘Namo’ politics give them when basic infrastructure is in chaos?” Avinash Jadhav, Leader, MNS

Why is Mamata Seeing Ghost of Bangladesh?

Updated: Oct 21, 2024

Why is Mamata Seeing Ghost of Bangladesh?

Mamata is seeing a ghost of Bangladesh behind the massive outrage and waves of protest over rape and murder of the trainee doctor. And the reasons are many.

It’s been over a fortnight. Yet with each passing day the voice of protest is getting louder and stronger. From the streets of Kolkata it’s pouring into roads of hinterland. The cry for justice for a rape victim has consolidated into a wail of demands to set a lot of wrongdoings right. Here in lies the fear and trepidation. Wasn’t the issue that brought the youth of Bangladesh out on the thoroughfares a simple, innocent one of quota reform?

The chief minister of Bengal, known for understanding the pulse of people better than many, was quick to read the signages floating in the political horizon.

The most obvious reason for her to be tensed is that both the regime change in Bangladesh and the mass protest in Bengal, were student-driven to begin with. The two incidents---end of 15 year old Sheikh Hasina government and turbulence in West Bengal, over the heinous crime, falling back to back, the first on August 5th and the latter from August 9th onwards, give natural scope for comparisons. More so, because in both the cases the movement strayed beyond an affected constituency to include aggrieved people at large, cutting across socio-economic demography. If the quota reform protest started by students in Bangladesh became a mass uprising against an autocratic regime, the campaign demanding justice for the rape victim and overall safety and security of women in Mamata Banerjee’s Bengal soon snowballed into a movement of no-confidence against the government. Slogans--”Mamata must resign” also got floated in social media much in line with the call for ouster of Sheikh Hasina. In fact “Resignation of Hasina” became the single point agenda into which all other fringe demands coalesced.

Incidentally, even before people started drawing parallels, that there could be a thread of commonality in the way the upheaval in Bangladesh and Bengal played out, Mamata was quick to point out that the Opposition were trying to pull off a Bangladesh by politicizing the tragic incident: “A coordinated approach has been executed by the BJP and the CPIM with support from the Centre to defame Bengal and exploit the situation....They want to make a Bangladesh here. They are taking cues from student unrest in Bangladesh and are attempting to capture similarly. I have no longing for the chair. I came here to serve people.”

Not only Mamata, her political lieutenants are consistently equating the turmoil in Bengal with the mayhem in Bangladesh. Cabinet minister for North Bengal development Udayan Guha threatened to take stern action against those, who would be trying to exploit the situation by emulating a Bangladesh like movement. “ Even after the hospital was vandalised, the police did not open fire on anyone. The police will not allow a Bangladesh type situation. We will not allow Bengal to turn into Bangladesh, Guha thundered.

Is the government’s fear unfounded?

Apart from the similarities on ground zero, as to how and where the future course of events are heading to, there are ample reasons for Bengal to mull on-- as to what led to a Bangladesh like boiling point. To begin with, it’ll be appropriate to talk of Bangladesh and the prevailing situation, that made the students’ protest become big in magnitude. The students were out on the streets because of a high reservation in public jobs. Unemployment and stagnant job market in private sector coupled with a high rate of inflation drove the educated youth to rebel against the government.

But soon the students found enormous number of sympathisers, who were equally at the receiving end. According to Bangladesh citizens, the last two terms of the Sheikh Hasina government were a mockery of democracy. Even elections would be compromised. As Hasina grew from strength to strength, she politicized institutions. The rank and file of police owed allegiance to the ruling dispensation. Extortion, harrassment and raids by police and people in power became rampant. An atmosphere of fear and repression reigned and people got restless to overthrow the government.

Politicization of institutions has been happening in Mamata government too. Allegations are quite strong that police in Bengal functions at the beck and call of political bosses. The lapses and alleged loopholes on the part of police in handling the rape and murder of the young doctor have yet again revealed a sense of confused or misplaced loyalty.

But above everything else both Hasina and Mamata governments allegedly seem to have twined in accepting corruption as a way of life. In Bangladesh jobs of primary and secondary teachers got sold at premium, Rs 10-12 lakh in the Hasina regime. Even police had to pay up for prized postings and transfers. In Bengal busting of the teacher’s recruitment scam has revealed how unsuccessful and ineligible candidates got government jobs in schools in exchange of bribes.

Similarities are multiple and inescapable. Mamata has good reasons to be apprehensive. It’s not only she, who can see and connect the dots. People, out on the streets, clamoring for justice, can see a providential pattern somewhere in the unfolding of future events in these two places-- Bangladesh and Bengal. True, they share more than 2,217 odd km of border. They share the same umbilical cord, other than language, culture, ethos, icons. Even emotions are the same. So she cannot take any risk.

(The writer is a senior jounalist based in Kolkata. Views personal)

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