Era of liberal Hindutva politics ends
As if to indicate the path of extremism the current Hindutva politics is taking, from that of liberal nationalism, veteran politician and statesman, RSS ideologue former PM Atal Bihari Vajapayee breathed his last on Thursday. It had been more than a decade since Vajpayee moved away from active politics and public life. As a mark of liberal politics he stood for, Vajpayee spent almost his last few years in the ICU. But the most troubling fact is, all the contemporaries that had joined hands with him during his heydays, weren’t facing any better time in the party either.
BJP has put most of its senior members in compulsory ICU. The others have been sent to old age homes within the party. Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi, Jaswant Singh and all others are currently irrelevant in the party. Modi, Amit Shah, Adityanath and the others are setting the order for everything within BJP. With the death of Vajpayee, BJP has proclaimed an era has really come to an end, that of veteran politicians and statesmen.
Vajpayee maintained a certain distance from the RSS even if he coexisted in the same ideology almost. While the country was up in flames hearing the speeches such as Advani and Uma Bharathi, Vajpayee's soft words gave a much needed solace. When the country was faced with a question of finding a political alternative, it did not choose Jan Sangh or BJP. Instead, the country chose Janata Parivar as its third front. BJP used the opportunity when Janata Parivar failed to work constructively to build the nation. Indian people chose Vajpayee-led BJP as an alternative to Congress. This was some kind of a political game that RSS played. On one hand Advani was impressing Indians with his Ram Rath Yatra. Wherever he went, there would be bloodbath. At the same time, RSS knew the secularism and democratic values were still strong in the country.
On one hand, they were trying to drive Hindutva to the grassroots level, while projecting Vajpayee to the front and get the attention of upper class people. Though L K Advani brought more seats for BJP with his indirect involvement in violence, Vajpayee was made the PM candidate since RSS preferred that way. Seculars voted for Vajpayee, and not for BJP; or so they believed. If not for him, even other secular forces wouldn’t have joined hands with the BJP.
The NDA came into being with Vajpayee in the forefront. He was the pretext for power hungry politicians to come together. His name consumed even fiery politicians such as George Fernandes. Some people call Vajpayee as a secular politician. But he never had any difference of opinion with RSS stance and Hindutva politics. He only opposed the ways in which this goal was to be achieved. His path was that of liberalism. And this caused a major rift between Sangh Parivar and Vajpayee.
His poetic talks, his statesman-like attitude and the language of heart that he spoke, he was everybody’s prime minister. He even succeeded as the PM. He spoke very aptly, fitting enough for the occasion. He had mastered that art. He tried to follow ‘Raj Dharma’ as a PM, to the best of his abilities. But most times, it remained a futile attempt. He tried with all his honesty to build bridges between Pakistan and Bangladesh. BJP came to power with Pak and Bangladesh as taking points.
Hence, his Vajpayee's attempts could hardly bear fruits. He succeeded only partially. But the Sangh Parivar continued to reduce everything he tried to do, to mere dust. He had to work both as Sangh Parivar activist and as a PM of the country. The country lost hold over diplomatic relations and external relations with other countries during Vajpayee's time. India identified itself with America after distancing itself from Non Aligned policy. It lost the trust of third world countries.
India battled maximum number of terrorist attacks during his time as PM. This caused him great embarrassment. Kargil loss imposed a war on India and the country suffered a lot because of that. Another black spot was the hijack of Indian Airlines flight. Terrorists attacked the parliament during his tenure as PM. More than anything else, he contradictory stand during the Gujarat massacre. On one hand, he almost defended it and on another, he prodded Modi to follow Raj Dharma. When Advani came forward to resign owing to Gujarat genocide, it is said that Vajpayee stopped him. Today, this decision is causing the country very dear. The nation is paying a heavy price for the mistake Advani committed.
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Prasidh, Kuldeep limit South Africa to 270 after De Kock's hundred
Visakhapatnam (PTI): India fought back gallantly through Prasidh Krishna and Kuldeep Yadav after Quinton de Kock struck his 23rd hundred, keeping South Africa to a manageable 270 in the third and series-deciding final ODI, here Saturday.
India won the toss after judging the spin of the coin incorrectly 20 times in a row. They had little hesitation in inserting the Proteas into bat, a clear indication of dew factor dominating the thought.
After Arshdeep Singh sent back Ryan Rickelton early, De Kock (106, 89b, 8x4, 6x4) struck his seventh century against India and put on 113 runs off 124 balls with skipper Temba Bavuma (48, 67b) as the visitors moved to a healthy position.
De Kock was severe on Prasidh (4/66), who erred on length continuously in his first spell (2-0-27-0). The left-hander biffed the pacer for 6, 6, 4 in his second over to milk 18 runs.
The 32-year-old quickly pounced on anything that was short, and pacers Prasidh and Harshit offered him plenty of feed on his pet areas.
Bavuma was more sedate, and made runs through those typical dabs and jabs, occasionally unfurling a drive of elan.
De Kock moved to fifty in 42 balls, and never let the tempo down reaching his hundred in 79 balls.
India found temporary relief when Ravindra Jadeja induced a false slash from Bavuma to get caught by Virat Kohli at point.
The tourists got another move on through a 54-run partnership between De Kock and Matthew Breetzkle for the third wicket, and at 168 for two in 28 overs they were in a good position to press on.
But Breetzke's punishment of part-time spinner Tilak Varma forced a rethink in the Indian camp, as skipper KL Rahul brought back Prasidh for a second spell.
What a masterstroke it turned out to be! The Karnataka man broke the back of South Africa’s top and middle order in an exceptional second spell (4-0-11-3).
Breetzke was the first man to go, trapped plumb in front with a straight one and four balls later Aiden Markram uppishly chipped a fuller delivery to Kohli at short covers.
Prasidh soon castled De Kock, whose ugly cross-batted swipe failed to connect a full length delivery from the pacer.
All of a sudden, SA found themselves at a shaky 199 for five, losing three wickets in the space of three overs.
Once Prasidh was done away with the top and middle-order, left-arm wrist spinner Kuldeep (4/41) took over and mopped up the tail as SA fell short of even a par total on this track.
