Though the Narendra Modi government took risk by engineering arrest by Delhi Chief Minister and AAP chief Aravind Kejriwal at the time of Lok Sabha elections in Delhi Liquor case, the ruling BJP seems to be pushing into defence internationally and also in domestic matters.
Though the Jawaharlal Nehru University is known as a Left fort, the university administration chose to hold Students Union elections after a gap of five years because the ABVP was confident of winning this time.
Scheduling the elections just before the Lok Sabha elections cannot be an accident either. Wresting the ‘Left bastion’ by the ABVP would have added to the mounting efforts by the BJP to project that it no longer faces any challenge, that even the youth in JNU had now fallen in line.
In fact, initial counting trends indicate ABVP is leading in all four key posts. However, the results turned different and the Left swept all the posts and ABVP was unable to register a small presence also in the new Students Union.
ABVP supporters accusing that it was due to `untimely arrest of Kejriwal’ damaged their historic chances of winning JNUSU. Observers felt that some traditional supporters of BJP, particularly in urban areas are also unable to digest the process adopted by the central government.
Meanwhile, some indications are available that the Modi government seems to be on the offensive on this issue internationally also. Already a German diplomat voices a negative view point.
The United States also expressing its concern said that it encourages a “fair and transparent” legal process for Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal who has been arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in a money laundering case linked to the liquor policy scam.
The US reaction came days after Germany made a similar statement, saying the chief minister was entitled to a fair and impartial trial. “We assume and expect that the standards relating to the independence of Judiciary and basic democratic principles will also be applied in this case,” German foreign ministry spokesperson Sebastian Fischer said on Friday.
However, India termed his remarks an interference in its judicial process and lodged a strong protest by summoning the German deputy chief of mission in New Delhi on Saturday.
