Let us begin with the latest, viz., the Jharkhand verdict that was announced a day after the prime minister disowning, his old accomplice and a long-time confidant since the Gujarat days of both, Union home minister Amit Shah while addressing a BJP rally in the national capital on December 22, 2019. The Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) led alliance has secured a clear majority in the Jharkhand assembly. The JMM has recorded its best ever performance and emerged as the single largest party with 29 MLAs. The BJP loss — its tally has come down from 37 MLAs in 2014 to 27— can be attributed to three cascading factors.

The verdict only repeats the general trend of the BJP losing power or performing badly in assembly elections. The trend of course was accentuated in Jharkhand with PM, home minister and defence minter thundering at BJP election rallies that the government would steamroll CAA-NRC and will not heed to any opposition to the Act and the register. No doubt there was a strong anti-incumbency against the state government, as evidenced by the defeat of chief minister Raghubar Das himself. Another salient feature to be taken note of is the stronger the opposition unity, the easier and deeper will be the defeat that can be inflicted on RSS-BJP combine.

To say that the voters act differently between national and local elections is just a cover-up for the dwindling popularity of Modi and RSS-BJP combine. It may be recalled here that the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) swept the state in the 2019 Lok Sabha, winning 63 out of the 81 assembly constituencies in the state. The BJP alone won 57 assemblies in 2019 Lok Sabha, which has halved in the assembly elections. This is almost the same pattern which unfolded in Maharashtra and Haryana also. Among the losers in Jharkhand was also the BJP state president Laxman Giluwa, who had contested from Chakradharpur. Also the All Jharkhand Students Union, which was an alliance partner of the BJP, was forcibly evicted from the alliance just before the elections.

Back to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s outburst that there has been no discussion on implementing a NRC in India at a public meeting in Delhi while blaming the Congress, other opposition parties and so-called urban Naxals for creating fear in the minds of people, especially Muslims, one needs only to humbly remind him that many BJP leaders, including home minister Amit Shah, have repeatedly said NRC would be implemented in the country before Modi’s second term as prime minister ends in 2024. Hasn’t the Union home minister committed contempt of Parliament by announcing a non-discussed, non-decided and non-approved policy move that NRC will be implemented nation-wide.

Launching BJP’s campaign for the assembly elections in Delhi, expected to be held in January, Modi said there was an attempt to create fear in the minds of Muslims that they would lose land rights and be sent to detention centres. “There are no detention centres in the country,” Modi said.

Upholding his credibility as a friend indeed and a loyal colleague of the Prime minister Narendra Modi, Amit Shah said on December 24 that there are no talks of that there is no discussion on nationwide NRC now. He said: “There is no need to debate this (pan-India NRC) as there is no discussion on it right now. PM Modi was right and there is no discussion on it yet either in the Cabinet or Parliament.”

With the prime minister disowning his home minister and the home minister in turn certifying his boss as saying the truth, what is at stake is the collective responsibility of the Union Council of Ministers.

Let us look at Shah’s utterances. Apart from his public declarations at political rallies, press conferences and interviews, the government’s decision to conduct the NRC exercise at the national level – across all states, including in Assam for a second time – was conveyed to the Rajya Sabha on November 20, 2019 by Shah in his capacity as Union home minister.

In Chakradharpur, Jharkhand speaking at an election rally on December 2, 2019, Shah even set a deadline for the NRC’s implementation. Also an election rally in Raiganj, West Bengal, Shah said: “We will ensure implementation of NRC in the entire country. We will remove every single infiltrator from the country, except Buddha, Hindus and Sikhs.”

One need not refer to more of his utterances to prove with perhaps the tacit approval of PM, he was going ahead with his plan for a divisive Hindu Rashtra. The only solace is that repeated denials of a public statement also made in the floor of Parliament cannot result in the nullification of the outbursts made. The people’s court will teach a lesson to such people and their party as was done in Jharkhand. (IPA Service)