Gandhi’s campaign against the Britishers was marked by hunger-strike, peaceful demonstration, padayatra and satyagraha, among other means.
On October 2, the birth day of Gandhi, the ruling BJD and opposition BJP in Odisha have launched mass mobilisation movements along Gandhian line. The BJD which has ruled in the State for nearly 16 years felt the need of a padayatra for highlighting its achievements and the step-motherly attitude of the BJP-led NDA Government at the Centre against Odisha. Ministers, MlAs and party leaders and workers are propped up to carry out the mass movement in a successful way so that the image of the BJD Government sparkles further and the anti-campaigning by the Opposition parties like Congress and BJP is rendered fruitless.
The BJP too has launched satyagraha on the day to unite its workers and leaders and make people aware of the failures of the BJD Government in the State and the success of the Modi Government in the Centre. The BJP with an eye to capture power in Odisha in 2019 has a two-pronged strategy-make people know the corruptions and scams of the BJD Government in past one and a half decades and mobilize them to vote it to power by showing the dynamic leadership, vision and plans and programmes of the Modi Government.
The Congress which initially had also planned to launch a similar campaign on the same day postponed it to another two weeks. The party which has been energized after Rahul Gandhi’s farmers’ rally in Bargarh also aims to go to the people at the grassroots to tell them about the mis-governance and corruption by the BJD and brighten its prospect.
The BJD and BJP are highlighting their achievements but why they have to do soIJ If the people at the grassroots have really benefited out of their schemes, there is no need to beat the drum for the same by the two ruling parties at the State and the Centre respectively. The fact of the matter is these parties lack confidence on their
governance. They are presumably in doubt if the boon of their policies has percolated to the bottom and brought cheers in the face of millions of people who are still struggling to get minimum amenities of life. Again, the two parties are speaking against each other and trying to project their holier-than-thou image. The common people do not know intricacies of functioning of a Government and the Centre-State relation in a federal set-up.
Here lies the basic difference between the Gandhians and the present day politicians: the one promoted nation’s interest, the other set to gain self-interest; the one morally upright and confident against an oppressive and corrupt British regime and the other doubtful about own performance and compelled to go near people to win them over by hook or crook.