Opinion: NCP Split Shows How BJP Normalises Political Corruption

Political heat added to the hot Mumbai summer with Ajit Pawar leading a troop of NCP MLAs from the opposition to the Eknath Shinde-BJP government in Maharashtra. The move was driven by the BJP's need to insulate its government from a wafer-thin majority in the event of 16 Shiv Sena MLAs being disqualified while seeking the Supreme Court's directions to the Maharashtra Speaker to expeditiously consider their disqualification petition. The decision was also guided by the dwindling political stock of the Shinde-led dispensation in Maharashtra, as indicated by the setbacks it faced - losing the Agriculture Produce Market Committee (APMC) elections in May, winning only one of four MLC seats, the loss of BJP's fortress Kasba Peth in a bypoll in March to rival Congress, and the long-delayed Mumbai civic body Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections.

Despite the crude political considerations at play, the switchover reveals a worrying normalisation and deployment of political corruption that's hollowing out governance and democracy in Maharashtra.

Betrayal of people's trust and mandate

It's still fresh in voters' memories how Prime Minister Narendra Modi called out the NCP as a "Naturally Corrupt Party". He had specifically held out Chhagan Bhujbal and Ajit Pawar, now sworn in as ministers, as icons of corruption. The Prime Minister was not alone in repeatedly centering the BJP's campaign in Maharashtra on the plank of rooting out the corruption and nepotism that according to the BJP, was exemplified by the NCP. Top BJP leaders campaigned on this plank. Devendra Fadnavis famously promised to throw Ajit Pawar in jail by saying his future is "Chakki peesing, peesing, peesing," borrowing lines from the blockbuster Sholay to describe prison.