Any Method in Madness? by Rajinder Puri

Any Method in Madness?

by Dr. Rajinder Puri

BJP workers are on the streets of Lucknow demonstrating against the law and order situation in the state. They cannot be faulted. The law and order situation in the state is indeed disgraceful. The demonstrations might help boost the party’s image in Uttar Pradesh. But will it help the government’s image in the centre?

In the capital students are demonstrating against the Delhi University for having botched up university courses and jeopardized their future. The overall image of the country is one of chaos and breakdown of order. Could this not have been avoided?

It was pointed out earlier that the Modi government ought to have set in process the move to invoke Article 356 and impose President’s Rule in Uttar Pradesh to help restore law and order. Admittedly there are serious social causes too that have caused the breakdown of law and order in the state. But the Akhilesh Yadav government need not be dissolved but merely suspended till such time as the centre succeeds in restoring a semblance of law and order. Or is it that the central government is afraid that the situation is too daunting to handle?

Whatever the reality the government must summon courage to confront the crisis and do the needful. Otherwise Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi’s most cherished goal of creating a big influx of foreign investment to speed up spectacular development of the economy could be jeopardized. The Secretary General of the United Nations and leaders of foreign governments openly deploring the law and order situation in Uttar Pradesh provides clear indication of how closely the world is watching this nation.

Over and above the impact on domestic politics the government needs to consider reactions of the world outside. That is, if Mr. Modi is really serious about making India an economic superpower. So, the mystery persists: why does the government not impose President’s Rule in Uttar Pradesh instead of allowing justifiably angry citizens to take to the streets and spread mayhem, destroying India’s image of a stable democracy and an attractive investment destination?

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01-Jul-2014

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Comments on this Article

May be just to avoid blam that article 356 was invoked at will by BJP govt, it is allowing more heat to be created, so that a wider public opinion is created to dismiss the state govt.

Or else, there is no reason even politically not to dismiss UP govt.

Dinesh Kumar Bohre
07/02/2014 07:26 AM

Once bitten, twice shy--it is unlikely that the BJP would attempt repeating the mistake yet again. Who can forget the humiliation the party suffered in 1999 when they had to restore the Rabri Devi Govt of Bihar, dismissed on the premise of breakdown of law and order (in the wake of a series of Naxal attacks) as the Congress party refused to help pass the imposition of Presidential Rule in the Rajya Sabha? With BJP's Rajya Sabha fortunes in 2014 not any better than that of 1999, we will have to learn to live with such ineffective State Governments like Akhilesh Yadav's. The climate for foreign investment decisions would improve only if more reform measures are announced and UP's law and order situation may not impact it much.

Manu
07/02/2014 05:03 AM

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