When politics won and humanity lost

Bhanu P Lohumi

APART from the populist decisions and feverish political activity that culminated in the Assembly elections, 2017 was marked by unsavoury events like Gudiya rape and murder case and landmark judicial verdicts that indicated at the declining level of governance, particularly the inability of the police to handle important cases of crime.

As the state went to the polls, the BJP wrested power with an emphatic win and dethroned the Congress, keeping alive the 32-year-old tradition of change of guard every poll season. The state witnessed a generational shift with BJP leader Jai Ram Thakur hurtling past towering leaders like Virbhadra Singh and Prem Kumar Dhumal to adorn the office of the chief minister. The 52-year-old Rajput leader became the first from Mandi district to rise to the post. The twist came about when BJP’s chief ministerial face Prem Kumar Dhumal lost the poll. State BJP chief Satpal Singh Satti and five sitting Congress cabinet ministers also lost the battle of ballots.

The BJP fell two short of two-third majority, winning 44 seats in the 68-member house while the ruling Congress had to contend with 21 seats. The CPI(M) scripted history by winning Theog seat in Shimla, while two independents romped home too. The BJP didn’t just improve its tally from 26 in 2012 to 44, it also increased its vote share from 38.47 to 48.8 per cent. 

However, what shook the state out of its daily rigmarole were the gruesome gang-rape and murder of a teenage girl in Kotkhai and the mysterious murder of a forest guard. The two killings exploded the myth of a calm Himachal. A custodial death that followed and the arrest of senior police officers by the CBI for allegedly shielding the real culprits smeared the image of the men in khaki, who have always enjoyed a better reputation than their counterparts in the neighbouring states.

The fact that the government was forced to handover the cases to the CBI put a big question mark on the functioning of the state police. These cases led to public outcry and Himachal remained on the boil, bringing the government to its knees.

Repeated raps from the courts over the government’s failure to remove encroachments and check illegal felling of trees and unauthorised construction showed the government in poor light. However, it was the final NGT order banning illegal constructions that put it in the dock.

Meanwhile, former CM Virbhadra Singh continued to grapple with cases registered against him by the CBI, Income Tax department and the Enforcement Directorate, but managed to complete his five-year term.

A tug-of-war between Virbhadra Singh and Himachal Pradesh Congress Committee president Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu over supremacy in the party plagued the ruling Congress while uncertainty prevailed in the BJP over leadership. However, both parties preferred Virbhadra and Dhumal — old war horses — to lead in the assembly polls.

Gudiya rape and murder, and custodial death

In July, the hill state was shamed by the gang-rape and brutal murder of a 16-year-old school girl, who had gone missing on her way home from school. Her body was recovered from Halila forests in Kotkhai two days later, sparking vehement protests. Custodial death of Suraj, an accused in the case, added more fuel to the fire, triggering immense public outrage. A violent mob set ablaze the Kotkhai police station. The subsequent arrest of nine police officials, including an IG, SP and DSP, in the custodial death case was unprecedented and sullied the image of the police accused of hushing up the rape and murder case. The CBI chargesheet in the case accused the police officials of torturing Suraj to death and further cast a shadow on the state police. 

Elsewhere on poll turf

Politically, it was a good year for the BJP, and not just in the Vidhan Sabha elections. The party scripted history by capturing the prestigious Shimla Municipal Corporation (SMC) for the first time in 32 years. It won 17 out of 34 seats in the SMC and bagged the coveted posts of mayor and deputy mayor in the indirect elections. 

Kusum Sadret, a Dalit councillor from the reserved Annadale ward, was elected as the 13th Mayor. Rakesh Kumar Sharma became deputy mayor. 

In the Assembly byelection for Bhoranj seat, vacated after the death of veteran BJP leader Ishwar Dass Dhiman, party candidate Anil Dhiman defeated the Congress candidate by 8,000 votes.

Snow paralysis

Shimla administration was caught unawares as the year’s first heavy snowfall in the second week of January brought life to a halt. Power and water supply were disrupted, roads closed and telecommunication links snapped by 53 cm of snow. The state’s capital went without electricity for three days and upper Shimla remained cut off from the rest of the state. A large number of tourists returned from Shoghi. 

Fatal landslide

A massive landslide buried two HP government buses near Padhar on the Mandi-Pathankot National Highway in August, killing 46 passengers and injuring several others. The ill-fated buses were on their way from Chamba to Manali and Manali to Dharamsala. These were in motion when the landslide occurred and both the buses were swept away by huge mounds of marshy debris.