By GOBIND THUKRAL
CHANDIGARH: The stunning victory of Aam Aadmi Party or the common man’s party in Delhi has clearly emboldened the dissidents among the ruling BJP leaders in Haryana. A section of the ruling BJP MLAs that has been voicing their concern over the ‘lack of performance’ of the Khattar government in muted voices, are now coming in the open. This pack of legislators is led by five-time MLA and now minister for health and sports Anil Vij. He has begun using his twitter handle rather imaginatively, much to the embarrassment of chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar.
On BJP’s humiliating loss in the Delhi polls, Vij has chastised not only his chief minister, but also the central leadership, particularly party president Amit Shah and if we stretch the argument a little further, even Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Vij says the party’s strategy should not have been to “import leaders”. “Instead of importing leaders, if BJP had focused on building leadership, then things would have been different.” He was referring not only to Kiran Bedi, a former IPS officer and a core team member of Anna Hazare’s India Against Corruption as the BJP’s chief ministerial candidate, but also former AAP leader Shazia Ilmi and former UPA minister and Congress leader Krishna Tirath. Vij has reckoned himself as chief minister as he had won five times from Ambala Cantt when the BJP had not more than two legislators. He thought his seniority ought to have been considered. He felt hurt when Modi and Shah team opted for Khattar, first time MLA. Much to the chagrin of senior leaders, his Facebook comments have generated huge response.
The health minister, who had been quite active on social media for the past few days, had tweeted on February 4: “In politics, there are hindrances in every step. But I would crush all impediments and would continue to work for the people.” A day earlier he had tweeted, “Some people are not happy with my style of working and they want me to stop working like this. But they will fail and I will continue working in my own ways.”
There was much speculation and debate in political circles and on television channels about whom the minister was hinting at. He was either hinting at the chief minister or some senior officers who were putting obstacles in his style of working. He was daring the leadership to stop him from raiding hospitals and keeping doctors and other staff on toes. In private conversations, this bearded no-nonsense minister, does not mince words. Interestingly, he bluntly conveyed his opinions to the chief minister who came to dine with him at his residence on February11. In fact, he is telling anyone who listens to him. While it may not be a tough task for Khattar to placate Vij, yet he would not rest till he had claimed some heads of some officers.
During the Delhi assembly polls, Haryana BJP has done more than its bit, even supplying excess water to the thirsting national capital besides leading campaigns and providing funds and manpower. However, the results have clearly unnerved it. Asked for reactions, the ministers and other leaders have been at a loss for words. The best that could come was, “We are meditating at the loss and would soon come out with reasons”. Apparently, those who were earlier supporting the compulsory study of Sanskrit or the Gita and mouthing Hindutva slogans, are on the back foot.
At another level, the Congress and the Haryana’s AAP leadership feel that that a categorical repudiation of the unilateralism that now characterise the BJP cannot bail it out any longer. A sledgehammer politics has clearly rebounded and the results are disastrous. The tragic part is that the polity too has suffered in the process. The question that AAP leaders like Yogendra Yadav ask is what kind of change Modi represents now. Is this not the B team of the UPA government minus less corruption?
Though the Congress is sharply divided into two camps — one led by former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and another by state Congress president Ashok Tanwar and leader of the opposition Kiran Chaudhry — yet the party feels emboldened. Narendra Modi no longer haunts the party and is now taking the Khattar government head-on.
AAP leadership in Haryana, having performed badly during the Lok Sabha polls, had stayed away from Assembly polls, much to the chagrin of its supporters. But it now feels that the party should not have shied away from the contest. It shall have to wait for five years to assert its existence as a political party. The two tallest leaders of the AAP, its convener Arvind Kejriwal and its ideologue Yogendra Yadav hail from Haryana. Its rank and file is in a celebratory mood, distributing sweets and dancing to the tunes of drums. But as Yadav put it, the party shall have to take up the cause of the people and build a mass movement the way it has done in Delhi. All in all, people in Haryana can be happy that next door there is a government that is secular and caring. Khattar knows the kind of impact it would have and he has to doubly gear up to meet the challenge.