We in India are used to the idea of our politicians doing this regular yatra routine. While the pioneers of this political gimmick, NTR and Co reaped rich political dividends down south using the road show as a mass communication/interaction tool; Yatras have a proven boon-bane value for the BJP. The BJP politician is invariably found either on a yatra, or planning one. That is if he is not busy wondering what went wrong with the previous one or simply basking in the glow of that successful, glorious yatra. BJP leaders, have a penchant of making it a point, every now and then, to get on top a "rath".
Now whenever one thinks Yatra, one is forced to think BJP and, ahem, Advani. The once PM in waiting and now alleged Jinnah supporter is a raring-to-go Yatri, getting on top a new Air-conditioned and Bulletproof "Rath" every now and then. Mr. Advani has always been a man to make his "point" by shouting from the rath top. Be it the month long Ram Rath Yatra from Somnath to Samastipur with the Ramjanmabhoomi movement backdrop (It resulted in the demolition of the Babri Masjid and the rise of BJP to power) or the Bharat Uday Yatra in 2004 just before the general election (This one, with the India Shining theme, culminated in the BJP being confined to the opposition benches, still).
Now Mr. Advani is at it, or shall we say on it again. This time it is a twin yatra (BJP is always experimenting with the Yatra format, never failing to try out the new variations) and the BJP president Rajnath Singh is also hopping onto a rath. Called the Bharat Suraksha Yatra, with this one yatris Advani and Rajnath aim at telling the BJP voter that the Congress is appeasing the minorities. Now, now, now...the Congress appeasing the minorities!!! What are you saying? Seriously!!! In all honesty, do we need two leaders from a confused party yelling out loud from their respective raths that the Congress practices minority politics? Wouldn't it have been better if this much money had been spent on something more productive? But on what? What can possibly be more productive than two men on raths telling people about Congress appeasing the minorities? What makes more sense than this twin yatra of these two gentlemen (both falling in the Z plus security category) traveling with huge entourages in large cavalcades is anyone's guess?
But then the BJP and this Yatra business are inseparable. While one yatra catapulted them right into the corridors of power, another shunted them out. One helped the party forge an identity and a vote bank, another, a mega communication disaster chipped away the very vote bank the first yatra helped create. That India is still reaping the hatred of the first one doesn't really figure in the scheme of things of the two yatris (Walliullah, the man behind the Varanasi blasts confessed to carrying out the blasts to avenge the Babri demolition and the Gujrat roits).
This time around it will be tougher. An already divided party is further divided on the already lost subject. The RSS and VHP are not supporting the idea and Mr. Advani is professionally at his personal lowest.
But then maybe that's why Mr. Advani is going on this yatra. To shout from a rath top that he doesn't think anymore that Jinnah is secular and that it was a passing fancy, a fau paux much like the Lakme India Fashion Week wardrobe malfunction.
Maybe after this yatra fails, there will be another yatra. An I-want-to-go-on-a-yatra-because-I-feel-like-going-on-one yatra. And who knows maybe that yatra will work out in this era of failing yatras. first published:April 06, 2006, 11:41 ISTlast updated:April 06, 2006, 11:41 IST
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The headline sucks...you might argue. But so does the idea of BJP's new twin Yatra. Ok not a good enough excuse for a bad headline, you might say. But then the excuse for this twin Rath Yatra is not very convincing as well!!! Read on.
We in India are used to the idea of our politicians doing this regular yatra routine. While the pioneers of this political gimmick, NTR and Co reaped rich political dividends down south using the road show as a mass communication/interaction tool; Yatras have a proven boon-bane value for the BJP. The BJP politician is invariably found either on a yatra, or planning one. That is if he is not busy wondering what went wrong with the previous one or simply basking in the glow of that successful, glorious yatra. BJP leaders, have a penchant of making it a point, every now and then, to get on top a "rath".
Now whenever one thinks Yatra, one is forced to think BJP and, ahem, Advani. The once PM in waiting and now alleged Jinnah supporter is a raring-to-go Yatri, getting on top a new Air-conditioned and Bulletproof "Rath" every now and then. Mr. Advani has always been a man to make his "point" by shouting from the rath top. Be it the month long Ram Rath Yatra from Somnath to Samastipur with the Ramjanmabhoomi movement backdrop (It resulted in the demolition of the Babri Masjid and the rise of BJP to power) or the Bharat Uday Yatra in 2004 just before the general election (This one, with the India Shining theme, culminated in the BJP being confined to the opposition benches, still).
Now Mr. Advani is at it, or shall we say on it again. This time it is a twin yatra (BJP is always experimenting with the Yatra format, never failing to try out the new variations) and the BJP president Rajnath Singh is also hopping onto a rath. Called the Bharat Suraksha Yatra, with this one yatris Advani and Rajnath aim at telling the BJP voter that the Congress is appeasing the minorities. Now, now, now...the Congress appeasing the minorities!!! What are you saying? Seriously!!! In all honesty, do we need two leaders from a confused party yelling out loud from their respective raths that the Congress practices minority politics? Wouldn't it have been better if this much money had been spent on something more productive? But on what? What can possibly be more productive than two men on raths telling people about Congress appeasing the minorities? What makes more sense than this twin yatra of these two gentlemen (both falling in the Z plus security category) traveling with huge entourages in large cavalcades is anyone's guess?
But then the BJP and this Yatra business are inseparable. While one yatra catapulted them right into the corridors of power, another shunted them out. One helped the party forge an identity and a vote bank, another, a mega communication disaster chipped away the very vote bank the first yatra helped create. That India is still reaping the hatred of the first one doesn't really figure in the scheme of things of the two yatris (Walliullah, the man behind the Varanasi blasts confessed to carrying out the blasts to avenge the Babri demolition and the Gujrat roits).
This time around it will be tougher. An already divided party is further divided on the already lost subject. The RSS and VHP are not supporting the idea and Mr. Advani is professionally at his personal lowest.
But then maybe that's why Mr. Advani is going on this yatra. To shout from a rath top that he doesn't think anymore that Jinnah is secular and that it was a passing fancy, a fau paux much like the Lakme India Fashion Week wardrobe malfunction.
Maybe after this yatra fails, there will be another yatra. An I-want-to-go-on-a-yatra-because-I-feel-like-going-on-one yatra. And who knows maybe that yatra will work out in this era of failing yatras.
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