FADNAVIS TAKES THE OPPN HEAD-ON

Askilful bowler swings the ball in such a way that the batsman is compelled to go on backfoot and bend to duck the ball to avoid injury. But in the process the ball hits the stump and the batsman loses his wicket. Opposition parties in Maharashtra and a partner in power Shiv Sena must have experienced this trauma on Friday when Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis fired salvo after salvo during his hour-long speech at the State Executive Committee meeting of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The all-out attack coming from Fadnavis was a bit unexpected as he had taken a defensive stance for over the last couple of months, since the farmers’ agitation flared up in rural parts of Maharashtra.

On the other hand, the opposition parties and the Shiv Sena were on offensive on Farmers’ issues and the demands of the powerful Maratha community. Albeit, the Chief Minister successfully managed to quell the farmers and also Marathas to a great extent. The Opposition parties, particularly the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) continued their campaign under the guise of protecting the interests of farmers in the state and supporting the demand of reservation to Maratha community. Fadnavis, so far, was trying to please all by offering them olive branches. However, after the elections for the post of the President and the Vice President were over and it became clear that now the BJP is the main political force of the nation and that there was no immediate threat to its supremacy at least in near future, Fadnavis must have decided to take the Opposition heads on. This became evident in his speech on the dais of the State Party Executive Meeting.

A CLEAR SIGNAL Surely, Fadnavis has received a clear signal from his party bosses that his chair and future is protected. This assurance to him and the President of the State Unit Raosaheb Danve encouraged him to take aggressive stance against the Congress-NCP alliance. He targeted the Shiv Sena also openly perhaps because he by now has realised that the Sena can’t survive without power and thus would not pull out of the Government at least till the 2019 elections. The result was that Fadnavis served heavy punches to all opponents within and outside the Government.

The steering Committee of farmers had warned not to allow BJP leaders to hoist National Flag on the Independence Day. Stray agitations of a few people were also seen on television news channel screens. Taking off from this incident, Fadnavis bitterly criticised those who gave the call to oppose flag hoisting. He had a valid point. Fadnavis said that the opposition people have every right to oppose and undertake campaigns against the Government. “But what about opposing the National Flag hoisting?” he angrily asked. “They were not hoisting Pakistani or Chinese flags”, he reminded and termed this act as ‘Anti-National Activity”. This was a severe blow to the Congress and NCP leaders as it came from most unexpected corner and without notice. Does this mean, the Government would now initiate action against those who attempted to prevent BJP leaders to unfurl the National Tri-colour? If it does, the agitators would be really in a deep trouble. This is because if Sections pertaining to treachery under the IPC are levelled against the opposition party workers, they would remain behind the bar for many days as these sections are considered ‘non-bailable’ offence.

The Chief Minister was quite in an unusual and offensive mood. He had perhaps decided to take the bull by horn. He questioned the validity of the demand to waive all farm loans without discretion. This demand of the Steering Committee has received support from the opposition and also from the Sena. The Chief Minister spelt out the logic in approving loan waiver to the small and marginal farmers. If even rich farmers are allowed the loan waiver, the pressure on the Government treasury would be so much that the State would face liquidity. The Government coffers would be empty and we shall have no money to run any welfare scheme for the poor and down-trodden, for education and industrial growth, he reminded. ‘Are you inviting anarchy?’, he asked. Fadnavis’s logic must have gone very well with the BJP office-bearers and it also must have given the right signal to those who demand complete loan-waiver.

GUNNING FOR THE LEFT Without naming the Left Party activists, Fadnavis made a dig at them. “Those people, who open their umbrellas when it starts raining in China, are asking for total loan-waiver; he reminded. His gun was aimed at the Left activists and bullet must have hit the bull’s eye.

Fadnavis’s another master stroke was his comments on the recommendations of Swaminathan Commission Report on pricing structure of agricultural produce. Using sharp and harsh language, Fadnavis lambasted those who repeatedly reminded the government of the Swaminathan Commission Report. He recalled, “The Commission Report came in when the country was under Congress rule. This was many years before the Narendra Modi Government took over in Delhi. None uttered a word about Commission’s recommendations till we came in power. Suddenly they have thought of the Recommendations. Who had stopped them from speaking about it when Manmohan Singh was in power? He asked.

In all, it was a different Devendra Fadnavis than what we had seen before. He is visibly confident and relaxed perhaps because the success that he received in elections from Village Panchayats to Municipal Corporation elections during the last couple of years. He has also surely received a signal to prepare for the 2019 Lok Sabha and State Assembly elections, those the BJP wants to fight on its own strength and agenda. Fadnavis is acting exactly as per the script written and approved by his Delhi bosses, Party Chief Amit Shah and Modi.

The author is a political analyst and former Member of Parliament (RS)

OPPOSITION parties in Maharashtra and a partner in power Shiv Sena must have experienced this trauma on Friday when Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis fired salvo after salvo during his hour-long speech at the State Executive Committee meeting of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The all-out attack coming from Fadnavis was a bit unexpected as he had taken a defensive stance for over the last couple of months, since the farmers’ agitation flared up in rural parts of Maharashtra.