The negative political climate that generated for Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in wake of the humiliating loss in Delhi assembly elections last month is continuing.
Two recent political developments testify to this: (i) the hasty and unworkable political marriage between the BJP and the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), the two parties that formed a coalition government in Jammu and Kashmir on March 1; and (ii) the ignominy the Modi government had to suffer in the Rajya Sabha on March 3 when the opposition succeeded in forcing an amendment to a motion of thanks to the president’s speech, a political reversal faced by a central government only thrice before.
For the first time, the BJP came to power in Jammu and Kashmir, the only Muslim-dominated state in India, when Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, 79, was sworn in as the chief minister on March 1 with the BJP having its deputy chief minister.
But on Day One in office, Sayeed rocked the BJP’s boat with his remarks: “I want to say on record and I have told the prime minister, that we must credit the Hurriyat, Pakistan and militant outfits for the conduct of assembly elections in the state… People from across the border made the atmosphere conducive. They also have assets — Hurriyat, militants... if they had done something (during the election) such a participation of people would not have been possible. This gives us hope.” The chief minister’s remarks cut at the very roots of the ideology of the BJP and its ideologue Rashtriya Swayam Sewak Sangh (RSS). Sayeed’s statement caused a major embarrassment to the BJP and the RSS with most people questioning the need for the BJP’s tie up with a political party like the PDP, which is known to have a soft corner for the separatists.
As tough this were not enough, another flashpoint came in the BJP-PDP fledgling relations a day later when Sayeed demanded return of mortal remains of Parliament attack convict Afzhal Guru. On the second point about Afzhal Guru, it must be pointed out that Sayeed was only voicing concern over a highly emotive issue among the Kashmiris — Afzhal Guru’s hanging. However, Sayeed’s act is far lesser provocative if one considers the fact that his predecessor Omar Abdullah had gone to the extent of demanding return of mortal remains of Afzhal Guru through a formal letter to the then Manmohan Singh-led government soon after the execution of Guru’s execution on Feb. 9, 2013 inside Delhi’s Tihar Jail.
The remarks from the PDP quarters have punctured the BJP’s carefully nurtured and nourished image of a Hindu nationalist party. Though Sayeed may maintain that his party’s alliance with the BJP for forming the government in Jammu and Kashmir was triggered by conviction rather than convenience, the rumblings within the BJP and the RSS are that Modi has rubbed his nose in dirt by forging alliance with the PDP.
Even the Hurriyat Conference on whose behalf the newly-installed Jammu and Kashmir chief minister was batting turned hostile and termed chief minister Sayeed’s remarks as “ridiculous” and “unrealistic.” Sample the following on-record remark by Hurriyat spokesman Ayaz Akba: “As far as Hurriyat Conference is concerned, its entire leadership along with the hundreds of activists and associates were arrested some 45 days before the election drama and they were either jailed or placed under house arrest … they were denied any chance to reach out to the people and present their stand. So commenting on any role of theirs (separatists) in the election is unrealistic and unfair and it is merely a political gimmick.” This is highly suggestive. The Hurriyat remarks have clearly punctured Sayeed’s strategy of enlisting the support of the Hurriyat even at this late stage and indicate far more political turbulence in the coming days and weeks.
The second bolt from the blue for the Modi government came on March 3 when the opposition heaped an enormous humiliation on the Modi government, nine months after Modi’s historic victory at the April-May 2014 general elections.
The Modi government got a reality check of its precarious numerical position in the upper house of Parliament, the Rajya Sabha. The hard fact that the BJP-led Modi government is a minority in the Rajya Sabha sprung suddenly and hit the government in its face on March 3 when the opposition used its numbers to amend a motion of thanks on the president’s speech. The Left leader, Sitaram Yechury, moved the amendment that said the president’s address did not mention any action taken against corruption or black money.
In the history of independent India it was only the fourth time when a government’s motion of thanks has been amended — and every time it happened in the Rajya Sabha. It is the first time when the Modi government has faced this humiliation and the second time for a BJP-led National Democratic Alliance government.
Modi can derive succor from the fact that the BJP’s tallest leader and former Premier Atal Bihari Vajpayee too had to face this ignominy in 2001. Before that this political debacle in Parliament had hit the Congress governments — first in 1980 and then in 1989.
As a result of this huge parliamentary and political setback, the government’s motion of thanks will now go to President Pranab Mukherjee with the addition: “...regret that there is no mention in the address about the failure of the government to curb the high level corruption and to bring back black money.”
Rather ominously, Congress leader Madhusudan Mistry warned the Modi government thus: “This government is very arrogant. They should know...you can bulldoze us in the Lok Sabha, but not in the Rajya Sabha.”
