The BJP’s Prime Ministerial contender was given the ‘unwelcome’ mat by the Varanasi administration which on Wednesday denied him permission to hold a rally at Beniya Bagh on May 8, refused to approve a luncheon meeting with 150 eminent citizens at a city hotel, and forbade ‘Ganga aarti’ at the Dasashwamedh Ghat on grounds of security. In contrast, the red carpet was spread for a road show by the Congress vice president on May 10, which is stunning given the public disinterest in him.
To his eternal shame, Chief Election Commissioner VS Sampath has conducted this election in a most dubious manner. Many questioned the wisdom of the long drawn out poll schedule, which seemed to have been designed to help the Congress evaluate each phase and make appropriate adjustments in its electoral strategy. It was also thought that the BJP would wilt towards the last phases and enable the Congress to sprint ahead to the finishing line.
Narendra Modi belied these calculations by displaying unprecedented physical stamina and a rare intellectual energy, giving new inputs in every speech along with real time reactions to unfolding events, thus keeping the nation glued to his every word. With each phase of elections revealing the BJP on a new high, the Congress’s ruling dynasty (more than the party) pressed the panic buttons and the Election Commission responded with brazen partisanship – first by giving Rahul Gandhi the freedom to operate with impunity during voting at Amethi on May 7 (fully exposed by television channels on May 7 itself and by newspapers on May 8), and later the same day, allowing the concerned officials at Varanasi to literally scuttle the legitimate campaign of the BJP candidate. What a desperate remedy for a malady called Modi!
VS Sampath’s tragedy is that a fully alert social media has captured and recorded each and every misdemeanour in real time. He will never be able to deny the ignominy of his sins of omission and commission, and will never live down the odium of functioning as a factotum of a discredited de jure Prime Minister (read Sonia Gandhi, an ironical vindication of the claims made by Sanjaya Baru in The Accidental Prime Minister).
The murder of democracy and fair play was executed via electoral officer and district magistrate Pranjal Yadav. Varanasi goes to the polls on May 12. The BJP had planned to hold a rally at Beniya Bagh in the heart of the city, and another at Rohania, a rural assembly segment. The administration permitted the Rohaniya rally but disallowed the Beniya Bagh rally on the pretext that the ground was already booked by some other party.
A combative Narendra Modi jumped into the fray early Thursday morning, tweeting emotively, “My profound apologies to Ganga Maa for not being able to perform Aarti today. Wish these people know that a Mother’s love is above politics”. He regretted that the Election Commission was “not concerned about the institution’s neutrality” and had forced the party workers to embark on a satyagraha.
As announced by the BJP on Wednesday evening, party leaders Arun Jaitley and Amit Shah led a protest dharna outside the Banaras Hindu University (BHU), while party leaders in Delhi protested outside Nirvachan Sadan. The decision to protest was taken after the Election Commission failed to reply to three urgent letters written by Arun Jaitley for grant of permission so that the party could make timely arrangements for the rallies.
Responding to the forced change in plans, the BJP decided that Narendra Modi will land at the BHU helipad after the Rohania meeting, go to the BJP’s election office in Varanasi by road, and proceed to the airport. This journey will be converted into a road show – something that would automatically happen once Narendra Modi moves on the road, and may turn out to be even more overwhelming than the April 24 event, which was a turning point in the election and twisted the dagger of defeat deep in the Congress’s heart. Political observers will doubtless judge the road show by the Gandhi scion on May 10 against the Modi spectacle of May 8. Rahul Gandhi’s decision to campaign in Varanasi on May 10, the last day of campaigning, is being projected by the Congress as a tit-for-tat for Narendra Modi’s rally in Amethi on the last day of campaigning on May 5, which took the steam out of the Gandhi bravado regarding the seat.
Late on Wednesday evening, the Election Commission wrote to Arun Jaitley saying that the Returning Officer had given permission for Ganga Aarti and the meeting with intellectuals. However, the BJP has not yet declared if it intends to hold these programmes in the light of the major development – which is denial of permission to hold a rally in Beniya Bagh. The party rejected an alternative venue which, as Jaitley said, “We are not out of our mind to seek permission for a meeting of our Prime Ministerial candidate at a place which can accommodate only 2,000 people”.
Demanding the immediate removal of the RO, Jaitley said that a free and fair election is not possible in Varanasi if he continues in the post. “We are totally disappointed with the Election Commission when it sits as a mute spectator and has not been able to intervene in the issue and for its failure to remove the official … We have no option but to protest”, he said.
With the whole nation watching the abuse of power in Amethi and now Varanasi, the situation is bound to work to the advantage of Narendra Modi. The BJP veteran would doubtless recall that his situation is far better than that of the veteran socialist leader George Fernandes, who, arrested in June 1976 on charges of complicity in the Baroda dynamite case, was not released from jail despite the lifting of the Emergency and ordering of fresh general elections. Fernandes contested from jail on the Janata Party ticket from Muzaffarnagar in Bihar; he won by a handsome three lakh votes. The Modi juggernaut has gone too far and too fast to be rolled back by the petty chicanery of a petty election officer.
Niticentral.com, 8 May 2014