DK Shivakumar’s arrest does not bring me any happiness. I pray to God that he will be out soon.” This statement from the BJP’s main man in Karnataka, Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa, should make the party’s central leadership stop and re-think the relentless targeting of opposition leaders. There are tell-tale signs that the investigating agencies and income tax department’s raids and subsequent arrests of prominent opposition leaders could turn out to be the BJP’s Achilles heel in the future.
Vendetta politics isn’t new, and the BJP isn’t the first party to have resorted to it. The Congress under Indira Gandhi too had indulged in it rather shamelessly. But no party in recent memory has burnt bridges and kicked political goodwill across party lines to the curb the way the BJP under Prime Minister Narendra Modi has. Less than two weeks after former Union minister P. Chidambaram’s theatrical arrest, prominent Vokkaliga leader D.K. Shivakumar has been arrested as well.
Congress back on its feet
The Congress’ cadre, which was comatose until now, suddenly resuscitated to life to protest against its Karnataka leader’s arrest. And the protests weren’t subtle. Posters of PM Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah were beaten with slippers while chants of ‘Modi tune kya kiya, desh ka satyanash kiya (Modi, you have ruined the nation)’ rang in the air. There have also been reports of buses being pelted with stones, and schools and colleges in and around Bengaluru Rural and Ramanagaram districts, both Shivakumar’s strongholds, declaring holidays. A media blitzkrieg followed, at least in the South, with the Congress looking tougher and stronger.
All this can be brushed aside as everyday ‘nataka’ (drama) of the politics in Karnataka. Many will even see it as corrupt politicians finally facing the music because ‘Modi hai toh mumkin hai (with Modi, everything is possible)’. But the arrests of Chidambaram and Shivakumar have had an unwanted effect as far as the BJP is concerned. The dramatic arrests and the veteran leaders’ public reactions – Chidambaram’s ‘5%’ GDP jibe and Shivakumar breaking down into tears – have managed to put the party that was slowly and steadily becoming irrelevant back on the centre stage as India’s main opposition party.
Also read: Instead of mocking Manmohan Singh, heed his advice on economy, ally Shiv Sena tells BJP
Economy comes out of prison
Chidambaram’s reaction on the nose-diving economy was played by the news media on loop, ad nauseam. With his one remark, Chidambaram managed to put focus on what the Congress and other opposition parties were accusing the Modi government of distracting people’s attention from – India’s economic mess.
Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh too helped in the cause. Days before Chidambaram’s quip, Singh, known for his economic genius, issued a statement highlighting the ‘jobless growth’ and the ‘terrible shape’ that rural India is in. He urged the Modi government to ‘put aside vendetta politics and reach out to all sane voices and thinking minds to steer our economy out of this manmade crisis’. In a way, the Congress finally found itself falling back on the issue it should have stuck to during the 2019 Lok Sabha election campaign – the economy, instead of the immature attempt at pinning the Rafale ‘scam’ on PM Modi.
The Congress also found a significant endorser from the BJP’s bouquet of allies – the Shiv Sena. An editorial in the party’s mouthpiece Saamana asked the BJP to listen to Manmohan Singh because the ruling party had ‘failed’ on the economic front. “The protesters in Kashmir can be curbed by guns. But how can you fire a gun on the escalating economic slowdown? If hordes of hungry Indians pour out on the streets because of large scale unemployment, are you going to open fire on them?” was just one of the many things the editorial said. The timing is significant. Maharashtra will go to polls in October.
The BJP has spread itself thin. With the abrogation of Article 370, the BJP has a lot on its plate considering the ‘Kashmir issue’ has been internationalised and we still don’t know how exactly the Valley will react once the lockdown, in place since 5 August, is completely lifted. In other parts of India, torrential rainfall has wreaked havoc, causing floods in Kerala, Karnataka, Assam, Maharashtra, Himachal Pradesh and Bihar among other places. Assembly elections in Maharashtra, Jharkhand and Haryana are just around the corner.
Also read: Nirmala Sitharaman must stop stonewalling questions on slowdown. Denial mode isn’t an option
The unwanted effect
With the stock market plunging, GDP lowest in six years, core industries facing a slowdown, rupee hitting the 72-dollar mark, automobile sector witnessing its worst slowdown, and higher capital outflow all putting pressure on the BJP at once, staying low-key would have been the best way forward for the party. Instead, it went full-throttle on opposition leaders in a bid to draw people’s attention to the Modi government’s ‘crusade against corruption’.
But things didn’t exactly turn out the way the party had hoped. The arrests of Chidambaram and Shivakumar also inadvertently put the spotlight on alleged corruptions of leaders in the BJP – some of whom the party used to target until they joined its fold. So, if people discussed D.K. Shivakumar’s assets, which grew 235 per cent in five years (2013-2018), people also turned their gaze on Home Minister Amit Shah’s son Jay Shah’s Temple Enterprise registering a 16 lakh per cent jump in revenue in just one year. Questions are also being raised on those politicians who were under the eye of the ED and the CBI up until they joined the BJP, like Mukul Roy (Saradha chit fund scam, Narada sting case) and Himanta Biswa Sarma (Louis Berger bribery scam).
Also read: Ignorant voters and over-smart politicians: Why India votes the way it does
The unidentified underdog
Then there’s the whole underdog factor. Congress’ former president Rahul Gandhi may not have evoked sympathy as the underdog among Indians, but there is no doubt that someone else could in the future. It might not be Chidambaram or D.K. Shivakumar, but it will be someone eventually if this trend of arrests continues.
History is often the best guide. In spite of the Emergency blunder, Charan Singh’s ill-thought-out attempt at getting then-Prime Minister Indira Gandhi arrested was a blessing in disguise that helped Gandhi rise back to power. Shivakumar cried when the ED arrested him and denied him the time to pray for his deceased father on Ganesh Chaturthi. Only a seasoned regional leader like Shivakumar could have played this out well to the optics, considering all eyes were on him.
Even if we were to believe that the authorities are doing their job without any political duress, one can’t help but connect the dots. When P. Chidambaram was the Home Minister, the CBI went after Amit Shah in the Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake encounter case in 2010. Similarly, D.K. Shivakumar, who has come to be regarded as the Congress’ ‘troubleshooter’, was instrumental in bringing Ahmed Patel back to Rajya Sabha – something that then-BJP president Shah was ruthlessly trying to derail. It was Shivakumar who made sure the Congress and JD(S) entered into an alliance to form a government after the 2018 Karnataka assembly election. He also helped the alliance stay its course by keeping Congress’ ministers insulated from political poaching – all of which kept the BJP away from the seat of power. It’s only obvious that people will look at the arrests as ‘payback’ for causing trouble to the party that has seemingly become accustomed to winning.
Which is also probably why the BJP needs to keep the high it is riding on in check. With great power comes great responsibility and also the task of making people love you no matter what.
The author is a political observer and writer. Views are personal.
What a paid journalism. Good, carry on zainab sikandar and Theprint. Good luck
These are all bullshit stories written by so called writers who are paid with corruption monies. Otherwise no sane person will write such idiotic articles.
If wishes were horses. My heart goes out to Zainab Sikander. She has been given the task of propping a cadaver. Honestly, nor many outside Karnataka know Shivkumar and those in Karnataka know what type of a politician he is. Chidambaram’s bail application has been rejected by the Supreme court. For him the comment made by the Congress party spokesperson ‘ Truth will prevail ultimately’ seems prophetic.
The author is totally ignorant of Karnataka politics, ground realities are different here, Congress party is in shambles, dks case is not just a corruption, he has earned more enemies the ham his admirers, the admirers are a minority with money and muscle, the majority are innocent and silent.
Few paid goondas create some ruckus on the streets and paid meds gives coverage to the same and the author thinks the mojo is back. What non sense. Wait for these leaders to be proved culprits and sent to jail to give company to lalu and then you write about the mojo.
This is a propaganda article masquerading as “News”. Another fake news article designed to rouse sympathy for criminals. When will our citizenry realize it is pointless to protest against putting corrupt people in jail. Pathetic.
Zainab Sikander is at it again! She’s riding her magical Unicorn, whipping up a non-existent ‘mojo’ against an perceived enemy of her cult.
When she hollers, “Side-effect of Shivakumar and Chidambaram’s arrest: Congress gets its mojo back”, isn’t she assuming that Congress once had something of a mojo in the past. Let’s recall who had such a magnificent charisma to inspire such a magical charm in the party and its followers in the recent decades.
Is she talking about the time-server, the dame-luck smiled on a lame-duck, the greatest fiasco of a PM, Manmohan Singh? No, it can’t be! He sure is a loyalist to the powers-that-be, but he is not a charmer, not even a conversationalist. Then, is she referring to Pamulaparti Venkata Narasimha Rao? He did led India from an economic disaster, but a Congress leader described Rao as someone having the charisma of a “dead fish”. He was scape-goated and disowned by his own party, even in his death. Maybe, it’s the five-finger discount Rajiv Gandhi, who pocketed ill-gotten wealth in his Swiss bank accounts. He rose to power on his mother’s ashes and people’s sympathy, not exactly a case for personal mojo. Is it the accidental inheritor and protector of the grand old party, Sonia or the immature Pappu, who thinks mommy owns the country. Neither are: the Congress under their leadership was routed like never before and even lost the status of an opposition party in recent elections. Pappu even lost his family heirloom, Amethi. The Congress never had a mojo in the first place! So, What is Zainab Sikander blabbering about?
If throwing of two low-lives in jail for their corruption is somehow going to inspire and resurrect the mojo of a faltering party, it sure is in a deep dark hole. Maybe next, Gandhis and the rest of the old-guard needs to be thrown in prison too, so as to just see whether it revives the party or not! Then, Zainab Sikander can read from her magical ‘mojo meter’ and spin some wonderful tall tales.
Or this story was never about Congress. Is this whole story about Zainab Sikander’s mojo? Is she projecting?
You have not established how it is that investigating corruption equates to vendetta politics.
Waah, auntyji, waah, kya logic hai! If you prosecute big multi-multi-crorepati netas with grievous corruption allegations, they become the underdog and hence more popular… It’s ok to be biased and stupid; but to assume everyone else is also the same, is arrogance.
Congress will never be over. Congress is as old as India. The heart of the freedom fighters are in the Congress. The BJP is medieval, regressive and aggressive for a country as diverse as India which is one of the oldest democracies in the world. BJP will linger on but their own negativity will be their downfall
If Chidambaram could have been Sincere…. During his ministerial responsibilities………. Then Why there is the hell of economic Problems including unemployment and falling Dow in various Indian business within in-house and also foreign.
When all you have is a hammer, the whole world looks like a nail.
The analysis , one knew , where it was leading , on whose side ‘ muqqadar and sikandar’ are.
Is’ nt it a bit naive to think that caged predators would bark at their masters. The pertinent point here is how many erstwhile leaders of GOP have gone to jail in the last 50 years.
Fourth pillers are ruled by crooks who turn to the side like hypocrats favoring Congress. This is particularly with Quint, caravan, toilet paper of India etc. Oppose government constructively but not by equating with Congress missrules. It’s common sense. We lost trust on fourth pillers of democracy with this biased article.
Everything in this article is sheer ‘Wishful thinking’ and imagination. Congress is in the worst of the situations it ever faced. There is neither any ‘mojo’ nor any enthusiasm. If the writer only cares to read reports of how ONLY 120 persons attended a public “Protest’ meet against the arrest of PC in Chennai, which the TNCC President led, and how 65 of them (including said President) took to their heels the moment Police arrived, she may like to withdraw this fiction.
Loughable reporting. There is no such fallout as reported. Trying to justify crimes…. Shame….
Regardless of how well the Congress capitalises on the economic slowdown to rebuild its standing with the people, this is now a rampaging herd of elephants in the room that the incumbent will have to deal with. 99% of Indians are hurting. Distractions, PR, nothing will work.
The taste is in pudding. If election were held today, Modi would win RESOUNDINGLY! The voters would still eletc the likes of Pragya Thakur Sing with huge margins!of lakhs of votes! Like a patient not responding to medical treatment, India is not responding to democracy! Dumb voters!
For Zainab it is OK for political parties, ruling and opposition, allied and play friendly games on corruption and no one is caught. Together they can loot and fool the people and that is OK. It is true, no govt has gone to the extent of catching the real culprit and looters and punish them. Earlier the policy was… you scratch my back and I will do for you.
Whenever any politician arrested for any crime he starts lamenting about vendeta politics. Even Lalu even after get conviction in jail yet he says same thing. Media give hype to it but same media when talk about corruption blames govt for in action against big short. Now in this story there is nothing about offence nor even any politician ever gave account of his amassed wealth in quick time when same congress talks about poor ecnomy. Then how their wealth increase what buisness they which yields so much wealth. Can reporter or accused tell the nation who are behind this paid news
This is a well written article. Unfortunately, in India’s polity now there is no strong opposition party. By “strong opposition party”, I don’t mean high decibel screaming, but constructive criticism of the Modi government’s claims. Rahul Gandhi”s twitter comment “congratulations on 100 days of no growth”, hardly enlightens the public on the failures of Modi government, if any. One must appreciate that bureaucracy, and investigation agencies are same irrespective of the change in ruling party at the top. If ED officers behaved heartlessly with DK Shivakumar, so have they and CBI done in the past when they were controlled by UPA. The problem is with the agencies which are willing handmaiden of the ruling party. This attitude is not going to change in near future.
Congress is almost Finished . Its Corruptions are also coming out.
I guess the writer is a congress spokesperson because only they can be delusional to this extent that they feel their leaders arrest got their mojo back! Good luck congress!