MVA’s inquiry-a-day routine is a joke

That the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi government is a three-horse slow trot, with each horse exerting contrary pressure against the other two, is well-known. Every other day, the government notionally headed by Uddhav Thackeray provided evidence of working at cross purposes, in the absence of a Central authority to ensure cohesiveness in its policies and approach. The latest case of bizarre conduct is the order given by Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh to investigate the tweets by prominent Mumbaikars enlisting solidarity for the farm reforms. Lata Mangeshkar, Sachin Tendulkar, Akshay Kumar and a few others, responding to the tweets by foreign celebrities such as Rihanna and Greta Thunberg, had tweeted in support of the Centre’s stand. Whether some or all of them were nudged into tweeting by the ruling BJP is not a matter of investigation. For nobody has hinted about any pressure, though given the near-simultaneous tweets polite encouragement from BJP leaders cannot be ruled out. But how it becomes a matter of inquiry defies common sense. Unless by ordering an inquiry, Deshmukh is warning the Mumbai-based celebrities to be careful, lest the MVA makes their life miserable. Which the MVA, especially the Shiv Sena, is quite adept at. What sort of a joke is this that the government undertakes a probe when nobody has complained about, but closes its eyes when an Opposition leader is paraded with his face blackened and Deshmukh’s police acts as a helpless spectator? Meanwhile, the inspiration for orders on the laughable inquiry into the celebrity tweets most likely came from Sharad Pawar, when the latter ticked off Tendulkar for comment on a matter about which he had no knowledge. Yes, the NCP boss is right. Rihanna and Thunberg hold master’s degrees on the Indian farm sector.