The hardcore and divisive Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Narendra Modi’s political teeth fell to the ground in Telangana after a flurry of political punches from Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi during campaigning. The so-called Hindu Hruday Samraat is licking his wounds as the grand old party Congress strode back to power after ten years. The Bharat Rashtra Samiti (BRS) leader and a leading Daru Master, K. Chandrasekhar Rao, is sent to his farmhouse after a humiliating defeat due to corruption and arrogance of power. Ruling Telangana, the youngest state in India, under the influence of country liquor (Daru), KCR made himself inaccessible to the common man and even to his party legislators. KCR’s daughter, K. Kavitha, also washed her hands in the flowing Ganga of alleged corruption in a liquor scam. The Davos-sprinting man, K. T. Rama Rao (KTR), was allegedly minting money through deals in Davos and Dubai. The Kala Sach (black truth) of mammoth corruption in Kaleshwaram dam made the people lose their patience with the KCR government.
The Mullas of the Muslim United Front (MUF), the Jamaat-e-Islami, and the two factions of Jamiat-e-Ulema Hind were consigned to the dustbin as their licking of BRS was rejected by the Muslims of the Telangana State. The Mullas of Sufis, Salafis, Deobandis, Shias, Mehdavis, etc. were all found naked (by the voters) in the political bathroom of Pragati Bhavan, the Chief Minister’s Camp office, making deals to compromise the interests of the Muslim community.
The hate brigade of the BJP—Narendra Modi, Amit Shah, Adityanath—and the lesser-known vitriolic political rats—Hemanta Biswa Sarma and Devendra Fadnavis—came out of their holes to bite the BRS in some pockets. The BJP could not even cross 15 seats. The communal and divisive agenda, the eternal threats to take away the four percent reservations given to economically and socially backward Muslims, threats to rename Hyderabad City as the so-called Bhagyanagar and the badmouthing of the Glorious Nizams did not cut ice with the wise voters of Telangana. But the saffron poison has spread. It is no longer a serpent! The secular forces need to be strengthened before the next Lok Sabha elections in 2024.
Senior Congress leader Renuka Chowdhury observed: “We understood that a big change was going to come, and that is what is happening. People were tired of BRS. BJP and BRS are one; everyone has understood it. They also understand the dangerous role that the AIMIM played. I think the AIMIM and Owaisi have suffered the biggest loss in this game. People understood the truth behind the wrong step he took at the national level. It is unfortunate because I had always considered him to be an intelligent man. No force in the country can stand against us when Congress contests unitedly.” Renuka had reason to be elated, as the Congress and its ally, the Communist Party of India (CPI), were leading in nine seats and one seat, respectively, in Khammam.
The ‘BJP Rishtedaar Samiti’ (BRS) was used and dumped by the BJP. The BRS sailed with the BJP, starting with demonetization and ending with all anti-Muslim laws passed in Parliament. The Muslims were solidly behind KCR in 2014 and 2018, but KCR not only stabbed them in the back with support for the BJP but also destroyed and usurped Waqf lands. No economic empowerment of Muslims was taken up. Dalits were stranded midway with the Dalit Bandhu. Those Dalits who did not get any loans were sulking and waiting to give shock treatment to the KCR government.
The BJP coming to power in Madhya Pradesh is a sign of Shivraj Singh’s rise to prominence in the BJP at the cost of Modi. It was Vasundhara Raje’s show in Rajasthan and the local BJP leaders’ hard work in Chhatisgarh. Narendra Modi had no role in the victory of the BJP.
Congress must stay united, and there should be no musical chairs for the chief ministership. A secular leader, not an RSS poison-tainted leader, should be chosen as the Chief Minister. Congressmen are like political prostitutes willing to sell themselves for a price easily. Seven of them elected on the Congress ticket later preferred to be KCR’s bedfellows after the 2018 elections. BRS must be kept on a tight leash by the Election Commission (EC) and the Telangana Police to thwart any attempts at poaching the newly elected legislators from the Congress. Any steps to destabilize the Congress government in Telangana may infuriate the voters enough to punish the BRS more in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
Sonia Gandhi could not have gotten a better birthday gift on December 9 than a Congress government in Telangana.
