(KC Kalkura)
It need not be said that the Rath Yathra of Advani had revived the BJP. The moment the BJP came to power in 1914, Advani became a persona-non-grata; person of no consequences. Even by mistake, not once the name of Prof Balraj Madhok is heard.
Vajpayee and Deendayal Upadhyaya are for vote bank politics. It is neither Indian Govt nor BJP Govt, but it is “Modi Govt everywhere.” Look at the post 2019 election scenes, a few examples. In May, 2021 BJP repeated its victory in the Assam Legislative Assembly. However Sarbananda Sonowal, a cadre leader was replaced by an erstwhile Congressman Himantha Biswa Sarma.
A former Lieutenant of Mamatha Banarjee is the Leader of the Opposition in the West Bengal Assembly. He won the elections on the Lotus symbol in May 2021. Castigated by the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), the Health Minister, Etela Rajendar resigned for the Ministership and the membership of the Assembly of the Huzurabad Assembly in Telangana. He was the BJP Candidate for the by elections in November 2021 and emerged victorious. It was hailed more as the personal triumph than the party’s victory.
BJP engineered the defection of Rajagopal Reddy, the Congress MLA of Munugode in Telangana and set him up as its candidate in the by elections in November 2022. However the TRS candidate K Prabhakar Reddy was the winning horse.
Unceremonious removal of Chief Ministers, tossing and imposing the will of Delhi was the congress culture. BJP is not lagging behind. E,g, The Septuagenarian Chief Minister, the popular and the powerful Lingayat leader B.S.Yediyurappa had fallen from grace with the BJP High Command. In July 2021 he was replaced by another Veerasaiva Leader Basavaraj Bommai. Bommai was not baptized into politics in the saffron. Nor is he a novice to politics. He inherited the legacy of his father, Somappa Rayappa Bommai of the Janata Party. Senior Bommai was himself Chief Minister of Karnataka in 1988 and ’89 and a Central Minister from 1996 to ’98 in Deve Gowda’s Cabinet. Where is the principle of ‘no inheritance’ and value based politics!
Newspapers carried headlines on the selections of the candidates for the Gujarat elections in November 2022: “DYNASTY RULES ON BOTH SIDES OF GUJARAT POLITICS IN TICKETS CHOICE. Despite the PM’s strictures against nepotism, his party in his native state has imported dynasties from the opposition Congress to field them in the upcoming Assembly elections: about 50 candidates across parties have family connections.”
“BJP and Congress face dissent over choice of Candidates for Gujarat poll.”
“Gujarat elections 2022 | BJP releases list of 160 candidates, 38 sitting MLAs dropped – Women and Congress turncoats given preference as BJP announced first list of 160 candidates for next month’s Gujarat Assembly elections”.
“The party has dropped as many as 38 sitting legislators while as many Congress turncoats find a place in the list. The BJP has fielded Rivaba Jadeja, who joined the party in 2019, as its candidate for the Jamnagar North seat for the polls, dropping current MLA Dharmendrasinh M. Jadeja, who is a Congress turncoat, after the High Court declined to withdraw criminal proceedings against him in a rioting case on Wednesday.”
“Former Chief Minister Vijay Rupani, Ministers from the previous Gujarat administration opted out of the Assembly elections.”
“The ruling party has fielded the Congress -import Hardik Patel from Viramgam, his home turf in Ahmedabad district seat. Mr. Patel was the face of the Patidar quota agitation and was the working president of Gujarat Congress before he moved to the ruling party in August.”
“From Morbi, where a bridge collapse killed over 135 people on October 29, the party replaced the sitting MLA and Minister Brijesh Merja, and instead selected Kanti Amrutiya, a former MLA who had lost in 2017. Mr. Merja was also a Congress turncoat who defected to the ruling party in 2020 and was made a Minister in 2021.”
“The party has dropped as many as 38 sitting legislators including outgoing Assembly Speaker Nimaben Acharya and Cabinet Ministers Pradip Parmar, Rajendra Trivedi and others.”
“A number of former senior Ministers including former Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel opted out of the polls. The change, say BJP insiders, is because of the old maxim, that to make sure things remain the same, much change has to take place. As the party has been in power for two and half decades and whole generations have no first-hand memory of a non-BJP-ruled Gujarat, the change has to be radical to combat the fatigue factor and prevent an exodus of young voters from alternatives out of sheer boredom. ‘This change was necessary to allow young voters to vote for the BJP again — to vote for the old party but which looks very different,’ said a senior leader of the BJP involved in party affairs.”
“Senior party leaders including the former Chief Minister Vijay and Nitinbhai Patel had expressed that they will not contest and will work for the party,’ said Bhupender Yadav at the briefing in New Delhi.”
“BJP Sweeps Gujarat”. “WINNING FORMULA – BJP Strategy works regions; but Congress needs State specific tactics.”
“BJP’s historic victory can be attributed to the voters’ faith in Modi, the high levels of satisfaction with the Central and State Governments and a divided opposition.”
This reminds of the Kamaraj Plan. Impressed by Kamaraj’s achievements and anemone, PrimeMinister Jawaharlal Nehru felt that his services were needed more at the national level. He was relieved from the Chief Ministership of Madras (present Tamilnadu) and appointed the President of All India Congress Committee. In 1963, Kamaraj Nadaer, as the Congress President suggested that the senior Congress leaders resign from the official positions and take up the Party work. Six Union Ministers and six Chief Ministers including Lal Bahadur Sashtri, Jagjivan Ram, Morarji Desai, Biju Patnaik and S K Patil followed suit and resigned from their posts. However sometime later Lal Bahadur Sasthri was drafted as Minister without Portfolio to assist the Prime Minister.
It need not be told that Nehru was succeeded by Sasthry, Indira Gandhi, a dark horse, was the choice of the powerful syndicate for Prime Ministership to succeed Sastry. Syndicate consisted of Kamaraj, Sanjeeva Reddy, Nijalingappa, Ahylya Ghosh and S K Patil. The rightful choice Morarji Desai was sidelined because he was a firm leader. The Syndicate thought that it could not wag its tail with him. Indira was an innocent, meek person and amenable for political placating. As history tells us, the future proved otherwise. Deserted by the Syndicate, Indira was surrounded by the socialists and communists. Particular mention must be made of the YOUNG TURKS consisting of Chandrasekhar, Mohan Daria, Sathyendra Narayan Sinha and Ram Dhan, all erstwhile Socialists. They ferociously bounced on those who criticised Congress and Indira. They were the guardians of the Sovereign, Socialist, and Secular Democratic India. With the infamous emergency, Young Turks became hostile and a new bandwagon consisting of HR Gokhale, Siddarth Sankar Ray, HK Burooh and others rose to defend Indira. Its sycophancy reached the pinnacle when some of them started chanting ‘Indira is India and India is Indira.’ Cumulative effect was the defeat of the congress in 1977 general elections to the Lok Sabha. Adding insult to injury, both Indira and her bayonet son Sanjay were worsted.
A tamed Indira, sans bandwagon started a quiet life. The weakness of the grand alliance, Janata Party witnessed its fall and saw Indira back in power in 1980. Her pampered boy in Punjab, Bhindranwale outclassed her strategies and bent upon creating Khalistan through terroris. Nothing short of a military operation within the Golden Temple could quell the uprising. The angered Sikh Community nursed so much of a grudge that two Sikh Security Guards of the Prime Minister themselves assassinated Indira Gandhi. Sympathy wave saw Rajiv Gandhi in power with a record majority in 1984. Power and position alone became the criteria in the administration; self-first and last and sacrifice least. Again in 1989 it saw a dip, a short rule by V P Singh and Chandrasekhar. By this time politics had been the monopoly of the corrupt and unruly. PV Narasimha Rao managed for a term from 1991 to 1996. Deve Gowda and Inder Kumar Gujral were elected Prime Ministers by default. Vajpayee had a quiet term. Many, common men as well political commentators term Manmohan Singh as the Proxy Prime Minister for Sonia.
Irrespective of parties, with varying degrees, 21st Century is witnessing the politics by criminals and contractual socialists. Name any kind of favouritism and corruption politics is the example. It may be a herculean task to extricate the political morality preached by the Father of the Nation from fathom deep. Under the circumstances BJP is bent upon repeating its Gujarat performance in the poll bound states in 2023; Tripura, Meghalaya and Nagaland, in February; Karnataka, May; Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Mizoram, November and Rajasthan, Telangana and Jammu and Kashmir, December. Famous Telugu revolutionary poet Sri Sri said: “The whole of human history is full of mutual accusations. (నర జాతి చరిత్ర సమస్తం పరస్పర నిందారోపణ పర్వం )”. While mutual accusations continue, we find the accused and accuser frequently changing sides. No party is an exception for horse trading. (Concluded)
(KC Kalkura, Advocate and Social Activist, President, Gadicherla Foundation & A.P.Grandhalaya Association, Sankalbagh, NR Pet, Kurnool. Mob: 9440292979. Mail; kalkurakurnool@gmail.com)