Amitabh Shukla | Shimla
It is Narendra Modi versus
Virbhadra Singh in Himachal Pradesh. It may come as a surprise but that is the
way election for the four Lok Sabha seats are being fought in this hilly State,
known for its scenic beauty, tourism and of course, apples.
Even as the bigger plot and the
battle is between the prime ministerial candidate of the BJP and the State
Chief Minister, there are sub-plots in which former Chief Minister Prem Kumar
Dhumal and his son Anurag Thakur play key roles and have become the punching
bags of Singh.
Dhumal and Thakur have made it
well known that it is a battle between Modi and Virbhadra and the voters are
wise to make a choice between the two. They point out that elections are being
fought for the next Government in the country and Himachal Pradesh has to play
its role in installing Modi to reap the dividends of Gujarat
style development. They invoke the name of Modi in whatever they say, in every
election speech they make and whatever dream they sell to the people of the State.
Dhumal has addressed over 275
meetings in the State so far and in all of them, he has counted on the virtues
of the Gujarat Chief Minister and how the State would become sort of an
extension of Gujarat in development parameters if Modi
were to occupy the Prime Minister’s chair in New Delhi .
The other point which he makes is the autocratic style of functioning of the
Chief Minister, his politics of vendetta and no work in the State ever since
the Congress came to power after the assembly polls in December 2012. In making it Modi versus
Virbhadra, Dhumal says if the people make a choice, there is no comparison
between the two.
On the contrary, Virbhadra Singh
too is obsessed with Modi. In every election speech, he counters Dhumal and BJP
asserting that there is no “Modi wave” anywhere in the country and Himachal
Pradesh. Despite being 80, he has so far addressed almost 300 big and small
election meetings in the State to canvass support for his party. Even his
critics in Congress admit that but for the election management skills of
Virbhadra and his loyal support base, the party would not have been even in
reckoning.
For Dhumal, it is only Narendra
Modi. “There is a Modi wave in the country and Himachal Pradesh. It will blow
away 10 years of corruption and nepotism of the Congress rule in the Centre. In
Bihar , Lalu Prasad (an ally of Congress) carried fodder
on scooters and in Himachal, Virbhadra carried apples worth Rs 1 crore on
scooters and tankers to Parwanoo,” Dhumal told the audience in a series of
rally in Mandi.
This is what he tells in every
meeting. Dhumal, a two-time Chief Minister of the State and now a Leader of
Opposition, also reminds the audience about the threat to internal and external
security of the country, lists the scams of the UPA Government, and questions
its neeti and neeyat (policy and intentions). He brings in Virbhadra Singh time
and again as a symbol of corruption and nepotism and says he represents all
that is bad in the Congress.
His main rival in State politics,
Virbhadra Singh is perhaps one of the oldest serving politicians of the
Congress in the country who first won a Lok Sabha election over five decades
ago in 1962 and has even seen first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru working as
a young first time MP. Also a six-time Chief Minister, over a period of half a
century, he has developed a fiercely loyal following in State politics which is
independent of the party he represents. That is perhaps the reason why the
party cannot look beyond him in the state and brought him as the Chief Minister
in December 2012 despite serious corruption charges against him.
He has made this election a Virbhadra
Singh versus Modi in the State and Rahul Gandhi is no match to his popularity
in the State where he knows every hill, hillock, road, turn and bend on the
road and of course in every village he knows at least one person by the first
name. More than what he has done, it is the connect with the people which
endears him to the masses along with royal lineage, belonging from Rampur
Bushehar estate.
“No one bothers about Modi in the
State. In fact, people from Gujarat come to Himachal
Pradesh to seek jobs. No one in Himachal is voting in the name of Modi and it
is funny to note when people say that there is Modi wave,” Virbhadra told an
election meeting in upper Shimla, just after Modi addressed three election
rallies in the State.
Singh also targets Dhumal and his
son Anurag Thakur in all the election meetings and mass contact programmes.
“They indulged in corruption and land scam. HPCA (Himachal Pradesh Cricket
Association) was given land for a song and everyone knows that it is the
personal fiefdom of Dhumal and Anurag Thakur,” he alleges in his meetings.
Inquiries are on in the cases which Virbhadra dubs as “land grab”.
As Modi versus Virbhadra Singh
battle unfolds in the state where it is practically a two-party system for
decades, victory and loss for each and every candidate of the two main parties
is expected to be close. It is being fought fiercely, in every town, every hill
station, every village and is down to every man and every woman. (May
4, 2014 )
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