The Congress party is not worried about BJP leader L.K. Advani’s proposed yatra against corruption
after realising that this will not only create a rift between Team Anna and the saffron party but could
also consolidate the Congress’ political constituency, especially the minorities.
The Congress has so far remained silent on Advani’s announcement that he plans to undertake
a yatra although some of its leaders feared that it could once again lead to communal polarisation.
Advani’s yatra is aimed at highlighting corruption at the Centre but the Congress is planning to
counter it by bringing the issue to the fore in the BJP-ruled states.In fact, the party has already started working on it in Karnataka, MP, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and Punjab.
The main Opposition could have benefited from the anti-corruption agitation had it remained behind the scenes.
“Yes, the BJP did get political mileage out of it when it had hacked V.P. Singh’s campaign against
the Bofors deal from 1987 to 1989. And, before that, it had joined the JP movement for nav nirman,” insiders recalled.
BJP WORKS ON STRATEGIES
The BJP core group on Sunday deliberated over senior leader L.K. Advani’s proposed yatra on the corruption issue. The issue was also discussed during the party’s office-bearers’ meeting later in the day.
Though the party is yet to finalise a detailed plan for this yatra, sources said many leaders suggested it
should start from Gujarat either on October 2 or October 11. While October 2 is Mahatma Gandhi’s birth anniversary, October 11 is Jayaprakash Narayan’s birth anniversary.
BJP spokesperson Nirmala Sitharaman said party national general secretary Ananth Kumar has
been made the convenor of the yatra and that the complete details of the campaign — the place of origin, route and who will accompany Advani — were being worked out. The party will announce the
details later this week.
A section within the party is of the view that Advani announced this yatra in a bid to project himself as the party’s probable candidate for Prime Minister in the 2014 general elections.
Another prospective date being worked out is September 25, the date in 1990 that Advani began
his Ram Rathyatra from Somnath to Ayodhya. The senior BJP leader visits Somnath every year on this
date. The starting point of the yatra is also a matter of debate with Somnath, Ahmedabad and Porbandar being some of the places under discussion.
There were suggestions that there should be breaks in the yatra during festivals such as Dussehra. Some leaders also suggested that the yatra should cover the Northeast states.
While Advani is of the view that it should focus on “clean politics and good governance”, some senior
BJP leaders feel it should be specifically an anti-corruption yatra as the issue has resonated across the country. At the meeting at BJP president Nitin Gadkari’s residence, the BJP chief raised several
issues, including the government’s “failure” to control prices and fight terrorism and corruption.
He told party leaders the UPA’s credibility has “hit rock bottom”.
BJP HAS NEVER LED CAMPAIGN AGAINST GRAFT
The BJP’s attempt to hijack Anna Hazare’s anti-corruption plank is similar to that of it hijacking the Ram Mandir issue from the VHP. The saffron party, at its meeting at Palampur over two decades ago, had taken up the mandir issue for political mileage.
A section of the Parivar still blames the BJP for “politicising” this issue, saying that many political parties, including the Congress, would have supported a mandir if the BJP had not politicised it. The BJP has no history of leading a campaign against corruption.
The Congress would have found it difficult to tackle the movement of non-political organisations. But the BJP’s attempt to lead such a movement has added many colours. According to reports, some Team Anna members, especially Arvind Kejriwal and Santosh Hegde, are uncomfortable with Advani’s announcement.