Yogi boomeranged
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath failed to help the BJP get votes. He addressed 74 election meetings, the maximum 26 in Rajasthan, followed by 23 in Chhattisgarh, 17 in Madhya Pradesh and eight in Telangana. He addressed more meetings than PM Narendra Modi or BJP president Amit Shah.
As a strategy, the BJP used Yogi to polarise votes. True to his reputation, Yogi did not miss a chance to create controversy. His statements—“Ali versus Bajrangbali”, declaring “Hanuman a Dalit”, “rename Hyderabad as Bhagyanagar”, “Owaisi will have to leave the country”—were aimed at strengthening a divisive narrative. But many of his jibes boomeranged. Owaisi dared him to throw him out. Bhim Army founder Chandrashekhar Azad gave a call to Dalits “to reclaim Hanuman temples now that Yogi had certified Hanuman to be a Dalit”. Several Dalit bodies across UP and even in Delhi laid a symbolic claim to several Hanuman temples in Delhi, Agra and Muzaffarnagar. In Varanasi, supporters of Shivpal Singh Yadav’s Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party (Lohia) surrounded the district magistrate’s office demanding a caste certificate for Lord Hanuman.
2019 a different ballgame
Despite losing three major Hindi states of Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan, some top Bharatiya Janata Party leaders feel that this may be a blessing in disguise. The kind of tough fight that the BJP Chief Ministers Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Vasundhra Raje gave in their respective states of MP and Rajasthan, top BJP leaders feel that they can convert the current defeat into victory in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections in these states.
This writer travelled extensively in many parts of Rajasthan during the Assembly election campaign. In most of the places, people showed anger against Raje but not against Prime Minister Narendra Modi. A popular slogan, Modi tujhse bair nahi, Raje teri khair nahi summed up the public mood. This has raised the saffron party and the RSS Parivar’s hopes for the 2019 elections.
NOTA scoring over winning margins, rebels spoiling victory chances, and anger of Dalits and upper castes against the BJP have emerged as the major cause of the party losing despite giving a tough fight. In fact, the stature of Chouhan has increased in the party as it lost MP by only a few seats.
The Congress should not be too excited about its victory. It will have to approach next year’s Parliamentary elections carefully. One wrong step can reverse its fortunes. Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan did not come easily to the kitty of the grand old party. The BJP logged more votes than the Congress in MP and had there been alliances with the BSP and the Gondwana Party, counting would not have been the all-day cliff-hanger.
Cordial vibes missing
Two days after the Congress wrested three Hindi heartland states from the saffron party, PM Modi and Congress president Rahul Gandhi and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi were a short distance from each other at a function in Parliament on Thursday, but did not speak.
Modi was, however, seen exchanging greetings with former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Union Minister Vijay Goel and Minister of State for Social Justice, Ramdas Athawale were the only leaders who shook hands with Rahul Gandhi.
Kamal wants Bhopal to be San Francisco
On Tuesday, the day of counting, Jyotiradiya Scindia, Digvijaya Singh and Vivek Tankha had breakfast with Kamal Nath at 9, Shyamla Hills in Bhopal and discussed every constituency and party nominee as a huge television set relayed minute-to-minute trends. It was, perhaps, the longest day of them being together. Then, they moved together to Indira Gandhi Bhawan at 74, Bungalow Road for lunch and evening tea.
The moment, by 7 am of 12 December, the Election Commission announced the poll verdict of the Congress emerging as the single largest party, the bonding between Kamal Nath and Scindia showed cracks as their supporters began raising slogans that their respective leaders should be chosen by the party high command as the new Chief Minister.
An alumnus of Doon School and St Xavier’s, Kolkata, Nath is known for his ready wit. When The Sunday Guardian asked Nath at what time he got up in the morning, he smiled and put his own question: “You first ask me what time I sleep.” That reflects his excitement to take up the new CM job seriously. Recently, he told a visiting diplomat that he has a dream of turning state capital Bhopal into San Francisco.
Slogans galore
As the BJP lost the Assembly elections on Tuesday, memes and messages surfaced on social media with a one-line advice: “Cow gives milk, not votes.” Two other popular slogans were, “Pappu pass ho gaya” and “BJP gets triple talaq”. Meanwhile, former UP Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav tweeted, “Ab Ki Baar, Kho Di Sarkar. And Bihar’s Rashtriya Janata Dal’s Twitter handle tweeted, “Bure Din Jaane Waale Hain, Tejashwi Yadav Aane Waale Hain.”
IAF goes for ATF-bio fuel mix
On 17 December, the Indian Air Force will make history when a Russian-origin AN 32 transport plane will be formally flight tested using a mix of aviation turbine fuel (ATF) and bio-fuel.
With some modifications, the aircraft will fly from the IAF base at Chandigarh with a blend of around 10% bio-fuel. Trials have been on since mid-November. There is also a plan is to fly an AN-32 with bio-fuel over the Rajpath at the Republic Day Parade.
AN 32 flies regularly from Chandigarh to Kargil, Leh and Srinagar to drop supplies, equipment and men. The need for air effort is more during winter months as passes on the Manali-Leh road and the Srinagar-Kargil-Leh route get closed down due to snow.
The move can reduce the import bill of oil. Every year, the IAF spend about Rs. 40,000 crore on ATF. By using bio-fuel, it is hoping to save around 10% on the fuel bill. If successful, the IAF will gradually start using this fuel blend for fighter jets like Su-30MKi and Mig-29. Daily, over 100 transport plane and 300 helicopter sorties take place.