BJP national president Amit Shah, who embarked on two-day Uttarakhand visit by paying obeisance at the world-renowned shrines Kedarnath and Badrinath, delivered a 20- minute long speech to a crowd of over 30,000 people in Haridwar. However, the political observers say he was busy taking swipes at the Harish Rawat Government instead of using it to provide a forward thrust to the State BJP.
The saffron leaders and rank and file were disapponited with the party suprmo as they expected him to announce the CM face, say the observers. “Naming a leader to steer the party ahead with election being months away is an imperative in view of the fact that Harish Rawat is reigning supreme in the Congress camp with nobody being in a position to challenge his leadership after the exit of the dissidents. But Shah spent his time in negative criticism of the state government instead of inspiring the party activists with a positive set of guidelines. It is a sheer waste of an opportunity,” said a State watcher.
Shah mentioned Haridwar MP and former Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank as he reminded him of the fact that the State was formd at the behest of the Atal Bihari Vajpayee-led NDA regime. Using the fact, he lambasted the Congress, saying that those who are enjoying power now were nowhere in the picture when the people were struggling for the formation of the hill state. “BJP formed the state and now it is for them to usher in development,” he said.
“He indulged in some cliches like Haridwar being known as Kumbhnagari and Deobhoomi Uttarakhand being the origin of the ‘Maa Ganga’. He seemed to be aware of the fact that most of the people who gathered there came from outside the State. All he indulged in is a mere bluster which lacks the cutting edge that is needed to dislodge a well-entrenched regime being run by an astute leader like Harish Rawat,” an observer said.
An excited Shah mentioned land scam from Haridwar to Pantnagar. Ironically both these alleged scams happened during the Vijay Bahuguna regime. The person who was responsible for them was sharing the dais with the BJP leaders. “ It means he wasnot rightly briefed,” added the observer.