31 October 2014 will always special for the BJP. It marked its overwhelming victory over the Congress in the true sense of the term.
The swearing in of Devendra Fadnavis on Friday marked the first time that a BJP chief minister was assuming the reigns of Maharastra, the economic powerhouse of the country.
The BJP has always had an emotional connect with Mumbai where thirty four years ago on its creation, it had held its first annual session. Atal Bihari Vajpayee who presided over that conclave in the Badra area had famously said that one day the lotus would bloom in the sea.
That lotus symbolically bloomed on Friday when lotus cut outs were made to float in boats in the Arabian sea just off the coast of the city, and his portrait along with other leading lights of the party were placed inside the Wandhkede stadium where the swearing in ceremony took place.
Sachin Gokhale/Firstpost
But then for a long time Vajpayee’s prophecy remained just inspiring rhetoric.
In the very first elections that took place in 1984, in the aftermath of the assassination of then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi the BJP was completely routed, reduced only to two seats in the Lok Sabha. The BJP in its erstwhile avatar, Jansangh had been the single largest constituent in the Janata Party, both in 1977 and in 1979, which ironically forced its exit from the party, and its rebirth as the BJP.
LK Advani, BJP’s co-founder often recounted that after their decimation in 1984, many would tell him that “it could be time to shut shop”.
Three decades later, on Indira Gandhi’s death anniversary, that stood testimony to the complete reversal of fortunes of both the BJP and the Congress – a BJP government assumed office in Maharastra.
The man in focus there was Narendra Modi who had delivered the victory for the BJP.
Modi is widely considered another Indira in Indian politics. Somebody who can deliver victory for his party win purely on personal charisma – where it doesn't matter whether the party had a clear leadership structure in the states concerned. The Congress could brave all that and keep consoling itself that victory and defeat was all part a cyclical process.
But then Modi perhaps, in reaction to the constant comparisons with Indira, made a wily political move on 31 October that left Congress squirming. It is also angry but could really vent it out publicly. The nation, at least the younger generation born after 1981 had known 31 October as Indira Gandhi martyrdom day. Not many knew that it also happened to be the birth anniversary of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, the “Iron Man”.
Before Modi flew to Mumbai in the afternoon, he dealt a body blow to the Congress and perhaps independent India’s biggest political icon - Indira Gandhi.
The events associated with Indira’s death anniversary were relegated to mere footnotes and the grand photo ops at `Shakti-Sthal’ featuring Sonia and Rahul Gandhi in the vicinity of Rajghat and Shantivan in the Capital, found only brief mention in inside pages news folders.
Before Modi took off for Mumbai he ensured that Sardar Patel's images had been superimposed over Indira’s images, and the grandness of official events organised in his name submerged her family owned programmes.
Henceforth, 31 October, Patel's birthday, will be National Unity Day. Though Modi mentioned Indira in his speech while flagging off his run for unity in Capital, the NDA government didn’t have any association with her on the occasion.
The Modi government has already announced that the government will not celebrate the birth or death anniversaries of any other leader than Mahatma Gandhi. It’s a different matter though that it chose to make a grand celebration of Patel’s birthday. Modi’s message is loud and clear to all concerned and also to people at large.
Modi turned Patel’s birth anniversary into a mass outreach programme -- run for unity in the morning and a ceremonial parade by the central para-military forces and state police in the evening.
Modi knew that the Congress couldn’t really cry hoarse over that even if it wanted to. After all, Patel too was a Congressman, second only to Pandit Nehru, but is now being effectively appropriated by Modi to counter Nehru’s legacy.
Incidentally, Fadnavis government was earlier scheduled to take oath of office on 30 October but then it was decided to move the event to 31 Octover. Astrology plays a role in deciding time and date for such momentous occasions but sometimes politics comes into play too.
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