True colour of politics
- The People's Chronicle Editorial :: May 04, 2024 -

WHETHER it is the long standing demand of the Meetei/Meitei for recognition as Scheduled Tribe (ST) or the subsequent demand raised for a separate administration of the Kuki-Chin, both of which have been unfortunately assumed by some people as having a direct link to triggering of the now one year old ethnic conflict between the two communities that broke out on May 3 last year; there have been so many unresolved issues piling up in Manipur today that it is near impossible for the suffering public to even pay scant attention to what is happening in other parts of the country.

With daily struggle for survival and fending off oneself from bullets fired from the barrels of guns on either side of the warring groups becoming more urgent than anything else at the moment, the current upheaval in the political landscape of the southern state of Karnataka following revelation of a sex scandal involving a prominent political family and how it is posing threat to the BJP's effort of seeking a third term for Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the office with a catchy one-liner slogan like "Ab ki baar, 400 paar' may be of least interest to anyone in the state.

However, this is a serious issue that should not be ignored or overlooked as it has unveiled the dirty underbelly of Indian politics for the whole world to sit up and take notice.

It has shown the plight of victims of sexual abuse in India, who have nowhere else to go for seeking justice even if they were well-educated and knew thoroughly about their rights and privileges guaranteed by the Constitution of the country. The very fact that none of the victims have the courage to speak up or file complaint against the now-suspended Hassan MP Prajwal Revanna of janata Dal (Secular), who is none other than a grandson of former Prime Minister of India HD Deve Gowda, until the issue became public, indicates that no one really has faith in the system.

Of the hundreds of victims, only two of them have mustered up the courage to file complaints so far also goes to reaffirm this point.

While it is still debatable as to how Revanna managed to obtain a gag order so easily from a Bengaluru civil court against 86 media outlets and three individuals from speaking about sex tapes as far back as June, 2023 to halt the spread of what he claimed to be "fake news" and doctored videos; it is the usual slugfest of "tu tu mein mein" between the Congress party and the BJP that has ensued after thousands of pen drives containing the sex tapes recorded by the accused himself surfaced all over just five days ahead of the polling for the second phase of Lok Sabha election on April 26 that has left a bad taste in the mouth of everyone.

It is despicable on the part of Congress party to use this incident as a potential 'brahmastra', a powerful weapon to target the BJP and its alliance with the Janata Dal (Secular) even if the denial of the saffron party to have any inkling about the existence of the videos and the "grave allegations against several leaders of the HD Deve Gowda family, including Prajwal Revanna, the NDA candidate of JD(S), the party that we are in alliance with", which its Karnataka state unit president had alerted in a letter written dated December 8, 2023, holds no water.

It is also equally despicable on the part of BJP, which is now trying its best to distance itself from the case by blaming the Congress government in Karnataka of "doing politics instead of taking strict action."

In addition to BJP going ahead with forging alliance with JD (S) despite this warning, let's not forget the simple fact that Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself had campaigned for Prajwal Revanna, seeking votes for him while ironically claiming "Our daughters are not safe under the Congress government in Karnataka" and assured his party would protect women if elected to power.

If this is the kind of effort being made by the BJP for achieving its "Ab ki baar, 400 paar," then the saffron party could very well think of securing 20 more seats to make it exactly 420 (Char Sau Bees) so that no one is in any doubt about its true colour and stand on "Nari Shakti" or women's power.