LOVE THEM OR HATE THEM , WE CANNOT IGNORE THEM

“Love him or hate him, but you can’t ignore him”- Prannoy Roy, the media news baron, once told about Railway Minister and RJD leader Lalu Prasad Yadav. This statement applies also to certain political leaders like Amar Singh, the evergreen glamorous safari-clad leader of Samajwadi Party and Mamta Banerji, leader of Trinamool Congress, a regional political outfit in Bengal always at loggerheads with ruling Communist Party of India (Marxist) and its allies. Only a few among the species. And if we dig deeper into the political History of India, a few leaders like the irrepressible Raj Narain, who defeated Indira Gandhi and created history in the LokSabha Election held in Allahabad constituency, could be found. It is worth remembering here that Raj Narain was instrumental in imposition of infamous emergency by Indira Gandhi, which lasted for nineteen months. The dark period is still lingering in the hearts of majority of Indian citizens.

Now return to Lalu Prasad Yadav. His antipathy towards the communalist outfits like BJP and its mother organization, the Sangh Parivar, is well known. A Chief Minister who had the guts to stop the BJP juggernaut eighteen years ago, I mean the Rath Yatra (chariot procession) undertaken by Lal Krishna Advani across the length and breadth of the country, to draw the attention of Indian citizens and seeking their support for the construction of Ramjanmabhoomi Temple at Ayodhya in UP. Lalu Prasad took on the Sangh Parivar activists and imprisoned L.K. Advani on entering Bihar.

I recalled the incident which happened eighteen years ago on watching a news report on TV about Varun Gandhi, the budding leader of BJP, the son of late Sanjay Gandhi and Maneka Gandhi. Varun Gandhi, a BJP candidate from Pilibhit in Uttar Pradesh (UP), which was vacated by his mother to enable him to contest the 15th Loksabha Election was alleged to have made a fiery speech attacking a minority community thus inflaming communal passions among the majority Hindu community. The Election Commission (EC) intervened and advised the BJP leaders not to allow him to contest from the Pilibhit constituency, but the leaders defied the EC and stood firm on its decision to make him contest from there. The Chief Minister of UP and the BSP supremo Kumari Mayawati, who is not on good terms with the saffron party ‘at present’ (their’s is a love-hate relationship) slapped NSA (National Security Act) against Varun Gandhi and put him behind bars. Mr.Gandhi is still in jail and how long he has to spend there is anybody’s guess.

Lalu Prasad Yadav always has a penchant for creating controversies and on getting a victim to tear apart in the form of Varun Gandhi, who is a BJP leader especially when the elections are on the threshold, the “secular Lalu” in him got active and while addressing an election rally in a fit of rage and passion reportedly blurted out- “Had I be the Home Minister of the country, I would have crushed him under roller.”

He might have been applauded profusely by the masses, but his political enemies, BJP and JD(U) made it an issue and like a typical politician Lalu did a somersault and gave a broad interpretation- “Would have crushed him under the roller of law”- Lalu is a pucca law-abiding citizen of India!

Chief Minister and JD(U) Chief, Nitish Kumar could see through the game of his bete noire. The shrewd politician in him read the mind of shrewd Lalu and he could make out the real motive behind the controversial statement made by Lalu Prasad Yadav. Lalu is very well aware of a sad truth that the Muslim minority of Bihar, once they were with him enbloc, have switched sides and are behind Nitish Kumar now, for the good things done to them by the CM and for the overall development of the State which Lalu Prasad Yadav could not bring about even after ruling Bihar for fifteen years. Lalu’s anti-communalist approach cannot be disputed and even heartening, his outburst against Varun Gandhi was with a view to woo the Muslim voters back to RJD , who had left him after 15 years of administration.

“Love him or hate him, but we can’t ignore him”- we can very well say this about SP National General Secretary, Amar Singh also. This former liaison officer of a multinational company is undoubtedly a friend in need and also a King Maker. Time is a bit bad for him at the moment as he is reportedly weathering a storm in the form of Azam Khan, one of the founder members of Samajwadi Party over the candidature of a film-actor turned politician Jayapradha from Rampur, who is said to be not on good terms with Azam Khan.

Amar Singh is the ‘right-hand’ man of the SP supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav.

While the controversy over the ‘Indo-American Civilian Nuclear Deal’ was raging, with the left withdrawing support and bowing out of UPA (United Progressive Alliance) bandwagon, Sardar ManMohanSingh found himself in a quandary. For Mr.Singh, the ‘Indo-American Civilian Nuclear Deal’ was a prestige issue and he was determined to proceed with it. With the Left deserting UPA, UPA became a minority and Congress and its allies had to chalk-out a new strategy to win the confidence motion (trust vote) in the Parliament.

Mulayam Singh and Amar Singh who were till then with the leftists and also staunch opponents of “Indo-US Nuclear Deal” turned the tables and they found themselves in the UPA camp to ‘bail-out’ ManMohanSingh government from the verge of collapse. That rescue operation is still in the minds of Indian citizens and the drama behind it. The “Notes for Votes” scam, was shocking to the citizens as it happened under the rule of a man of dignity and honesty. A Party ie. SP, from the very beginning opposed the Civilian-Nuclear Deal turned supporter of the deal was another embarrassing thing.

After wriggling out of a precarious situation, UPA had no qualms in developing a cold feet to Samajwadi Party and its demands. The Party must have dreamt of bargaining with the ruling Party thereby extracting the maximum, found itself in the wilderness.

All the more interesting is a statement purported to have been made by Amar Singh about two weeks ago. That it was a folly on the part of Samajwadi Party to have extended support to ManMohanSingh Government and thereby rescuing it! Howzaat? Actually in the name of which ideology, this Party is going to contest the ensuing elections?

“Love her or hate her, but you cannot ignore her”- who is this lady? None other than Mamataji of Trinamool Congress confined to West Bengal.

Uptill now, her Party’s ideology is unknown to me. Is her only motto an ongoing fight with CPI(M)? This woman in white saree with black borders is always busy and aggressive. She has also a large number of followers.

At a moment, when she was relentlessly looking for an issue to rake up with Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, he gave it her on a platter.

Nandigram and Singur issues were more than enough for her. She could very well capitalize on these controversial issues by mobilizing hitherto supporters of CPI(M). As far as a farmer is concerned, forcible acquisition of his land, whatever be the purpose behind it is unbearable. In order to bring about industrial development in the State, Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee- he was in desperate hurry- invited a multinational from Indonesia to construct a chemical hub at Nandigram. His intention was to forcibly occupy the lands of farmers settled at Nandigram without even seeking or discussing the opinions of humble farmers. On coming to know about it, the farmers took up cudgels against the Government. Mamata having got an opportunity to take on the Left front Government, reached there in no time and led the farmers from the front. Buddhadeb remained adamant but the farmers were also on the offensive and a law and order situation developed, ruthless firing took place killing many farmers. The intellectuals of the State, artists, writers, film fraternity and thinkers, hitherto well-wishers of CPI(M) and allies joined the Mamata bandwagon and led march through the streets of Kolkata, voicing solidarity with the poor farmers.

Similar was the case in Singur. There the acquisition of land was for Tata to manufacture cars for common man at a cheaper rate. (Tata’s Nano cars have rolled out of Gujarat recently). At Singur also the farmers rose in revolt under the leadership of Mamata Banerji and also with the support of environmentalists like Medha Patkar and Arundhati Roy.

In Singur also the government had to back-out and the ultimate victory was for the farmers.

It is quite unfortunate that, the farmers as well as intellectuals, who toiled and nurtured the communist parties and its allies had to turn against them.

Anyhow the Party and its leaders now regret for the mistakes is a good sign and let better sense prevail.

Love them or hate them, we can’t ignore them. Yes, I mean the politicians. Jai Ho.