Maratha reservation movement had biggest impact on state in 2024: SS(UBT) editorial

Mumbai, Jan 1 (IANS) Shiv Sena (UBT) in an editorial in its mouthpiece ‘Saamna’ on Wednesday launched a scathing attack on the BJP-led government at the Centre and the MahaYuti government in Maharashtra, citing the brutal killing of Sarpanch Santosh Deshmukh from Beed district, death of Somnath Suryavanshi in Parbhani and the insult to Dr B.R. Ambedkar. It also stated that the Maratha reservation movement had the biggest impact on the state in the year 2024 . 

“If we had to describe the passing year in one sentence, it would be 'a year of the massacre of democracy,’” says the editorial.

“In the case of Maharashtra, the Maratha reservation movement had the biggest impact on the state in the year 2024. To suppress this movement, the government tried to provoke other castes in the state. This created a huge social divide in the villages of the state. The year ended with Union Home Minister Amit Shah's insult to Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar, the suspicious death in police custody of a young man named Somnath Suryavanshi, who was protesting against the 'contempt of the Constitution' in Parbhani, and the brutal murder of Santosh Deshmukh, a sarpanch in Massajog in Marathwada itself.

“After this massacre, the 'jungle raj' of Beed district came before the whole world. Although Walmik Karad, the mastermind of the extortion case at the root of this murder, surrendered on the last day of 2024, the state's home department cut a sorry figure,” it stated.

“The 2024 calendar became a thing of the past as the year ended and the new calendar of 2025 took its place on the wall. The calendar changed, meaning time had passed; but the changes that the bygone year brought to the lives of the people, the changes that took place in our state, country and internationally, are certainly worth retrospection.

“The year 2024 saw the general elections in India! These polls were both celebrated and controversial. In the Lok Sabha elections, the Bharatiya Janata Party had given the slogan of 'Charso Paar (400 plus)’ however, despite the suspicious change in the percentage of votes, the BJP remained far from the majority in the Lok Sabha. Narendra Modi did indeed become the Prime Minister again on the back of the support of Chandrababu Naidu and Nitish Kumar, but the Lok Sabha results have grounded the BJP's plane,” reads the editorial.

“The BJP, which used Lord Ram for elections, overlooked the opposition of religious leaders and partially inaugurated the Ram temple at the hands of Prime Minister Modi on the eve of the Lok Sabha elections. However, the people of Ayodhya taught the BJP a lesson. In the Faizabad constituency, in Ayodhya itself, the BJP suffered a crushing defeat. This can be called a prominent memory of 2024.

“After that, Assembly elections were held in the states of Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir, and then Maharashtra and Jharkhand. The rulers played a big game of vote figures in the Haryana and Maharashtra Assembly elections with the help of the Election Commission. Due to this coup that killed democracy, all the candidates of the Opposition parties who were sure to win were defeated, and the candidates of the ruling party, whose deposit was expected to be confiscated, surprisingly won,” it reads.

“The BJP won Haryana and Maharashtra elections on the strength of the increased voting in the last hour, in fact, by misusing EVMs. However, there is immense dissatisfaction among the voters in the villages of both these states against this result. That is why when the village of Markadwadi in Solapur district decided to keep aside the government machinery and conduct a mock poll on ballot papers instead of EVMs, the government and the Commission foiled this plan.

“Fearing that the election scams would come to light, the police used force to prevent the villagers of Markadwadi from voting. What happened in Markadwadi happened at hundreds of booths in Maharashtra and Haryana.

“When this election scam reached the Supreme Court the government changed the rule of making the CCTV footage and other details public. The year witnessed this massacre of democracy with open eyes. 2024 will always be remembered as the year when these scandalous scams shattered the faith of the people of the country in elections,” it says.

The editorial further says, “The year 2024 taught the Opposition parties in the country a lot. In the new year, the Opposition parties will have to come up with a concrete plan on how to deal with the brutal power that is misusing the government machinery and constitutional institutions for leading the country towards dictatorship. In the passing year, the people of India's neighbouring countries staged uprisings that overthrew the government. Considering the past year of repression, that day is not far off in India too,” it concluded.

--IANS

sj/rad