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‘Phone tapping assault on freedom, bringing down elected govt with money treachery’: Sena on Rajasthan crisis
Saamana, the Sena mouthpiece, carried an editorial on Monday that stated the jury is still out on which is a bigger crime – a state government order for phone tapping or a bid to topple a democratically elected government.
The Shiv Sena has called the phone-tapping order by the ruling Ashok Gehlot government in Rajasthan, which is caught in a bitter internal power struggle with the sacked deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot’s faction of 19 rebel lawmakers, an assault on personal freedom and termed the attempt to bring down a democratically elected dispensation “unconstitutional”.
Saamana, the Sena mouthpiece, carried an editorial on Monday that stated the jury is still out on which is a bigger crime – a state government order for phone tapping or a bid to topple a democratically elected government.
The Gehlot government has claimed that there has been a concerted bid to dislodge the ruling dispensation following the surfacing of three audiotapes last Thursday evening that quickly went viral on social media.
The Congress has accused Jodhpur Member of Parliament (MP) and Union Minister for Jal Shakti Gajendra Singh Shekhawat as the villain of the piece in cahoots with two dissident party lawmakers in an alleged plot to oust the Gehlot government.
The tapes did make a reference to one Gajendra Singh, which bolstered the Congress, to accuse him of indulging in horse-trading.
The Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has sought a report from Rajasthan chief secretary over the alleged “illegal tapping of phones”.
“Phone tapping is an offence and assault on personal freedom. It is treachery to bring down a democratically elected government by the lure of lucre. However, it needs to be decided which one is a bigger crime,” the editorial said.
“There is nothing wrong if the MHA wants to probe the phone-tapping incident. But the key question is: if the Gehlot government has indeed eavesdropped the purported phone conversations, what state of emergency had erupted in the state or the country?” it asked.
The Marathi daily made a play for the former Congress president Rahul Gandhi.
It said several skeletons would tumble out of the cupboard, if the conversations among power-hungry Congress leaders became public and they reached Gandhi. It cited that the disputes within the Congress’s ranks are unending and a certain section within Gandhi’s party didn’t want him to succeed.
“The Rajasthan phone-tapping episode has exposed many. But, a lot of revelation will come to the fore if someone hears the secret conversations among Congress leaders and they reach Gandhi. Some people have been hell-bent on not letting Gandhi work properly. This is hurting the entire opposition,” it said.
The editorial said that Gehlot has foiled the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) plans amid the generational war between the Rajasthan CM and his challenger Pilot.
“The deal, which was on between the BJP and Pilot, was about an exchange of cash for power. It was decided that the elected Rajasthan government would be brought down by horse-trading through cash inducements,” the editorial alleged.
“CM Gehlot exposed Pilot’s rebellion, which was less against injustice, and brought to light by the phone conversations between the sacked deputy CM and BJP leaders. It is both shocking and sensational,” it further alleged.
The editorial questioned the BJP’s radio silence over Shekhawat’s alleged role.
“Why those who are seeking the President’s rule in Rajasthan have not made Shekhawat resign? First, make Shekhawat resign, atone for poaching of the lawmakers and then point a finger towards the Gehlot government,” the editorial said while adding that phone tapping is not restricted to Rajasthan alone.
The Sena also took a potshot at ally-turned-rival BJP.
“In the Rajasthan episode, the condition of the BJP is such that they set out to do something, but something contrary happened … games are being played these days to weaken opponents politically, socially and mentally by dislodging them from their governments (across states),” it signed off.
