Why BJP should beware of vendetta politics by 'secular' parties

There is still some time left before BJP can breathe easy. Those who are smarting under the defeat have started using the secular card for achieving their nefarious designs. First off the block is Nitish Kumar, the Bihar Chief Minister,who has put in his papers with unctuous cunning. He and his comrade-in-arm Sharad Yadav, who had to bite the dust at the hustings are enacting an elaborate charade. They would seek the support of Lalu Yadav to ward off the incipient threat posed by the resurgent Bihar BJP. That Lalu is on bail on despite being convicted of grave charges of misappropriation of funds need not come in the way, says Sharad Yadav now that halting the communal BJP is the top priority. Touché! The JDU is worried sick that its flock may succumb to the overtures made by the Bihar BJP resulting in more than two-thirds of its MLAs merging with the BJP. BJP could also be stymied in the Rajya Sabha till the biennial elections at the states consolidate its position. Meanwhile, those licking their wounds might gang up and mulishly oppose all bills presented in the Rajya Sabha. And this could include disparate elements such as BSP, SP, TMC, AIADMK, DMK, BJD and who have you. Of course AIADMK, TMC and BJD might buy peace with the central government in their own enlightened self-interest—-central government support for various projects in their respective states—but parties like the BSP which are likely to be in the sulk mode for the next five years might think nothing of rocking the boat at the centre howsoever trivial their opposition. While politics of vendetta is reprehensible, there is no reason why the Modi government at the centre should not pursue the various scams to their logical conclusion. Of course a spin-off would be the parties behind these scams would be on the defensive and hence on the backfoot in the Rajya Sabha. [caption id=“attachment_1505433” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Narendra Modi in this file photo. AFP[/caption] The 2G scam is an open and shut case. Contrary to what the Congress ministers said the loss to the exchequer of a staggering Rs 1.76 lac crore is not notional but real. Licenses which were sold for a song—Rs 1760 crore each—were sold back to back to foreign telecom majors for a whopping Rs 10,000 crore. That licenses themselves were not thus sold but only shares of these companies were sold is an argument that would not wash before any court of law given the fact that all the shell companies, which sold their shares, had no assets apart from the telecom licenses. Effectively therefore the shares of these companies had only one underlying asset—telecom licenses. The Modi government has to act and act fast. It must implement its poll promises of development by reviving the golden quadrilateral project if necessary by making Major General Khanduri as the concerned minister among others. At the same time it must bring to justice those who took liberties with national assets. P Chidambaram had in the past defended the sales of shares of the shell companies that got telecom licenses at ten times the price they paid to the government as being acts of smartness! He is likely to defend Vadra’s act of getting the agricultural lands converted into residential lands with a similar epithet. The fig leaf of secularism to cover loot and scams should be blown away with the contempt it deserves. Buffeted by Modi at the centre and Jaya in the state, Karunanidhi is likely to join the chorus that secularism is under threat when the heat turns on him in the 2G scandal again. In the ultimate analysis, making available the fruits of growth and development to people cutting across religious, caste and regional divides would be the most befitting reply to Modi’s critics. Modi thus has three things to do—pursue his developmental agenda, brings the crooks to justice and beware of those who wear the halo of secularists in a thinly disguised pursuit of selfish ambitions.