The renewed political battle over the Disha Salian case
🖋️ *From The Desk of Abhijeet Rane*
The renewed political battle over the Disha Salian case shows why a criminal investigation and a political contest must remain separate. Uddhav Thackeray has warned of legal action over what he describes as “character assassination”, while Amit Thackeray has publicly said he does not believe Aaditya Thackeray could be involved. A CBI investigation is now underway, following years of competing allegations and an earlier Mumbai Police conclusion of suicide with no evidence of foul play. The sensible democratic standard is straightforward: neither political accusation nor political defence constitutes evidence. If fresh material exists, the CBI should test it independently and place its conclusions before the appropriate court. Equally, political parties should resist turning every investigative development into a verdict. A six-year-old death deserves a credible investigation, while individuals named in public discourse deserve the presumption of innocence unless evidence establishes otherwise.
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🖋️ *From The Desk of Abhijeet Rane*
The Mumbai-Goa highway has become a textbook case of how infrastructure delays can destroy public confidence even when governments continue announcing deadlines. Reports citing RTI information indicate that the project has faced years of delay and substantial cost escalation. For Konkan residents, however, the real cost cannot be measured only in crores: prolonged construction means unsafe stretches, traffic disruption, damaged local businesses and repeated inconvenience during the festival season. The larger administrative question is accountability. When a project continues across governments, ministers and contractors for years, responsibility becomes so dispersed that practically nobody is held answerable. Maharashtra needs a transparent project dashboard showing package-wise contractors, original deadlines, revised deadlines, expenditure and reasons for delay. Infrastructure cannot be judged by foundation stones and announcements. The only meaningful benchmark is whether citizens receive a safe, completed road within a defensible cost and timeframe.
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🖋️ *From The Desk of Abhijeet Rane*
The warning by sections of Maharashtra’s petrol-pump trade over UPI-related merchant charges raises a larger question about India’s digital-payment model. Consumers have become accustomed to instant, low-friction payments, and fuel stations are among the places where UPI has effectively replaced cash for millions. If merchant economics make accepting digital payments unattractive, simply expecting retailers to absorb every additional cost is not a sustainable policy. At the same time, shutting off UPI would inconvenience consumers and could reverse years of behavioural change toward digital transactions. The solution therefore lies neither in forcing merchants to bear an uneconomic burden nor in abruptly pushing customers back toward cash. The Centre, payment networks, banks and fuel dealers need a transparent cost-sharing framework. Digital India succeeds only when convenience for the consumer and commercial viability for the merchant can coexist; otherwise impressive transaction statistics conceal a fragile business model.
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🖋️ *From The Desk of Abhijeet Rane*
Uddhav Thackeray’s “Tumse Na Ho Payega” campaign has brought Marathwada’s development backlog, drought and farmers’ distress back into the political spotlight. At the Sambhajinagar protest, he claimed the region’s development, irrigation and infrastructure backlog had reached ₹60,000 crore and demanded drought relief where rainfall deficits are severe. Opposition campaigns serve a legitimate democratic purpose when they force governments to account for promises, but slogans alone cannot substitute for a measurable alternative programme. Marathwada has heard development packages from successive governments for decades. What it needs is district-wise disclosure of sanctioned projects, money actually released, irrigation capacity created and projects still incomplete. The government should answer those numbers; the opposition should explain what it would do differently. Marathwada’s chronic problems are too serious to become merely another campaign backdrop. The region needs measurable delivery rather than another cycle of accusation, announcement and forgotten deadlines.
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🖋️ *From The Desk of Abhijeet Rane*
West Bengal’s latest political turmoil combines three sensitive questions: party ownership, electoral fairness and criminal investigation. Mamata Banerjee has moved the Supreme Court against the Election Commission’s interim freezing of the original TMC name and symbol amid a factional dispute. Her faction also withdrew its Nandigram candidate and backed Congress nominee Milan Pradhan, who was subsequently arrested in connection with an old murder case. The timing has predictably triggered political allegations, but timing alone cannot establish either political vendetta or innocence. Police must demonstrate that the arrest rests on evidence and ordinary legal procedure, while the Election Commission must be able to explain its symbol decision through consistent principles applicable to every party split. In a politically charged by-election, institutional credibility matters as much as individual decisions. When every administrative action immediately appears partisan to one side, transparent reasoning and judicial scrutiny become essential safeguards rather than procedural formalities.
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