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ELECTIONS '96

Vajpayee, Thackeray flay Sonia at massive rally

A K Diwanji at Shivaji Park

The Bharatiya Janata Party-Shiv Sena had a point to prove: that the combine could hold a rally bigger than the one held by Sonia Gandhi at the same venue. And they pulled out all stops to do so.

The first rally addressed jointly by Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Bal Thackeray at Shivaji Park in Bombay, saw a crowd estimated at around 300,000, give or take 50,000. Sonia Gandhi's rally on Sunday reportedly drew about 150,000. And almost everyone who took the stage made it a point to declare how much more successful this rally was, compared to that rally.

That the number was important was evident; what was not was the fact that every party activist and worker had been put on the job to ensure a huge turnout. The timing was perfect, the day auspicious. Campaigning will end tomorrow at 1700 hours, effectively making this evening the last; and it was a public holiday on account of Mahashivratri.

The target of the speakers was the Congress for its inability to find a leader, and the foreign origins of Sonia Gandhi. The speakers, and this included Maharashtra Chief Minister Manohar Joshi and Deputy Chief Minister Gopinath Munde, were particularly harsh on Congress president Sitaram Kesri. Munde called him "useless"; Joshi termed him a "cartoon who made children happy with his funny gestures'; Thackeray poked fun at Kesri declaring that he would remove his clothes if Sonia asked him to. "He looks so terrible with his clothes; can you imagine how much worse he would look without his clothes"? asked the Sena chief while the crowd tittered.

Thackeray and Vajpayee also blasted Sonia Gandhi personally. Thackeray insisted that a foreigner had no right to rule over India. "I will never allow it," he thundered to the crowds. "Is it not shameful that the Congress, which threw out the British, have now turned to another European to help them out?" he asked.

Vajpayee criticised Sonia Gandhi for not responding to allegations made against her. He said Sonia made the excuse that she was a woman and a widow. "What reply do I give? Is that my fault?" he asked, "And is it my fault that I am a man, or a bachelor?"

The BJP leader repeated his charge that the Congress withdrew support because the recipients of the Bofors kickbacks were on the verge of being named. He claimed out Sonia Gandhi had raised the Bofors topic with the sole purpose of burying the issue whereas the BJP sought the truth behind the bribes.

The BJP's prime minister-designate said the single greatest issue facing the country was corruption. He said India had become so corrupt, that when investors came from abroad, they always came prepared to pay bribes to Indian officials and politicians. Vajpayee promised that a BJP government would pass the Lok Pal bill (which will allow probes against ministers), and declared that even the prime minister would be covered by it.

Vajpayee blasted the talk of secularism. He narrated the popular incident of how the Hindu reformist Dayanand Saraswati, founder of the Arya Samaj, gave up his belief in idolatry on the night of Mahashivratri decades ago. "No one hanged him for his belief, and that is the core of Hinduism," he stated, "that you can practice what you believe in as long as you believe in India. What kind of a secularism is it that allies itself with the Muslim League for votebank politics?"

Vajpayee referred to the recent fiasco in Uttar Pradesh. He said it was regrettable that the controversy was resolved by the court rather than by the legislature. Uttar Pradesh Governor Romesh Bhandari had violated every norm and he should be dismissed forthwith. The President had declared his inability to dismiss the governor without a Cabinet recommendation. "But when the circumstances are such, and the government non-existent, then the President should take action on his own," stated Vajpayee.

The massive Shivaji Park, famous as the cradle ground of some of India's greatest cricketers, was awash in a surge of saffron. Many women among the about 5,000 who attended sported orange-coloured saris, clearly declaring their kinship with the saffron alliance.

The stage from which the speakers addressed the audience was designed to look like the Red Fort in New Delhi, and emblazoned across in Marathi were the words: 'Now the saffron flag will fly over Delhi'. The thrust was on a clear majority in the Lok Sabha, and not just 272 seats, but 373.

Certainly Maharashtra is one of the most important states to the saffron alliance, and speaker after speaker spoke of winning at least 40 of the state's 48 seats, Sonia Gandhi notwithstanding.

Sitting right up front was a man with no hands, lustily cheering on his leaders. Hailing from Bombay, Deepak Navrekar, in his 30s, said he would vote for the BJP-Sena since the Congress had achieve little in all its 40 years. But had the Sena-BJP state government done anything during its three-year rule? "Yes, it has," he replied, "It has given me and my brother jobs; whereas all this while the Congress government could not give me a simple telephone booth."

Still, those present were the party faithful, who had come to hear their leaders blast the opposition. In that they were not disappointed. Both Thackeray and Vajpayee are known for their oratory skills, the former in Marathi, the latter in Hindi. Thackeray, in his usual style, played to the gallery, cracking jokes and double entendres while Vajpayee appealed to higher sensibilities, in a city that returned only BJP or Sena candidates in the 1996 election.

Another Shiv Sena worker, Jyoti Prakash Shinde, 32, said the primary task for any government was creating employment. The issues of a temple at Ayodhya or Article 370 at Kashmir were secondary. And she was sure the BJP would get a majority. What about the crowds Sonia drew? "Oh, they only come to see her," was her prompt reply.

Almost on cue, Thackeray made the same statement. "People come to see Sonia Gandhi, like they go to see a movie, and are seeking new entertainment," he said in his speech. "But they come to hear me."

He was, of course, confident, that his Bombay supporters would also vote for him.

Elections '98

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