In an action-filled fortnight, the Supreme Court sends V.K. Sasikala to prison but her family takes control of the ruling party in Tamil Nadu and her Chief Minister wins a trust vote in a riotous environment. More fireworks are on the cards.
THE first hint of trouble in the special session of the Tamil Nadu Assembly convened on February 18 for Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami of the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) to prove his majority came in a statement from the opposition Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) just a few hours before the voting. The DMK, which has 89 MLAs in the 234-member House (233 after Jayalalithaa’s death), urged Speaker P. Dhanapal to go in for “secret voting” since “the situation today is politically atypical”. It justified its demand by saying that the AIADMK was split in two, with caretaker Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam and 10 MLAs rebelling against party general secretary V.K. Sasikala and the latter “detaining” the remaining 122 MLAs of that party in a beachfront resort at Koovathur, some 70 kilometres from Chennai, for more than a week. It termed this practice “undemocratic and unconstitutional”.
“The situation today is extraordinary, with both factions accusing each other of horse-trading, and hence secret voting alone will ensure justice,” DMK working president M.K. Stalin said. The Panneerselvam faction, which had been demanding this since the announcement on the trust vote was made, also felt it might be beneficial to it if fence sitters in the Sasikala camp voted according to “their conscience and as per people’s wishes”. The DMK and the Panneerselvam group accused Sasikala of holding the MLAs “hostage” in the private resort (story on page 27).
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How Not To Handle An Epidemic
The lockdowns were meant to buy time to put in place appropriate health measures and contain the coronavirus’ spread, but they have failed to achieve the objective and heaped immense misery on the marginalised sections of society. India is still in the exponential phase of the COVID-19 infection and community transmission is a reality that the government refuses to accept.
Tragedy on foot
As the COVID-19-induced lockdown cuts the ground beneath their feet in Tamil Nadu, thousands of migrant workers are trudging along the highway to the relative safety of their upcountry homes.
Sarpanchs as game changers
Odisha manages to keep COVID-19 well under control because of the strong participation of panchayati raj institutions and the community at the grass-roots level under the leadership of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.
Scapegoating China
As the COVID-19 death rate spikes and the economy tanks in the United States, Donald Trump and his advisers target China and the World Health Organisation with an eye to winning the forthcoming presidential election.
New worries
Kerala’s measured approach to the pandemic and lockdown has yielded results. But it still has to grapple with their huge economic impact on its economy, which it feels the Centre’s special financial relief package does little to alleviate.
No love lost for labour
Taking advantage of the lockdown and the inability of workers to organise protests, many State governments introduce sweeping changes to labour laws to the detriment of workers on the pretext of reviving production and boosting the economy.
Capital's Malthusian moment
In a world that needs substantial reorienting of production and distribution, Indian capital is resorting to a militant form of moribund neoliberalism to overcome its current crisis. In this pursuit of profit, it is ready and willing to throw into mortal peril millions whom it adjudicates as not worth their means—an admixture of social Darwinism born of capital’s avarice and brutalism spawned by Hindutva. .
Understanding migration
When governments and their plans are found to be blatantly wanting in addressing reverse migration, exercises such as the Ekta Parishad’s survey of migrant workers throughout India can be useful to work out creative long-lasting solutions.
Waiting for Jabalpur moment
The Supreme Court’s role in ensuring executive accountability during the ongoing lockdown leaves much to be desired. Standing in shining contrast is the record of some High Courts.
An empty package
The Modi regime, which has been unable to control the COVID-19 infection, restore economic activity and provide relief to millions exposed to starvation, trains its sights on Indian democracy, making use of the panic generated by fear and a lockdown that forecloses paths of resistance.
