The top leadership of the ruling BJP, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union home minister Amit Shah, appears to have funnelled its time and energy into canvassing and strategising for the Karnataka Assembly elections while turning a blind eye to the raging riots in Manipur and the wrestlers’ protest in Delhi.
While Modi has been flying from Delhi to Karnataka regularly to hold rallies and roadshows, Shah, who had been camping in the poll-bound state for many days, rushed back to Delhi only on Wednesday evening when the riots in Manipur appeared to be spiralling out of control.
From Delhi, Shah went to Punjab on Thursday to pay his last respects to former chief minister Prakash Singh Badal at a ceremony in his native village. Shah flew back to Karnataka but had to rush back to Delhi again on Friday as violence in Manipur showed no signs of ebbing.
BJP leaders said Shah was scheduled to address three rallies and two roadshows on Friday but they had to be cancelled at the last moment. “He (Shah) can go back to Karnataka again after reviewing the situation in Manipur but now only a few days are left for campaigning,” one party leader said.
According to a schedule announced by the BJP on Friday evening, Shah will hold at least two rallies and one roadshow in the poll-bound state. Campaigning in Karnataka closes on Monday as the state will go to polls on Wednesday.
Shah has been giving interviews on Karnataka polls, claiming that the BJP is set to sweep back to power but has not spoken anything either on the Manipur violence or the wrestlers’ protest. Sections of the media quoted sources to report that Shah had cancelled his election meetings and was busy holding videoconferences with the Manipur chief minister and officials to monitor the situation but there was nothing on record from the minister.
Modi addressed rallies in Karnataka on Friday and is scheduled to continue doing so till Monday evening. Modi will be holding roadshows in Bangalore on Saturday and Sunday in a bid to ensure that the BJP retains its urban strongholds.
“Hint of the situation worsening in Manipur came in mid-April only when a group of party MLAs from Manipur was camping in Delhi to voice their anger over demographic and regional issues but the leadership ignored it as it was too busy with Karnataka polls,” one party leader said, accusing Manipur chief minister N. Biren Singh of mishandling sensitive issues.
The MLAs were mostly from the Kuki community, who had come to warn the leadership of the situation the state was facing.
Besides the violence in Manipur, the protest by top wrestlers of the country in Delhi, accusing BJP MP and Wrestling Federation of India president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh of sexual harassment, has rocked the country.
The BJP leadership has chosen to completely ignore the wrestlers’ protest, seeking to term it as “politically motivated”.
So far, none from the top leadership has spoken on it despite large sections in the party acknowledging that images of the sobbing women wrestlers could cause political damage.
“In politics, winning elections is important and so the leadership is working hard in Karnataka. The protest by wrestlers is politically motivated and we are dealing with it politically,” one BJP leader said when asked why no effort was being made to end the protest.