BJP busy playing politics even in the midst of a deadly pandemic

Hours after a ‘masterful’ address to the nation by the Prime Minister on Tuesday, TV channels began count- ing the number of times he had folded his hands during the live address. The Prime Minister, a ‘master’ of messaging, also changed his profile picture before the hashtag #UddhavResign began trending on Twitter.

Orchestrated by BJP’s IT Cell, BJP leaders began blaming the Maharashtra chief minister for the protest staged by thousands of migrant workers at Bandra in Mumbai. And it became clear that politics continues to drive some even during these critical times. As in Surat, migrant workers stranded in Mumbai were demanding permission and facilities to go home.

They had no work, their savings were running out, they had limited access to food and water, and they were forced to huddle 24X7 in small spaces with scores of other workers. Anxiety, hunger and savings depleting fast increased their desperation to go home. Before the lockdown, they would work in shifts, spend most of the time outside working and return to their shelter only to sleep.

But with no shifts and no work and driven away from the streets where they would spend much or most of their time, it is easy to imagine why they would get desperate to go back home. But BJP leaders and a section of the media saw a conspiracy in the protest.

Why did the protesting workers have no luggage with them, if they wanted to go home? The explanation that they had merely hoped to buy tickets at Bandra in the hope that trains would start functioning and the lockdown lifted from April 15 cut no ice with this lot.

Late on Tuesday evening, Amit Malviya, who heads BJP’s IT Cell, tweeted, “Maharashtra govt should stop misleading people. Like Delhi, this is an engineered crowd. Why else would people a) come to Bandra West without bags? Answer!” Another tweet from him said, “Maharashtra CM must own up his failure to manage the Covid crisis and not try to pass it on central government.

The Maha Vikas Aghadi is an opportunistic alliance and governance is the last thing on their mind.” Voices questioning why the Gujarat chief minister should not step down in that case following similar protests in Surat and else- where, fell on deaf ears. Questions about why the Railways had booked train tickets and accepted payments despite uncertainties over resumption of train services from April 15 onwards went unanswered.

The fact that states were not consulted before clamping the lockdown last month with short notice was ignored. The claim that Maharashtra chief minister had pleaded with the Prime Minister to arrange for special trains for the migrants was brushed aside. Discrediting, if not quite toppling the Maharashtra Government immediately, appeared a higher priority.

But while BJP leaders were frothing at the alleged failure of the Maharashtra government to feed stranded workers and clamourig for the migrant workers to stay where they are, they were strangely silent on reports that the Home Minister had arranged for luxury buses to send back 1,800 stranded Gujaratis in Haridwar back to the state after the lockdown. This was no fake news.

The information was given by the Gujarat Government and was published in newspapers. But what was sauce for the goose was possibly not sauce for the gander? Maharashtra Government is not the only state government in the crosshair of the BJP.

While Prime Minister Modi strikes a statesmanlike stand, invokes ‘We, the People’ from the Preamble to the Constitution and says that Indians would unitedly face the crisis, the BJP has been relentless in its pursuit to discredit opposition-ruled states. In Madhya Pradesh, from where Congress MLAs were hijacked to Bengaluru, eventually paving the way for Shivraj Singh Chouhan to return as chief minister, the BJP curiously has not expanded the ministry.

The one-man government led by the chief minister has been busy blaming the previous government and Tablighi Jamaat for the spread of the virus and turning Indore into a ‘Hotspot’.

But BJP has been silent on its supporters thronging the streets in large numbers, taking out processions and assembling at the Rajvada in Indore, ignoring all calls for social dis- tancing. Why is the government not being expanded, now that the BJP has majority support? States like Kerala and West Bengal have been criticised for complaining of stepmotherly treatment by the Centre.

Such criticism, it is suggest- ed by the BJP, runs against the unity and the solidarity needed at this critical juncture. The states are cash strapped and have not received their share of the GST either, leave alone special assistance to battle the crisis. BJP spokesmen have primly suggested that Health is a state subject, for- getting ‘jumlas’ like ‘Team India’ and ‘One India’.

But every death in an opposition-ruled state is sought to be exploited by the party for scoring political brownie points. The vicious messaging from official handles and platforms of the BJP are there on record. Rajasthan and West Bengal continue to be special targets.

The following messages tweeted by Malviya, the ones related to West Bengal posted in a matter of a few hours on Wednesday, are enough to prove the point. Cheerleaders of Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and Congress President Sonia Gandhi in Lutyens media, here is some news for you!

Rajasthan government’s claim of apparently screening six crore people is fake! You ran with this news for days. There is no ‘Bhilwara model’ it seems Over the last 48 hrs, West Bengal government has refused to acknowledge even a single Covid +ive death in the state. At the same time, Bengal police lathi charged locals last night, protesting clandestine cremation of dead bodies in Bankura.

CM Mamata holds both Home and Health. In Bankura, not the local administration or the hospital staff, not even the family but TMC workers cremate dead bodies of likely Covid positive patients. This when even the reports had not arrived. What was the hurry?

Does TMC know something that the family and doctors don’t? Shocking! Circular issued by the WB Govt to all medical colleges and district hospitals doesn’t mention the need for quarantine or testing for doctors / health workers exposed to Covid patients for less than 15mins. Does Mamata govt want to break the transmission or accelerate?

Operation Kamal seems to be an ongoing, never-ending and ceaseless exercise till the BJP manages to rule over all the states, pandemic be damned. There are other attempts being made to take advantage of the crisis. An insidious campaign has started demanding postponement of the next general election in 2024, four years away.

The argument is that challenges before the country are so enormous and the economic outlook is so bleak that it would be criminal to spend ‘lakhs and lakhs of Crores’ on conducting the election. So, make Narendra Modi the PM till 2029?

The suggestion was made first by Rangoli Chandel and for those asking, ‘Rangoli, what and who’, she happens to be the sister and manager of actor Kangana Ranaut. The suggestion would have been dismissed as another foolish and absurd comment on social media but for the BJP’s echo chamber magnifying the message.

Media platforms like Republic and Op-India approvingly picked up the thread and lent their voice to the demand. The clamour might even grow as the economy spirals out of control. As an aside, the Election Commission of India spent Rs 3,780 Crore for holding the 2014 general election and around Rs 5,000 Crore for conducting the election in 2019.

This amount is marginally higher than the Rs 3000 Crore that the Modi Government spent on the Statue of Unity and substantially lower than the Rs 20,000 Crore that the Government is spending in building a new Parliament Building, a home for the PM and the central vista. Could Ms Chandel be joking while making the suggestion?