THE people of Bengal, those who were permitted to vote, recently discarded that old warhorse, Mamata Banerjee, and introduced Prime Minister Modi’s “double engine” to its revered soil. How will that change affect the Bengalis? And how will it affect their fellow Indians living in the other states of the union?
First, let us consider the danger to democracy by the decline of an essential institution that is germane to the concept of democracy — the Election Commission of India. The ECI was a much-respected entity, not only in India but also admired by other great countries of the world. Observers from those countries used to wonder at the virtual miracle performed by the ECI which took immense pride in ensuring that even a remote hamlet in the mountains with a tiny population of less than a hundred souls was enabled to vote and that too, fearlessly.
All this elan has, alas vanished with the conduct of the Assembly elections in West Bengal! A comment I heard from a concerned citizen residing in my city of Mumbai said it all: “Two revered politicians — then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, and then Home Minister Vallabhbhai Patel — laid a solid foundation for democracy in our land. Now, the structures built by Nehru and Patel are being destroyed."
The alacrity with which the current government appointed the election commissioners attracted an adverse comment even from the Supreme Court. Tongue-in-cheek, the Bench remarked that the government should show similar haste and enthusiasm in the appointment of Supreme Court and high court judges!
The Supreme Court had advised the government to expedite the passage of a law to replace the makeshift arrangement, wherein the Prime Minister, assisted by the LOP and the CJI, chose the election commissioners. The senior member of the chosen three was then designated CEC.
When the government enacted The CEC and other Election Commissioners (Appointment, Conditions of Service and Term of Office) Act, 2023, it left out the Chief Justice of India from the appointments committee and substituted the CJI with a minister chosen by the Prime Minister from his own Cabinet, thus ensuring 2-1 majority for the candidates of their choice. Prime Minister Modi chose his right-hand man, Amit Shah, to join him and the LOP, Rahul Gandhi, in the selection process. Thus was the outcome of the process predetermined.
Rahul objected to the choices made by the duo from Gujarat but was overruled by the two BJP heavyweights. The ground was set for the Bengal SIR with that one stroke of arrogant superiority. Lakhs of “infiltrators", overwhelmingly Muslim, were disenfranchised! This was a complete travesty of justice which our courts of law were reluctant to correct!
A farce was enacted when 19 judges of some high courts were inducted to decide the validity of the exclusions ordered by the Election Commission with less than a month to dispose of lakhs of appeals.
One retired Chief Justice of the Kolkata High Court, Justice Sivagnanam decided 1,717 appeals against exclusion in the 20 days available to him. Every appeal heard by him resulted in the voting right being restored, testifying to the bias and partiality displayed in deciding the citizenship of those termed as ‘ghuspathias‘ (infiltrators).
Many former citizens of Bangladesh, largely Hindus, had migrated to West Bengal, Tripura and Assam in 1947 after the Partition. In later years, many Muslim Bangladeshis, facing economic hardships, had also migrated. When the economy of Bangladesh took a turn for the better, this economic migration was reduced to a trickle, with some even saying that it ended.
Most of the “infiltrators" have been staying in India for decades. The CAA (Citizenship Amendment Act) makes a difference between a Hindu and a Muslim. India is willing to accommodate the Hindus, but not the Muslims, who will not vote for the BJP for obvious reasons.
The new government in Bangladesh, led by Tarique Rahman, has made conciliatory advances to its big neighbour. We must tread carefully and diplomatically if we are to avoid harbouring an enemy on our eastern borders. Pakistan’s ISI will surely take advantage of a Bangladesh which is inimical to India and permits its territory to be used for ISI-inspired terrorism. The Bangladesh government has already raised the red flag to the Chief Minister of Assam, who is in the habit of lashing out against Bengali-speaking Muslims staying in Assam, who he says are infiltrators from Bangladesh. He should be advised to think before he talks.
Reverting to the BJP’s runaway victory in Bengal, I have no doubt that West Bengal will benefit from the development that will be undertaken by the BJP, as it has done in other states ruled by it.
Development helps the economy, though the benefit accrues disproportionately to those who belong to the category of “haves"; the BJP’s core support base comes from them. BJP governments are not afraid to use high-handed methods to fight street crime. The BJP government will make its mark on that front also, but that may take time in violence-prone Bengal. Corruption is another kettle of fish — very difficult to tackle, especially since the BJP is building its Bengal cadre by absorbing former TMC functionaries into its ranks.
In every state of the union, the BJP has lured, even embraced, turncoats by using different methods of enticement. Many of these turncoats, at least from Maharashtra and Goa, were notorious for accumulating wealth illegally. They are going to make use of their experience, acquired over time in “corrupt" parties like the Congress, the TMC and the AAP.
Whereas development and the reduction of street crime and of political violence will be welcomed by the people of Bengal, Indians living in other states, and even in Bengal, will grieve at the failure of a once-great institution — an independent, totally fair Election Commission.