The Congress government in Chhattisgarh has come under fire from the Bharatiya Janata Party over its decision to scrap the pension scheme for those detained under the Maintenance of Internal Security Act (MISA) during the Emergency between 1975 and 1977. The scheme, launched by the erstwhile BJP government led by Raman Singh, provided for a monthly pension for as many as 350 people from the government.
Under the scheme, people who were in jail for three months under MISA during Emergency were getting a monthly financial support of Rs 10,000. Those who spent six months got Rs 15,000 pension per month and those who spent over six months in jail received Rs 25,000 per month.
The pension scheme was launched in 2008 under the Loknayak Jaiprakash Narayan Samman Nidhi Rule. Under this rule, people who were jailed during Emergency (June 25, 1975, to March 31, 1977) with no criminal cases were given pensions. After their deaths, their wives continued to receive half the amount.
In January 2019, when the Congress formed the government in the state after 15 years, it stopped the payments and stated that it will undertake a physical verification of the beneficiaries. The beneficiaries then moved the court challenging the state government’s decision. While the case is still pending in the court, the state government on January 23 this year went ahead and scrapped the scheme.
“The Loknayak Jaiprakash Narayan (MISA/Defence of India Rules (DIR) DIR detainees) Samman Nidhi Rule, 2008, has been repealed,” reads the gazette notification issued by the General Administration Department of the state government.
The decision to scrap the scheme has invited sharp criticism from the opposition BJP and the people who were beneficiaries of the scheme.
Advocate Supriya Upasane, who represented the beneficiaries in the High Court, said that the court has ordered the government to clear the arrears, but the government has scrapped the rule.
Advocate General Satish Verma, who represented the state government in the High Court, said that the no court of law ever found them to be a victim.
“They protested, went against the law and were thus jailed. We are not under any compulsion to pay the pension. It was an earlier government’s decision and we have changed it,” Verma told The Indian Express.
Senior BJP MLA and Leader of Opposition Dharamlal Kaushik said that the Congress government’s decision was “anti-people” and amoiunted to “murder of democracy”. He demanded that rom the Bhupesh Baghel government immediately restore the pension scheme.
“The ruling Congress has been taking anti-people decisions one after another which is highly condemnable,” he said.
