When Congress stole a march over BJP
The ruling BJP, which has always remained far ahead in using technology and innovative practices in political programmes, was completely outsmarted by the Opposition Congress on Independence Day.
The manner in which the Congress took out a mega Freedom March for about 7 km in Bengaluru set a new precedent. For the first time, the party used Bengaluru metro trains for the smooth transport of its members who came from different districts surrounding Bengaluru. They were made to park their vehicles on the city’s outskirts near metro stations from where they boarded the metro to reach the city centre to take part in the march.
While more than a lakh people participated in the march, nearly half of them used the metro trains that ensured their smooth transport. The party had even bought bulk tickets to prevent confusion.
Of course, that did not completely free the city from chaos as the roads on which the march was taken out became chock-a-block with participation of a large number of people. However, the organised use of metro prevented a major chaos.
Also, unlike the previous occasions, the Congress had worked systematically to organise this march as it had taken up the initiative of online registration of members for the ‘freedom march’. This helped the party in assessing the number of participants.
On the other hand, the ruling BJP’s programme organised at Sri Kanteerava Stadium could not match the Congress’ march in terms of size despite stalwarts such as the former Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa and Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai themselves participating in it. This ought to worry the saffron party.
Minister becomes MC
Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister J.C. Madhuswamy chose to become the master of ceremony (MC) on August 12 at a function organised to release books brought out by his department. Soon after the conclusion of the Cabinet meeting at the State Secretariat, a group of Ministers led by Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai rushed to the Conference Hall to release books on the Indian Penal Code and the Code of Criminal Procedure, which are translated into Kannada. As usual in book release functions, an official of the Law Department started reading a long list of names and relevance of the books.
Mr. Madhuswamy, who sensed the paucity of time at the disposal of the Chief Minister, told the official to cut short his speech. When the official continued his speech at the same pace, the Minister himself took the mike and requested the Chief Minister to release the two books. Mr. Bommai, along with Mr. Madhuswamy, Home Minister Araga Jnanendra and Kannada and Culture Minister V. Sunil Kumar, released the books and left the venue to attend another function. The function, which otherwise could have lasted more than an hour, was cut short to a few minutes. The journalists, who went to cover the Cabinet press briefing, too were relieved by the absence of long speeches.
ACB and its future
The High Court of Karnataka’s decision to set aside the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB), established in 2016, is an embarrassment to Leader of the Opposition and former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah.
When he was the Chief Minister in 2016, Mr. Siddaramaiah said the ACB was set up with the sole intention of curbing corruption effectively. The then Congress government maintained that it had not changed anything with regard to the Karnataka Lokayukta, and the institution would continue to function under the provisions of the Act of 1984, while the ACB would function under the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988. Even now, Mr. Siddaramaiah defended the creation of the ACB stating it had been set up in 15 States, including those ruled by the BJP.
Senior Congress leaders B. Janardhana Poojary and B.K. Hariprasad had back then criticised Mr. Siddaramaiah’s decision to form the ACB on the ground that it dealt a big blow to the Karnataka Lokayukta and would weaken the party’s fight against corruption. The BJP had then opposed the ACB and even mentioned in its poll manifesto about its abolition. Now, the ball is in the ruling BJP’s court to decide the ACB’s future.
