The nation in the past has been privy to the fact that various political outfits have come together on the common minimum programme of governance, the development of a specific region or for opposing another stronger political outfit. However, as they say, change is the only constant. The basis of political outfits also changed with time when the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), a combination of the Shiv Sena, Congress and Nationalist Congress Party, was formed as an unnatural alliance in Maharashtra on the common minimum programme of corruption and extortion.
Ever since this MVA government came to power, it has evolved its own stages of anarchy and shame by consistently achieving new lows in governance. While this unnatural episode started with an anarchical pattern of functioning, it was followed by complete chaos seen in its handling of Covid-19. Now, the darkest shades of the aspirations of MVA leaders are out for the public to see.
The reason for this shameful and embarrassing decline in the level of governance by the MVA is because it was never installed in power by the people of Maharashtra, let alone be the people’s first choice. As a consequence, the leaders of the MVA never felt accountable to the people of the state. Therefore, ever since the formation of this deceitful alliance, the only focus of its leaders has been to ensure that their coffers are full with loads of cash.
The hidden agenda of corruption under the garb of ‘maha vikas’ has been exposed by the Sachin Vaze controversy which involves the state’s home ministry. Vaze, who is suspected by the Anti-Terrorism Squad of being involved in the death of Mansukh Hiren, which is being currently investigated by the NIA, has become the talk of the town. What is even more intriguing is his proximity to the current leadership in Maharashtra.
Vaze, who was just an API, had been suspended, after which he joined the Shiv Sena as a spokesperson. This development took place at a time when the matter for which he was suspended was still sub judice. Despite these facts, the Shiv Sena chose Vaze for its advocacy in the public domain.
In the year 2018, when Devendra Fadnavis was the chief minister of the state, Uddhav Thackeray, the then party chief of the Shiv Sena, had tried to exert pressure on Fadnavis for the induction of Vaze into the force. However, Fadnavis, after taking legal opinion, rejected these developments to ensure a transparent and honest system of governance in the state’s home department.
However, when the Uddhav Thackeray-led MVA government came to power in Maharashtra, attempts of inducting Vaze back to the force began. The MVA succeeded in its nefarious motives when they set up a small committee and manipulated it to recommend that Vaze be brought back, citing an emergency regarding additional personnel in the department for Covid-19 management, as if Vaze had acquired specialised training from the World Health Organisation!
But, the MVA government was not satisfied by this manipulation. They went on to appoint him as the ‘Officer on Special Duty’ to the Chief Minister’s Office. This invariably made him look after all the high-profile cases, while the heads reporting to him were the Commissioner of Police, Home Minister and Chief Minister himself.
Shedding a little light on these past events is important because it is imperative for us to understand the favouritism exhibited by the Shiv Sena towards Vaze, who went from an ordinary API rank police officer to the In-charge of the Crime Intelligence Unit, which was an unprecedented move for the state of Maharashtra.
However, his links came to the fore with his alleged involvement in the Mukesh Ambani bomb scare case. The tables were already turning against him, when another explosive allegation came from former Commissioner of Police Param Bir Singh, who claimed that the sitting state Home Minister had asked cops to extort Rs 100 crore per month. But, when the Supreme Court directed Param Bir to approach the Bombay High Court as a matter of judicial procedure, the MVA behaved as if it was a slap on Param Bir’s face although the HC had already admitted the writ.
Similarly, IPS officer Rashmi Shukla, who submitted her report to the CM in August 2020, is now being blamed for procedural lapses. The present Chief Secretary of the State came out with a fresh report attempting to show how Shukla misused Section 5(2) of the Indian Telegraph Act. He very conveniently ignored the provision in the same section that says how “…incitement to the commission of an offence” is also a ground to tap phones.
While the people of Maharashtra witnessed phenomenal governance under the leadership of Devendra Fadnavis as Chief Minister, they are now being faced with all that has been happening since the formation of the unnatural alliance of the Shiv Sena, Congress and NCP. Usually, terrorists were involved in such cases, but now in Maharashtra, the very saviours of society, its own police force, are being accused of such terrorist activities.
Home Minister Anil Deshmukh, who was given the responsibility of filling the coffers of the respective political parties, has now become the centre of allegations. However, as is often said by leader Devendra Fadnavis, this road going through Vaze, Param Bir Singh and Deshmukh, will ultimately lead to the bosses. The entire cartel created by the three political parties in power is going to be exposed soon.
During the allocation of portfolios at the beginning of the MVA government’s rule, NCP chief Sharad Pawar had commented that no one was ready to accept the position of Home Minister. I wonder now, in retrospect, if this statement had anything to do with the bidding process for the tender of extorting Rs 100 crore per month and how the position was not finalised until Anil Deshmukh was suddenly selected to lead the home department by committing to the tender specifications?
Until 2019, the state of Maharashtra had glory and success. It was respected for efficient governance under the leadership of Devendra Fadnavis. But it took less than a year for the MVA government to put all that glory to shame. It had taken ten years for the Congress and NCP government, the years between 2004 and 2014, for the people to ask, “Where have you taken Maharashtra?”. But with the Shiv Sena, the question has come up in less than a year of it coming to power, thanks to the absolutely awful situation it has created in Maharashtra.
The author is Media Head, BJP Maharashtra. The views expressed are personal.
During the allocation of portfolios at the beginning of the MVA government’s rule, NCP chief Sharad Pawar had commented that no one was ready to accept the position of Home Minister. I wonder now, in retrospect, if this statement had anything to do with the bidding process for the tender of extorting Rs 100 crore per month and how the position was not finalised until Anil Deshmukh was suddenly selected to lead the home department by committing to the tender specifications?