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Journalism of Courage
Returning from a five-day visit to China,BJP chief Nitin Gadkari landed in Delhi at 9 pm. Instead of going home,he drove straight to Rajghat where his predecessor Rajnath Singh is on a fast to protest against the Jammu and Kashmir Governments undemocratic move of preventing the partys youth wing workers from hoisting a flag at Srinagars Lal Chowk.
In Jammu,its top leaders Arun Jaitley,Sushma Swaraj and Ananth Kumar spent the night in police custody after they tried to enter the state from the Punjab border leading the BJP youth wings Ekta Yatra. Both the Leaders of the Opposition in Parliamentdetained and externed from the state just 24 hours agowere lodged in a hotel. They would be produced before a magistrate on Wednesday.
Dramatic scenes of the day were reminiscent of the early 1990s when the Ayodhya movement was at its peak. The new leadership is making full use of Chief Minister Omar Abdullahs decisionwith the Central governments backingto prevent hoisting of the national flag at Srinagars Lal Chowk to revive its good-old plank of nationalism. But,the burst of enthusiasm was not visible even a fortnight ago. In fact,many in the party were skeptical about the timing of the yatra.
NDA convenor Sharad Yadav was not alone. A section of the BJP leaders,too,wondered about the logic behind such a show at a time when the focus was supposed to be firmly on the battle with the UPA over corruption. Nobody expected the Yatra led by the partys youth wing chief Anurag Thakur to create any ripples.
Party leaders said the march was planned about four months ago largely to rejuvenate the youth wing keeping the Rahul Gandhi factor in mind. Against the backdrop of stone-pelting,party elders thought it politically wise to use nationalism as a plank to attract the youth. Although in the end,ironically,Thakur stood eclipsed by the central leadership.
Between the blueprint and the flag-off, the political scene had changed. The Sangh Parivar came under the scanner for terror attacks in several places. The BJPs nationalist plank needed a powerful reassertion. The party sensed an opportunity in Abdullas stance to play its nationalism card to the hilt. Much to its delight,Prime Minister Manmohan Singh,too,echoed Abdullah.
It was initially thought that the Yatra might be stopped at Jammu. Accordingly,it was decided that Arun Jaitley and Anant Kumar would address a public meeting in Jammu to bring it to a grand close. But as the J&K government indicated that the yatra would not be allowed to enter the state,the BJP once again went to the drawing board and reworked its strategy.
At the last minute,it was decided that Sushma Swaraj would also travel to Jammu along with Jaitley and Kumar. Then came their dramatic detention at the airport,every bit of which was relayed by Swaraj on Twitter.
As the drama unfolded,every leader hopped on to the Yatra bandwagon. Former president Rajnath Singh went on a fast at Raj Ghat and L K Advani dialled the Prime Minister to register protest.
Swaraj,Jaitley and Kumarhaving been externed from the statejoined the tricolour-wielding yatris at the Jammu-Punjab border as the Yatra tried to enter the state in full media glare. Not to be left out was Gadkari who reached Raj Ghat on Tuesday night.
Gadkari would now unfurl the tricolour at the BJP headquarters in the morning and then would proceed to Raj Ghat again to end Singhs fast.
