Favourite pawn
Political pundits are finding it hard to understand the Bharatiya Janata Party in Bihar. At first, it used Chirag Paswan, son of the deceased Union minister, Ram Vilas Paswan, and his Lok Janshakti Party to downsize the chief minister, Nitish Kumar, and his Janata Dal (United) in the 2020 assembly elections. When the work was over, the BJP let Chirag’s uncle, Pashupati Kumar Paras, split the LJP and even made him a Union minister. Chirag was left to fend for himself. The sprawling quarter allotted to his father was forcibly vacated. But now that the Lok Sabha polls are at the door and seat-sharing needs to be discussed, it is courting Chirag again and has probably dumped his uncle. To add to this, people are also puzzled by Chirag’s sweetness towards the BJP, especially after he endured so much trouble. They are now wondering whether it is the Modi magic at work or selfish interests are the cause for such bonhomie. What is for sure though is that no political party can ignore the Paswan vote bank, which is 6% of the state electorate.
Close to the roots
While leaders of all political parties are busy interacting with people and posting photographs of this on social media, the Rashtriya Janata Dal leader, Tejashwi Yadav, stood out for posting a video at the cowshed at his residence. He inspected the cows and calves, asserting that never misses an opportunity to serve gau mata. “She has been at the centre of our cultural, economic, spiritual and family life. I have deep love, attachment and devotion towards gomata since childhood due to my parents.”
Tejashwi Yadav
His mother and former Bihar CM, Rabri Devi, too, took to the farm at her residence. She posted a video of herself uprooting radishes and instructing the caretaker to feed its leaves to cows. She said that people should be in touch with their roots to understand the reality of life. The two videos went viral, fetching thousands of likes. This alarmed the BJP and its leaders immediately began claiming that they were the real gau sevaks and well-wishers of farmers. But none of them have posted any videographic proof of it so far.
Mysterious note
In a surprising move, the Centre took down the press note, “Positive narrative on Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019”, within hours of issuing it. In it, the Union home ministry had sought to allay the fears of Muslims amid growing criticism of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act being ‘anti-Muslim’. It said that Indian Muslims need not worry as the CAA had nothing to do with the 18 crore Indian Muslims who have the same rights as their Hindu brethren. Sources said that the press note was deleted after backlash on its headline.
People accused the government of running another propaganda campaign without clarifying the CAA’s underlying implications. Later, many said that the pulling down of the note was itself an indication that the Centre was only peddling a ‘positive narrative’ to hoodwink people. The government has not said anything so far on why the press note was pulled down hurriedly from its website.
Power of one
The High Level Committee on Simultaneous Elections, headed by the former president, Ram Nath Kovind, had six members other than him. The committee, which had 65 interactions, also had the Union law minister as a special invitee and a former Union law secretary as its secretary. Yet, the member perceived to be the most powerful was the Union home minister, Amit Shah. Of the 65 interactions, 14 were meetings of the committee itself. Shah, however, attended only four of them. Is he uninterested or driving from the back seat?
Changed stance
The president of the state unit of the BJP in Odisha, Manmohan Samal, made a volte-face on the issue of an alliance with the Biju Janata Dal. Till Thursday, Samal had maintained that the BJP would contest the election on its own in the 147 assembly seats and 21 Lok Sabha seats. This surprised people and Samal soon changed his stance and maintained that what he had said was his personal opinion. Many people, including a large number of BJP workers, wonder what invisible force made him change his stance. Did Amit Shah or JP Nadda have anything to do with it?
Lost leader
The Kerala state transport minister, KB Ganesh Kumar, is known for his wit. An actor-turned-politician, Kumar has been an integral part of the Left Democratic Front for quite some time. The junior IT minister and the BJP’s candidate in Thiruvananthapuram, Rajeev Chandrasekhar, is on Kumar’s radar. Chandrasekhar is a strong contender. But Kumar ruled out his victory on the grounds that he wouldn’t even know how to reach important places without Google maps. Lacking the basic idea about a constituency is truly a handicap for a politician, even in the age of technology.