Future plans
The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief, Mohan Bhagwat, quietly observed Independence Day at the office of the Utkal Bipanna Sahayata Samiti (a voluntary organisation) in Odisha and consciously refrained from making any political statements. On the other hand, Prime Minister Narendra Modi was heaping praises on the RSS from the ramparts of the Red Fort for its 100-year journey in the service of the nation. Bhagwat is on a three-day visit to Odisha and addressed a religious congregation in Cuttack on Thursday. Sensing that there could be a shift in the political situation after September 17, when Modi completes 75 years of age, the state Bharatiya Janata Party leaders made every possible effort to remain in the good books of the RSS chief. The chief minister, Mohan Charan Majhi, reportedly called on Bhagwat on Wednesday night at the UBSS office in Bhubaneswar. But it is not known what had transpired between them. Bhagwat’s blessings are crucial for Majhi who is not
only finding it challenging to run the government but is also facing pressures from within the party. During his visit, Bhagwat also met the Shankaracharya of Puri, Swami Nishchalananda Saraswati, and sought his blessings.
Hidden message
The BJP is learnt to have told off Devendra Fadnavis, the Maharashtra CM, for his purported outreach to a former ally, the Shiv Sena (UBT) boss, Uddhav Thackeray. Speaking in the Maharashtra legislative council, Fadnavis, in a light-hearted banter, said: “Uddhavji, we can’t go over that side but you can come over to this side by some means.” It was during the farewell of a Sena member who had crossed over from the BJP. Fadnavis had later clarified that the statement should not be taken seriously.
However, the top leadership of the BJP took an objection to the remark and asked Fadnavis to refrain from such actions. Fadnavis had made the outreach to Thackeray amid reports of strained relations with his deputy, Eknath Shinde, who split the erstwhile Shiv Sena and aligned with the BJP. Fadnavis has reversed or announced a review of several decisions taken during Shinde’s tenure as CM. Shinde felt Fadnavis’ act was meant to send him the message that if pushed, the BJP can easily dump him and align with Thackeray. The BJP high command, too, feared that Fadnavis could be trying to get closer to Thackeray owing to his discomfort with Shinde. The party leadership is learnt to have told Fadnavis that there was no question of aligning with Thackeray. To underline the message, the PM recently hosted Shinde and his family in Delhi.
Brothers in arms
A common thread in Independence Day speeches by the PM, Narendra Modi, and the Assam CM, Himanta Biswa Sarma, was their stress on the imminent dangers of demographic imbalance caused by infiltration. While launching a ‘high-powered demography mission’, Modi said the “ ghuspaithiyas ” were taking away the livelihoods of India’s youth and targeting our “sisters and daughters”. Sarma also painted a bleak picture, claiming that within 15 years, 80% of the ministers in the Assam cabinet will be from “unfamiliar” backgrounds and, after two decades, an unfamiliar CM.
However, these assertions have not elicited the response the ruling BJP expected. Questions are being raised as to what the BJP-led governments at the Centre and the state are doing to stop infiltration from across the border. A few days ago, a regional party from Assam which is part of the Opposition had met the Congress leader, Rahul Gandhi, and sought his help in flagging the non-implementation of the Assam Accord in Parliament, a move which drew the ire of the state BJP, but these are indications that the Opposition will counter the BJP if the latter tries build a narrative around infiltration in run up to the 2026 assembly polls with the failed promises to stem influx from across the border.
Jumped the gun
The claims made by the BJP leader, Anurag Thakur, on the discrepancies in the voters’ list in the Wayanad Lok Sabha constituency turned out to be a damp squib. At a press conference held in New Delhi, Thakur said that Maimoona, a voter in the Eranad assembly constituency in Kerala, had votes in three polling booths. But the claim was debunked as it was proved that the votes belonged to three different people with the same name residing in three different grampanchayats. It looked like Thakur just jumped the gun without doing any research. The Congress and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) castigated Thakur for making such baseless statements. But Thakur remained stoic and has not bothered to give any clarification on the matter.