At the moment, the most confused party in Maharashtra is the BJP. How will they run the Mahayuti government for the next five years, carrying the burdens of Eknath Shinde and Ajit Pawar's two parties, the crimes of their goons, and the corruption of their petty and bigwigs? This is a dilemma that will be faced by Devendra and many leaders in the BJP. However, they are constantly using the dual weapon of Incentives and Intimidation.

The results of the Maharashtra assembly elections were declared on November 23, 2024. The Mahayuti, the three-party grand alliance won more than 230 seats out of 288, while the three-party Mahavikas Aghadi was restricted to fifty seats. In the Mahayuti,  BJP alone came close to a majority, enabling the government to function even if the remaining two parties were not with it. Therefore, we had asked in this column whether the work of making Maharashtra great could be done in the next five years after the grand victory of the Mahayuti. Now a hundred days have passed since that result, but Mahayuti has completely failed to make even the slightest effort in that direction, and the hope that the Mahavikas Aghadi would show some unity after the great defeat has also withered. The Mahayuti, the Mahavikas Aghadi and the Maharashtra state government are in a state of utter chaos. Not only is there uncertainty and instability in that process, but there is also extreme restlessness and apathy.

The most influential issue in the assembly election results was the ‘Ladki Bahin Yojana’. There was more or less a consensus that the Mahayuti managed a grand victory due to that scheme and it led to the defeat of the Mahavikas Aghadi. Which is why, after the results two interesting questions came up. The first - will the beneficiaries – the women in the Ladki Bahin Yojana get the elevated  amount (Rs. 2100 per month) as promised in the elections? And the second - what will happen to those women who had applied for the benefits of the scheme even though they were not eligible? It was expected that the applications would be scrutinized and the ineligible women would be excluded from that scheme. However, would the amount that they had received in the five months before Diwali (Rs. 1500 per month) be taken back? Of course, it is now clear that it will not be taken back. The number of such ineligible women goes up to one million, and they all have been given an amount of Rs. 7500 each. This means that an amount of Rs. 750 crore will never be seen again. So, is it not the state government's fault that the money was distributed without scrutinizing the applications? And isn't it the fault of those one million women, that they applied for the scheme even though they were not eligible? What kind of justice is this? Furthermore, several other things would shock us. For example, none of the opposition parties are raising any objections to it; on the contrary, if the government decides to take back that money, they will make a fuss. The Election Commission does not think that this is a violation of the code of conduct, and does not feel that any action should be taken against the Mahayuti. We have not heard other ineligible women or their organizations asking the government whether it was a mistake that they did not apply. The central government's machinery that prevents malpractices and corruption does not want to take any action in this regard. Neither the High Court nor the Supreme Court has shown any courage to investigate this matter on their own. If someone files a public interest litigation, perhaps something might shift. Ultimately, the final conclusion will be that everyone has squarely accepted the corruption sponsored by the state government.

The second serious case in these hundred days is the murder of Santosh Deshmukh, the sarpanch of Massajog village in Beed district. There was a long delay in arresting Valmik Karad, the right-hand man of Minister Dhananjay Munde, and some of his gang members in that murder case. In the meantime, there were some doubts raised regarding the police investigation in this case. While Dhananjay is in the ministry and has the full support of Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, one does not need any astrologer to predict that the police investigation in this case will not be allowed to proceed properly. Therefore, it was quite reasonable to expect Dhananjay Munde to resign at least while the investigation is going on. Of course, he will not resign on his own, but Ajit Pawar and Devendra Fadnavis should have conscientiously demanded his resignation. They have not done so yet, and in this case, their behavior is more objectionable than Dhananjay's own. They have indicated that their oath taking as Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister is merely a ritual, not a responsibility!

Meanwhile, many crimes (murder, assault, loot, corruption) of the Valmik gang have been exposed by the media. Last year, the main suspect in the murder of Mahadev Munde was Valmik Karad's gang. Moreover, many corruption cases involving Munde have come to the fore. The harassment of Dhananjay's first wife Karuna Sharma-Munde was revealed in a very gruesome manner. In the last two months, Suresh Dhas, an MLA from Ashti in Beed district, Jitendra Awhad from Thane district, social activist Anjali Damania and Manoj Jarange, who is fighting for Maratha reservation, etc. have taken up this case. Initially, they praised each other, giving us hope  that all of them would fight together and pursue the case. But in the past two weeks, all of them seemed to be raising their voices against each other. All they are doing is further adding to the big mess.

Suresh Dhas, a BJP MLA, was shining all over the state as the culprit in this case for the past two months, and there were growing suspicions that internally he had Devendra's support. Later, in the presence of Devendra at the Ashti meeting, he laid himself bare by metaphorically quoting a filmy dialogue from “Deewar” - ‘Mere paas Devendra hai’. After that, BJP state president Chandrashekhar Bawankule announced, ‘I arranged a meeting between him and Dhananjay and tried to resolve their differences.’ By doing this Bawankule not only exposed Dhas, but also made a joke of himself and Devendra. After that, it was revealed that Suresh Dhas had another meeting with Dhananjay Munde. In the following week, Suresh Dhas was transformed from a hero into a villain. It is now clear that in just two months, Devendra himself did the all the work of depicting Dhas in both the roles - as a hero and a villain. So now, Devendra's fans should have no issue while happily declaring that 'Devendra has surpassed Sharad Pawar in such a conspiracy'. Not a single BJP leader, big or small, has shown the courage to say that BJP is being defamed in this entire process. This has, once again, highlighted the insincerity of their patriotism.

At another level, after the assembly election results, the leaders of the Mahavikas Aghadi raised concerns regarding a scam in the EVM machines. They touted that they would 'hold the Election Commission to account', but later dropped the topic. In the two-and-a-half months after the results, everyone wondered whether at all the Mahavikas Aghadi existed or not. Sharad Pawar concocted a plot to award Eknath Shinde at a program in Delhi and tried to widen the gap between Shinde and the BJP. This is yet another proof that Sharad Pawar has not yet realized that such a conspiratorial attitude has led to his disgrace and has been detrimental for him and his party. Once again, he has shown that somehow his mischievousness has not diminished even during the last phase in the final stage of his life.  Sanjay Raut also consistently revealed that he has not yet realized how much damage Shiv Sena has suffered due to his garrulousness. Without any restraint, he called Shinde a betrayer in the context of the award given by Sharad Pawar and then four days later, when he said, ‘He is our guide’, there was not the slightest flicker of embarrassment on his face.

What does Eknath Shinde lack that he should be throwing tantrums? He is a reflection of what happens when you have unrealistic expectations about your own strength. In fact, he should pacify himself by thinking of the fact that the post of Chief Minister for two and a half years and now the post of Deputy Chief Minister is far more than he deserves. 

Two other rivals on the peripheries of state politics are Raj Thackeray and Prakash Ambedkar. They’re living examples of the idea that empty vessels make the most sound. Raj Thackeray once again jumped into the fray and made statements against the Mahayuti and the BJP. Prakash Ambedkar, instead of making any effort to restore the credibility that he has lost completely, continued to bat sideways.

Also Read: Who'd Share the Burden of Valmik's Sins? (Translated Editorial) 

When the government completed 100 days, one single political incident occurred that could be called a breath of fresh air in this chaotic atmosphere. The Congress Party High Command brought Harshvardhan Sapkal in place of Nana Patole, who had been the state president of the Congress party for a long time. One of his identities is limited to Buldhana district, and the other identity is that of a worker in Rahul Gandhi’s Young Brigade. He has now been entrusted with a large province. That is, he has to face the difficult task of reviving a Congress that is in a state of endless misery, is desperate, helpless, diffident, desolate; whose glory has disappeared, whose confidence has been lost, where a shadow of apathy has spread (no matter how many such adjectives are used, they will be not be enough).

While working with Rahul for the past decade and a half, his image has been well received at the top level. He has all the necessary qualities of being studious, honest, loyal to Congress, etc. There have been no allegations of corruption against him as yet. He has held the positions of Congress secretary or in-charge in three states. However, very few people in Maharashtra know of him. Congress has nothing to lose by making Harshvardhan the president. It could either be beneficial, or it could prove to be just another failed experiment in a long series of failures. Despite being so energetic and domineering (even though Congress got a good number of seats in the Lok Sabha elections), Nana Patole has not been able to create vitality in the Congress party organization. Many big leaders of the Congress did not trust him, and he could not convince the others. So one wonders how much support those so-called big leaders will give Harshvardhan. An even bigger question is whether Harshvardhan has enough time to awaken the good old faithfuls and the new arrivals. To awaken the general Congress workers, the usual solutions are to provide them with continuous action programs, to give scope to new blood in the organization, but how far one can achieve it. 

Against this backdrop, the most confused party in Maharashtra is the BJP. How will they run the Mahayuti government for the next five years, carrying the burdens of Eknath Shinde and Ajit Pawar's two parties, the crimes of their goons, and the corruption of their petty and bigwigs? This is a dilemma that will be faced by Devendra and many leaders in the BJP. However, they are constantly using the dual weapon of Incentives and Intimidation to drag and pull the remaining petty and big leaders of the Congress and other parties, along with their institutions, into the BJP. This means that they do not want any opposition. Modi and Shah and their supporting leaders are forcing them to play this game. It does not look like they are interested in ensuring that the BJP gains power in Maharashtra on their own. Their goal is to completely disrupt the political landscape of Maharashtra. On the contrary, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh must be aware that it is being pulled apart. While celebrating their 100th year, they must be faced with the dilemma of how to boast about morality, patriotism and social loyalty. The question of how long and how consistently they can hide their blatant hypocrisy must be troubling many of their Swayamsevaks!

- Editor
kartavyasadhana@gmail.com
Translation by Rahee Dahake

(Article is published in Marathi as editorial in the Weekly Sadhana Issue dated 1- March-2025 )

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