New Delhi: The debate about ‘outsiders’ role in the ongoing West Bengal elections deserve deeper studies and analyses. There is a need to look at things that are beyond the layers – what is seen by naked eyes or understood at their face values.
The Election Commission has pulled up Trinamool Congress supremo and West Bengal Chief Minister, Mamata Banerjee, for what it said were her “false, provocative statements” that “vilify” the central forces and causing extreme demoralisation among the ranks and files of the forces. The poll panel wants Mamata to respond by 1100 hours, Saturday.
The fourth phase of polling in West Bengal would also take on Saturday, April 10.
The raking up of this debate is directly linked to the future of Indian polity. If Mamata Banerjee succeeds in influencing ‘Bengali voters especially women’ by her ‘Nijer meye’ and ‘outsiders’ card, the entire shape of regional politics would change in India. This is more so because as a pan-India national party, the BJP is now the only party in the scene as the Congress is badly marginalised and thus, ‘fighting’ the BJP or the Narendra Modi-Amit Shah duo would be solely left to regional players in various states.
So ‘radical linguistic players’ banking on chauvanism like the ‘xenophobic’ Shiv Sena would become more relevant in respective states. Hope, Bengal does not set this bad precedent. One is typically mindful of Bengal’s bad influences – what Bengal thinks today etc etc.
My reference is also to a place called Kharagpur and that gave India or Delhi politics – the ‘muffler man’. Remember the aggressive chest-beating claim: I am an anarchist; and a sesperate attempt to sabotage Republic Day celebration.
Yes, talking about Mamata Banerjee – is she an anarchist ? The self-righteous ‘more Left than the Left’ ! She has really taken her anti-‘Bhoiragoto’ politics to a new narrative by her appeal to Bengali women to come out with ‘haata – khunti (kitchen spoons those matter – the larger the size, the larger impact they can have).
Her tirade is no longer just against Gujarati politicians. Her party has targeted ‘choti wallah Brahmins’ and needlessly the central armed forces.The Election Commission is also convinced that prima facie she has violated model code of conduct and sections 186, 189 and 505 of Indian Penal Code.
“Ms Banerjee is not realising that this kind of statement can create a wedge of distrust between the state police of West Bengal, who are also doing their own duty with the central forces, instead of complementing each other….. “Far more discouraging is the fact that Ms Banerjee has been trying to make an emotional pitch for the women voters to go to the extent of inciting them to attack the person of central police forces,” the EC said in its notice.
Analysing these have become all the more relevant as to remind the nation its ‘grip’ in national politics, the BJP celebrated its founding day on April 6. Of course ever since it has come to power, especially with an enhanced mandate in 2019, the saffron party is fulfilling all its erstwhile tall promises which even a few years ago were dismissed as mere wishful thinking.
The political detractors used to even mock — saying – “Mandir wohi Banayenge, Tariq nahi batayenge (We will make the temple at Ayodhya, but will not reveal the date)”. This entire narrative has been countered strongly. The Ram Temple armed with the Supreme Court verdict is now a reality!
Secondly, the Modi regime has implemented another major electoral promise – often clubbed as ‘contentious issues’ – and abolished the Article 370.
Now comes the story of BJP’s growth graph since 1980. Once it was dismissed as a party of north India and that too for Baniyas and Brahmins. Today, they have 12 legislators in Nagaland and their nominee Y Patton is the Deputy Chief Minister of a state which takes pride ‘in media and unofficially’ to claim being a state that pledged ‘Nagaland for Christ’. But we must look back too. When the BJP was floated after the split in ‘Janata Parivar’ – a result of post-Emergency politics, as party chief Atal Bihari Vajpayee was a big failure electorally. He himself lost in 1984 at Gwalior.
It may be mentioned that Vajpayee had the vision and the understanding to make a difference between BJP as a party and the RSS as a ‘bigger force’.
The BJP constitution pledged ‘Gandhian socialism. Of course, the economic elements in the socialist spirit standa as PM Modi has given his own phraseology ‘Sabha Saath….’ L K Advani soon took charge from Vajpayee and the BJP rejoiced in the reflected glories of ‘the Sardar Patel-2’. But with Narendra Modi, Shah and Yogi Adityanath things have moved a bit ahead.
“Wah rey Modi…,” remarks Union Minister Giriraj Singh, adding “It goes to the Prime Minister’s immense success that today leaders such as Rahul Gandhi and Mamata Banerjee have to visit temples”.
This is just one part of the story or tip of the iceberg. The symbolic temple run by political leaders such as Mamata Banerjee and Rahul Gandhi is also visible.
Well, it is pertinent to underline that even BJP’s well-known detractors like Rahul Gandhi and Mamata Banerjee should reconcile to accept ‘electoral defeat’ whenever that happens. Mamata is emerging as a bad loser even before the match is over. The Leftists are experts in giving spin to any story, any situation and turn ‘adverse’ moments as moments of self-glorification.
Their rumour mill industry and informal ‘adda campaigns’ too are just fantastically successful. Mamata Banerjee excels in these also. Her politics of blaming ‘outsiders’ is a dangerous game.
I have an important point to underline here as someone who covered post-Godhra Gujarat mayhem extensively in 2002, and not as a ‘riot tourist’ from intellectual newspapers in Kolkata. I slogged for a highly demanding news agency called PTI and was stationed in Ahmedabad for months. In my book, ‘Modi to Moditva’, I had underlined, “In Gujarat (2002 during riots), the issue could be between Hindus and Muslims …..but there was no issue between Gujaratis and non-Gujaratis. At the peak of the 2002 riots, the non-Gujarati journalists flourished in the state. This writer had the first-person experience….Thus, I often tell my friends that the native Gujarati and outsider (Hindus from other.
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