Political bitterness deepens with Aryan Khan’s case

Politics is a game of public perception and our political parties play it gleefully, drafting their strategies in pursuit of power. Politics should ideally be played and not fought, it is said. But, the ongoing developments in Maharashtra says it’s fought, through different issues with the usage of state and central agencies.

The political atmosphere in Maharashtra vitiated after the Shiv Sena-led three-party Mahavikas Aghadi government assumed power in November 2019. BJP, it seems, has not been able to digest the newly emerged equation comprising the Shiv Sena, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and the Congress. This has led to one episode followed by another putting both- the state and the center against each other. Even before people could expect some systemic changes after the former Mumbai Police chief shot off a letter against his former boss Anil Deshmukh, new issues cropped up.

Now both are absconding, leaving people betrayed as both of them have been public servants receiving their salaries and allowances from the taxes paid by the general public.

It’s quite clear that the BJP is angry at the loss of power and its anger or bitterness is most visible. The party that rules the nation, is outraged over the fact that the Shiv Sena has deserted it siding with the NCP and the Congress. In fact, such a situation did not arise automatically. The seeds were sown after the BJP assumed power at center in 2014- the manner in which the BJP began treating its alliance partners and regional parties. It does not necessarily mean that smaller or regional parties were too naïve and straightforward.

Political parties make every effort to change public perception about their rivals. For this, the mistakes of the previous governments are highlighted. Previously, such attempts were made using the forum of the Parliament or through the public meetings. But, that doesn’t happen anymore and everybody knows how the Parliament or the Legislature conducts their business. People are watching it. But going beyond that, the ruling parties are fighting against each other using the government machinery and the opposition parties using social media. People are unable to understand if it is in their interest.

Khans silent but parties speaking loudly

The hero of the ongoing episode is Aryan Khan, son of actor Shah Rukh Khan. But he and his father have been maintaining stoic silence and political parties fighting on their behalf.  The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) that took action against Aryan Khan, is under the control of the BJP-led government at center. The state government is trying to show how this action is vindictive, raising questions over the role of Sameer Wankhede, an Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer who raided the party organized on a cruise. And, the BJP, on the other hand is raising questions over the son-in-law of NCP minister Nawab Malik.

It is surprising that the state and the center are involved in a bitter feud when the judiciary is capable enough to deal with the cases on merit, and their comments are worthless in legal parlance. The BJP is trying to justify the action taken by Wankhede and the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) leaders are trying to project it as most controversial along with the role of Wankhede. In fact, officers such as Sameer Wankhede discharge their duties as defined under the All India services rules. No action against such officers is taken in haste nor can it be taken as decided or directed by the political parties. 

But, the undue interest shown by the BJP to side with Wankhede is enough to raise suspicion among people. The suspicion gets further boost when the National Backward Classes Commission which is not directly seized of the matter suddenly announces the caste certificate of Wankhede as valid. Besides, the commission has issued notices to the state officials in response to a petition by Wankhede alleging how he is being treated unfairly. He could have approached the state commission since the caste validity is accorded by the state government. 

BJP playing a political gamble

The BJP’s attempt to project Aryan Khan as guilty is also something unusual. In fact, there is no reason to target this 23 year old lad when the judiciary is mandated to listen to his side. The younger generation is baffled over the political interest in this case and the reasoning to keep him behind bars for over 20 days.  The younger generation has a strong feeling that a situation was created such that he does not come out of jail. It seems that the BJP has played a big political gamble by openly taking a stand against it.

The BJP’s anger is against the state government and especially against Minister Nawab Malik. Because he presented some evidence that the two panchas- Kiran Gosavi and Manish Bhanushali, who are witness to the raids in the Aryan Khan case, belong to the BJP. The allegations made by Prabhakar Sail- bodyguard of Gosavi came in handy. He is currently in the custody of the Mumbai Police and has not appeared before a special team of the NCB from Delhi.

Issues of masses neglected

In this political turmoil, the issues of the masses have been sidelined. The political parties may also not want to highlight those since the issues such as the rising prices of petroleum products is somehow an unpleasant one for both the ruling party and the opposition. The higher the rate, more is revenue added to the government kitties. It helps to meet the government requirements. The cost of running the government is huge and the money is being raised from taxes on petrol and alcohol. The salaries, allowances, pensions of government and semi-government employees and the salaries, pensions, concessions and facilities of those who represent people are also huge. Besides salaries and perks, the government wants to raise maximum revenue to dole out grants to the institutions headed by politicians, concessions given to those organizations in the payment of different fees and levies, reimbursement of state share capital for the enterprises run by the politicians.

Corona has crippled the economy, taking a toll on commoners’ lives. But no political party has taken to the streets over their issues such as the one like reduction in school fees. Political parties have been finding it difficult to take a direct stand on issues faced by people. To keep such issues at bay, cases like suicide by Sushant Singh, comments by actor Kangana Ranaut and Aryan Khan are being discussed more than needed.