In the cross hairs

A series of violent crimes has the opposition gunning for the government. It alleges that Maharashtra is in the grip of a politician-gangster nexus

- DNYANESH JATHAR

ON FEBRUARY 8, social worker Mauris Noronha shot dead former Shiv Sena (UBT) corporator Abhishek Ghosalkar during a Facebook Live session. The murder, and the viral video of the crime, sent shockwaves across Maharashtra.

The opposition alleged that law and order in the state had collapsed. It flayed the state government led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, and demanded the resignation of Devendra Fadnavis, Shinde’s deputy and home minister. Fadnavis said Noronha had shot Ghosalkar, and then killed himself, because of personal rivalry. Noronha apparently believed that Ghosalkar was behind a rape case filed against him, and that he was trying to sabotage his political plans. “The opposition can demand anything,” said Fadnavis. “Even if a car runs over a dog tomorrow, they would ask the home minister to resign.”

Another violent incident had stunned the state just a few days before the Ghosalkar killing. BJP legislator Ganpat Gaikwad was arrested for allegedly firing at Mahesh Gaikwad, a former corporator of the Shinde-led Shiv Sena, at a police station in Thane district. The firing allegedly happened in the chamber of the police inspector at Ulhasnagar. Mahesh is in hospital fighting for his life.

Ganpat told journalists that he felt no remorse. “The chief minister has the state under goonda raj (mob rule),” he said. A three-time legislator whose own record is dubious, Gaikwad is a known rival of Shinde’s Sena in Thane district.

Political leaders courting criminals is an old phenomenon. In fact, the Shiv Sena-BJP alliance had first come to power in Maharashtra in 1995 after a sustained campaign against former chief minister Sharad Pawar’s alleged criminalisation of politics in the 1990s. So, what has changed in the past three decades?