The Bharatiya Janata Party is busy grooming Bhupender Yadav, its Rajya Sabha member and in-charge of Bihar, to be the next Yadav leader of the country. He is being guided, coached and coaxed to project himself as the top leader of the community that is present in sizeable numbers in many states, especially in the proverbial cow-belt that includes Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Gujarat. Bhupender has also accepted the party’s orders and keeps flying often along the Bihar-Delhi-
Gujarat route.

“Big leaders like Lalu Prasad, Mulayam Singh Yadav and Sharad Yadav are now in the twilight of their political careers. They will leave a vacuum once they retire from politics and our party wants Bhupender to be the one to fill it,” a senior BJP leader from Delhi revealed. He also said that the party had previously thought of cultivating the Bihar leader and minister of state for home affairs, Nityanand Rai, but he did not quite make the cut. However, Bhupender’s journey is going to be an uphill task, with Mulayam’s son, Akhilesh Yadav, and Lalu’s younger son, Tejashwi Yadav, in the fray. Both are building on their political capital; both are young, energetic and fast gaining the necessary experience of the rough and tumble of public life. Sharad’s daughter, Subhashini Yadav, has also entered politics.

JP Nadda PTI

Shadow play

JP Nadda recently completed one year as president of the BJP which, as its leaders claim, is the ‘world’s largest’ political party. Although Naddaji, as he is respectfully addressed, has been trying hard to step out of the shadow of his predecessor, Amit Shah, he has not succeeded yet. In important matters, Shah continues to have the final say, according to insiders. Many top party leaders still rush to Shah before meeting Nadda. In key election-bound states like Bengal, Assam and Tamil Nadu, Shah is still believed to be playing the role of chief strategist. Whispers in BJP corridors have it that one big reason for Nadda’s failure is that he has chosen to tread the very same path as Shah. “There is nothing new, nothing that he can call his own”: this is the refrain among sections of the party.

Shah had used the post of party chief to emerge as the second most popular face of the party after the prime minister, Narendra Modi. While that is too tall a dream, Nadda has been working round the clock, travelling across the country, addressing not only party workers and the general public but also ‘eminent citizens’, an idea launched by Shah. All this, however, is still falling short of pulling him out of Shah’s shadow. People close to Nadda feel that a victory in Bengal could catapult him to the top. Wresting Bengal is quite a tall order, but even if it happens, the lion’s share of the credit will go to Shah.

Vast array

The ongoing farmers’ protests at different locations across Delhi’s border with Haryana and Uttar Pradesh comprise almost every colour of India’s society and
philosophy except the narrow, communal perspective of the sangh parivar. If older men can be found listening to gurbani on their mobile phones in one corner, Buddhist monks can be seen discussing the Central government’s obstinacy in another camp. Amid the noise of sloganeering, idle chatter, folk songs and cooking activities, loudspeakers keep blaring speeches of trade unionists and farm leaders throughout the day.

One afternoon, a farm leader who is a trained Communist was explaining from the dais how those indulging in politics in the name of Lord Ram had none of the virtues of the great man. “Ram is known for morality and sacrifice, not for power-lust and deception. [The] Modi government is like the Kauravas, who refused to give even five villages to the Pandavas. You all know the consequences. The same battle is unfolding now. The farmers will fight this Mahabharata [sic] for their rights. This will be a fight against the corporate-backed Kauravas [who are] not willing to hand over even five villages to the Pandavas.” There are also elderly men from Haryana narrating fascinating stories from Hindu religious texts to highlight how irreligious the government’s obduracy is. By sticking to the new agriculture reform laws, the BJP may have created lakhs of independent campaigners against its politics.

Great devotion

With 22 ministerial positions vacant in Bihar and the cabinet expansion long overdue, the berth hopefuls from the ruling National Democratic Alliance are going all out to appease their deities and stars. Several leaders from the BJP and the Janata Dal (United) — the party of the chief minister, Nitish Kumar — have become more devout and regular in saying their prayers. Some have given up non-vegetarian food, some have even stopped eating onions and garlic. While many are running to temples and dargahs, others are consulting astrologers. Given that there is no certainty as to who will get a break and no indication about the exact date of the expansion, leaders and legislators are continuing with their efforts to please the divinities. A few veteran BJP leaders who were ignored during the government formation in November last year are now banking on their good equations with Kumar and cajoling him to pressurize their party to accommodate them in the cabinet. A berth-hopeful legislator vented his frustration thus: “I just hope that the expansion takes place soon. Taking [a] bath early in the morning and sitting for prayers is an ordeal in this harsh winter and to top it, I have to eat bland food. This is going on for the last two-and-a-half months. If the situation continues, the cabinet may be expanded, but I may not survive to see it.”

Nalin Kumar Kateel Facebook

FOOTNOTE

Some BJP leaders speak like officials of Central investigative agencies. Party leaders in Kerala have often surprised people with the consistency with which they ‘predict’ the impending actions of such agencies, prompting the state’s ruling Left government to question the source of their information. Now the Karnataka BJP chief, Nalin Kumar Kateel, is said to have made a similar ‘prediction’: his Congress counterpart, DK Shivakumar, who had spent time in Tihar jail in a money laundering case, will return to prison. Shivakumar seemed unshaken, but his supporters are worried.