Ram temple in Ayodhya not an election issue in Bihar

Abhinandan Mishra

Patna

The construction of Ram Temple or rather the failure to do it is not an election issue for the voters of Bihar.

Voters with whom I interacted in the last 10 days, said that they had no anger with the BJP for not building a Ram Temple in Ayodhya, something that the party has been campaigning for long now. 

In Fact it were mix of other issues like Pakistan, Pulwama, a perception that there has been an overall decrease in the level of corruption in the country , roads, electricity and employment that is being discussed to determine whom to vote for. 

"We are not concerned with Ram Temple, it is good if it is built, it doesn't matter if is not. When we discuss politics, we talk about jobs, nationalism, roads, law and order, medical facilities, things that affect our life directly. The Modi government, overall, has given good governance and the opposition doesn't have any credible face who can match him", said 29 years old Nanhe Singh of Patna. 

For Mukesh Kumar, 32,who resides in Masaurhi, a sub division of Patna, and works as a driver, better infrastructure and smoother traffic conditions in Patna was the main issue. "I do keep reading about Ram Temple but it is not a huge issue for me. We have Hanuman temple, kali temple in Patna which is enough. I would be more happy if the government focuses on improving traffic conditions, removing encroachment in Patna. These local issues affect my life, not whether a temple is built in Ayodhya or not", he said. 

In Patna Sahib, the NDA candidate and Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad too is focusing on local issues and national issues like Pakistan and his claims of a corruption free government that Modi has given. While he started his campaign almost one month ago, the Grand Alliance candidate, Shatrughan Sinha, began his campaign only last week. Sinha, who recently joined the Congress, got a rude welcome at the Congress office in Sadaqat Ashram where many Congress workers sat on a protest against his nomination. Ravi Shankar Prasad, who is putting everything he has got into his campaign is trying to touch every part of the huge constituency that is spread across 6 assembly seats. Prasad who is contesting a lok sabha poll for the first time is also facing some resistance from pocket of Kayastha voters who wanted the party ticket to be given to either Rk Sinha or his son,Rituraj Sinha. 

 "No one in our circle cares about Ram temple in Ayodhya. Who has the time? I am more concerned about better connectivity between Arrah and Patna as that will help me reaching home on time. For me sanitation in and around Hanuman temple will get more appreciation for the government rather than a Ram Temple in Ayodhya ", said Sushma Devi, an attendant in a local hotel in Patna. 

Patna, which for many years lacked basic infrastructure, is slowly moving towards a state where it can match its status of a state capital. In the recent few years, mobile based applications like Swiggy, Food Panda, Ola, Uber, which did not found it conducive to function in Patna, have now become popular now. 

Observers say this has happened because of an overall increase in infrastructure, electricity and improved law and order which has given confidence to investors to invest money in the state. 

"Lalu ji got 15 years time, Nitish and Modi have got less than that but they have managed to change many things in Bihar. I do not think that the voters will want to derail this way of governance", said a Patna based senior journalist. 

How will the BJP use Modi

The three day Sadhbhavna fast under taken by the Gujarat CM, Narendra Modi has finally managed to push him on to the national stage from where he will look to play a more pan-India role.

The decision of Modi to abstain from food for three days to promote  unity in the state came at a time when the octogenarian and the BJP PM in waiting since time immemorial, LK Advani had just announced his decision to go on an all India Rath yatra to highlight corruption in the country .

This much televised and massively twitterized fast of Modi has managed to take the away the hype and the buzz that the announcement of Advani had generated.

Political commentators feel that the decision of RSS to  support Modis fast rather than Advanis yatra has made it clear as to how much clout does Modi  enjoys in the RSS circles.

Tough time calls for BJP

The 2009 general elections didn’t turn out as the BJP had expected, as a matter of fact, I too was surprised by Congress’s win. But as we now see that surprise defeat was not the end of problem for the saffron party, but just the beginning.

The Chintan Baithak at the scenic and cool Shimla got off to a rather hot start with the safari suit clad Jaswant Singh being expelled from the party. Not quite a long back, he along with Atal and Advani constituted the face of BJP.

He might not had a dramatic rise but a crestfallen Jaswant Singh sure had a rollicking downfall. No single reason can be attributed to the recent development.

The crab mentality that plagues every organization, which currently is working at full force for BJP, the emergence of new ‘young’ leaders, who have waited years for their turn to come but all in vain, the recent poll debacle, the RSS factor, and the slow but steady disappearance of Atal from the party, all made it easy to show Jaswant the door.

We have been hearing the same name in BJP for all these years. Names that have been in queue to climb up the ladder, a ladder whose top three stairs have been booked for Atal, Adavni and Jaswant. Of all the three, Jaswant was the weakest, and he had to go. Advani will be next and with Atalji retired, it will be everyone for himself for the next generation of party leaders.

The loss in general election was a good ground to start with the assault. RSS saw it as a golden opportunity to once again tighten its grip over the party. RSS had reasons to believe that in recent years its hold over the party had been shrinking. With Jaswant Singing Jinnah and blasting Patel, they found a much needed cause to show who the boss is.

The other big reason is that BJP is still figuring out what to do with the Muslim population. It is still going to and from whether to appease the minority population go soft on Hindutva or stick to hard core Hindutva. In between this undecided scenario, Jaswant thought that maybe praising Jinnah was the next best thing to do after denouncing Patel. And as we all now know, neither of them worked in the way he expected it to be.

There have been far greater grounds for axing leaders in BJP in the past, but as I said, if it was just on the basis of the core reason, Jaswant would have been still alive and kicking. It is obnoxious to expel a leader who have been in the party for the last 30 years, who had just won a lok Sabah election by more than 3 lakhs vote and a man who did good, if not great work in various capacity at the central level, just because he wrote a book.

To start with there was no bigger ground than Kandahar to expel a few sleeping man who waited for the god to intervene before the aircraft took off to Kandahar, then came Kargil, still the same old guys continued to ‘serve’ the nation.

And finally came Gujarat. Not trying to sound a pseudo secularist, what happened at Godhra was and is unpardonable and and exception should have been made out and the perpetrators should have been given a medieval kind of punishment. But whatever happened thereafter could and should have been controlled had the BJP state government followed Raj Dharma as Atal pointed out.

BJP right now is going through a churning process, which as we all know is not very memorable. From now on it will be Advani who will have to fight and stave attacks, depending on whether he has any desire to do so.

Don’t think that Rajnath Singh will have to bear the same as he doesn’t have ambitions that require a bloodbath as he knows his position, strengths and weaknesses well. Sushma swaraj too is now a shadow of her former self, and with no Atal to provide her support she too will be contended in whatever she is offered.

The two people to look out in the near future are Modi and Jaitley. They will be the two poles that the others will have to choose from in the near future.

But a party cannot be run by two men who are highly ambitious. Atal always knew that he can never be replaced or upstaged. And Adavani too was aware and accepted the fact that he will be more highly rewarded if he stays with Atal, if not behind him. There was never a dichotomy or any doubt in any of the BJP workers mind that who had the final say in the party matter and that made for a smooth running. In a relationship, of every nature, one has to be one percent more than the other for it to blossom.

And between Modi and Jaitley, one of the two has to realize this. The sooner they do it, the better it will be for them and for the party. RSS should limit its role to that of a guardian, and that too in a strict sense, only coming in the picture when it’s truly required.

There is a difference between meddling and offering advice. This is something that Mohan Bhagwat has to make himself and his organization understand.

The Chintan baithak will come out with many ideas, but only with time, will the BJP regains it full glory, till then it has to wait and bid its time.

Looking at a larger perspective, India, just like any other democracy, will be benefitted more if we have a strong opposition party, which as of now is nowhere to be seen.

Saffron surge in Madhya Pradesh

Madhya Pradesh which sends 29 MPs to the parliament and is traditionally known for its bipolar politics is experiencing a changed sceanrio as lesser parties like Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and Samajwadi Party (SP) have started making their presence felt in the central state.

In the previous 2004 general election, the BJP riding on a popular wave and a strong anti-Congress feeling won 25 of Madhya Pradesh's 29 seats with the rest going to Congress. Prominent winners of Congress included Kamalnath and JyotirAditya Scindia.

This time too, experts feel that BJP will romp home quite comfortably. This so called positive feeling for BJP is not being attributed to any national issues like internal security or job opportunities but local issues on which BJP is on a strong platform.

The state government under Shivraj Singh Chauhan has grown stronger with each passing day. His simple yet effective way of governing and his emphasis on development has made sure that the BJP cadre has enough related ammunitions to deal with any congress tirade.

The different state of affairs which the state saw under Digvijay Singh and the scenario under the present CM is quite stark.

In the previous general election the state was virtually nil when it came to good roads and regular electricity supply. But that has changed. Similarly the CM who himself comes from a rural background has made amply sure that the rural segment is not ignored due to which the state has witnessed an all-round development.

The party faced many a discontent during the previous assembly election but most of them were settled amicably as every party leader knows that in the present time BJP is going through a golden period in the state and it would be suicidal to go against the party wish, especially against the CM.

The BJP is functioning so well in the state that former Union minister Sushma Swaraj - the BJP's Election in charge for Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand - is in the fray from this Vidisha constituency. Call it the real ‘feel good’ factor.

Out of the 29 seats there are more than at least half a dozen seat where the contested is expected to be one sided. Most of them in favor of BJP. Congress though can safely bet their money only on Kamalnath and Scindia.

The only million dollar question that one can speculate on is whether the BJP will be bale to improve on its previous tally of 25 seats or not. Politically it is very difficult, maybe next to impossible. In the previous election the mass came out to vote for two reasons; First to remove Congress and secondly to install BJP.

This time the first factor is irrelevant.

Secondly the region that is attached to UP is an area where SP and BSP do exercise some influence. Now it remains to be seen how much of that influence will be transformed into votes.

The lesser parties may not appear as a very big issue , but still they have kept both BJP and Congress busy.

A not so difficult choice

The issue of Marathi-manus that has been revived by Raj Thackrey has brought back the memories the early Shiv Sena days, when Bal Thackrey successfully used the same sociological-demographic theory to gain a foothold in the political bazaar of Maharashtra.

Although the BJP alongwith the other national parties did criticize the MNS for the recent violence that it carried out against the North Indians yet it chose to keep mum over the involvement of its ally the Shiv Sena.

Bal Thackrey in the party’s mouth piece was in no mood of being modest as he lauded the way his party workers taught the Biharis a lesson that they will never forget.

With the emergence of MNS, the spotlight that Bal Thackeray was once accustomed too has now shifted to his former protégée Raj Thackrey.

This has prompted Shiv Sena to try out new things or more appropriately they have now been forced to narrow down their focus which earlier was ‘anti-Islam’ to a more local issue of empowering the Marathi- manus.The dwindling power of Shiv Sena is not something that can be hidden. It never had a pan India following. The self appointed protector of Hinduism from god knows what, has now seen its ‘best’ days.

BJP is a national party with a set of agenda that it follows which is arrived upon after keeping the whole country in mind. But the same cannot be said about Shiv Sena. It has ambitions and methods that will rarely be appreciated out side Maharashtra. Even in Hindi speaking belt of Central and North India, Shiv Sena does not have any following.

It will be very difficult for the Sena to remould its political objectives now because that would amount to asking the party to shed its core issue. So it will be a long while until the Shiv Sena decides to abandon its policy of keeping Maharathra for Marathi.

An alliance with Shiv Sena may go wrong for the BJP if the opposition ‘politicize’ this issue properly. It will be a million dollar question that how will the BJP justify the protest against MNS on the one hand and the cake-talk with the Shiv sena on the other. Surprisingly none of the political parties have put this seemingly ‘uncomfortable’ question before the BJP.

On the face of it, the coming general elections are tilted in favour of the BJP. Call it anti-incumbency, call it inflation or call it the effects of terrorism. As of now the road for Congress is far steeper than it is for BJP.

The general elections are just round the corner. The recent violence by the MNS and the Shiv Sena has posed serious questions for the BJP to ponder upon. The think tank of BJP will now have to work out the pros and cons of allying with the Shiv Sena.

It will be in for a rude surprise if it thinks that its association with Shiv sena will go un-noticed If it continues to walk with them for reasons varied, it will surely lose out not only in the north-eastern states but in the others parts of India as well.

http://desicritics.org/2008/10/28/004122.php

Is BJP falling apart ?

With Atal and Advani on the brink of retirement, a power struggle has started in between the leaders who think that its now their turn to take charge.

Politics can be a cruel game. Those who were not aware would be now after seeing the condition of Ms Uma Bharti. She had everything what we thought was required for a politician to succeed, the support of the general mass, a clean and honest image, but then also she will be counted as one of the many leaders who promised much but could not deliver.

Uma Bharti is regarded as the leader of the lakhs of hardcore Hindus, those who strongly supported Hinduvta, and those for whom the construction of Ram Mandir was a sentimental issue.

Ayodhya has always been a very important issue of the BJP's election manifesto, an issue which it only racks up at the time of election, and later dumps it after the objective of awakening the sentiments of the Hindus is fulfilled. Bharti should be credited for not being a hypocrite or an opportunist by not dumping the issue, one which brought her party to power. At least she is not a typical Indian politician.

She was the one who was accredited for routing the Congress government from Madhya Pradesh, a task which many thought was very difficult, if not impossible.

Uma's turbulent time started when she resigned from her chief ministership over the issue of the foreign citizenship of Sonia Gandhi. The party tried to match the sacrifice of Sonia Gandhi with the sacrifice of Uma relinquishing the CM's chair. The party thought that this would be an appropriate time to project the firebrand lady as a face of BJP, one who sacrificed her CM's chair for national pride. The lady resigned, with a hope that at the appropriate time her rightful place will be returned to her. She was disappointed and Babu Lal Gaur was made the CM.

She was constantly sidelined in the party after she quit the Madhya Pradesh chief ministership, which left her frustrated at the treatment being meted out to her. Then came the famous press conference in which Bharti had a one on one with the LK Advani, as a result of which she was suspended from the party, only to be taken back latter due to pressure from the RSS people.

The nomination of Shivraj Singh Chauhan as the new CM broke the camel's back and the Sadhvi was forced to come out with all what she had built up in the recent years. She revolted and even she must not have been surprised in the context of the Indian politics to see many of those leaders who were considered to be loyal to her, left her and distanced themselves from her.

She has acted very wisely by taking a pad yatra from Bhopal to Ayodhya, a yatra which will remind the people that she is the real BJP, remind the BJP that she still is the old sadhvi. By doing this she will be hoping of steering the sentiments of the general population and thus prove that she is a leader of the people.

If one closely follows the BJP, one will at a point come to the conclusion that the party is falling apart. With Atal and Advani on the brink of retirement, a power struggle has started in between the leaders who think that its now their turn to take charge. The party does have many "politicians" but not many "leaders" to boast of, those who can be shouldered the responsibility of steering the BJP out of trouble. Pramod Mahajan, Arun Jaitley, Rajnath Singh or Sushma Swaraj have their limitations, and they cannot be expected to slip in to the shoes of Atal or Advani. Advani losing the grip has given the opportunity to these people to dictate the functioning of the party.

It's very hard to imagine that this was the same party which was functioning at its prime in the early 2000 and a party that conceived India shining. The "party with a difference" is grappling with the problem of "differences" coming up between its own family. Its main ally in Maharastra, the Shiv Sena is on the path to commit hara-kiri, the scene of Rajasthan is also not good with dissidents making life difficult for the Vasundhra Raje government, and to top it all; Madhya Pradesh. It seems that the problem has just started for the people in saffron.

It will be quite right to say that the BJP has done itself more harm then good while acting under the garb of discipline while suspending her. BJP now faces the danger of its two faced politics of pleasing the Indian and enjoying the Hindu secular votes being exposed.

By curbing the popular leaders they are limiting the base of the BJP among the general mass. Now let's just hope that we don't see Narendra Modi being forced to embark on a similar yatra.

Bharti went to jail for the cause which was dear to the party, sacrificing her chair, but she could not realize there is no sentiment in politics, there is no value in politics. Pity, the young woman who made hundreds of BJP workers to occupy air-conditioned cars and bungalows is now literally on the streets leading to Ayodhya, a place which was once dear to her party president LK Advani too.

(http://www.centralchronicle.com/20051206/0612305.htm)

Gujarat: Godhra issue and BJP

Caste and religion cannot fulfill the basic needs leave alone developing a state.

As soon as the findings of Justice UC Banerjee committee were made public, BJP was quick to deny the findings of the reports and term it as 'absurd'. It would have a different story altogether had the report indicated that the train was burnt by the people of minority community, for that is what the largest Hinduvta party of this country has been proclaiming all these years. Communalism has always been one issue which the BJP has never failed to evoke, be it the Babri Masjid, be it the attack on Akshardham or be it the Godhra incident.

The BJP after the Sabarmati train was attacked declared that the persons behind the attack were Muslims. Perhaps they didn't realize that what repercussion this statement would cause.

This small statement was enough to destroy the life of thousands of people, it created hatred in the minds of innocent children who had seen their fathers and mothers being killed and raped. It didn't help that the state at that time was being ruled by a man who according to himself was a "Hindu" to the core. A Hindu who would kill a fellow human being on slightest provocation. True that this whole incident might have brought political gains for BJP, and for Atal Behari Vajpayee but was it worth it? The two people who could have stopped the carnage, the PM and the CM, couldn't do much because it was their own party workers who were supervising the whole series of Godhra aftermath. Vajpayee, who till then had a spotless political career, would perhaps never forgive himself for being an accessory to such a heinous crime.

The Godhra incident and its terrible consequences destroyed the image of India and led us to realize that even after so many years of evolution, evil still exists inside us, an evil that feeds on our artificial religious sentiments.

Even now one fails to understand what the BJP is trying to gain. On the one hand it states that it's on the path to transforming itself into a secular party, and on the other it rakes up issues which are solely aimed at gaining Hindu vote bank.

The BJP is pinning its hope on the court verdict which is yet to come on the Godhra issue; they only know that what they have in store if the judiciary also endorses the finding of the committee.

What the BJP and company, including other parties like Bahujan Samaj Party don't realize is that the era of caste, class and communal politics is dying a slow death, and whichever political institution practices these agendas will soon find losing whatever it has achieved in yesteryears. The most glaring example of this is the recent Bihar assembly election. Political pundits were of the view that Bihar along with UP is one region of India, where the caste and class plays a very vital role in deciding who's going to rule the state. The Lalu Yadav led RJD confirmed this view when they successfully won the previous two assembly elections, but what they didn't realize was that however deep roots are, if you neglect the structure you are bound to fall. Though the people of Bihar took their time but when they decided that enough was enough they showed Lalu the door.

Even a common illiterate villager realizes that caste and religion cannot fulfill his basic needs leave alone developing a state, and if the political parties think that they can ride on religious or caste sentiments to win votes, they should think again.

The Left parties should be appreciated for changing themselves and moulding themselves with changing time. They are a good example of how a political party, howsoever rigid should be ready to change its role, with change in time. Now, they are following a flexible approach and are wonderfully playing the dual role of keeping the government in check and thereby also following the objective of welfare of the general mass. They do not follow "charlatan-politics". What they think is wrong they protest against it, this was visible the way they ostracized Bush.

Development has always been a core issue of any election, it's only that sometimes it has been overshadowed by some more "important issues", but that is bound to change and political parties should sensitize themselves to the changing scenario. Why even the Congress ruled state of Chhattisgarh and MP were toppled, the simple reason being that the mass didn't believe that development was done in their state.

The coming elections would not be fought on issues of religion, caste or class, more important issues like water, electricity, road, and education would determine who would emerge as the winner.

This kind of political development is very good for democracy in the long run.In the rapidly changing world scenario, only that country would survive and go to the next level, which would break free the shackles of communal, caste and class. There are more important issues which need to be addressed, and it's now upon these parties to realize, and usher a new beginning. The future of Indian politics looks secure in the hands of young leaders like Rahul Gandhi, Varun Gandhi, Naveen Jindal etc who are aware of what is required for this country to develop. Only time will tell whether the new young face of Indian politics is able to deliver the promised new era or not.

(http://www.centralchronicle.com/20060308/0803303.htm)

We the people

The Indian constitution states ‘We The People Of India’. It doesn’t differentiate between an Oriya, a Maharashtrians or a Bihari. Though that cant be said about the Indian politicians.

It’s nothing less than unfortunate that political parties in India and specially the BJP can go to any extent to increase their vote bank. This was visible when Pramod Mahajan stated that Maharashtrians would not tolerate the 'dadagiri' (bullying behavior) of Bihari students and warned them to maintain low profile or face consequences.

Previously also the Shiv Sena had assaulted Bihari candidates who had come to Mumbai to give competitive exams. India as a country does not belong to any particular community or class. Everyone has a right to work and earn his livelihood anywhere in the country, the constitution envisages it. The reason behind this is to strengthen the unity and integrity of India.

The constitution of India expressly states that every citizen of Indian has the right to move to any part of the country freely. Article 15 of the constitution prohibits discrimination on grounds of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth. Whereas Article 19 (1) (d) and 19 (1) (e), says that all citizen shall have the right to move freely throughout the territory of India and to reside and settle in any part of the territory of India.

Every state in India is dependents on the other either directly or indirectly. Be it electricity, water sharing or food. The simple reason being that each state in itself is not self dependent. Some region of the country abounds in food crops, some in electricity and some in timber. The constitution has nowhere said that a particular state or a city would be restricted for the outsiders.

Perhaps with time Pramod Mahajan and the Shiv Sena have gained more authority than the constitution.Shiv sena in 2003 launched the `Me Mumbaikar' campaign shouting on top of its voice that Mumbai belongs to Mumbaikars and no outsiders would be allowed to earn their livelihood or compete in state exams. The people who say that no outside people should be allowed in to Mumbai should ask themselves a question that is Mumbai just made up of the Maharashtrians or does it includes other people from all over the country and would Mumbai continue to function as its functioning now if all national aid is stopped, or all the other non Maharashtrians leave Mumbai?

They argue that these non-mumbaikars are putting pressure on the already over burdened resources of the city and that these migrants are also instrumental in increasing the slum population. But those people who are arriving in Mumbai or for that matter to any other metropolitan city are they doing this by their free will? The answer is ‘No’. No one likes leaving his homeland and working in some other place that too when you have to live in slums. Those poor migrants who have migrated have done so because they have no other options. Poverty, unemployment force them to do so, they are not attracted by the glitters of that place.

Feeling of statehood should not be given priority over nation hood, a state is a state if and only if the nation exists. If from tomorrow UP declares that UP is for the “Uttar Pradeshi”, next day the Punjabis , and then Delhi and so on, then each state will in itself become a country which just for the namesake would be a part of India.This intra regional conflict that the leaders politicize if not stopped will soon turn into a danger which will threaten the nation’s integrity.

These pseudo-politicians should be made aware of the repercussions their statement can generate, not for their state but for the country.exists.