The smooth passage of the Maharashtra Special Public Security (MSPS) Bill in the state Legislative Assembly as well as the Council seems to have exposed the lack of coordination and political will among the Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance against the Mahayuti government led by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.
On Thursday, the MSPS Bill, which seeks “effective prevention of certain unlawful activities of Left-wing extremist organisations”, was passed in the Assembly by a voice vote. The Bill sailed through the Lower House amid the Opposition’s concerns over the definition and interpretation of some of its terms and clauses. The only dissenting note came from lone CPI(M) MLA Vinod Nikole.
With 235 MLAs in the 288-member Assembly, the BJP-led Mahayuti holds an absolute majority in the House. Yet, the 53 MLAs representing the MVA missed the opportunity to put up a spirited fight, failing even to express their dissent in the Assembly during the passage of the Bill.
Twenty-four hours later, the Bill was also passed by the state Legislative Council amid an Opposition walkout. In what appeared to be a course correction, the Opposition in the Upper House submitted a note of dissent against the Bill to Chairperson Ram Shinde. But this only exemplified the Opposition’s lack of a uniform strategy on a crucial legislation like this, which has been dubbed a Bill against “urban Naxalism”.
Fadnavis put forth his views in favour of the Bill in the Assembly. “The legislation is against those Left-wing extremist organisations, which are provoking people for armed revolt to demolish democracy, Parliament and institutions,” he said. “There are six such organisations that have been banned in other states operating in Maharashtra. In total, there are 64 outfits, which are, under the guise of people’s socio-economic uplift, engaged in destructive and dangerous unlawful activities.”
With the Opposition failing to put the government under pressure over the MSPS Bill, what remains to be seen now is how the protest against the legislation would play out on the streets.
To begin with, a delegation of the Opposition leaders is planning to head to the Raj Bhavan to convey their concerns to Governor C P Radhakrishnan next week. The MVA’s constituents – including the Congress, NCP (SP) and Shiv Sena (UBT) – also plan to reach out to various Left organisations and launch a statewide campaign against the government. Whether the Opposition could successfully mobilise mass support remains to be seen.
NCP (SP) leader Jayant Patil said, “We were members of the Joint Select Committee and strongly voiced our concerns. But its last meeting’s date change took many of us off guard. We had our scheduled programmes… Yet, we brought to their notice our concern.”
This story was originally published in indianexpress.com. Read the full story here.
