The beginning of change – Ghanshyam Patil

It is a law of nature that any person or organization rises to the top and starts to fall again. That is, when you climb a mountain, you have to go down again. In that case, there is some flat area on the hill. How long you stay there is up to you. After the BJP government led by Narendra Modi achieved great success in 2014 and 2019, everyone felt that they would also feel the warmth of power this year. From that, he raised the slogan of ‘Char Sau Par,’ and the voters brought him to the seat.

Of course, even if Modi’s government has returned, this should be an alarm bell in view of 2029. Instead of taking some lessons from all this and bringing about reforms, some BJP leaders are struggling to say how they are right. On the one hand, there is a ridiculous claim that ‘all the members of the Aghadi together do not get 243 seats, and on the other hand, only BJP got so many seats, so whose failure is it? The Sangh Swayamsevak and the loyal BJP workers were not interested in supporting the very tendencies they had fought against all their lives, particularly in Maharashtra. He concluded the morning swearing-in ceremony by saying that he had ‘loads of’ evidence of Ajit Pawar’s corruption of Rs 70,000 crore. Soon after that, they got divorced. Again, the gamble of elections was played by taking them along with. Leaders like Chhagan Bhujbal, who escaped from prison, were brought along. Ashok Chavan had to resign in the ‘Adarsh’ scam case and was given the ‘reward’ of the Rajya Sabha the very next day after joining the party. BJP leaders and workers were nowhere to be seen in all this. So what different picture was expected? The political analysts who were consistently parroting the BJP’s side also misled the central leadership.

What exactly did the BJP want to achieve by taking Raj Thackeray, who has consistently given the message that ‘I want to make a settlement that will make the world envy? What message exactly did Sunetra Pawar want to send to the Rajya Sabha by taking the same BJP voters who stoneheartedly refrained from voting just because the clock was a party symbol? Raj Thackeray’s one-word response after the Lok Sabha election results was ‘incomprehensible,’ actually applies to all of them. All your behavior and speech were incomprehensible to common voters. Therefore, to increase their ‘understanding,’ the voters showed a glimpse of it in this election. If they don’t want to learn anything from this, then it should not be surprising if the BJP loses in Maharashtra even in the coming assembly elections. Sharad Pawar has always done the politics of distrust. To compete with him, a leader like Devendra Fadnavis was brought forward with flair and intellectual astuteness. He performed well in the first term. The latter was also moving in the right direction, but Sharad Pawar, who could not complete the five-year term even once in his four terms, was extremely hurt by it. The ego of this leader who was full of ‘Brahmin hatred’ was hurt, and then everything was done to get rid of Fadnavis. When Sharad Pawar’s announcement of extending external support didn’t work out, he brought forward a weapon named Uddhav Thackeray. He filled this balloon with as much air as he could, but Fadnavis once again hit the pin and burst the pumpkin of illusion. Eknath Shinde destroyed the bastion of Uddhav Thackeray with full power and took control of Balasaheb Thackeray’s Shiv Sena. This matter was not of interest to many at that time, but earlier Uddhav had completely disapproved of Balasaheb’s ideology and joined his staunch enemy Sharad Pawar’s party. Therefore, the revolt of Shinde and his successors was accepted by the people against their will. In all such circumstances, Devendra Fadnavis, who had decided to stay away from the ruling cause of Maharashtra, had to reluctantly accept the post of Deputy Chief Minister. All was well here too! But the same game was played with Sharad Pawar through Ajit Pawar, and this scabbing politics reached its climax. No matter how many accusations are made against Sharad Pawar, people used to give examples of his joint family culture. It got broken, and Maharashtra had to witness the unfortunate clash of Nanand-Bhavjayi. Even as all this was going on, Narendra Modi and Devendra Fadnavis made some statements. Modi used the words ‘fake nationalist’ and ‘fake Shiv Sena.’ They did not stop there but appealed to Sharad Pawar and Uddhav Thackeray to join Ajit Pawar and Eknath Shinde. On the one hand, Uddhav Thackeray-Sharad Pawar was criticized very bitterly and called them ‘corruption leaders’; on the other hand, they were urged to come along. Modi made public statements on Muslim reservations. Fadnavis said ‘I have come again and split two parties,’ but the common man saw only hysteria and arrogance instead of greatness. Sharad Brigade was successful in bringing all this to the people.

Manoj Jarange Patil had taken up a wide movement in the Maratha community. It was also divided. The IT cell went to work to show how the Jarange is mean and unintelligent. Memes rained on social media. Certain promises were made to the Maratha community. Without fulfilling it, new excuses were brought forward. As a result, senior leaders like Raosaheb Danve and Pankaja Munde also had to sit at home. An atmosphere was created that the fact that Udayanraje Bhosle was elected was also a big deal.

The defeat of the daughter of Sushil Kumar Shinde, who made the statement that ‘saffron terrorism is dangerous’ when he was the Home Minister, was easily possible. A promising leader like Ram Satpute would have easily gone to the Lok Sabha from here, but the party leadership could not solve the calculations here, and they got stuck in their cycle. From Chandrapur, Sudhir Mungantiwar implemented the election system with a defeated mindset. Although the reasons for the defeat are different in each constituency, the BJP leaders have not been able to convey their development issues to the voters. They did not fall outside of personal criticism and controversy. He was marching across the country mocking Rahul Gandhi as ‘Pappu’ and was not ready to step down from the helicopters of criticism. Modi’s meetings were held on a large scale everywhere by combining three, or four-four constituencies. It is necessary to think about why the leader on the post of Prime Minister had to be so devalued.

On one hand, the BJP’s top leaders were giving the message that ‘now we don’t need to hold the hand of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh.’ On the other hand, they were taking traditional opponents with them and making them sit next to them, ignoring all their past corruption. Also, they were feeding the egos of the opponents by ignoring leaders of their party who were talking about changing the constitution. Although some reasons are given like Muslim anger, local politics, and choice of candidate, it is highly unlikely that the BJP candidate will face defeat in Ayodhya as well. Seniors could not stop the talk of Nitin Gadkari, and Yogi Adityanath being demoralized within the party. So the message going to the workers became very deadly. Change is the inescapable law of creation. Narendra Modi, who started working immediately after his mother’s death, has lost votes from Varanasi, which is the beginning of a changing equation. If the Legislative Assembly does not want to lose Maharashtra, a leader like Devendra Fadnavis should give up everything and do sadhana like Vipassana for 15 days. If you keep your head calm and do some planning, you will not lose your clothes.

A Maratha leader like Muralidhar Mohol has got the signal to bring forward his leadership by giving important power accounts at the center. Experts are also saying that Muralianna Mohol will be known as the leader of Maharashtra till the 2029 Maharashtra Assembly elections, and the election will be held under his leadership. Assembly elections will be held in Maharashtra next October. The battle is near. Taking lessons from all these experiences, it will be seen whether the BJP will make some reforms or the wind of the Congress will blow even more. In this Diwali, the results will be crystal clear.