Vajpayee,
caught in a lonely place
When All
Pundits Failed, How Young Arun Got It Right
Special
SAT Report
WASHINGTON:
Every serious media outlet and newspaper is wondering why and
how well respected and “all informed” political Indian
pundits got it wrong this time in predicting a Vajpayee defeat.
Sonia
Gandhi's Congress stunned everybody with her party's shocking
success, leaving these pundits dumb and embarrassed.
Well
one young reporter of this web newspaper got it right, repeatedly.
Our
own Arun Rajnath, a new comer to political
punditry, has been continuously saying for the past few weeks,
after having seen the situation on the ground that Vajpayee and
BJP were in serious trouble.
At least he is not an arm chair analyst.
He had his feet on the ground. And he reported what he saw and
heard.
Here
are some excerpts of what Arun reported:
SA
Tribune, May 2-8, 2004: Seriously Troubled
Vajpayee Trying to Buy the Media
“In the exit-polls also the
top editors and journalists are showing their loyalty to Mr. Vajpayee
and his cronies. Barring few, almost all the newspapers and channels
are still in the impression that Vajpayee led NDA is going to
form the government. Even one of the most renowned editors such
as Vinod Mehta, Editor ‘Outlook’, who happened to
be a harsh critic of Mr. Vajpayee, also says that the NDA would
turn the table in its favor after the last two phases of polling
on May 5 and 10.
"Very
true, the last two phases of the polling shall make the writing
on the wall clearer.”
SA
Tribune, May 9-15, 2004: Vajpayee Sulking
But Buddha May Soon Be Smiling
“Secular leader Mulayam Singh
Yadav has been given the responsibility to probe into the possibility
of the Third Front which could take over if Vajpayee-led National
Democratic Front fails to muster the magic figure of 272 out of
543 to form the government.
“The headquarters of the Communist
Party of India (Marxist) – CPI(M) has suddenly become the
center of political activities and focus of all eyes. The Gole
Market area of the capital, where the headquarters of the CPI(M)
is located, is witnessing cavalcades of cars blowing sirens and
gun-brandishing police and security men. Rounds and rounds of
political meetings are going on which are being attended by two
communist chief ministers and other party big-shots, besides exponents
of the Third Front.
The two former Indian prime ministers,
Vishwanath Pratap Singh and Chandrashekhar have reportedly urged
Harkishen Singh Surjeet, General Secretary of the CPI(M) to bring
the Congress party and Mulayam Singh together. At present there
seems to be a clear political dichotomy.
It must be remembered that in 1996,
an historical moment came about when Jyoti Basu’s name was
prompted for the post of the prime minister, and each and every
opposition leader of India was ready to support him, but ER Nayanar
and Prakash Karat vehemently opposed the idea. Otherwise Jyoti
Basu would have become the first communist prime minister of India.
Now, once again, history could be
created. And this time the CPI(M) is seriously considering Buddhadev
Bhattacharya’s name as a consensus leader of the opposition.
Buddhadev Bhattacharya, who is fondly known as Buddha, is chief
minister of West Bengal. He could be replaced either by Biplab
Das Gupta or Somnath Chatterjee, both members of the CPI(M)’s
Central Committee and Upper House of the Parliament.
Insiders
told the South Asia Tribune though Jyoti Basu has publicly
supported Sonia Gandhi for the top post, he would abide by party’s
decision and Surjeet has personally taken Mulayam Singh Yadav
into confidence, but Buddha’s name will not be disclosed
till final tally comes. Secondly, his name will be prompted only
when there is no consensus on other names and opposition unity
is in jeopardy.
SA
Tribune, May 9-15, 2004: Vajpayee's
Failed Politics to Win Over Indian Muslims
“Thus, Prime Minister Atal
Behari Vajpayee enjoys support of a handful of Deobandi and Barielvi
Muslims through these Mullas, but the larger community is still
against him.
“On the other hand the Ahle
Hadis faction is opposing the BJP. Mr. Vajpayee tried to get himself
invited to a conference of Ahle Hadis recently held at Pakud in
Jharkhand, but they rejected his overtures.
“Shia Muslims are also not
supporting Mr. Vajpayee because he failed to keep his promise
to hand over Karbala at Delhi.
SA
Tribune, April 25-May 1, 04: Muslims
Will Vote As They Have Been Historically
“NEW DELHI: When all efforts
for electoral unity between the opposition parties against the
BJP failed, the Indian Muslims ultimately decided to resort to
‘technical voting’, which is what they have been doing
for ages.
“Various Muslim scholars and
opinion-makers of the country have appealed to the Muslim community
to vote in favor of the Congress candidates. If not possible to
do so, then vote for any non-BJP candidate who is in the position
to defeat the BJP candidate.
Secretary
of the Congress Party Minority Cell, Meem Afzal told the South
Asia Tribune, Muslims have decided to vote in favor of the
Congress party because they know that only this party can establish
peace and communal harmony in the country. It is true that Muslims
of the country did feel dejected when efforts for opposition unity
failed. In fact, they do not want their vote to go waste. They
wish to defeat candidates of the BJP.
SA
Tribune, March 21-27, 2004: India is
'Shining' in Millions for Vajpayee's Key Aide
“NEW DELHI: A variety of accusations
against Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s BJP is turning into a deluge
as his key aide and party’s high profile General Secretary,
Pramod Mahajan’s son, Rahul Mahajan, is blamed for misappropriation
of funds of the election campaign.
“In fact, it is turning out
to be an intra-family fight between Mahajan’s son and son-in-law
Anand Rao. Some are already calling it loot in the name of ‘India
Shining’.
“Going into an early election,
the BJP has allocated more than Rs 50 million for advertisement
only, and the main accusation is that the lion’s share has
been taken by Pramod Mahajan himself.”
Arun
Rajnath got it right better than many others and at such an early
stage in his career of political reporting. He will go far.
