“Unka Sankalp, Vipareet Bharat”
“Sab ka naash, Sab ka Vinaash”
By Aravind Bhatikar
JUST when we thought it was the end of the road for Narendra Modi, may be we have to wait for some more time. The more things change, the more they remain the same.
Modi had managed to win in Varanasi hardly by 1.5 lakh votes. A senior worker of BJP revealed that Modi would have lost the election if his karyakarta had not resorted to lot of “jugaad” (clever innovation). The district administration reportedly went out of its way to prevent the nomination papers of Shyam Rangeela, a comedian, perceived to be capable of damaging Modi’s prospects in the election.
The humiliating drubbing which the BJP received at the hands of INDI Alliance in Uttar Pradesh, Maha Vikas Aghadi in Maharashtra and the Trinamool Congress in West Bengal clearly signified the end of Modi’s brand of politics. In Maharashtra, out of the 17 constituencies in which he held big rallies, the BJP lost in 14 constituencies and won only in three.
Sharad Pawar’s gibe that Modi should address as many rallies as possible in Maharashtra before the assembly elections, to ensure the victory of Maha Vikas Aghadi, is still going viral.
Mohan Bhagwat, the RSS supremo, has publicly advised Modi not to fall prey to his ego, not to tell lies in public meetings, to maintain decorum in his public speeches and to remember that governance in a democracy should always be a consultative process. Mohan Bhagwat did not mention Modi by name, but it was obvious that the message was meant for Modi. However, independent political commentators thought it was admonishment “too little, too late.” Mohan Bhagwat’s advice came after the huge rank and file of RSS refused to campaign and work for the BJP.
POLITICAL SURVIVAL
MODI’S political survival now depends on the life-supporting systems of Chandrababu Naidu and “Palturam” Nitish Kumar. For now, Amit Shah might have struck secret deals with these leaders but such political deals cannot be a permanent insurance against political eclipse.
Modi is a prisoner of his own arrogant personality. He will never be able to run for long with a minority government requiring compromises and adjustments. BJP’s threat to get rid of the secular Indian Constitution has proved to be its political nemesis.
That Modi and Shah are prisoners of their own arrogance and over-confidence was obvious when they defied the 72-year-old parliamentary convention of appointing the senior-most MP as pro tem speaker in the Lok Sabha. They have also violated Article 93 of the Constitution which stipulates that the Lok Sabha “shall” have a speaker and a deputy speaker. There was no deputy speaker from 2019 to 2024.
It should not shock anybody if the 18th Lok Sabha is not allowed to have a deputy speaker or has a deputy speaker drawn from the BJP or NDA. The re-election of the controversial Om Birla as speaker of the Lok Sabha is also in keeping with the arrogant and defiant posture of the Modi-Shah duo. The long and unending diatribe of Om Birla on the Emergency of 1975 and the ruckus in Parliament during his speech do not bode well for democratic functioning of Parliament.
Modi will not give up his chair, come what may! WE, THE PEOPLE have not yet completed our task. People in Andhra Pradesh and Bihar should now be persuaded to rise against the Modi-Shah duo and to help INDI Alliance to form the government.
