VHP Ayodhya yatra

Lalit Sethi
Where was Narendra Modi during the Ayodhya Yatra? Where was Amit Shah? Both were missing from U.P. Why is it so? It was not their show even if it was for their benefit. They were mere piggybacks for the U.P. vote, which is crucial for Narendra Modi. It was called 84 kos yatra, but the 84 mile belt lies in the Braj Bhoomi around Vrindavan and Mathura; so an imaginary belt was created in Avadh.
The Vishwa Hindu Parishad leaders took to the streets and courted arrest. With good luck the Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad High Court has ordered the release of the VHP leaders, who have been lying low but now wish to be seen and heard. The BJP president made noises, but Lal Krishna Advani is silent. He is the original yatri, but he realizes that he is no longer a game changer. Anyone who copies his original and a recent yatra starting from Patna rather than Gandhinagar in Gujarat gives no credit him nor does he mention his name. He is a sinner; he is almost an outcaste.
The VHP theatrics rock Parliament as the BJP clashes with the Socialist Party, but the clash is fake and full of crocodile tears as BJP joins hands with the Government in passing the Food Security Bill as is done by Mulayam Singh Yadav, who also make noises against nearly free foodgrain for poor and starving Indians. Where is even salt, ‘daal’ or any other nourishing food; one cannot live by bread alone, not with bare rice; yet the BJP takes credit and hopes to gather some votes. “It’s all political, studpid”; everybody knows that but they want their pound of flesh in the shape of votes; whether they get them or not is another matter.
The BJP knows that 25 per cent of the Muslim vote in U.P. is stacked against it, but they also know that Muslims send flowers to the temples; they are not against Lord Rama; they are the with the folklore. The Masjid is gone. They live on in Ayodhya and elsewhere; they have moved on; so what is the big deal. The VHP and BJP hope that if 25 per cent Muslim vote is against them, 70 or 75 per cent is not. But they think Mulayam and his son are mistaken if they believe that Muslims will tolerate their misrule; there is total breakdown in law and order. Platitudes will not satisfy or feed them. Mulayam has said that food security will impose responsibility and burden on his son’s government and both are not prepared to spend a penny or naya paisa and take any responsibility or do anything for the voter, Mayawati is waiting in the wings like a hawk on their vote bank and she hopes to rout both father and son in the General Election in April for their misdeeds as she did more than five years ago in the Assembly elections in U.P.
Mulayam Singh hopes that his secret, behind the scenes with Congress and BJP will keep him in the sights of the voters, but he knows he is ageing and his son is in the grip of the mafia he created long ago and is totally ineffective. But his deal is restricted to one seat that is Sonia Gandhi’s and Akhilesh Yadav’s wife’s seat. BJP believes that the Muslim vote is badly split and their neglect and poverty is all tall talk by all parties and boils down to nothing on the ground; so they will let parties sweat for their ballot or the button on the electronic voting machine.
Large parts of U.P. are plunged in darkness by dusk or even powerless at noon; so where is the scope for trusting any leader’s ability to do anything for the people. Power plants lie idle in the absence of coal or gas; new ones are being built and money thrown away as they will never be lit for decades to come. The captains of industry who keep gas blocks shut will not spend a penny to solve the energy crisis. The public sector will not be allowed by them to do anything and will be captive to the whims of moneybags, thanks to the greed and desire of wealthy filling their coffers and sharing some of the loot with vote gatherers to serve them and their interests in parliamentary and legislative forums. They are the creators of wealth as India is not empowered but weakened with the rupee going down to new lows.
Sonia Gandhi makes a forceful speech but the viral fever catches her; yet she pilots the food bill forcefully and is forced to leave the Lok Sabha chamber for the Medical Institute with the doctors waiting to try and restore her to health and hopefully make her fighting fit. But she perhaps knows that Rae Bareli and Amethi are not safe seats for her and her son; so both may choose safe constituencies elsewhere in India, perhaps Medak in Telengana from where Indira Gandhi was once returned for double victory. Sonia may leave Rae Bareli to Priyanka, but will she be able to light the home and run the fans in the huts with a callous Mulayam twiddling his thumbs, talking big but doing nothing. (IFS)

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