These days, people only seem to be talking about the Government’s demonetisation drive. So much so that this has overshadowed all other issues in the country’s political circles. Many issues, which were earlier on top of the agenda of the Opposition parties, have taken a back seat. Some of these were problematic for the Central Government and the BJP, while others, not so much.
For example, India had conducted a surgical strike in PoK on September 28, and the BJP leaders were talking about it. That campaign has come to a halt. With this, the noise over martyrdom has also reduced. last Friday, two jawans were martyred in Pakistan firing, and last Saturday, one more was killed, but there was no discussion over it. There was no procession too in the the martyrs’ ancestral villages when the bodies reached there.
In the same manner, nobody knows what is going on with the issue of triple talaq. Before the decision of demonetisation, a section of the Muslim community had been running a signature campaign against it. There is also no discussion over the Ram Temple or Ramayan Museum.
There was a lot of politics over the suicide of Ram Kishan Grewal, but leaders of the AAP and Congress have now forgotten it. Similarly, there is no noise over Najeeb Ahmed. These two issues were creating problems for the Central Government. Nitish Kumar was recently on a Nischay Yatra to review the ongoing development programmes in Bihar, but the people in the State were scrambling to exchange notes. In Jharkhand, there was chaos over CNT and SPT Acts, but now people are seen standing in queues outside banks and ATMs.
OPPOSITION’S STRATEGIES
The Opposition parties were claiming that they are united against the decision of demonetisation, but now things have changed. Meetings were called for two consecutive days to draw the strategy to attack the Government in Parliament, but many parties were reluctant to openly oppose the move. The Congress, which is leading the anti-Government front, wants to stall Parliament and doesn’t want to allow any proceedings like it did at the time of the land acquisition issue. But very few parties were ready for that.
A senior leader, who attended the meeting, says it is difficult to take all parties — that are fighting against each other in States — on a single platform. Despite all efforts of Mamata Banerjee, the left leaders do not believe her. They are of the view that Mamata has a hidden motive behind this and that is why they are not ready to support her.
The BSP and SP, the bigger parties of UP, are opposing the move of demonetisation, but have devised separate strategists against the Government. They can’t come together in view of the upcoming elections in the State. The RJD and JDU are together running the Government in Bihar, yet they don’t have the same approach on this. In the same way, leaders of the AIADMK seem indifferent to the issue, whereas the NCP is supporting the Government’s move. The Centre knows this fact and that is why PM Narendra Modi is giving instructions to his leaders to go hard.
THREE SEPARATE FRONTS
Whenever talks start about a second or third front, discussions start on the fourth front too; this has happened many times in the past two and a half years. After the demonetisation drive, people have started talking about Mamata’s federal front. Though all parties are sitting together, among the one and a half dozen parties, there is scope for almost three separate fronts.
The Congress is leading one of the fronts; this is the old UPA where all old alliance partners exist, except Sharad Pawar. There is no new addition to this front. Apart from this, there is a front of parties from the Janata family. Till date, they are with the Congress, but sources say soon a new front will be formed.
Then there is a third front, which is being led by Mamata. She has again started talking about her old plan. The AAP will also be a part of this front. Sources say Mamata and Arvind Kejriwal will have a problem with taking Nitish along. In the same manner, Mamata doesn’t believe Mulayam Singh Yadav, and Kejriwal doesn’t consider him honest. Mayawati and Jayalalithaa also don’t score well on Kejriwal’s honesty chart. looks like these two Chief Ministers are trying to create a federal front of honest leaders.
KISHOR CRUCIAl IN UP
In UP, the Congress may get rid of its election strategist Prashant Kishor. People are saying that he has been told to concentrate on Punjab instead. Sources say that many Congress leaders of the State are not happy with the working style of PK. Not only this, the party has also cut his bills and this is the reason why PK is facing problems.
But sources in the Congress say it is not possible to completely detach PK’s team from UP elections. Though his core team is working from lucknow, it has also worked at the block level and motivated Congress workers to come out of their homes. People say PK’s volunteers were more active than the party workers during Rahul Gandhi’s Kisan Yatra, as they were during his other yatras.
A leader from UP says there is no organisation of the party in the State. Some big leaders have a large bunch of supporters but they work for those leaders only. Very few workers actually work for the party. For the past six months, the Congress is surviving with the help of PK’s team. In this scenario, it is not possible to detach his team from UP at once. CHANGING POlITICal SCENE
The financial Capital of country, Mumbai, will have municipal elections in the beginning of next year. Before that, there is fair chance that State politics will see a change. Speculations are rife after Modi met Sharad Pawar in Pune recently. Although before this, Modi has praised Pawar many times and also visited his constituency, Baramati.
The other conspicuous change in Maharashtra politics is that the relationship between the Congress and NCP is far from normal. On one hand, Pawar is getting closer to the BJP, on the other, its relationship with the Shiv Sena is also getting better. Proximity between the two parties was conspicuous during the MlC elections in the State. On one seat, the Shiv Sena withdrew its candidate to support the NCP, and on the other, the NCP withdrew its candidate to support the Sena.
With this, the political scenario has changed. Earlier, it was being said that the BJP and Shiv Sena will fight separately, and the Congress and NCP will come together to reap the benefits. But now the scenario is just the opposite. It seems the Congress and NCP will fight separately. If this happens, it will be interesting to see what will be the stand of the Shiv Sena and BJP. Almost all big leaders want to go with the Shiv Sena. If both parties arrive at an amicable agreement on seats, they might go together. Some say the Sena and NCP might get together, while others believe the Sena and MNS will join hands. However, everything depends on the stand of the NCP and Shiv Sena. In this scenario, the Congress is looking cornered.
MONITORING SCHEMES
PM Modi had taken command almost two and a half years ago, and during this period, he started almost two and a half dozen new schemes. Now, instead of announcing any new scheme, work has started to execute the ones announced earlier. It is being said that the PM has given instructions to monitor the execution of all these schemes. All departments have been told to prepare a development reported of related schemes.
To ensure a better and easy environment for business was one of the ambitious schemes of Modi. However, India’s ranking is not getting better in context of ‘ease of doing business’. last year, India was on the 131st rank, and this year, it is on the 130th. The PM is said to be unhappy about this. After this, all departments were instructed to form a committee which would keep track of the developments designed to ease business. This is said to be very important for FDI. For this, an SIT is also being formed in all departments.
A group of secretaries has been formed to push the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan. All these secretaries have been told to review its development and ensure the release of funds from the States. In the same manner, Mudra Scheme, Start-up Scheme, Stand-up Scheme, and Make in India are also being closely monitored by Niti Aayog.
PARlIAMENT POWER GAMES
On one hand, the Opposition parties have opened front against the Government and are gearing up to attack it in Parliament. On the other hand, parliamentary managers are preparing a list of parties and leaders who will support the Government. The Government is confident that it will get the support of many parties other than the NDA partners. With the help of these parties, the Government will give a befitting reply to the Opposition front.
The Government is banking upon three leaders: Nitish has supported the decision of demonetisation; Naveen Patnaik has urged Modi to give some more time; and Pawar is also getting close to the Government. When Modi extended his greetings to Pawar on the completion of 50 years of public service, he backed the decision of demonetisation.
Sources say that though Nitish is supporting the decision, his party will probably not back it in Parliament. This is to be noted that after supporting the decision, Nitish has not given any statement on it. That is why people are speculating that the Government might get the support of the BJD and NCP. Apart from alliance partners, the TRS might also go with the Government.