Hope springs eternal

The former Union ministers, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi and Shahnawaz Hussain, the two most prominent Muslim leaders from the Bharatiya Janata Party since the Atal-Advani era, are currently on the political margins. They haven’t, however, given up on their efforts to please the party leadership to bounce back. While Hussain has struggled to gain prominence since 2014, Naqvi has been the minority affairs minister during the Narendra Modi government’s first two stints. But he was compelled to step down in 2022 after his Rajya Sabha term expired and the party did not renominate him. Naqvi now appears to be striving to draw the attention of the party’s rising Hindutva face and the chief minister of his home state, Yogi Adityanath. Earlier this week, when posters of Adityanath’s infamous, polarising slogan, ‘batenge toh katenge’, appeared in poll-bound Mumbai, Naqvi came up with a bizarre explanation. While Adityanath’s comments were interpreted as a call for Hindus to remain united, Naqvi claimed that the CM was actually trying to warn against another partition of the country. “Everybody knows the catastrophic partition. Yogiji is sounding the alarm to remain united and avoid another division,” Naqvi said.

Faux pas

Prashant Kishor’s Jan Suraaj Party is going to make its debut in the upcoming bypoll by contesting from four assembly seats in Bihar. It tried to field the former vice-chief of the army staff, Lieutenant General S.K. Singh, and the professor, Khilafat Hussain, with much fanfare from the Tarari and Belaganj constituencies, respectively. Although both were well-known people in their areas, Singh turned out to be ineligible as he was not listed as a voter at his native place and Hussain refused to contest. The JSP had to replace them with other candidates in an apparent loss of face. “This is how Kishor is going to contest polls. The incident speaks volumes about the quality of planning. I don’t think this augurs well for his party. Advising others is one thing, contesting elections is another,” a senior Rashtriya Janata Dal leader said.

A few army veterans watching the developments with keen interest laughed and opined that their fellow veteran, Singh, is yet to learn the ropes of politics. The debut is important for the party as it will show where it stands vis-à-vis the bigger parties in Bihar and whether it will be able to give them some serious competition or turn out to be a ‘vote katwa’ — parties that divide vote banks — like some other parties.

Jan Suraaj founder Prashant Kishor during the formal launch of his new political party as Jan Suraaj Party at Veterinary College grounds, in Patna, Wednesday, Oct. 2,2024. PTI

Take note

Ireland’s top poll officials were in India this week to learn how to combat mala fide information during the upcoming polls in that country. Irish officials were afraid of internet-based disinformation propagated by pro-Israel and American far-Right entities to retaliate against Ireland recognising the Palestinian State this year. India abounds in internet trolls and the Election Commission of India has struggled to combat rumours and hate speech during polls.

Pitch queered

Although the outcome of the upcoming bypolls in Assam is not going to impact the BJP-led state government, the run-up to the polls has seen parties going all out to test their performance before the crucial 2026 assembly elections. However, the All India United Democratic Front, which wanted to queer the pitch for the Congress MP, Rakibul Hussain, in Samaguri, had a change of heart after the setback it suffered in the Lok Sabha polls. Hussain had defeated the AIUDF chief, Badruddin Ajmal, by a huge margin. Ajmal initially sought revenge by announcing a candidate against Hussain’s son, Tanzil Hussain, from Samaguri. But Ajmal has now backtracked by saying that contesting for the seat will only help the ruling BJP. He also claimed that while he had a rivalry with Hussain senior, Tanzil was like his bhatija. Party insiders are wondering whether there was some deal between the two as there are no permanent friends or foes in politics.

Storm tamer

The Odisha CM, Mohan Charan Majhi, seems to have bested his rivals with his successful management of Cyclone Dana. He ensured minimum losses, matching the benchmark set by his predecessor. Majhi must have also had in mind the criticism that the former CM, Giridhar Gamang, had to face for mishandling the 1999 super-cyclone. Apart from carrying out massive evacuations from vulnerable areas, he took preemptive steps like closing down educational institutions and assigning ministers to manage cyclone-related activities at the ground level. He visited the Special Relief Commissioner’s office just before the cyclone made landfall. He kept all his officers, including the police top brass, on their toes and sought details of their assigned tasks from them. Majhi is a hard taskmaster and is now being praised even by his critics within the BJP.