Politics

RSS real coffee, BJP just the frothy top: Prashant Kishor

Published

5 months ago

October 30, 2022

Political strategist turned activist Prashant Kishor on Sunday compared the BJP-RSS combine to a cup of coffee in which the party was like the frothy top and the parent body was the real thing underneath. Kishor, who is on a 3,500 kilometres long “pada-yatra” in Bihar, came up with the colourful analogy at Lauria in West Champaran district which he has been covering on foot since October 2.
Kishor lamented that it took him long to realise that “the ideology of (Nathuram) Godse can be defeated only by reviving Gandhi’s Congress” and “it would have been better had I worked in that direction instead of helping people like Nitish Kumar and Jagan Mohan Reddy realise their ambitions”.

The IPAC founder, who has been sceptical of a united opposition’s efficacy in halting the Narendra Modi juggernaut, emphasised that one cannot defeat the BJP unless one understands what it is.

“Have you ever looked at a cup of coffee? There is froth at the top. BJP is like that. Below that there is the deep structure of the RSS. The Sangh has wormed its way into the social fabric. It cannot now be beaten with shortcuts,” said Kishor.
The political strategist’s first claim to fame was his handling of Modi’s poll campaign in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, a spectacular success that helped the BJP get a majority on its own.

Kishor also continued to hurl barbs at Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, whose JD(U) has been calling him a “BJP agent”.

“I was the JD(U) national vice president when the nation was on the boil against CAA-NPR-NRC. I was appalled to learn that MPs of my party had voted in favour of the Citizenship Amendment Bill in Parliament,” recalled the 45-year-old, often perceived to be as ideologically agnostic.

“I confronted Nitish Kumar, who was then our national president. He claimed he was away on a tour and not aware of the development but glibly assured me that he will not allow NRC in Bihar. The duplicity made me realise I cannot work with this man,” said Kishor who was expelled from JD(U) over the spat with Kumar.

Kishor, whose much-anticipated entry into the Congress could not fructify last year despite meetings with its top leaders, hinted that he still admired the organisation but in its old avatar under the leadership of Mahatma Gandhi.

“Godse’s ideology can be defeated only by reviving the Congress of Gandhi,” said Kishor, in an oblique reference to alleged RSS links of the Mahatma’s assassin.

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Politics

AAP posters against PM Modi; raises slogan like “Modi Hatao, Desh Bachao”

Published

9 hours ago

March 31, 2023

ironity

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) launched a nationwide poster campaign with slogans like “Modi Hatao, Desh Bachao” in 22 states, said AAP’s state convener Gopal Rai on Thursday.Gopal Rai also alleged at a press conference that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is engaged in ending the country’s democratic systems instead of fixing the education-health system and removing unemployment.

Posters in Hindi, English and all other regional languages are being put up in 22 states across the country. Rai said that from April 10, similar posters would be put up at universities across the nation to make students aware about the campaign.

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Politics

HC disqualifies JDS D C Gowrishankar Swamy legislator

Published

9 hours ago

March 31, 2023

ironity

JDS MLA from Tumakuru Rural constituency in Karnataka D C Gowrishankar Swamy was disqualified by the High Court of Karnataka on Thursday in a case relating to alleged electoral malpractice. The Court, however, kept the disqualification in suspension for one month, allowing Swamy to file an appeal in the Supreme Court. A single-judge bench of the high court was delivering its verdict on a petition filed by defeated BJP candidate B Suresh Gowda, which alleged electoral malpractice by Swamy for distributing fake insurance bonds to voters during the 2018 Karnataka Assembly election.

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Politics

BJP steps up OBC outreach to sway Nitish Kumar’s Luv-Kush base

Published

9 hours ago

March 31, 2023

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The BJP has upped its game in Bihar by stepping up its OBC outreach, especially among Kushwahas, one of the two castes of Nitish Kumar‘s Luv-Kush vote base, and has appointed PM Modi’s key aides to look after its work in the state.The BJP is going to celebrate Emperor Ashok’s birth anniversary on April 2 in Sasaram, which will be attended by Union Home Minister Amit Shah. This comes days after BJP appointed Samrat Choudhary as its Bihar unit president, who is also a Khushwaha. The community sees Ashoka as their ancestor.

Luv-Kush is the alliance between the Kurmi and Koeri castes, which together constitute approximately 15 % of the state population. Nitish Kumar a Kurmi himself, had garnered the support of this caste alliance, to take on the Muslim-Yadav alliance of his once staunch rival Lalu Prasad Yadav.

“The BJP is organising a big public programme to mark the birth anniversary of Samrat Ashoka, whom Khushwahas see as their ancestor. Now, the Luv-Kush alliance whom Kumar treated as his bonded labourers, will now go with BJP, worshippers of Lord Ram,” Choudhary told ET.He said the genesis of Luv-kush alliance was to counter Yadav’s politics of appeasement.

Meanwhile, the BJP has appointed a new co-incharge for Bihar, Sunil Ojha from Gujarat who worked closely with the prime minister and was looking after the party’s work in eastern Uttar Pradesh, a region comprising Modi’s constituency Varanasi.

With Ojha’s appointment, there will be two key BJP functionaries — he and Bhikhubhai Dalsaniya, organisational secretary for BJP’s state unit — both from Gujarat and have worked with Modi for many years since his days as Gujarat chief minister. Ojha was relocated to Varanasi from Gujarat and registered as a voter from Modi’s constituency in 2018.”I was handling the party’s work in eastern Uttar Pradesh, which borders Bihar. So, the demography and social structure in both regions is the same,” Ojha told ET. Ojha’s appointment also came days after the appointment of the new state unit chief.

Bihar has always been an uphill task for the BJP dispensation, and has constantly been posing challenges for the party.

Now, ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP has redrawn its strategy with new state unit chief and incharges. The coming together of the JD(U) with RJD after parting ways with the BJP, poses a serious challenge for the BJP, as these two parties make caste equations unfavourable for the BJP.

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