Hari shankar vyas
In the by-elections, which were held in three phases, voters of North India have given a special message to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The party has got a jolt in by-elections held in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand. Despite a massive victory in the Lok Sabha Elections, the BJP has not fared well in the by-elections for Assembly seats. Leaders of the three States think the people are not happy as they have been ignored and have thus sent a message to the party.
In Uttarakhand, all five Lok Sabha seats were won by the BJP. Three of these seats were won by former CMs, but none is a minister in the Narendra Modi Government. Likewise, in Bihar, BJP’s most vocal and prominent supporting castes – Brahmins and Bhumihars – were ignored. Even in the name of Rajputs’ representative, Radha Mohan Singh was made minister in place of Rajiv Pratap Rudy. The issue of UP’s veteran leader Rajnath Singh was publicised and that made an impact on the elections.
Even in the party organisation, veteran leaders in the three States were ignored. Bihar’s CP Thakur and Rameshwar Chaurasia didn’t find a place in the organisation; Vinay Katiyar and Varun Gandhi were moved out too. Bihar’s Rajnish Kumar and Anil Baluni from Uttarakhand have been accommodated in the organisation, but very few people know them. The party ignored mass leaders and equation of socio-caste factor. It preferred the known faces, thus had to bear the brunt.
New faces of Cong. spokespersons
The Congress has changed its list of spokespersons – has it been done under a specific strategy or it is the result of ongoing infighting in the party? In fact, this has happened due to both these reasons. On one hand, the party wanted to remove those faces from TV that were established as anti-Hindu faces, and on the other hand, a group close to Rahul Gandhi wanted to get rid of rivals. Faces of Manish Tewari and Rashid Alvi had been established as anti-Hindu and anti-BJP, whereas the Congress is gearing up to tread on soft Hinduism to regain lost ground. That is why it was decided to sideline both leaders. Due to this reason, Digvijaya Singh has not got a place in the list of five senior spokespersons and 13 general spokespersons. Statements against Anna Hazare and in support of the appointment of Sadhashivam affected Tewari’s prospects, whereas attack on Modi didn’t pan out well for Alvi.
Up BJP leaders’ Hindutva tune
In UP, leaders of the BJP are vociferously singing the tune of Hindutva. They had become active to secure their place much before the Assembly Elections. One of the leaders of BJP says the leaders of the State, who were faces of Hindutva during Ram temple movement, have either retired or have been marginalised. Kalyan Singh has become Governor and Vinay Katiyar has not found any place either in the Government or the party. So, there is competition to emerge as a fierce face of Hindutva.
Due to this competition, MP of Gorakhpur Yogi Adityanath has come to limelight after raising the issue of Love Jihad. During by-elections, he had appealed to people to back him so he can stop Love Jihad. Soon, an MP of Unnao, Sakshi Maharaj, targeted madrasas, mosques and the Muslim community.
Youth leaders step forward
The BJP is making some organisational changes. The Congress had started the process much earlier, though it has been stuck in the transition phase for years. But almost all regional parties are following the path of these two parties and pushing new leadership ahead.
In the Shiv Sena, second-generation leaders automatically came forward after the death of Bal Thackeray; Uddhav took over the command of the party and the leaders accepted him.
Among regional parties, Samajwadi Party was way ahead. Mulayam Singh Yadav handed over the baton to his son Akhilesh. In Bihar, Lalu Prasad’s next generation will soon take over the command of the party. Lalu recently underwent heart surgery in Mumbai and will not play a very active role in the day-to-day affairs of the party. His daughter Misa and son Tejaswi will hold the command of the party.
The BSP has also tried to give way to the new generation of leaders. Party chief Mayawati has removed all district coordinators of UP. After that, the State has been divided into nine zones and in-charges have been appointed there. Young leaders have been preferred for the posts.
The transition phase of the Akali Dal and DMK was too long; now it is being said that Stalin and Sukhbir Badal are going to take over command of their parties. In TRS, most of the work is being looked after by Chandra Sekhar Rao’s son and daughter. Mamata Banerjee is also pushing for her nephew Abhishek Banerjee.
Govt. implementing UPA decisions
It seems that the Modi Government will implement all the decisions taken by the previous UPA Government. The Government is trying to complete all works which were left midway by its predecessor. Increasing the rail fare was the first step. Then, the Modi Government had argued that it was only implementing the decision taken by the UPA Government. After that the process has been continuing. The Government increased the limit of FDI in insurance sector from 26 to 49 per cent, and interestingly this was also UPA’s decision. The other major decisions also had been started during the UPA tenure.
Now, the Modi Government has decided to disinvest its share in Navratna companies.The UPA Government was not able to achieve the target of disinvestment, but the NDA Government has achieved its target in one go.