This Week Gujarat: Joshi since Modi

Sanjay Joshi may be out but is certainly not down. Ousted at the insistence of Narendra Modi,he made plans to have welcome banners put up at railway stations on his way back from Mumbai to Delhi

Joshi since Modi

Sanjay Joshi may be out of the BJP national executive but is certainly not down. Ousted at the insistence of Narendra Modi,he made plans to have welcome banners put up at railway stations on his way back from Mumbai to Delhi. Modi scuttled these plans,so Joshi concentrated instead on enforcing the Bharat bandh once back in Delhi. In Gujarat,a group of opponents led by Keshubhai Patel is organising itself against Modi. This might have been dismissed as insignificant had RSS veteran Bhaskar Rao Damle not been a part of this group. The group is now looking for a pretext to bring Joshi back to Gujarat,the most probable being Keshubhais birthday on July 24.

Between the lines

We all know that power comes from the organisation and it is not the other way round, declares the latest issue of Kamal Sandesh,the BJP fortnightly,in a special editorial. It does not name Modi or Joshi but seems to be a silent rebuke for Modis tantrums before and after the Mumbai meeting. The BJPs Manogat in Gujarat has,however,chosen not to comment on the very current incident,though it has been known to make last-minute changes,having redone its cover overnight when Time used Modi on its cover. Panchjanya of the RSS has advised Modi to reconsider his style of functioning and organisational skills,and cautioned all concerned against taking such occurrences lightly.

Unequal fight

With the BJP making inroads into Muslims and backward communities vote-banks,traditionally with the Congress,the latter has desperately started wooing voters across the tribal belt. The fight is on an unequal footing with the BJP having the government machinery behind it. The Congresss Adivasi Adhikar Yatras are attracting crowds but the party has had nothing to offer them other than allegations of injustice they have suffered under the BJP regime. The BJP propaganda machine,in contrast,has even invented tribal heroes in remote areas,saying they have been remembered for their stellar role in the freedom movement. As locals lapped it up,the Congress is looking for something more than allegations and its past laurels.

LJP to go solo

The Lok Janshakti Party plans to contest all 182 seats in the Assembly this time. In 2007,its alliance with the Congress had not worked. We are not going to have a truck with the Congress and will go on our own, LJP state unit president Mukesh Gurjar says. For the past three months,the party has been trying to bring Ram Vilas Paswan but he hasnt found the time. He has twice postponed a visit to promising areas where constituency-in-charge leaders have been given special powers but who are cooling their heels because such a programme cannot be launched without Paswans clearance. It has been left to Gurjar to keep spirits high.

Pep talk

Until modi gave it a pep talk last week,the Laghumati Morcha in the Gujarat BJP looked almost apologetic about itself. Modi told its members to take pride at being Bhajapiyas,addressing them at a specially called Morcha meeting in Gandhinagar,and drawing cheers from a small crowd of 200 at the Staff Training College. Many did not know that a few of their leaders had been denied entry to another party meeting,on the outskirts of Ahmedabad,where the buzzwords included inclusive growth and claims of a phenomenal economic growth of Muslims of Bharuch and Kutch.