New Delhi:
For the government, the Liberhan Report is a windfall.
The contents of the report indict the BJP's top leaders, and in doing so, have forced the Opposition to scatter just days after it presented a united front.
The government's new policy over sugarcane prices had seen every party from the Left to the Right protesting loudly. Even some of the government's allies like Mamata Banerjee and Tamil Nadu's DMK joined in.
But the Liberhan Report has brought back sharp divisions. In the Rajya Sabah, as BJP MPs shouted "Jai Shri Ram," the Samajawadi Party's Amar Singh swung into action, attacking the BJP's SS Ahluwalia. It was a clear move by Amar Singh to play to his Muslim vote bank. The scuffle that followed shocked the House; all parties involved later apologized.
But there is no truce now. Rising prices and the 4000-crore corruption charges against former Jharkhand chief minister Madhu Koda guarantee a rough winter session of Parliament. But even on these gigantic issues, the Left and others may not want to be on the same side as the BJP, in the wake of the Liberhan Report slamming the party for "leading the country to the brink of communal discord."
As for the BJP, the Liberhan Report isn't all bad. It gives the Sangh Parivaar, recently riddled with infighting, a much-needed cause to rally around. The fact that former prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee has been named in the report as one of 68 people culpable of creating commuinal discord means the BJP can challenge the report, and more importantly, galvanize its cadres. Vajpayee, is after all, still the party's greatest draw, in many ways.
It's in Uttar Pradesh, though, where political equations will change the most from the Liberhan Report. BJP sources believe the party's Hindutva credentials have been revived, and may help revive its fortunes here. The Samajwadi Party hopes to use the report to prove to its Muslim voters that it was right in divorcing Kalyan Singh, the man who was the BJP's chief minister in UP during the Babri Masjid demolition, and who shared a brief alliance with the Samjawadi Party this year.
The contents of the report indict the BJP's top leaders, and in doing so, have forced the Opposition to scatter just days after it presented a united front.
The government's new policy over sugarcane prices had seen every party from the Left to the Right protesting loudly. Even some of the government's allies like Mamata Banerjee and Tamil Nadu's DMK joined in.
But the Liberhan Report has brought back sharp divisions. In the Rajya Sabah, as BJP MPs shouted "Jai Shri Ram," the Samajawadi Party's Amar Singh swung into action, attacking the BJP's SS Ahluwalia. It was a clear move by Amar Singh to play to his Muslim vote bank. The scuffle that followed shocked the House; all parties involved later apologized.
But there is no truce now. Rising prices and the 4000-crore corruption charges against former Jharkhand chief minister Madhu Koda guarantee a rough winter session of Parliament. But even on these gigantic issues, the Left and others may not want to be on the same side as the BJP, in the wake of the Liberhan Report slamming the party for "leading the country to the brink of communal discord."
As for the BJP, the Liberhan Report isn't all bad. It gives the Sangh Parivaar, recently riddled with infighting, a much-needed cause to rally around. The fact that former prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee has been named in the report as one of 68 people culpable of creating commuinal discord means the BJP can challenge the report, and more importantly, galvanize its cadres. Vajpayee, is after all, still the party's greatest draw, in many ways.
It's in Uttar Pradesh, though, where political equations will change the most from the Liberhan Report. BJP sources believe the party's Hindutva credentials have been revived, and may help revive its fortunes here. The Samajwadi Party hopes to use the report to prove to its Muslim voters that it was right in divorcing Kalyan Singh, the man who was the BJP's chief minister in UP during the Babri Masjid demolition, and who shared a brief alliance with the Samjawadi Party this year.
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