On Sept 25, 1990, L K Advani took off from Somnath temple on a rath yatra for Ayodhya, on the agenda of building the Ram Mandir, but was stopped and arrested by Lalu Prasad Yadav. It yielded high dividends with BJP crossing the 100 mark in the 1991 Lok Sabha. His second such Rath Yatra, Janadesh yatra was to seek the people’s mandate against the two Bills, the Constitution 80th Amendment Bill and the Representation of People (Amendment) Bill. After four-pronged raths, covering 14 states and 2 UTs, the yatra ended in Bhopal to a grand rally. The bills were never passed.
Advani’s third was Swarna Jayanti Yatra in 1997 to commemorate 50 years of India’s independence but was to bolster his sagging popularity, in vain. The journey covered a distance of over 15,000 Kms. through 21 states and union territories.
A Bharat Uday Yatra was commenced by Advani ji in 2004 to propagate India Shining when NDA lost the elections. The fifth, Bharat Suraksha Yatra was initiated in 2006 to make the citizens conscious of the growing threats to ‘Bharat Suraksha’ from the Congress party’s divisive politics.
Travelling by a glitzy chariot to woo the common man, and for mass-connect is a usual method adopted by leaders of the BJP. The Rath, an air-conditioned bus restyled to look like a chariot has been much sought after to polarise the voters.
Mamata has emerged as the most vocal opponent for PM Modi, daring him as often in her public meetings. For the president of the BJP, Bengal has been sour grapes all along, without being able to make any inroads into the once left citadel converted now into TMC fortress.
Recent voting in the five states having ended, BJP has turned its attention towards West Bengal and have planned for covering 17000 Kms firing up passions by naming the project, ‘Save democracy Yatra.’ An indomitable Mamata, the firebrand CM of West Bengal dubbed the BJP Rath yatra as Ravan Yatra, lampooning the Rath as a 5-Star hotel. She has responded that her party, TMC sponsored yatras will closely follow the BJP chariots, purifying the path sullied by the BJP Rath.
The police chief from Cooch Behar has denied permission for the Rath Yatra on the basis that it could vitiate peace and result in causalities. He may not have been wrong! The BJP knocked the doors of Calcutta High Court, which after studying the police report stayed the yatra, resulting in BJP filing an appeal in a division bench. The bench today has vacated the stay by the single judge, directing the government to sit with BJP leaders to ensure peaceful and unhindered exercise of democratic rights and to file a report by Wednesday.
Rath is a sure shot headache for Mamata, who is apprehensive, rightly so, for breach of peace and polarisation on religious grounds. Bengal is the only other state, other than Punjab, to have witnessed bloodshed of during and after partition. The embers seem to be alive, for the politicians to easily exploit, which should be avoided at all costs.
Sampath Kumar
Intrépide Voix
