In another bizarre incident, the Congress government in Madhya Pradesh has suspended a lecturer for a Facebook post predicting a big win for the BJP in the Lok Sabha polls.
Rajeshwar Shastri Musalgaonkar, a Sanskrit lecturer and head of the Department of Sanskrit-Ved-Jyotirvigyan of Vikram University, Ujjain, was suspended on disciplinary grounds. The Higher Education Department of the state government recommended disciplinary action under MP Universities Act, 1973.
These steps from the Congress government come after a Ujjain based Congress worker had filed a complaint against Rajeshwar Shastri Musalgaonkar with the district returning officer claiming that the prediction by a government employee in support of a particular party is violation of the Model Code of Conduct and, therefore, punishable under the MP Civil Services (Conduct) Rules.
However, Mr. Musalgaonkar has indicated that he will be moving to the high Court against this suspension .He also pointed that he was not given a fair opportunity to present his case. He also claimed that a student posted the comment on Facebook using his phone without his knowledge. “The moment someone brought the post to my knowledge I deleted it and apologized for it,” he said.
These steps by the congress government only point towards their desperation to save political ground against the BJP. While Mr. Musalgaonkar has maintained that he is politically neutral and his predictions were objectively based on hi s research, congress move to suspend him also raise sharp questions on the Kamal Nath Government in the state.
This step by Congress might be fallout of its continually receding popularity after it won marginally in the 2018 assembly elections. Kamal Nath has also been under a lot of pressure for underperforming compared to the previous Shivraj Singh Government. The Congress made a promise of waiving farmer loans while going into the assembly elections in 2018 in multiple states; however implementation inefficiencies have clouded the scheme with an image of a populist election stunt. So was the case with Shivnarayan, A farmer from a village in Agar Malwa, 190 km from Bhopal who was stunned to see Rs 13 mentioned against his name. Shivnarayan said “The state government had promised to waive loans up to Rs. 2 lakh. Forms were filled and I was expecting a complete waiver of my loan amount of Rs. 20,000. But the list that has come to the panchayat says only Rs. 13 has been waived,” Hameed Khan, a farmer from Khargone i.e. Kamal Naths’ constituency , said he took a loan of Rs.10,000, but the loan waiver against his name was of Rs. 232 only. Cases of even nonexistent individuals receiving loan waiver have also surfaced.
After shocking steps taken by the Congress government in Rajasthan to edit parts related to freedom fighter Veer Savarkar from the sates educational curricula. This move by Kamal Nath government to target a lecturer is not only condemnable but also exposes the hypocritical nature of congress. These developments come after Supreme Court had to intervene to secure release of a political activist for sharing satirical content on WB CM Mamata Banerjee. Incidents like these are sure intended to strike fear into people for voicing their thoughts even if they are totally objective.
