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Vibha Sharma
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, January 13
As the Bharatiya Janata Party wrapped up its two-day national convention yesterday, three key takeaways are expected to form the saffron plank for the 2019 General Election and be the centrepiece of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s poll rally blitzkrieg.
First is playing up the ‘there is no alternative’ or the TINA factor. In other words, aggressively building the perception that there is no alternative to the “strong, decisive and corruption-free” Modi government.
The choice is “between stability and instability, an honest and courageous leader and a leaderless opportunistic alliance, a ‘mazboot’ government and a ‘majboor’ government”, the BJP political resolution said.
Second, projecting the Congress party as “corrupt”, along with the other “disparate” groups trying to build a coalition “with the sole aim of ousting Modi and giving a weak, ‘majboor’ government”, that will be “corrupt”.
Third, and perhaps the key takeaway, is the subtle attempt to shift the Ram temple narrative by pushing the blame on the Congress.
Leader after leader at the pre-election meeting told the audience that it was Congress leader Kapil Sibal, a senior advocate in the Supreme Court who represents one of the petitioners in the Ayodhya title dispute, who wanted the court to hold off hearing the case until after the 2019 elections.
Given that Ram Mandir is a highly emotive issue for its core Hindu voters, the BJP is satisfied with letting the Sangh and its combatant affiliates — primarily the Vishwa Hindu Parishad — do the hard talk while it awaits the Supreme Court verdict.
One trouncing us not born yet: Uddhav
Mumbai: Hitting out at BJP chief Amit Shah for his remarks that the saffron party will thrash former allies if a pre-poll alliance did not materialise ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray on Sunday said one who will trounce the Sena was yet to be born. In a veiled warning to the Sena, Shah had recently said that if an alliance happened, the BJP will ensure victory for its allies, but if it did not, the party will thrash its former allies in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls. Thackeray, whose party is an ally of the ruling BJP at the Centre and in Maharashtra, said, “I have heard words like ‘patak denge’ from someone. One who will trounce Shiv Sena is yet to be born.” PTI
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