From Modi magic to urn politics
There is no second thought on the fact that Atal Bihari Vajpayee is single handedly responsible for the respectable position the otherwise ‘untouchable’ BJP acquired in the past to form NDA. We don’t know yet of how long Modi’s fallacy and loud politics would continue. But Vajpayee provided a solid foundation for BJP is a reality beyond any doubt. Vajpayee has a long standing political journey that begins from pre-independence days. He built BJP based on liberal values of Hindutva.
Hence, his statesmanship should mean much more to BJP over the politics of Adityanath, Amit Shah or Modi and the likes who have no value-based approach to their politics. After his death, Vajapayee’s persona is being misused. Of course, the members of BJP have all the rights to invoke the name of their leader who built the party. And if the opposition says a party should not use the name of its most significant person, it would be ridiculous.
Congress still uses the name of Indira Gandhi and Rajiv at every election it fights. Reforms such as land tenancy act, or nationalization of banks brought in by Indira Gandhi; and the computer revolution set in by Rajiv are still good calling cards of Congress around every election. So then why should the BJP not use the name of Vajpayee who just died a few days ago? In a way, BJP has a better standing when they take Vajpayee's name for the sake of their party. But then today’s BJP that is led by Modi does not want to identify itself around the statesmanship, liberal values and accomplishments of Vajpayee. They do not want to follow the values set their most revered leader either.
Everybody remembers their favourite leaders through their achievements. For instance, the country knows the contribution of Nehru, Indira Gandhi or Rajiv through the progress of the country. Similarly, Vajpayee has contributed very significantly to the country’s bilateral relations with other nations. He never assumed his ideology was bigger than the nation itself. He tried hard to control the extremist powers that had set out to destroy the interest of the country against the Hindutva they wanted to spread across the nation.
He was helpless amidst the extremist forces that had surrounded him. His efforts to improve Indo-Pak relations are highly commendable and honest to the core. To remember him, is to live the ideals he strived to introduce into the society. But when he slipped into coma, his ideals also slipped into dark alleys of this nation. Today, nobody needs the path he followed.
BJP leaders only need the ashes from his final rites. They have now filled the urns in his name and have set out to all corners of the country to achieve their goal. If there is a way he’d know about this, it would hurt Vajpayee more than anyone else.
One of the first persons who took objection to this is Vajpayee's sister Karuna Shukla. “We have completed the final rites of Vajpayeeji according to our family customs and scattered his ashes in Ganga and Yamuna as per the tradition,” she told the media. But then BJP has been filling numerous metal pots with ashes claimed to be that of Vajpayee's and distributing them to states across the nation. Their intention is to scatter the ashes in main rivers in every state. While the family members already said they didn’t hand over the ashes to anyone else, what ash is being distributed in the name of Vajpayee then? Who gave them that amount of ash? Putting aside his ideals and values, why is BJP hell bent upon only disseminating his ashes? Why has the party come down to this? BJP as it stands now, has completely ignored the ideals and values that Vajpayee stood for. They are now out to emotionally manipulate people just the way as they did with Ram Janma Bhoomi issue collecting bricks in the name of god. They are trying to cover up their misdemeanors under the guise of ashes.
In the recent times, government and Pollution control boards have been laying down strict rules against discarding remnants of corpses in rivers. Now the government itself is spearheading this scattering of ashes in rivers. How would the government then advise common people not to engage in such rituals? Now the ashes that are entering the river stream are not from Vajpayee's final rites. They are the result of reducing his thoughts to cinders. This ash is that of the person who advised his men to follow ‘Raj dharma’ after the Gujarat genocide. They are the ashes of those people who died standing in queues during demonetization. And those of the people who were killed at the hands of mobs for transporting cattle. Those who were lynched in connivance with the government have become ashes. It is also that of those babies who died under the government’s watch for lack of oxygen.
BJP leaders are scattering them in rivers. Thus insulting their own Namami Gange, in glaring day light.
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Heatwave alert in north Karnataka segments going to polls on May 7, rain predicted in Bengaluru
Bengaluru (PTI): An orange alert for heat wave has been issued in most of the 14 Karnataka districts where Lok Sabha constituencies are going to polls on May 7, as temperatures hit 42 to 44 degrees Celsius in the last couple of days, whereas Bengaluru could get light rains in the coming days.
The Election Commission has made arrangements to mitigate the heat in the polling centres, hoping that the voter turnout will not be affected by the weather conditions.
Separately, the Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring Centre (KSNDMC) has issued a red alert for five districts -- Bagalkot, Belagavi, Dharwad, Haveri and Koppal – till May 9.
The 14 segments where polling is set to take place on May 7 are Chikkodi, Belgaum, Bagalkot, Bijapur, Gulbarga, Raichur, Bidar, Koppal, Bellary, Haveri, Dharwad, Uttara Kannada, Davangere andShimoga.
In the polling centres of these constituencies, the Election Commission has set up tents, provided additional fans and chairs and set up drinking water dispensers and put ambulances on standby in polling centres to ensure that voters do not face heat-related distress.
Incidentally, Kalaburgi district (Gulbarga Lok Sabha constituency), has been recording the highest maximum temperature of over 44 degrees Celsius for the past seven days, according to IMD.
Meanwhile, even as Bengalureans awaited the rains with bated breath, the showers skipped the IT hub on May 5.
According to C S Patil, Director of the Meteorological Centre, Bengaluru, IMD, there was only 4 cm of rain in Karnataka on May 5. But the IMD predicts light to moderate rain tomorrow in both Bengaluru Urban and Rural districts.
Maximum temperatures remained steady at an average of 37 degrees Celsius in the city. May 6 too will see a similar maximum temperature range.
While Bengaluru city received 4mm to 30mm rain in the last four days, there was heavy downpour in Hosakote district, which falls under Bengaluru Rural district, particularly on May 3.
According to KSNDMC, on May 3 alone, Hosakote received 79.5mm of rainfall, the highest in Karnataka.
The thunderstorm brought its own share of heartbreaks. In Hosakote district, a 55-year-old woman died when struck by lightning on May 3.
“Rathnama belonged to Ganagalu village. She was taking her goats for grazing in an open field when the incident occurred. Some of her goats – about 15 or so – were also struck by lightning,” Bengaluru Rural Superintendent of Police Mallikarjun Baladandi said.
People also posted on social media about the widespread damage to property caused to rain. According to them, gusty winds and heavy rain in Old Mysuru Region (OMR) had severely damaged banana plantations in the districts of Ramanagara, Mandya, Mysuru and Chamarajanagara.
