Amidst apprehensions that Pragya Singh Thakur -- whose BJP candidature from Bhopal was justified by Prime Minister Narendra Modi as his "symbolic answer to all those who falsely labeled the rich Hindu civilization as terrorist" -- might prove costly for the saffron party, the question that is being asked is: Will the Congress be able to take advantage of the situation?
Already, Thakur, a Malegaon terror accused, has pushed the political debate to a highly unlikely and inflammatory topic: The assassination Mahatma Gandhi by Nathuram Godse. Thakur said in response to a question from a reporter that Godse “was, is and will remain a patriot.” While the Congress has sought Modi's apology, the issue is: Is the party prepared turn the tables against BJP at least in the last phase of month-long polls, scheduled on May 19?
Thakur’s statement has already caught international attention, with "Washington Post" recalling that Godse was a member of RSS, "a strident Hindu nationalist organization that is the parent of the BJP", outlawed briefly after Gandhi was killed, pointing out that in recent decades, it has moved from the fringes of public debate in India to the mainstream, adding "Modi spent most of his career as an RSS organizer."
Ground reports, however, suggest that the Congress, as the main opposition party, has not only failed to come up with an "alternative narrative", providing a secular perspective, to quote a senior human rights activist, Shabnam Hashmi while referring to what all she saw in Bhopal, it is even failing to provide succour to the electorate in Madhya Pradesh, where it returned to power after 15 long years.
In a Facebook post addressed to chief minister Kamal Nath, a "Down to Earth" correspondent, Banjot Kaur, pointed out how development appears to be failing to get priority under the Congress administration.
While polls in Bhopal and Rewa (about which Kaur writes), ended in earlier two phases, the state's eight Lok Sabha constituencies, Dewas, Ujjain, Mandsour, Ratlam, Dhar, Indore, Khargone and Khandwa, go to polls on May 19.
For the first time visited home town after you assumed charge. I thought it was not going to be any different with the same old small-town charms. The charms that any small town, and therefore Rewa offers, are endless, still.
But a nightmare seems to be coming back. Electricity. It seems years away but now only yesterday that we would spend sleepless nights on terrace, especially during summer season as power was in short supply.
Text of the FB post:
Dear Mr Kamal Nath,For the first time visited home town after you assumed charge. I thought it was not going to be any different with the same old small-town charms. The charms that any small town, and therefore Rewa offers, are endless, still.
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| Kamal Nath |
In fact, as a kid, what I remember about Digvijay Singh's 10 year regime in 1990s was only this. Inverter was not an in thing for families like us, especially. Most of the nights would be spent in open, amid darkness, mosquitoes and unending wait for power to resume.
We would make incessant calls to power house; and if calls would go unattended, dad would rush to it. Night after night, day after day, the story was not different during days when temperature soared. A nightmare for most of us it was, literally. Power was a luxury for us.
From there, the state travelled a long journey and guess it would have taken a lot of efforts that Madhya Pradesh became a power surplus state a couple of years ago and the state started selling electricity to others.
From there, the state travelled a long journey and guess it would have taken a lot of efforts that Madhya Pradesh became a power surplus state a couple of years ago and the state started selling electricity to others.
Power was no more a luxury for us, even before this declaration. Even power cuts was an exception. Though I had left my hometown much before this happened, still some gratification it was.
But now, it seems the nightmare is staging a comeback. As soon as you assumed charge, story started surfacing in tits and bits of power cuts happening, at least, in Rewa. I was not very receptive and as I enquired in home, I was told some repair work was on.
However, now we are fast progressing to past, it seems. Frequent power cuts have become norm. The small business community in the city is already lamenting that their work is being badly hit. But what we dread are not these cuts but the fact that are we going to experience the woes again what we thought was a story of past?
Have absolutely no idea if this is a 'temporary change'. Hope you and your officials would see to it that it does not become a 'permanent' one. Hope the electorate would not suffer because they voted for a change.
I am not writing this to anybody's electoral advantage or disadvantage, but as a concerned resident of Rewa who though has moved a number of cities in last 15 years but her permanent address remained that of the city.
But now, it seems the nightmare is staging a comeback. As soon as you assumed charge, story started surfacing in tits and bits of power cuts happening, at least, in Rewa. I was not very receptive and as I enquired in home, I was told some repair work was on.
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| Banjot Kaur |
Have absolutely no idea if this is a 'temporary change'. Hope you and your officials would see to it that it does not become a 'permanent' one. Hope the electorate would not suffer because they voted for a change.
I am not writing this to anybody's electoral advantage or disadvantage, but as a concerned resident of Rewa who though has moved a number of cities in last 15 years but her permanent address remained that of the city.
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