Hidden message
The impact of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s poll debacle in Uttar Pradesh was evident in how the chief minister, Yogi Adityanath, was treated in the Central Hall of the old Parliament building. While Adityanath was seated in the front row along with some National Democratic Alliance leaders, Narendra Modi walked up to greet the latter but did not even look towards Adityanath. After Modi was formally selected as the leader of the NDA and the prime minister-elect, Yogi joined other leaders to greet him, presenting him with a bouquet. In return, Modi patted Adityanath on the back but leaders in the visitors’ gallery saw it not as appreciation but as a warning.
New pantheon
Yogi is not the only one dealing with the fallout of the UP results. Even gods are not spared. “Jai Jagannath” seems to have replaced “Jai Shri Ram” as the BJP’s favourite slogan. After all, the BJP faced a shocking defeat in Faizabad, the constituency under which the newly-inaugurated Ram temple and Ayodhya are located. After the results, on at least two occasions so far, Narendra Modi has been heard spiritedly raising the slogan, “Jai Jagannath”. Although this is to highlight the saffron party’s big victory in Odisha, other party members too have been avoiding Ram naam. None of the elected BJP members in Parliament said “Jai Shri Ram” during the NDA meeting in the old Parliament building. Instead, they focussed only on “Bharat Mata ki Jai”.
Close shave
The Aam Aadmi Party member of the legislative assembly and recently-defeated candidate in the Lok Sabha elections, Somnath Bharti, a feisty lawyer, has mounted a stellar legal defence of his balding head. In an outburst of frustration with the exit polls, Bharti had said that he would shave whatever hair is left on his head if Narendra Modi wins a third term as the PM.
AAP candidate Somnath Bharti with party leader Durgesh Pathak during a rally for Lok Sabha elections, in New Delhi.
After the final results, Bharti managed to dodge the razor by arguing that a true practitioner of sanatana dharma , like himself, only tonsures his head for a death in the family. Although the BJP did not sweep the elections as the exit polls predicted, Modi is set to become the PM again.
Cracked facade
The fate of the INDIA bloc in Haryana is on the rocks after the AAP’s senior state vice-president, Anurag Dhanda, publicly hinted at Congress leaders, including Randeep Surjewala, sabotaging the AAP candidate, Sushil Gupta, in Kurukshetra. The AAP lost the seat to the Congress-turncoat, Naveen Jindal, of the BJP. Gupta, a former Congress leader, however defended the alliance saying that he got votes from supporters of both parties.
Suspicious outburst
Former officials of the Election Commission of India are privately expressing surprise over the chief election commissioner’s tirade against “mischievous narratives” of the Congress and civil society against the EC. The CEC directly taking up cudgels against the Opposition is being seen as unbecoming of his stature. The EC’s hesitation to publish details of the absolute numbers of voters and votes cast has strengthened suspicion of its bias towards the BJP. The mixed bag of results, however, comes as a relief for the poll panel.
No free lunches
“Na khaunga, na khane doonga”. BJP leaders and workers in Bihar had rejoiced when Narendra Modi had uttered this phrase years ago at one of his public rallies. The same people rued it during the just-concluded Lok Sabha elections when Opposition leaders like Rahul Gandhi, Tejashwi Yadav, Misa Bharti and Mukesh Sahni were seen relishing fried fish, mutton curry, roasted chicken, prawns, litti-chokha, cakes and other such delicacies before or after their public rallies. “It was like a curfew on our eating whenever Modiji came here. He is such a frugal eater. He is a complete vegetarian and eats so little. At times he just lives on lemon water or a bit of fruit juice. We also ate less and turned vegetarian whenever the boss was around, but salivated on seeing the Opposition leaders enjoying their meals,” a senior BJP leader said. Several top BJP leaders criticised the videos showing the Opposition netas eating fish and mutton. Another veteran leader reminisced how Atal Bihari Vajpayee relished non-vegetarian dishes. “Ab jaa ke samajh mein aaya what Modi meant by na khaunga, na khane doonga,” he quipped while his comrades had a hearty laugh.
Too late
The Kerala CM, Pinarayi Vijayan, released the progress report of his government’s performance just days after the Lok Sabha election results. While anti-incumbency was among the reasons that left the Left Democratic Front in Kerala with just one seat in Parliament, Vijayan’s list of success stories, including appointments in government offices, came three days after the election results. The worthy report card was a bit too late for him to prevent the poll debacle though.
