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Mainstream, Vol XLVII, No 39, September 12, 2009

Disturbing Developments

Editorial

Saturday 12 September 2009, by SC

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The massive crowds that accompanied the body of former Andhra Pradesh CM Dr Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, who died in a helicopter crash on September 2, when it was brought to Hyderabad and later when it was taken to his village for the last rites have only provided fresh testimony to his unique popularity throughout the State. The number of people who died out of shock or committed suicide on learning about their leader’s untimely demise was also something unprecedented because even when the State’s most popular screen hero-turned-political figure, N.T. Rama Rao, passed away such sentiments were not on public display in this manner.

However, this display of emotions has to be seen in combination with the rising clamour to make YSR’s son, Jaganmohan Reddy, the new CM. This was another reflection of the culture of sycophancy in the Congress. Sections of the media have been prompt to point out that this culture of sycophancy emanated from the system of patronage assiduously developed by YSR and the ’Jagan bhajan’ sprang from the anticipation that under YSR’s son the benefits of this patronage would continue to reach the beneficiaries.

That the Congress High Command was able to dismiss the ‘Jagan-as-CM’ demand, assert its authority and unambiguously throw its weight behind K. Rosaiah as the new CM, at least for the present, has helped to bring out the contrast with the BJP wherein the central leadership had to eat the humble pie after declaring its intention to remove Vasundhara Raje, the erstwhile Rajasthan CM, from the head of the legislature party in the State.

Nonetheless, the whole episode—the clamour for Jagan in the hot seat even before the end of the official mourning period—presents a disturbing trend in the ruling party at the Centre.

Meanwhile the latest developments in Gujarat are doubtless more disturbing. Five years after the Gujarat Police’s claim of having foiled a conspiracy to assassinate CM Narendra Modi, the Metropolitan Magistrate of Ahmedabad, S.P. Tamang, has in his report observed that the so-called encounter was actually fake and culminated in the cold-blooded murder by the police of Ishrat Jahan, a 19-year-old student of Khalsa College, Mumbai, and three others. All four of them were then branded as Lashkar-e-Taiba operatives allegedly engaged in trying to kill Modi. Significantly, they were done to death on June 15, 2004, a day before they were officially declared to have perished in the ‘encounter’, and the accused were 21 policemen including the then Ahmedabad Police Commissioner K.R. Kaushik, Crime Branch chief P.P. Pandey and DIG D.G. Vanzara of the Sohrabuddin Shaikh fake encounter fame. The allegation is extremely serious and if proved in a court of law, it should lead to exemplary punishment for the accused.

This is fresh evidence of the Gujarat Police having run amok with full approval of those heading the State Government. The charge that the accused police officers staged the fake encounter to win promotions and gain the CM’s appreciation warrants a detailed investigation. The Gujarat Government’s rejection of Tamang’s judicial inquiry report is a matter of grave concern as it demonstrates the Modi administration’s persistently defiant attitude.

Against the backdrop of these disturbing events all forces of goodwill and communal harmony must unite and give a fitting rebuff to such behaviour on the part of the State authorities.

September 10 S.C.

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