Political masterstroke of Bharat Ratnas of 2024: Appeasement, taking winds out of Congress sails hog primacy
Conferring Bharat Ratna on Father of Green Revolution M S Swaminathan was a recognition conferred on him for his accomplishments in the service of agriculture.
HYDERABAD: Why Bharat Ratna now to former Prime Ministers P V Narasimha Rao, Chowdhury Charan Singh,
former Deputy Prime Minister and former Bihar Chief Minister Karpuri Thakur now?
Conferring Bharat Ratna on Father of “Green Revolution” M S Swaminathan was a recognition conferred on him for his accomplishments in the service of agriculture. Though not for the reason of being politically correc, the award to the visionary scientist would surely elevate the stature of Modi in the eyes of Tamilians.
Not that the other four who were conferred the highest civilian honour were undeserving. But, surely there are political overtones to it.
By conferring Bharat Ratna on former Prime Minister P V Narasimha Rao, the BJP actually stole the thunder from the Congress. Narasimha Rao was a hardcore Congressman throughout his life and served in the Cabinets of Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi before heading another Congress Government himself. He also had the distinction of being the Congress president and also the Prime Minister at the same time like Indira and Rajiv.
Despite running a minority government he had run the Congress like an uncrowned king, dealing with dissent with an iron fist.
However, the Cogress behaved in a disgraceful manner with him as he demitted the office. He was denied the party ticket in 1998 Lok Sabha midterm polls and the humiliation meted out to him after death was all too infamous and was detested by all.
Ever since Modi has become the Prime Minister, he had always shown highest regard for the late Narasimha Rao and lapped up every opportunity to steal the late leader from the Congress which had dropped him like a hot potato.
By conferring the highest award of the country on him, Modi scored a lot of brownie points. Firstly, he stole the thunder out of the Congress. He immediately pushed the grand old party on to the defensive and sidetracked the narrative of the party that came to power after a protracted struggle for 10 years in Telangana.
The Congress cannot claim his legacy as it doesn’t have any of his family members sailing with it.
Some of them, including his daughter Surabhi Vani Devi migrated to the BRS, while his grandson N V Subhash is with the BJP.
Bharat Rashtra Samithi president K Chandrashekar Rao owned up Narasimha Rao in his own way.
Bharat Ratna for the late Karooori Thakur, a freedom fighter and two times Chief Minister of Bihar, was a master stroke on the Congress-led INDIA bloc. This decision to confer the award on Thakur who was long dead and gone and forgotten by the people of the current generations acted as a catalyst to break the INDIA bloc and lure Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar into the NDA. With the NDA coalition, with BJP ministers in the State Cabinet in place, the Prime Minister wants to capitalise on the situation to the advantage of the BJP in Bihar, just on the eve of general elections 2024.
The Biharis, especially those belonging to the most backward classes who form large part of the electorate, along with Dalits and other weaker sections, hold the late Thakur in very high esteem. Thakur himself hailed from the backward Nai community. This is seen as a move to attract the votes from those sections.
Chowdhury Charan Singh, one of the tallest farmer leaders of India, was the founder of Lok Dal that eventually had transformed into Rashtriya Lok Dal under the chairmanship of his son Ajit Singh.
Even as the RLD, now under Rajya Sabha member Jayant Singh, is cozying up with the BJP, the Prime Minister chose to attract the farming community with the award.
Now, RLD will be joining the NDA in February. Another, major jolt to the INDIA bloc. The Kisan party too dumped the INDiA bloc and joined the NDA bandwagon.
The all too well known Lal Kishan Advani who was the Deputy Prime Minister in Atal Bihari Vajpayee Government is a BJP veteran. He was the champion of Rath Yatra for the cause of Ram Janma Bhoomi in Ayodhya.
Though Advani was elbowed out in the political race by his protégé Narendra Modi, he swallowed all the bitter pills, either gracefully or grudgingly.
Though it was speculated that Advani would be made the President of India, Modi did not let it happen for reasons best known to him.
With the inauguration of Ram temple in Ayodhya and the conferring of Bharat Ratna on the grand old man of the BJP, the Hindutva brigade would be totally appeased and Modi juggernaut would roll unhindered in the Northern hinterland of India.
The decoration of the stalwart politicians and adorning the top with the father of green revolution, Narendra Modi packed a perfect punch on the Congress all over India.