New Delhi: As she tries to find her way back in state politics, former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Uma Bharti has set a January deadline for the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government to implement total prohibition in the state. The BJP leader has threatened to launch an agitation if her demand is not met.
Speaking to reporters last week, she said that women can take “laath” (sticks) to implement prohibition if the MP government fails.
This isn’t the first time that Bharti has threatened an agitation on the issue of prohibition to put the Shivraj government on the backfoot.
On Sunday, Bharti tweeted that her campaign for prohibition, which was announced on International Women’s Day (8 March) this year, could not start due to Covid, but if all goes well, then the public awareness campaign will run for five months now.
“In the meantime, my Ganga yatra will be completed. After that I will review the situation between 15 and 20 January, 2022. I am sure that the MP government will decide on liquor ban in the state. Otherwise women will hit the streets for liquor ban. I will join them,” she said.
इस बीच में मेरी गंगा यात्रा भी संपूर्ण हो जाएगी फिर सारी स्थितियों की समीक्षा 15 से 20 जनवरी, 2022 के बीच करेंगे, मुझे यकीन है कि सरकार शराब बंदी का फैसला करेगी अन्यथा फिर शराब बंदी के खिलाफ महिलाएं सड़कों पर उतरेंगी तथा मैं भी उसमें शामिल हो जाऊंगी।
— Uma Bharti (@umasribharti) September 19, 2021
BJP leaders told ThePrint that while the call for prohibition is a good thing for society, Bharti’s threat of an agitation is the only way for her to find a path out of her self-imposed political exile.
However, BJP state president B.D. Sharma said the state government will give serious consideration to Bharti’s demands. “She is our respected leader,” said Sharma.
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How the issue popped up
In January this year, at least 20 people died after drinking illicit liquor in the Morena district.
Soon after, Uma Bharti, who was struggling to find a window to enter the state politics, wrote a letter to BJP president J.P. Nadda, demanding a ban on liquor in all the party-ruled states. She cited the examples of Gujarat, and Bihar, where women voted in support of Nitish Kumar due to liquor ban.
She announced an agitation on 8 March, but didn’t start it, later citing the second Covid wave as the reason. However, sources said that she didn’t find any takers for her agitation call and her counsellors told her that the time is not ripe for starting a movement.
BJP sources said she was hopeful of a Rajya Sabha seat, which got vacated after Thaawar Chand Gehlot resigned in July, but the BJP high command decided to give this seat to L. Murugan, who was inducted in the Union government two months ago as a minister of state.
Moreover, giving her a Rajya Sabha seat was not an option since she is a mass leader, sources added.
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Why now?
In February 2018, Uma Bharti announced that she was taking a break from electoral politics for three years. With her sabbatical ending in 2022, she is searching for a launchpad to come back into state politics.
As a woman leader, she knows prohibition can resonate with women. This is why she has given a deadline of January to CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan.
But she is also sending a signal to the BJP high command to give her an honourable place. Otherwise, she can create hurdles in the smooth sailing of the state government ahead of the 2023 assembly elections.
“She has announced that she would like to contest the 2024 Lok Sabha election. It will be the high command’s call to give her a ticket,” a senior BJP Madhya Pradesh leader told ThePrint.
“Last time, she won from Jhansi (in Uttar Pradesh). It could be an option for her but (CM) Yogi will hesitate to field her from Jhansi in fear of creating another power centre. She wants to contest from Madhya Pradesh which Shivraj would not like anyhow.”
The leader said that since the 2023 polls will be crucial for the BJP to keep Madhya Pradesh, she has given a January deadline “keeping in mind the election timing”.
However, a second BJP state leader pointed out that a “lot has changed” in Madhya Pradesh politics since 2018.
“Jyotiraditya Scindia is now the new power centre and Shivraj Singh Chouhan has cultivated a good chemistry with Scindia to keep other contenders at distance. Even Amit Shah’s men Kailash Vijayvargiya and Narrotam Mishra didn’t get a chair at the time (of CM selection) due to Shivraj-Scindia chemistry,” the leader said.
“Uma has no such good chemistry with Amit Shah in Delhi, and it is very unlikely that she will find a place in state politics,” he added.
Leaders close to Bharti said, “Uma has another card close to her chest. She can demand a caste census in the state, playing her backward caste card, but it all depends on how the BJP high command takes up her case next year.”
Last week, Bharti met an OBC delegation, which demanded a caste-based census and quota in private jobs.
(Edited by Amit Upadhyaya)
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