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THE EMERGENCY
THERE SEEMS no end to Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav?s pre-election bonanza for the electorate. After the dole to girls under the Kanya Vidya Dhan Yojana and unemployment allowance to youths, the government has now targeted a section whose hatred against the Congress is rooted in the Emergency of 1975. This was indeed the driving force for the chief minister to announce a pension scheme for Maintenance of Internal Security Act (MISA)/Defence of India Rules (DIR) Act, 1975, detainees of the Emergency.
THERE SEEMS no end to Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav’s pre-election bonanza for the electorate. After the dole to girls under the Kanya Vidya Dhan Yojana and unemployment allowance to youths, the government has now targeted a section whose hatred against the Congress is rooted in the Emergency of 1975. This was indeed the driving force for the chief minister to announce a pension scheme for Maintenance of Internal Security Act (MISA)/Defence of India Rules (DIR) Act, 1975, detainees of the Emergency.
In a desperate move to return to power in the next Assembly election, the ruling Samajwadi Party is seemingly leaving nothing to chance. The chief minister has decided to give Rs 500 per month to victims of MISA and DIR. The victim would also be allowed to travel free in UPSTRC buses along with one companion.
While a debate has ensued in political circles over the decision, three-decade old police records are proof that even criminals were booked under this draconian law. “We had arrested large number of hardened criminals and booked them under MISA/DIR”, commented a DG level officer who was then district police chief. He even said that “actual political detainees were RSS people, whose morning Shakhas had been banned”. Thus, there is a feeling among the police officers that the scheme would largely benefit the old guard of the Sangh Parivar, a fact which the senior SP leader and organizer of last week’s ‘MISA detainees conference’, Ravidas Mehrotra has emphatically denied. “They are not in large number”, said Mehrotra, who had migrated from the Sangh Parivar to SP.
The Chief Minister’s hostility towards the Congress has taken a curious turn. The chief minister has dug out a 30-year-old chapter of Emergency to rave up anti-Congressism. In his drive, he has chosen a man- George Fernandes- who was not only a victim of the Emergency but has a well-known record of hobnobbing with the Sangh Parivar. During the NDA regime, Fernandes emerged as BJP’s troubleshooter. Interestingly, Fernandes said that this marvelous idea of felicitation and money never came to the mind of the NDA leadership. Fernandes wants other states to copy the scheme.
However, the BJP spokesman Prakash Javadekar shot back that “Sangh never considered pro-democracy movement in 1975 as a “pensionable scheme”. Senior RSS leader Kripa Shankar said the Sangh never wanted pecuniary gains for the service to the country. He said the Sangh Parivar people had gone to jail for restoration of democracy. He said after the formation of the Janata Party Government, a proposal for bestowing “freedom fighter” status came up but the RSS opposed the idea. He said Yadav’s move was politically motivated.
Another RSS functionary Nawal Ji also condemned the State Government’s decision of dole to these people. Nawal Ji said, “Service to the nation during the Emergency was not for any personal gain”. The State BJP is, however, non-committal on the RSS activists accepting pension. Calling the sop an “election stunt”, State BJP president Keshari Nath Tripathi said Yadav’s gameplan would fall flat. He questioned the timing of the announcement. Tripathi said Yadav was the chief minister twice in the past but he never considered dole to the people.
But certainly timing in the politics is a vital factor.
Notwithstanding strong opposition from BJP/RSS stalwarts, district level activists, who had a MISA record, are unlikely to forego Yadav’s dole. Whether Yadav’s gesture to provide the “freedom fighter” status to these “Loktantra Senanis” will yield an electoral dividend is debatable, finding 30 year-old-police records would certainly be a gigantic exercise. “Like fudging of documents in unemployment allowance, we don’t rule out similar instances here too”, said a senior police officer.
The State Government has assessed around 10,000 people who would be beneficiaries of the scheme, which would put an additional burden of Rs five crore per year on fund-starved exchequer. The Cabinet has already approved the proposal. As per the scheme a person who was in jail under MISA even for a day, would be entitled to the scheme. Around 3500 people had already submitted their forms, which would be verified by the local police. In fact, the fulcrum of the scheme is hatred for the Congress. But is winning over electoral support at the cost of the State exchequer justified?
While the BJP is unable to re-assert itself in the state, the SP has veered round to the view that a section of the saffron brigade could desert Nagpur (RSS headquarters) for Rs 500. It is also a twin strategy to stop the upper caste from moving towards the BSP. Since the detainees are largely from upper castes, including the trading community, the scheme could help widen SP’s base.
Like RSS, the dole is also aimed at wooing Jamat-e-Islami, which also suffered during the Emergency. Jamat state president Mohd Ahmad said that a decision about accepting the ‘pension’ would be taken at the party’s advisory committee meeting on July 6. He said nearly 1000 activists of Jamat-e-Islami from UP were arrested under MISA during the Emergency. While the party is yet to take decision, some members have already filled up the forms to claim pension.
Even though the effectiveness of these fronts at the time of elections is doubtful, they have certainly created awareness in the community about their electoral importance. Thus, having friends in Jamat-e-Islami could be beneficial for the SP.
