Flexing proletariat power

Of recent, and especially on the auspicious day of Janmasthami, the streets of Vidhyanagar, Gogol, witnessed an overzealous attempt of political clout being flexed by a locally founded regional party while enlisting support of the tertiary echelons of the proletariat’s representation.

The actions were mainly of a civic nature and these seasonal maintenance works were traditionally a mandate reserved for the Municipal Cadre of supervision.

But on this Monday, the electorate of Vidhyanagar, Gogol must have been in a state of political awakening to witness the proponents of private contractors and some handymen donning a royal blue t-shirt on their strong backs, as if to signify an uniform action plan which was replete with the logo of the humble Goan Naal (Coconut).

But first, just as Santa prepares its naughty list, the architects of Monday’s Uniform Action Plan must have also prepared a list of the houses in the electorate who weren’t strong supporters of the regional party’s ethos.

The approach was simple: To shock and awe in swiftness and leave the scene in a trial of leaves, twigs and meticulously amputated tree branches of trees which were suspected of protruding onto the roads and overhanging.

Somehow, this Municipal endeavour of civic inspiration did not enlist the presence of Forest Department Officials even though the trees involved were of significant age and the flora species would invariably come under jurisdiction of the Forest Act, 1927.

Nevertheless, the magnitude of the effort was so overpowering that the logistical support of a Orange Crane of industrial specification was enlisted in order to telescopically launch the strong lumberjack and his jigsaw cutter as he pledged war against every tree branch that overgrew onto the road that ironically fell under the purview of the regional party’s electoral interests.

Those who were present at the site of this environmental carnage were of course the proponents of the Municipal extension of the Regional Party’s dominance at the Margao Municipal Council. How else could the intrusion into the peace of Vidhyanagar be justified unless the proletariat’s dominant force was made to remain present in order to ascribe a face to the political flex.

While these works remain seasonally imperative, and to a certain extent even serve as milestones towards complete urbanisation, the manner of execution and the political dynamic of the area’s regional interest are bound to evoke a degree of dominance that threatens to pierce the integrity of the electorate. And in doing so, enlisting the support of the region’s tertiary muscle power in the form of handymen who are generally associated with independent contractors that regularly apply for tenders at the Margao Municipality, the synergy of dominance ought to be more than palpable.

The entire gamut of intentions were suddenly revealed by the turn of the afternoon hours when the entire artillery of guided Regional Party missiles inclusive of an Yellow JCB Backhoe descended upon an open plot of land which abutted the local school in the inner alleyways of the streets of Vidhyanagar, Gogol. Now this was no longer an activity aimed at clipping the opposition’s bush, but the arbitrary actions were targeted so skillfully under the garb of trimming stray bushes which seemingly protruded onto the road and thereafter translated into the politically overzealous actions of constructing a road where a formalised permission didn’t exist at the time the action was carried out.

Some moral force needs to enlighten the proponents of every regional party that people’s representation does not nominate it or any or its politically motivated henchmen to amplify an easementary right of access into a proposed road unless the bureaucratic machinery of the State Government okays the same through a Collector’s Order. At least this much conformity to the principle of Rule of Law needs to be obeyed by the Constitutional Functionaries including the Regional Parties.

Incidentally, the legal definition of: Public (Municipal) Works means all works, services, land, buildings, structures, roads, park structures, fencing, irrigation, landscape features (hard and soft), grassed or turfed areas, paved areas, footpaths, pathways, cycleways, natural features, park and street furniture, public lighting and associated structures which are to pass to or come under the control of the Local Government (LawInsider, 2024).

While the Representation of People’s Act, 1951 had apprehended, envisaged and drafted a statute to curb the overzealousness of political practices notwithstanding whether the parties were parochial in their inclinations, the law applies the same for all.

Sub-section (2) of Section 123 of the Representation of People’s Act, 1951 describes:

“Undue influence, that is to say, any direct or indirect interference or attempt to interfere on the part of the candidate or his agent, or of any other person with the consent of the candidate or his election agent, with the free exercise of any electoral right:

Provided that—

(a) without prejudice to the generality of the provisions of this clause any such person as is referred to therein who— 

(i) threatens any candidate or any elector, or any person in whom a candidate or an elector is interested, with injury of any kind including social ostracism and ex-communication or expulsion from any caste or community;” (RPA, 1951).

In furtherance, rather quite recently, the Chief Justice of India in Association for Democratic Reforms v Union of India (2024 INSC 113) observed:

“134. The expression of political beliefs is guaranteed under Article 19(1)(a). Forming political beliefs and opinion is the first stage of political expression. The freedom of political expression cannot be exercised freely in the absence of privacy of political affiliation. Information about a person’s political beliefs can be used by the State at a political level, to suppress dissent, and at a personal level, to discriminate by denying employment or subjecting them to trolls. The lack of privacy of political affiliation would also disproportionately affect those whose political views do not match the views of the mainstream” (CJI. D. Y. Chandrachud, 2024)”.