Former Maharashtra minister Baba Siddique’s murder has brought back painful memories of the ’90s, when Mumbai’s ganglands carried out bloodshed on the city streets without any fear of law enforcement agencies. Siddique was under police protection.
An armed policeman was accompanying him at the time of his murder. Moreover, Siddique was killed on the day of Dasara. The police department was on high alert on that day because of the festivities and two major political rallies in the city — held by chief minister Eknath Shinde and Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray.
The larger police presence on the day did not, however, deter the assailants who executed their plans anyway. The incident was an embarrassment for the police department as well as the state government. Therefore, the police action should not be restricted merely to catch the culprits and bring them to justice. The actions are also needed to restore the public faith in the police department.
Siddique’s murder barely a month before the state Assembly election will also have political repercussions. The Shinde government has a lot to explain about law and order in the state. The former Congress minister had recently joined the Ajit Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party. However, that has not stopped the Opposition parties from mounting an attack on the government over the issue of public safety.
Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, who is BJP’s tallest leader in Maharashtra, has been the Opposition’s target because of the cases such as Pune Porsche hit-and-run, Badlapur school molestation, incidents of communal violence in Amravati and Akola etc. Siddique’s murder has provided yet another reason to the Opposition parties to demand Fadnavis’s removal.
As expected, Fadnavis brushed aside the Opposition’s charges saying they were playing politics over the “unfortunate incident”. But even common people are sceptical about the police department’s ability to deter criminals, and the ruling parties cannot ignore them, particularly during election time.
A suspected member of the Lawrence Bishnoi gang, through a social media post, has indicated that Siddique was killed because of his proximity with actor Salman Khan. The gang claims it wants to kill Salman Khan because of his alleged involvement in killing a blackbuck in September 1998. But the fact remains that gangs target Bollywood celebrities because it gives them instant publicity and strikes fear in the minds of the public. The Bishnoi gang came in the national limelight after killing singer, rapper Sidhu Moose Wala in 2022.
The Bishnoi gang is hiring hitmen from different states and carrying out crimes in different parts of the country. Ironically, Lawrence Bishnoi, the head of the gang, is in jail. But he continues to call the shots from there and the police cannot do anything about it despite knowing everything. This is unacceptable.
The law enforcement agencies need to sanitise jails, which have also become a recruitment platform for crime syndicates and stop inmates communicating freely with their associates outside. If it is allowed to go on unchecked, the days of ‘jungle raj’ in the country, not just in Maharashtra, are not far away.
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