Justice Markandey Katju-
Many people are rejoicing over the defeat of the BJP Govt in the recent Jharkhand Legislative Assembly Elections in India, and the victory of the JMM ( Jharkhand Mukti Morcha )—Congress alliance, which has formed the new state government.
While I am no supporter of the BJP, I see no reason to celebrate.
Some people are saying that BJP lost because of the Citizens Amendment Act. The percentage of Muslims in the state is 14.5%, but these vote against the BJP anyway. So CAA hardly mattered. The real reason appears to be that the JMM representing the 26% tribal population of the state allied itself firmly with the Congress. In the 81 seat Assembly, JMM got 30 seats, BJP got 25, and Congress got 16.
The JMM-Congress coalition is an utterly unholy alliance with no common principle between the allies except the lust for power and pelf.
The JMM, led by Shibu Soren, the father of the newly installed Chief Minister Hemant Soren, was an ally of the Congress in Parliament in 1993 when the Congress led by P.V. Narasimha Rao was in the minority in Parliament. To win the vote of confidence then in Parliament the Congress paid Rs 40 lacs by cheque to each of the JMM MPs.
As is well known, Congress is a highly corrupt party, and so is JMM. So, what else will the new state govt leaders do except loot the huge natural wealth of the state?
One is reminded of the newly formed Maharashtra Government, which is a coalition of Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress—parties which have nothing in common. Shiv Sena, which till the other day was anti Muslim, has overnight become secular. So also, the JMM which was an ally of the BJP in the Jharkhand Govt in 2010 (with Arjun Munda of BJP as Chief Minister and Hemant Soren as Dy. CM ) has now become secular. Politics does make strange bedfellows ! JMM has frequently been changing its allies. After allying with BJP in 2010 it allied with Congress in 2013 to form the govt.
In India political alliances are formed only to acquire power, although the allies have nothing in common e.g. the PDP-BJP alliance in J&K, NC-BJP alliance in the Center, and Nitish Kumar’s frequent acrobatics in Bihar.
I regret to say that almost all our present Indian politicians are crooks, thugs, looters, scamsters, deceivers and rogues, who have no genuine love for the people but only an insatiable thirst for power and pelf, and expertise in polarizing the people by spreading caste and communal hatred to get votes.
It is high time the Indian people think out some alternative to the present political system in India which breeds only these gangsters.
[Justice Markandey Katju is former Judge, Supreme Court of India, and former Chairman, Press Council of India. The views expressed are his own.]
