By Rajeev Khanna, IANS
Ahmedabad : The Tehelka expose on the Gujarat violence seems to have taken its first toll in the run up to the assembly elections in the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Godhra BJP legislator Haresh Bhatt has been denied the party ticket to contest the December ballot. Besides facing anti-incumbency and rebellion in the local unit, Bhatt was one of the prominent faces caught on the Tehelka tapes released in October.
Bhatt had reportedly talked about manufacturing and acquiring arms for use against Muslims in the riots that followed the burning of the S-6 coach of the Sabarmati Express Feb 27, 2002, at Godhra.
The BJP has nominated a state minister, Prabhatsinh Chauhan, to contest from Godhra, which has a lot of symbolic political relevance. Bhatt has been a former Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) leader.
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BJP leader Navjot Singh Sidhu is known for his attacking batting style and also for his one-liners known as ‘Sidhuisms’.
The MP from Amritsar has often raised the issue of the 1984 anti-Sikh riots while campaigning in the western lands of Saurashtra.
Swinging an imaginary cricket bat as if he is about to send the opposition for a six, he makes liberal use of ‘Sidhuisms’ as was seen in Amreli district.
He has particularly been harsh on Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi, whom he refers to as ‘Rahul Baba’. Sidhu has been saying: “Rahul Baba says the Gujarat riots would not have taken place had there been a Gandhi ruling Gujarat at that time. I say the 1984 riots would never have taken place had there been an Atal Behari Vajpayee ruling India at that time.”
Sidhu praises Chief Minister Narendra Modi sky high. “Modi has led Gujarat like a true leader over the last seven years and he is sure to lead the state for at least 17 more years.”
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Do minority votes count? In Gujarat they definitely seem to be counting a lot. The reason is that a very large number of Muslims will be going for Haj when the elections take place Dec 11 and 16.
According to reports, at least 1.6 million devout Muslims will be flying to Jeddah from Gujarat over the next 10 days. A large number of them are voters. It is a good guess as to who will be losing those precious votes.