By Quaid Najmi

Mumbai, Apr 17 (IANS): Virtually besieged by an array of central probe agencies baying for its blood, the 30-month-old Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government has expressed its deep angst over how the Bharatiya Janata Party has 'mentally divided' India in the past right years and the worst is yet to come.

They rue that the ruling Shiv Sena-Nationalist Congress Party-Congress triumvirate, struggling to take flight, has been repeatedly grounded by a belligerent BJP which has yet to gulp the ignominy of losing power in October 2019.

Claiming that the vital organs of the state seem to have buckled in, posing a danger to Democracy, they warn that after the communal rift among Hindus-Muslims the majority community could face 'upper castes-lower castes' divisions and the country may hurtle towards totalitarianism.

Senior leaders point out how, with serial deadlines to topple the MVA regime or other opposition-ruled states falling flat, the BJP has discovered angels in the form of Central probe agencies like CBI, ED, ITD, etc, to haunt governments in key states like Maharashtra or West Bengal.

Shiv Sena's Kishore Tiwari, MoS, said the BJP rakes up a new controversy practically every month to divert masses' attention from serious issues like inflation, skyrocketing fuel prices, unemployment, stagnating economy, industries especially MSMEs closing down, etc.

"With deliberately created uncertainties, even the powerful bureaucracy in Maharashtra and other non-BJP ruled states is scared, under pressure from the BJP and not working for public welfare. Now, a trend of 'innocent victimisation' of people like Medha Patkar or Aakar Patel or lawyer Satish Uke and independent journalists is blatantly going on," said a perturbed Tiwari.

NCP Chief Spokesperson Mahesh Tapase accused the Centre of muzzling the Opposition by letting loose the central agencies to pursue the BJP's sinister agenda, and it did not spare even the ordinary folks with threats of ED in the just-concluded Kolhapur North Assembly bypolls.

"Earlier, the probe agencies worked quietly and enjoyed a glorious track record… But, now they are reduced to political bloodhounds of the BJP. The real scamsters who looted lakhs of crores of rupees of public monies are scot-free and fled to foreign shores," an irked Tapase said.

Atul Londhe, the Congress Chief Spokesperson, wondered how, based on merely a letter, an ex-home minister (Anil Deshmukh) has been continuously victimised and even denied bail.

"The people are now questioning the courts… No MVA leaders get any kind of relief, but those belonging or linked to BJP get all their prayers answered at priority hearings, though crores of litigations are pending in the courts - why such special treatment?" asked a worried Londhe.

Endorsing, Tiwari said the so-called 'provisional attachments' by the ED/IT are a routine practice, but its highly exaggerated and made a 'pubic tamasha' to sully the image, especially of the Sena-NCP leaders, to convey an impression that in BJP, there are only "holy cows" who can do no wrongs.

Tapase urged the BJP to exercise its 'Raj Dharm' and deploy the central probe agencies after the real criminals instead of the political opponents in a proxy war, with negligible conviction rate - as the Sushant Singh Rajput case proved, where the CBI is dithering even after 22 months!

Questioning the new dream of 'Akhand Bharat', Londhe sarcastically said that first the BJP should bring back Aksai Chin and the huge territories usurped by China in the past 8 years or the Pakistan Occupied Kashmir, before looking beyond to divert the peoples' attention.

Cautioning that India has already been "mentally divided", Londhe said Hindus-Muslims are split up, Hindus will be further segregated as "upper castes-lower castes" and a beginning made with the end of the OBC quotas, plus now a north-south schism is sowed with plans to impose Hindi.

Samajwadi Party President Abu Asim Azmi appealed to Union Home Minister Amit Shah to uphold the traditions of his office once occupied by the great Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel and rein in persons who are openly creating communal tensions in the name of removing loudspeakers from mosques.

Incidentally, just ten days ago, Sena MP Sanjay Raut had exploded saying the BJP has "declared a war", but the MVA government is fully united and will not succumb to any provocations.