Lal Krishna Advani and Narendra Modi are the two BJP leaders who will go down in the history of the nation as ones who with their communal and fascist fringe and bloody deeds brought shame rather than laurels to the nation. It is these two ultranationalist Hindutva leaders who have earned more negative personality adjectives and phrases than any other leader of the party. Phrases from “the Hitler of Bombay”, “Hitler of Hindutva” and “Hitler of India” to a “liar” and now “rancid pickle” for L.K. Advani, who once had the chance of donning the mantle of Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister and who only a few months ago was BJP’s prime ministerial candidate, and from “Nero of Gujarat” to “Merchant of Death” and “Butcher of Gujarat” for Narendra Modi, to name a few, make the point home.
It is not for nothing that these two leaders are in “less demand” by their own party men in Maharashtra during the campaign for state assembly polls. If you are not popular and more properly thrown out by your party men, how do you wish to lead the multi-religious, multi-lingual and multi-cultural plural Bharat? This is the billion dollar question for them and all others of their ilk to ponder over if they really want to serve the nation – it is another matter that the nation is not going to believe them.
They are power hungry. They want to wield power by hook or by crook. All their Machiavellian designs to win power, including rath yatra, movement for building Ram temple, uniform civil code, etc. are fresh in our memory. The nation and her truth-and-justice-loving citizens know for certain that all these designs were meant to play with the sentiments of Hindus and consolidate the party’s Hindu vote bank. And the nation has experienced on her pulse what they mean by power. Gujarat 2002 and Kandhamal 2008 are only cases in point. All this is only because the entire edifice of sangh parivar is built on the foundation of Muslim-and-minority-bashing and minority marginalisation cemented with ever increasing hatred and lies.
With reaping successive electoral drubbings in general elections, the ‘party with a difference’ now seems to have realised that it cannot ride the saddle once again without the support of Muslims and other minorities. The party’s various leaders have been ever since making statements that fall in favour of those on whose bashing the party’s faith rests. Its organising functions like Eid Milan falls in what is called “minority appeasement” – the charge which this very party had been levelling against the Congress.
But the party should realise that the citizens of India, especially the Muslims and other minorities are now mature enough to read through the poll gimmicks of the party. They are not going to vote for a party which is and has been anti-minority and narrow-minded and thus cannot lead the nation onto the path of progress and development.