Congress workers and leaders are perennially in dilemma, it has become a tradition of sorts. Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra is top priority for all party leaders these days. But Gujarat assembly elections are also around the corner. Let alone small and mid-rank leaders, even those at the top – like the party general secretary – are in mood to spend their time in the yatra, instead of carrying out election duties. Those on election duty keep checking with leaders on Yatra duty – whether the latter should be in Bharat Jodo Yatra or in Gujarat? As if they hold some grudge.
Active Governor, lackluster CM
Goa Governor P.S. Sreedharan Pillai’s yatra has left CM Pramod Sawant bewildered. The Goa Governor is touring the state like a people’s representative, like a regular politician does. In the last 15 months, Sreedharan has visited 100 villages of Goa spread across 40 assembly constituencies and panchayats. He is interacting with the people as well as panchayat heads in order to understand their problems and demands. Now if the Governor himself indulges in so many tours, then what will the CM do? A similar scenario has been witnessed in another BJP-ruled state.
Bangladesh in Gujarat elections
What’s the connection between Gujarat elections and Bangladesh? Nothing to be honest. But all of a sudden, a link has emerged. It all started with the ‘No Money for Terror’ Conference. As soon as the Union Home Minister Amit Shah, who was present at the conclave, said that ‘terrorism had no religion’, terse comments and reactions from pro-Hindutva lobby started pouring in. Why get into tricky territories, especially Gujarat elections, they contended. Realising his ‘mistake’, the home minister too immediately changed the topic of debate by raising the issue of attacks on Hindus and Hindu temples in Bangladesh. All this while his Bangladeshi counterpart watched on. The pro-Hindutva lobby had all praise for the home minister.
New name for Guwahati?
When it comes to finding or appropriating an icon, there is no match for BJP’s skills. Yet, the problem in the Northeast was unique—the party was not able to find any local icon. Then, all of a sudden, the bigwigs in the state government as well as in party organisation switched to active mode. Soon, the BJP got its hands on the history of a warrior from Assam, Lachit Borphukan. About 400 years ago, he had created a lot of trouble for the Mughals, defeating them twice in the battlefield. Now, PM Modi will unveil his statue on 24-25 November. In short, BJP has managed to unearth an icon in the Northeast too. It doesn’t stop there. The buzz is that the Assam government has already started preparing to name Guwahati after Lachit.
BJP’s new ‘know it all’
A tall leader of the BJP has joined the Parliamentary Board for the first time. An ex-bureaucrat, he has also authored several books. In his conversations, he nonchalantly refers to himself as Saraswatiputr (Son of Devi Sarswati, considered as goddess of wisdom). He has all the reasons for practising vanity. After all, he has written dozens of books. But the question is why is he so vocal about it? By the way, among the pantheon of scholars in the BJP, Murli Manohar Joshi is considered to be at the top. Yet, he has never been seen boasting his wisdom. What explains this? May be because Joshi ji hasn’t authored as many books as this new leader. After all, in a democracy, it is the ‘number’ that matters.
Nishank, the writer
When it comes to writing books, there is none like former Uttarakhand CM Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’. He can’t even remember names of all the books he has written thus far. Not even the one that are being taught at some foreign universities. In party circles, the leader is often called ‘likhadi’, a reference to his skill of writing.
When Nadda made a ‘visible’ mistake
Recently, BJP President J.P. Nadda committed a blunder in media management. He realised his mistake only after being informed by a functionary of the party’s media cell. On the day of voting in Himachal Pradesh, Nadda left his house to visit a temple first and then, along with his entire family, went to cast vote. Even though there was a large gathering of media channels at his house, only one channel accompanied him. Nadda didn’t realise that the rest of the channels also wanted to cover his temple run and ballot exercise. As a result, the BJP chief was ‘visible’ only on one channel while a big leader of the party stole the show on a number of channels. When the reasons behind this ‘blunder’ were looked into, Nadda realised it was his own folly. He has now instructed the media department that he should be promptly warned if they feel he is committing a mistake. Takes some character to accept one’s own mistake.
Less Money, more trail
It’s a maze. There is a Private Limited Company, and like it happens, it has a proprietor. This proprietor has just returned from ED’s custody in a case related to bank fraud. Now this company had allegedly transferred money borrowed from the banks to another company— classic case of round-tripping of funds. That second firm invested money in the land held by a company owned by the above-mentioned proprietor’s brother. As soon as the amount for flats built on that land was received from homebuyers, it was promptly returned to the brother’s company. After that, the companies owned by these brothers were purchased by someone else. Now the ED is tracing the money trail. The new home owners fear that the flats owned by them might be attached. Next week, their CFO is scheduled to appear in front of the ED.
Bharat Agrawal is Executive Director, Dainik Bhaskar Group, and a columnist.
By special arrangement with Dainik Bhaskar and translated by Ram Lal Khanna from the original in Hindi. Edited by Anurag Chaubey.