RAIPUR: The BJP-ruled Chhattisgarh government will introduce a bill in the ongoing Assembly budget session to restore the pensions for those detained under the Maintenance of Internal Security Act (MISA) during the Emergency 1975-77.The state cabinet has approved the draft of the bill, with the legislation to be referred to as ‘Chhattisgarh Loktantra Senani Samman Vidheyak-2025’.“Chhattisgarh will present the bill in the House as was done earlier by the Madhya Pradesh state, and make a law to ensure the scheme of MISA pensions is governed by it and cannot be scrapped as was done by the Bhupesh Baghel government. We had earlier shared the outline of the Madhya Pradesh bill on it with the state government before the cabinet nod,” said Sachidanand Upasne, national vice-president of Loktantra Senani Sangh and senior BJP leader.With the return of the BJP to power in December 2023, the hopes for the MISA detainees revived. The chief minister, Vishnu Deo Sai, last year declared that the pension ‘Samman Nidhi’ for MISA detainees would be restarted.The Congress rule in Chhattisgarh in 2019 discontinued the monthly pension programme launched by the erstwhile BJP government in 2008 for the MISA detainees (Loktantra Senani), who were jailed during the 1975-77 Emergency period.“There are around 350 MISA beneficiaries in Chhattisgarh,” Upasne said.“MISA detainees are not freedom fighters, so why should they be entitled to such pensions?” the former chief minister, Bhupesh Baghel, had said after putting the disbursement of the pension of all beneficiaries on hold during the Congress regime.The Congress government’s assumption was that, as per Article 282, the power remains with the government to withdraw any decisions taken by it.In January 2022, a division bench of the Chhattisgarh High Court declared the state’s decision on scrapping the pension scheme as against the rules and nullified it. Following this, the Congress government filed a special leave petition (SLP) in the Supreme Court, which stayed the high court order.MISA detainees were given pensions ranging from Rs 10,000 to Rs 25,000 in three different categories.“The Sai government has withdrawn the SLP. We welcome the state government’s decision to enact a law offering a big relief to the MISA detainees. With such a law enforced, no government can stop the pensions in future,” Upasne affirmed.
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