But it was apparent to all that Modis fast was a case of the cat going on pious pilgrimage after eating a hundred mice! With the Supreme Court leaving the Gujarat pogrom case to the trial court, the prospect of speedy justice being meted out to Modi is certainly more remote. But if anything, the allegations and evidence (of communal massacre, murder, fake encounter and criminal conspiracy and cover-up) against Modi have piled higher than ever before.
In the wake of the acquittal of the accused in the former Minister Haren Pandyas murder, Pandyas family has reiterated their allegation that CM Narendra Modi had Pandya killed because the latter had given evidence of Modis green signal for the 2002 communal pogrom. Several police officers also have given evidence of the role of the Chief Minister and other BJP leaders in the 2002 pogrom and fake encounters. Although the recent Supreme Court order in the Special Leave Petition filed by Zakia Ehsan Jafri disappointingly leaves the case and investigations in the hands of the discredited Trial Court and the SIT respectively, the SC order is not an exoneration of Modi, as the BJP has been claiming. On the contrary, the SC order directs the SIT to chargesheet Narendra Modi and 61 other accused on the basis of Zakia Jafris petition, and submit the SIT report, report of the Amicus Curiae and affidavits containing evidence to the Trial Court.
Meanwhile Lal Krishna Advani has once again decided to trot out the tired horse of a rath yatra this time, for good governance and clean politics. With the Gujarat genocide and fake encounters coming to national attention again, Advanis rath yatra will only remind people of his Mandir rath yatra of the early 1990s, with its legacy of hate-mongering and communal violence.
Advanis rath yatra is an obvious attempt to capitalise on the prevailing anti-corruption climate. However, Advanis anti-corruption chariot stands deeply mired in mud even before his yatra can take off. In quick succession, the BJP has had to replace two Chief Ministers in BJP-ruled states (Karnataka and Uttarakhand) desperate damage control attempts following corruption scandals.
In Karnataka, the possibility of arrest looms large over former CM Yeddyurappa, who was implicated in the Bellary mining scam by the Lokayukta report. Former Minister in the BJPs State Government, G Janardana Reddy, has already been arrested in an illegal mining case filed by the Andhra Pradesh Government. Although the bulk of the Reddy brothers illegal mining empire lies in Karnataka, the Karnataka state government is yet to initiate any action against them. Instead, even as the BJPs leadership tried to distance itself from Reddys mining interests, the Chief Minister Sadanand Gowda has defended Janardana Reddy and the BJP held protests in Karnataka against Reddys arrest.
In BJP-ruled Uttarakhand, former Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank was forced to step down, facing the heat from a series of scams. Meanwhile the NDA Government of Bihar too is implicated in the BIADA land allotment scam and the Indira Awas scam. In Madhya Pradesh, the BJP Government and BJP-RSS leaders are being questioned in the murder of a woman anti-corruption activist. Try as they might, the BJP and Advani cannot shrug off the taint of BJP-NDA Chief Ministers and leaders being involved in some of the most notorious scams of recent times.
It is clear that wherever Advanis rath goes, its slogans of clean politics and good governance will be mocked by the embarrassing instances of rampant corruption, corporate plunder, communal violence and brutal repression in BJP-ruled states of Karnataka, Uttarakhand, Gujarat, MP, Chhattisgarh. Advanis is timing his rath yatra to coincide with the birth anniversary of JP, hoping to harness JPs pro- democracy image for BJPs politics. But with the BJPs own credibility on corruption and democracy in tatters, Advanis yatra is instead being widely seen as an attempt to outdo rivals within the BJPs internal leadership tussle, and project himself as the BJPs next prime ministerial candidate.
Modis fast and Advanis rath yatra cannot whitewash either the BJPs blood-stained legacy of communal violence and hate-mongering or the memory of multiple scams that taint the many BJP-led State Governments.
