Rajasthan is abuzz with a negative sentiment against the chief minister, and lynchings are only part of the problem.
Slogans and catchphrases are often indicative of the popular mood at a given point of time. Remember that innocent child who was asked to recite a poem during a live programme of All India Radio’s Patna station in 1989? “Gali gali mein shor hai, Rajiv Gandhi chor hai (There are shouts in every lane, Rajiv Gandhi is a thief),” she crooned, not knowing how the entire nation would be talking about her soon. The rest is history.
No wonder political parties spend a lot to hire admen to coin these slogans. Seeking to oust the Ashok Gehlot government in Rajasthan in the 2003 assembly election, late BJP leader Pramod Mahajan, who was overseeing Vasundhara Raje’s poll campaign, coined one such line: “Gehlot aayega, akaal layega; Gehlot jayega, akaal jayega (With Gehlot will come the drought, with Gehlot will go the drought)”.
At the time, the Congress government was boasting of its efficient management of drought relief work, but the BJP’s catchphrase caught the imagination of superstitious folk, especially farmers, who were reeling under four successive years of drought. That one line undid much of what the Gehlot regime had achieved in five years.
Also read: How we shook Vasundhara Raje’s mighty BJP government in the Rajasthan bypolls
But the Congress had learnt its lessons. In the 2008 assembly election, it coined the slogan “8 pm, no CM”. The import of the reference to the ‘8 pm’ brand of whisky wasn’t lost on anyone. It amplified Raje’s purported failures and arrogance in the public mind.
Cut to 2018, another slogan is resonating through Rajasthan: “Modi tujhse vair nahin, Vasundhara teri khair nahin.” Translated roughly, her detractors say they have nothing against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, but they won’t spare Raje. Modi himself heard this slogan at his Jhunjhunu rally in March.
The slogan is gaining traction even as the chief minister is out on her “Gaurav Yatra” since 4 August. She is drawing a good response, but crowds at the ruling party’s programme don’t perforce reflect the reality on the ground.
Lynchings aftermath
Raje is a devout Hindu. When you enter her house in Jaipur, you are greeted with recorded chants of ‘Om’ and the fragrance of incense lit before the statues of gods and goddesses. But she is definitely not communal. And that probably explains her strained relations with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).
Raje was extremely hurt by the criticism of her government following the lynching of Pehlu Khan in Alwar by cow vigilantes in April last year. When a similar incident happened in the same district last month, she condemned the incident and brought in a new Inspector General of Police, V.K. Singh, to take charge of the Jaipur range, in which Alwar district falls. A mob of the so-called ‘gau rakshaks’ forced the closure of the Hayat Rabbani hotel in Jaipur last year, alleging the sale of beef. The hotel is back in business.
Also read: The arrogance of Vasundhara Raje
In her political and ideological predilections, Raje is more akin to a leader like, say, Shivraj Singh Chouhan, than, say, Yogi Adityanath or Manohar Lal Khattar. She might have spent two-and-a half days at the Pitambara temple in Madhya Pradesh’s Datia district in 2015 and performed pooja, but she oversaw the razing scores of temples for roads and Metro projects in Jaipur — a very courageous act by any politician in any era, let alone someone from the BJP. That’s why her government’s latest decision to change the Muslim names of villages has left people perplexed. Is she resorting to the politics of polarisation to counter anti-incumbency?
Disgruntled sections
As it is, her support base among many communities has witnessed erosion. The Rajputs are upset over what they perceive as her indifference to them, ostensibly evident from the way Jaswant Singh was sidelined in the party and some hardened criminals belonging to the community were killed in police encounters. The Gujjars are not happy with their share in the reservation pie. Dalits are unhappy as there have been many violent attacks on them in different parts of the state.
Government employees are unhappy because the government implemented the recommendations of the Seventh Pay Commission from 2017, and not 2016 as they desired. Those who once availed free medicines under Gehlot’s previous regime are upset by the fact that it isn’t universal anymore. Teachers are protesting because the government has launched a pilot project to run 300 schools under public private partnership. And so on and so forth.
There is a long list of disgruntled sections. The irony is that even Raje’s reform measures, such as public-private partnership for schools, have earned her brickbats. One of them was to privatise hotels, restaurants and cafes under the Rajasthan Tourism Development Corporation, which is turning into a white elephant. She led the way in implementing labour reforms, but they have come back to haunt her in the election year.
Internal opposition
To add to all this is the opposition from within. Raje can’t count on the support of BJP president Amit Shah — who had to give in to her in the choice of the state BJP president after a prolonged standoff — or the RSS. She is considered to be close to party veteran L.K. Advani. BJP MLA and influential Brahmin leader Ghanshyam Tiwari has floated Deen Dayal Vahini, primarily to settle scores with Raje, who kept him out of the cabinet. Many others are said to be sharpening their knives.
When Raje was sent to take over the reins of the Rajasthan BJP in 2003, the situation was not much different. The shadow of stalwarts like Bhairon Singh Shekhawat and Jaswant Singh haunted her every step of the way. So did many RSS leaders and senior party colleagues, who found her imperious. She then decided to establish direct connect with the people through her Parivartan Yatra and ended up with an unprecedented majority for the BJP.
In 2018, she is trying to do something similar. But the times are different now.
Rajasthan has a 25 year tradition of not returning an incumbent to office, which Ms Raje will not break.
yes I agree with the view of the author at 8 pm CM Raje is not seen where she is
and what she is drinking,hahahahahahah