AAP hurts common Banarasis
Banaras is the spiritual-cultural capital of India. It is prime centre of aastha and shraddha for corers of Hindus world over since centuries. They look at it for spiritual guidance. Since nobody can imagine Kashi without Baba Vishwanath and the Ganga, if somebody tries to insult any of them no Banarasi would tolerate it. But the Aam Adami Party (AAP) leaders and workers failed to understand this common sense of the city. That is why they miss no opportunity to hurt the people.
Banaras is in the news this time because BJP’s Prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi is contesting from here. He came here not only to win the election but also to win the hearts of people. This is what one realises from his first public speech here. But Kejriwal is here only to remain in the news and not to win. He has negligible local support and for the entire election campaign he has to depend upon outside followers, which he collected from JNU or the left outfits. It is needless to mention anything about the mentality of JNUites. They live in their own ‘world’. Even in Delhi they have no interaction with the common masses. Then how will they interact with the people of Banaras can easily be understood? This is the reason Kejriwal’s campaign has been in questions from the day it was kicked off.
Though, Kejriwal claims to be an atheist, he preferred to start his campaign by having a dip in the Ganga. But before taking the dip he waited for half an hour for a ‘green towel’. Then he visited Baba Vishwanath Temple. When he came out from the temple he had sandal tripund on his forehead. When he visits the Hindu saints he wears the cap printed in Hindi. But when he visits Muslim clerics he replaces it with Urdu. This hypocrisy has hugely been criticised in the city.
Soon after reaching Banaras for campaign he calculatedly stayed in the guest house of famous Sankat Mochan Mandir. But following protest by local people he had to vacate it within three days. Another incident which irked the people of Banaras was a talk show organised by India TV at Assi Ghat. For it the representatives of various political parties and political commentators were invited. Somnath Bharati represented the AAP. In middle of the debate, Bharati started passing derogatory remarks against Modi, his wife and Baba Ramdev. He said ‘Modi ke muhan par jhadu marunga’ (I will throw broom on the face of Modi). It hurt the audience assembled at the talk show. Some of them first warned him and then assaulted even during the show itself. Now Prof Kaushal Kishore Mishra, who was invited by India TV for the show as a political analyst, has been arrested for the attack. Surprisingly, the police could recognise only Prof Mishra since there were over four hundred people there at that time.
The street plays being staged by Kejriwal supporters are also hurting the people. They could not understand the difference between JNU campus and Banaras. They did not hesitate to even urinate in the Ganga on April 28. It angered the locals so much that they thrashed them. Arvind Kejriwal may claim himself as an atheist, but it does not give him or his associate the free hand to play with the sentiments of the people. That is why there is huge anguish against ‘team Kejriwal’ among the people of Banaras. It is this anguishes which reflects in the clashes.
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