By Arun Srivastava
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is resorting to petty vengeance against Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar as well as Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Yadav and his son, Bihar deputy chief minister, Tejashwi Yadav, amply proving that the man lacks the imagination to tackle his detractors and political opponents through fair play.
Only two days back, Modi engineered the split within Sharad Pawar’s NCP through the latter’s highly ambitious nephew Ajit Pawar. Now, the Indian prime minister is working on dividing the redoubtable RJD by implicating Lalu and Tejashwi in a land-for-job scam and sending them to jail.
A shrewd and seasoned politician should not have invited perils for himself by resorting to these desperate steps. His actions in Maharashtra and Bihar simply endorse the notion that he intends to conquer the people of these two states by coercing the respective popular political parties having huge support bases into backing off. He is absolutely mistaken. Not only, the supporters of the two parties and their leaders would turn against him, even the common people would turn hostile towards his unscrupulous actions.
Only in May, the RSS mouthpiece Organiser carried an edit underlining Modi’s failure, and emphasising that he has lost mass appeal and popular support. Incidentally, the edit did not mention the reason for his loss of support and image in its editorial. It preferred to maintain a passive silence.
His promoting and patronising of anti-Muslim politics at the behest of the RSS and pursuing the politics of vengeance have been primarily responsible for the decline of his popularity and smearing of his image. It is really mysterious why his BJP colleagues did not bring this bare fact to his knowledge.
It is a matter of common perception that the more you unleash terror and repress your opponents, the more they turn aggressive towards you. Modi claims that he had actively participated in the anti-emergency agitations and movement. Certainly, he must be aware of the fact that the people were put off by Indira Gandhi’s increasing repression of the political opposition. Eventually, the collective opposition defeated Indira Gandhi in the 1977 election once the Emergency was lifted.
Modi must go through the pages of history. It will become amply clear that his vengeance actions against his political detractors will certainly not fetch victory for him in the 2024 elections. He has seen how Uddhav Thackeray gained more political ground in Maharashtra after he was dethroned by Eknath Shinde from power with the tacit support of BJP. Same indications are emerging in the case of Sharad Pawar. It is certainly not going to be different in Bihar.
Notwithstanding his close lieutenant Amit Shah making all kind of efforts, he has not succeeded in his endeavour to win over the Yadavs or split their rank. He has not been able to bring the Bihar OBCs into BJP fold either. In the eyes of the people of Bihar, the land-for-job scam case is a design to finish off Tejashwi’s political career. Whoever has advised Modi to resort to this nature of politics, is certainly not his friend. Any further physical damage to Lalu would completely derail the political prospect of the RSS and BJP in Bihar. People have seen the pain and agony he had to suffer in the past for his alleged involvement in the ‘fodder scam’. People nurse the feeling that he was falsely implicated in the case.
People look at the latest ‘land-for-job’ case through the same prism. They are not willing to subscribe to the CBI allegation, which ironically has lost most of its relevance due to its misuse by Modi for taming and punishing his detractors. Even the judiciary has come to disbelieve it as well as the ED.
CBI filed the chargesheet against Tejashwi Yadav in the case on July 3. This is the second chargesheet. In this, the CBI has tried to strengthen its argument by saying that a fresh chargesheet is filed in the case, despite a chargesheet already being filed because the alleged act is committed with a different modus operandi. The court was also informed that sanctions are awaited against Lalu and three others. There is no doubt about CBI getting the sanction.
According to the CBI, irregular appointments of candidates were made in Central Railway, violating the laid down norms and procedures of recruitment. On March 15, the Court granted regular bail to ex-railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav, ex-Bihar CM Rabri Devi, their daughter RJD MP Misha Bharti and other accused in an alleged land-for-job scam case.
According to the CBI, Lalu Prasad Yadav during the period 2007-08 when he was Minister of Railways had acquired lands from the candidates desirous to get a job in the railways. It is alleged that he entered into a criminal conspiracy with his wife Rabri Devi, daughter Misha Bharati, Officers of Central Railways namely Sowmya Raghvan the then General Manager, Kamal Deep Mainrai, the then Chief Personnel Officer, and residents of Vill-Mahjabagh, Patna and Vill-Bindaul, Bihta.
At that time, CBI did not mention the name of Tejashwi as conspirator. He was a school-going kid and an adolescent. It name was added after he became a leader. RJD leaders and academics of the state have raised this issue on many occasions. But the CBI continues to stick to its ground. CBI in its chargesheet filed on October 22, last year made Lalu an accused of offering Group D appointments in railways in lieu of plots of land in the name of his family members, including his daughters and son Tejashwi Yadav, during his stint as the minister in the UPA regime.
On March 10 this year, the ED conducted searches at Tejashwi’s house in New Friends Colony in New Delhi. The ED also carried out searches in several cities of Bihar, including some leaders connected with the RJD. In fact, CBI had summoned Tejashwi on March 4 and 11, but he didn’t join the probe citing wife’s health issues.
Significantly, the FIR filed on October 22 does not name Tejashwi. It reads: “Out of seven instances of land transfer, it is revealed that three sale deeds were executed in favour of Rabri Devi, wife of Lalu Yadav, one sale deed was executed in the name of Misha Bharti, daughter of Lalu Prasad Yadav, one sale deed was executed in favour of M/s AK Infosystems Private Limited, in which later Rabri Devi became major shareholder, in the year 2014 and currently she is one of the Director of the Company. Two gift deeds were executed in favour of Hema Yadav, daughter of Lalu Prasad Yadav.”
A year back, the ED and CBI had alleged that Tejashwi has share in a hotel being constructed in Gurgaon. But it proved to be false. Actually, the owner was traced to a BJP sympathiser and a protégé of the Haryana chief minister, ML Khattar.
Ever since Nitish Kumar parted ways with the BJP, Amit Shah has made Bihar his favourite destination. On each occasion, he indulges in severe Nitish-bashing. Meanwhile, sources maintain that Modi and Amit Shah have still not given up hope of Nitish’s comeback and have been creating pressure on him. Even attempts are being made to launch “Operation Lotus” to break his JD(U) lure away his legislators. Once this design got leaked, Nitish resorted to damage control exercise and held several round of meeting with the MLAs.
The BJP ecosystem on its part has been spreading the rumour that to keep his house intact he has been meeting his legislators. Incidentally, these exercises coincided with Amit Shah’s visit to Lakhisarai.
After the huge political drama in Maharashtra, political crisis has started taking a nasty turn in Bihar. While the top BJP leaders, especially Sushil Modi, are spreading the rumour that Nitish could once again jump ship and join hands with the BJP, the Mahagathbandhan constituents are gearing up to confront the machinations of the BJP and RSS. (IPA Service)
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