New Delhi: Former poll strategist Prashant Kishor Saturday attacked the Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP) over Rahul Gandhi’s disqualification from the Lok Sabha. The party, Kishor said, should remember former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s line ‘Chote Mann Se Koi Bada Nahi Hota‘ (One doesn’t grow with a small mindset).
Kishor, who was addressing the press in Bihar’s Saran district in the middle of his ongoing ‘Jan Suraaj Yatra’, said he felt the sentence of two years in a criminal defamation case was “excessive”.
“In politics, people keep giving such statements and comments. Friends and supporters of the BJP should remember something wonderful their leader Atal ji said and show a big heart. Even if the court had decided, (Lok Sabha) membership should not have been taken away. He (Rahul) should have been given an opportunity to go to higher courts,” he said
On Thursday, a magistrate’s court in Surat sentenced Gandhi, then a Lok Sabha MP from Wayanad, to two years of jail in a criminal defamation case. The case pertained to Gandhi’s remarks made at a rally in the runup to the 2019 General Election.
However, the court granted him bail and suspended the sentence for 30 days to allow him to appeal before a higher court.
A day after his conviction, the Lok Sabha Secretariat said in a bulletin that Gandhi stood disqualified from the date of his conviction.
Kishor joins a chorus of opposition leaders and parties that have rallied in support of Gandhi.
He set out on his 3,500-km padyatra on 2 October from Gandhi Ashram in West Champaran district’s Bhitiharwa, where Mahatma Gandhi had launched the first satyagraha movement in 1917.
The move is being dubbed a precursor to Kishor’s entry into Bihar politics.
‘Oblivious’ Congress
Kishor — who has worked with the Congress before and was in talks with it until April last year — also had a word of advice for the party. The Congress is still oblivious about what it’s up against, he said.
“As far as the Congress is concerned, they’re disappointed. That’s fine. But you are a political party,” Kishor said. “Even today, most people in the Congress don’t understand who they are up against. You cannot fight this battle just by marching to Parliament in Delhi and tweeting.”
Political fights, he said, “are fought in villages, on the ground, in lanes, and in booths”.
“Until that time, these things will keep happening to you. If you have to fight this battle, then you will have to get on the ground, in the villages, and on the streets,” he said.
The former poll strategist said the Opposition’s battle against the Modi government and the Bharatiya Janata Party must be reflected in election results.
“Until that time, no one will take you seriously,” Kishor said.
As an example, he spoke about the upcoming elections in Karnataka. Any opposition party fighting the BJP must first understand the party’s strengths and draw up a long-term strategy.
“This incident (Rahul Gandhi’s conviction and disqualification) has happened today. Two months later, there are Karnataka elections. If the BJP wins in Karnataka, then the whole country will believe that there was no issue (on the BJP’s side). And if you (Congress) defeat the BJP in Karnataka then people will believe you and join you,” he said.
(Edited by Uttara Ramaswamy)
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