On a day that was celebrated as “constitution Day”, the murky power politics in Maharashtra reminded the nation of serious challenges, to the core constitutional values and independence of the sacred institutions. However, the day also brought hope as SC stepped in to order floor test through an open ballot. Had the apex court not fixed the floor test and allowed the same to be conducted on 30th November, as fixed by the Governor, BJP in Maharashtra could have mobilised the support leisurely by all types of unfair means and won the trust vote. But on the 70th anniversary of the constitution, Maharashtra muddle-marked by an unabashed mockery of the constitution provides an occasion for introspection and assessment of the actions of constitutional heads and how they have consistently toed the line of the ruling establishment at the cost of fairness and democracy.
Is the Maharashtra Mahabharata another circus of convenience, an act that has been played out in many states in the past? But there was a deliberate difference. Earlier outfits would split, MLAs would resign, to join the ruling -all in the public eye while following the established procedures of going through motions. In Maharashtra the Governor held midnight meetings to decide its fate, accepted the letter from leader, and not his party, and completed all formal ties before the sun rose, while in Delhi, President, PM, HM, Principal Secretary to PM, Secretary to President, Home Secretary, and scores of senior officials were up in the middle of the night to sign the dotted document required to make Fadnavis the CM and Pawar DyCM. In this case, we saw all provisions and expectations of the constitution flouted and trampled on, by all constitutional authorities. Governor of Maharashtra willingly allowed himself to be lied to and accepted signatures of newly elected NCP MLAs, on sheets of paper attached to Pawar’s support letter. Common sense would have told Governor that while some support to Pawar was possible, all was impossible. Our Honourable PM used a rarely used provision to be used during war or Financial Emergency to facilitate the daybreak coup.
What we have witnessed in these past weeks in Maharashtra is a complete collapse of the notion of politics being about a vision for a better future and what is best for the people. Instead, we saw a sordid drama played out in five-star hotels in Bombay, with money replacing vision and ideas, on the day of the constitution.
It’s not out of place to mention that there have been innumerable cases of misuse of constitutional machinery even earlier also but they must have resorted to that not immediately after a term, over 55 years they must have done, but now just after 5 years in power, they are resorting to this type cheap gimmicks.
The constitution is not just a manual for the government, but also represents the soul of India. Therefore there is a need for sweeping reforms to clean up the mess in our electoral system. The SC must give clear guidelines on government formation in case of fractured verdicts, given the frequency of disputes in this regard. That would restrain Rajbhavans from using undue discretion and political parties from bending rules with the help of pliable institutions.

The curious case of Maharastra's political circus has enticed the entire nation at this point.
AJIT’S PRICE FOR BACKING BJP: Rs 70,000 crores probe dropped, screamed the headline of a newspaper yesterday.
The Maharashtra fiasco has ended, as Fadnavis, had put in his papers ending a coup of sorts. As the surreptitious manner in which Mr. Fadnavis and Mr. Pawar, were sworn in as CM and Dy Cm respectively on Saturday early in the morning. We have all seen BJP which has made anti-corruption the credo of its Congress Mukt-Bharath has not only bought over the tainted Ajit Pawar but decided to hide his black-book. Reports indicated that investigation in 9 cases, related to Rs 70000/ crore Maharashtra Irrigation scam was closed on Monday, two days after he was sworn in. What a travesty considering the first thing that Fadnavis did when he became CM in 2014, was to register these cases.  BJP has made brazenness the new normal not bothered about perceptions.
 This is not a first overnight coup planned and executed by BJP. Stealth and speed was the calling card in operation Bihar if some of you remember. The timeline of the past event goes like this:-- On July 26th Nitish Kumar resigned and called off the JDU alliance with RJD-Congress, around 6:30 pm, the reason was the refusal of Tejaswi Yadav to quit despite corruption charges. By 7:30 pm Modi ji, had congratulated Nitish for his stand against corruption. At 9:30 pm BJP hinted at backing JDU and by 10:30 pm Sushil Modi presented a letter of support to JDU, at 1 am Nitish was invited to form the government and was sworn in as CM by 10 am. This is all Therefore a different ball game, as the party is still Bharatiya Janata party as it was during Vajpayee and Advani era, but the design and architecture of its politics have been reconfigured and are drawn from experiential years of Gujarat. Unlike its previous avatar, BJP 2.0 is no shrinking violet.
It has internalised the maxim that politics is the art of possible and conviction is a matter of electoral convenience. It must rail about dynastic politics but that doesn’t preclude alliances with Akalidal, the LJP, PDP or even Shiv Sena for that matter. Neither did it prevent the nomination of dynasts on party tickets. The induction of individuals, be it Sukh Ram, Rane, and crafting of alliances, the one with Chautala is determined by macro objectives.
And adding spice to the happenings on the ground are the TV channels. Depending on their affiliations some predicted the downfall of Fadnavi's government. Some took pleasure in the decimation of Congress, some called it "murder of democracy"  and some others called in a "black day." But none of them had the guts to call spade a spade and pinpoint the wrongdoers.
Unfortunately, principles and ideologies are things of the past. In today's day and age, it's all about opportunism (Power and Money decide the push and pull of the political parties).  

Talking about the ongoing protests against the JNU fee hike, I fee it could be reasonably negotiated but using force on students means undoing what we teach them to do. Student movements have had transformative and revolutionary power in world history, from 13th century Paris to the climate activism of Greta Thunberg. Many Of my friends didn’t support the agitation saying that it’s an unjust agitation as the fee being very low, and the students are all left-oriented, having vices like drugs, drinking, and enjoying at the cost of taxpayers money and some of them even suggested closing down the premier institute. But after carefully trying to understand the situation, of the JNU campus, my views are slightly different. For a long JNU has come to be recognised as one of the most liberal institutions which provide quality education at affordable rates. It has provided succour to the poorest of the poor who couldn’t afford a respectable education for their children due to the hefty fee charged by other eminent institutions. Its fee structure was nothing when compared to its counterparts. It is true that today’s polarised times, we have to pay through the nose, for subsidising comforts and facilities enjoyed by our leaders/politicians. Even the poor have to share this burden in the form of indirect taxes. But in return can’t we expect some subsidy in education for our children?
It was unfortunate that Delhi police used brutal force against number Of students from JNU who participated in the protest march to parliament, the other day, demanding total rollback, as the students are of the view that two in five boarders can not afford this 300 percent hike at a stretch and it would hamper the aspirations of the young. This will further make education a commodity only for the rich and for the higher middle class. While it must be accepted that a reasonable fee hike is needed, it must also be ensured that the once highly reputed institution is not divested of its original purpose.
JNU is renowned internationally for its quality knowledge product and its research. It has produced this years' Nobel  Prize Winner too. But, ironically, even he was jailed for protesting back in the day.
 Our country's cabinet secretary, Foreign secretary, and chiefs of the internal&external intelligence agencies were all former JNU students. The present Finance Minister and Foreign Minister also went to JNU.
Besides nurturing personal and intellectual freedoms by teachers and students, and even heard that universities library overflows with knowledge seekers even after midnight.
Looking back even in 2014 there was an attempt by the government to malign JNU. This time the Government has overlooked the practicality of raising fees and used it as rues to suppress what it wants, takeover and crush a seat of Left-leaning liberalism and that it’s proponents dismiss as despicable clan called “JNU” type. Particularly malign a University that bears the name of India’s first PM, Jawaharlal Nehru.
Now that a committee has been formed by the Centre to look into the impasse over fee hike, a noble way should be found to address the concerns of those students who are financially not able to pay their fees.

Last week saw the unfolding of political drama in the state of Karnataka. 17 Congress and JD MLA's were disqualified by the Supreme Court, which led to the fall of the state government.  But along with the disqualification Supreme Court also squashed the Speakers' orders to disqualify them for rest the term till 2023. 

I feel the spirit of the law got defeated with that Supreme Court decision as it allowed these disqualified MLAs to contest again. These power-hungry MLAs not only betrayed their party but also the people of their respective constituencies. Even though BJP denied its hand in the resignation of these MLAs but it went ahead very blatantly announced that these MLAs will join BJP.  They all MLAs not only joined BJP but also got tickets to contest in the bye-elections from the same constituency. 

 With this, the cat is out of the bag as the “operation lotus” is proved beyond doubt, but I see people still saying that it is the most principled party and its bosses are all “swatch pearls”. BJPs holier-than-thou attitude stands exposed and this will take plenty of time for taint to wear away.

Coming the SC’s judgment, I think,10th schedule needs to be amended as the court pointed out that the speaker’s decision to disqualify a legislator on the ground of defection is not subject to judicial review.  But the same law does not give the power to lay down the period of disqualification or to prevent the disqualified MLA from seeking re-election. The law should stipulate, that upon reentering the House, the disqualified member shouldn’t be made a Minister. All these incidents clearly show that the 10th schedule has few loopholes, which need to be amended so that the governments must not try to exploit it. If it as any principles it should immediately amend it, but I have my reservations on this.

With this judgment, the defections are becoming easier, and attractive to boot, provided the party to which the MLA defects can throw in enough incentives to induce defection, even at the cost of incurring disqualification. The “taint” of defection is thus rendered meaningless. The SC’s verdict is apt to attract the emulation of Karnataka defectors by unscrupulous elements in other states and also in parliament.

If the NDA alliance politics stand at a crossroad today in Maharashtra,it’s just an indicator of the times to come.The ruling BJP won only 105seats while it claims to have the support of some 15Independent MLAs, Its “blow hot blow cold ally” Shivsena is reduced to 56seats only ?In fact the results of Maharashtra and Haryana Assembly elections prove that people are loosing faith slowly in BJP.They must be realising their folly in giving a massive mandate to saffron party in the last parliamentary elections.The people also  have seen through its strategy of using religious polarisation and hyper nationalism to divert citizens attention from important issues such as dwindling economy ,unprecedented unemployment etc .But if you see the reality,I get a doubt whether these elections are held in the interests of the public or political parties? What we see today,is,the landslide victories result in parties exhibiting dictatorship,while hung lead to weak or no governance,and coalitions prompt political blackmailing.

So in the case Maharashtra BJP and Shivsena fought elections having pre-poll alliance and even won comfortably,if not landslide.But the rule book is secondary to perceptions now.With BJP weakened by lessor number of seats on its own,SS too tired of being relegated to the second spot on home ground,is insisting on rotational Chief ministership.So what should have been a consensus,is now an open war.BJP  which has  delivered stable governance and managed local issues with non-Maratha CM Fadnavis,May have a credible performance to bank on.

SS and BJP are strange bedfellows in fact.SS takes great pleasure in lashing out at BJP every other day is all what we have seen all these years.So what happens if SS doesn’t secure 50:50 demand?It has many options ahead of it.It can ditch BJPand seek to join hands with NCP-Congress for the sake of power,as SS shouldn’t have any problem with these parties as its base -Maratha&Kunbi -were after all part of congress base.The NCP leadership too is chip of old block.So why does not it simply do it?For a party that once dumped its ordinal slogan “”sons of the soil”” realising it’s redundant nature within 5years of its formation,in favour of “Hindutva nationalism “plank.It shouldn’t be worrisome factor to say goodbye to BJP.But SS must make it clear to the people whether it’s now working only to make Jr Thackeray CM ? If that’s the only goal ,well it should join with NCP-Congress or it could even force a President ‘s rule ,if it feels BJP should be taught a lesson for not yielding to its demands.Can it afford to do so? But now both are blackmailing each other,at the cost of governance.BJP must be looking at chinks in Sena’s armour,and is testing its patience.Similarly the other way Sena presumes it can bend BJP through its street politics and by spreading unrest in case BJP opts for a breakup.Nether PM nor HM  is in a hurry to have their government in place under uncertainty.IGNORING GOVERNANCE AND PEOPLE ‘S PROBLEMS IS NEW NORM NOW A DAYS

After the declaration of the results of the Assembly polls of Maharashtra and Haryana, it's a clear message to the ruling party, that giving prominence to national issues and marginalising local issues will have a negative impact, on voters. This must be taken in the right perspective and the party has to adopt a suitable strategy. The Assembly election results show that Congress can not be erased that easily. It has done well in Haryana, in spite of many disadvantages: no full-time president, many Congressmen left the party in both states just before elections, while top leaders didn’t evince interest in canvassing, but even then both states gave it a new lease of life. the other opposition parties will also welcome this situation, as the results have broken the myth of BJP’s invincibility. The resurgence of Sharad Pawar’s NCP in Maharashtra, in the face of large scale defections after the Lok Sabha election debacle, is a clear indication that Pawar is very much relevant there even to this day. His vilification by BJP as Pakistan‘s supporter didn’t cut ice with the people.

These results also put to rest all talk of ‘one nation one party, ‘and concerns over the possible emergence of ‘unipolar polity’. The inflated claim that the Modi-Shah juggernaut is formidable, has turned out to be untrue. BJP went to elections with all signs of assertiveness, especially the opposition was in tatters-it’s the party, having galaxy of star leaders, superior resources, and our great defense will publicise surgical strikes, invariably one day before the voting, every time, perceived diplomatic success, all came in handy, but even then results show that the party can no longer camouflage the harsh reality of bad economics behind the narrative of national sentiments.

I feel the results could be comparable to recently held elections in Rajasthan, and MP because the mood of the voters looks to be the same. Voters of all these states were clear about their choices. Modi’s campaign was no different from what it had been in the past. He attempted to strike the same chord and raised the same concerns and achievements, mainly Art. 370 everywhere, but voters it seems, we’re sure they are not voting for Modi now. The economic slowdown, job losses, and rural Agricultural distress may have begun to hurt the BJP

There seems to be an undercurrent against local BJP, going by how the opposition has performed better than what Exit polls were willing to grant it. Meanwhile, the opposition will have to work harder to negate the BJP’s advantage in terms of resources and visibility.

Recently Union Minister Mr. Piyush Goel made a statement, that the Nobel laureate and Economist Mr. Abhijit Banerjee has “left leanings” and that there was no need to accept what he thinks, was in bad taste according to many people. His political opinions shouldn’t undermine his capabilities. His advice to the Congress during last parliamentary elections doesn’t negate his work to alleviate poverty.  I have read that the Nobel laureate’s method of tackling global poverty by breaking it down into questions at the smaller levels is indeed a path-breaking approach, I am told. This recognition will underline the effectiveness of their research. Its a matter of pride for the entire country.
I feel very sad to read some petty comments saying that Abhijit got the award for marrying a foreigner and not for his Economics. I know, at least this is what a section of BJP feels, going by some of the comments. But here we have to accept one thing that Abhijit has all the required qualities/qualifications to be branded as an anti-national-he is as such, a quintessential Bengali babu, with left leanings, an alumnus of JNU and he is certainly, a liberal.
A recently released global hunger index of 2019 has placed India at the 102nd position among 117countries, even behind Nepal, North Korea, and Pakistan. No doubt ours is the fastest growing economy, yet a considerable section of people are still living below the poverty line. Abhijit with his wife wrote the book “Poor Economics”, which according to newspapers, gives insights and relationships between culture and poverty. Hungry stomachs seek food, not culture. As such, malnutrition is very high in this country and hyper-nationalism and culture alone would not benefit the children dying of the reason. Several areas are quite challenging. for example, recently our PM declared the country as ODF, but we have also seen how two kids were thrashed to death in MP, for the crime of defecating in the open. Whenever these anomalies are pointed out, our BJP friends immediately lash out at the critics. Let us understand that healthy democracies thrive on criticism.  It is the oxygen for democracy. Just because one has a majority one shouldn’t spurn away differing views and view points.
Therefore, I think, we should get out of the tunnel view and try to take everyone along, to bring consensus on all important burning issues and the country should emulate Mr. NarasimhaRao Ji in this regard.