The blind followers of the Congress have left no stone unturned to accuse the BJP of political engineering in different states to grab power. However, the fact of the matter is that these very same Congress workers turn oblivious to the humiliation being dished out to their meritorious loyalists. The reason for senior Congress leaders leaving the party happens primarily due to the unjustified feudal pattern of politics where the epicentre of decisions will always be marked by autocracy under the garb of democracy.
In addition to the autocratic pattern of functioning, the traits of insecurity amidst the Gandhi-Vadra leadership of the Congress from those who are better suited for the posts further enervates the situation.
The evidence of the Gandhi-Vadra insecurity can be found in their choice of leaders to lead the state of Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan. While Jyotiraditya Scindia and Sachin Pilot were much suited candidates for the office of chief minister of the respective states politically, but the Congress high command, to avoid comparison with the Gandhi scion, conveniently chose senior leadership for the job.
Sachin Pilot who has created nothing less but a major political turmoil in Rajasthan with his actions has sent out a strong message to the entire country that the people with merits shall hardly ever receive the political blessings from 10, Janpath. While the internal Congress modus-operandi now more or less stands exposed with such incidents from across the country, another reason why leaders with caliber and political acumen are leaving the Congress is the strong, decisive and influential leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
In the current times, whosoever plunges into politics, they are professionals who could have excelled in any given profession, however, chose to work for the betterment of society. The consequence of this is that the stakes for such leaders are very high. Such intellectual cadres who operate purely on merit get frustrated when they are compelled to work under leaders who have the identity of indecisiveness, incompetency along with a severe lack of political will. The end result being, these cadres finally change their status of being ‘right person in the wrong party’ to becoming ‘right person in the right party’.
One can easily differentiate the Congress from the BJP from the simple fact that even a person with elementary knowledge of Indian politics can tell who would lead the grand old party, while even the tallest of the leaders in the BJP cannot claim to know knowledge about the next party president.
Even in Maharashtra, prior to the 2019 elections, one of the well-known political faces of the Congress, Vikhe Patil, had joined the BJP. Likewise, former Chief Minister of Maharashtra Narayan Rane was also inducted into the BJP. Not only are the people of this nation but even the leaders within the Congress not interested in the feudal set up of politics at a time when a viable democratic alternative is available.
Hence, the false narrative which has been created by the Congress that the BJP is involved in political engineering is completely wrong. Followed by the exit of Sachin Pilot from the Congress, rumours have been doing rounds that Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh could be replicated in Maharashtra as well.
In Maharashtra, the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government’s foundation was based on an unnatural understanding driven by political opportunism. While the public mandate was for the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance, the people’s trust was breached when the Shiv Sena joied hands with the Congress and the NCP to grab power in the state.
Therefore, considering the nature of the MVA alliance, the current state government in Maharashtra will fall on to their own as the rifts between these parties have already started to come out in the open. It is no longer in the concealed space that the MVA government is run by an extra-constitutional power — NCP supreme Sharad Pawar. And when governments are run by an extraconstitutional power, they are likely to fall sooner or later under the weight of their own opportunistic politics.
Hence, to make a comment that the case of Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh will also happen in Maharashtra where the BJP will engineer the same is wrong. The nation rejected the Congress’ ideology long back in 2014 and 2019. Now their style of politics is rejected even by their own party loyalists. It’s obvious the Congress’ family-oriented politics is not in sync with new India and its aspirations.
The author is media head and spokesperson of Maharashtra BJP.