First it was Deputy Prime Minister L. K. Advani in Uttar Pradesh, now it’s Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee in Gujarat. They shared a dais with BSP Vice-President/U. P. Chief Minister Mayawati. With this, the BJP leadership gave a clear signal that their political relations with the BSP would go beyond U. P. If that is so, political observers feel, the forthcoming Assembly elections in nine States across the country would be full of turns and twists.

The Congress has already shown in the Gujarat elections that Janashakti leader and former Union Minister Ramvilas Paswan is in its basket and, if need be, he will be used as a potential hammer to crack the dalit vote banks which sink and swim at the BSP’s direction. Whether the BJP gets benefits out of its marriage of political convenience with the BSP will have to be seen. Nevertheless, changing permutations and combinations in the political sphere in the country beckon towards a major game on the chess board of dalit politics.

From the reaction of leaders of the Sangh Parivar to Congress President Sonia Gandhi’s statements at Oxford, it appears that they got more (hurt) than they expected. Deputy Prime Minister, L. K. Advani said the Congress chief belittled the pride and prestige of India by talking openly about its weakness in a foreign country. VHP leaders Ashok Singhal and Praveen Togadia said Sonia presented the country in a poor light before the international audience at the Oxford Islamic Centre. The RSS leadership was angry at the Congress President’s remarks that if India was facing challenges then "they were from its own domestic forces".

The question is: what wrong did Sonia commit if she, without any inhibition, said the country was being made vulnerable by its own people. Are not the VHP and Bajrang Dal eating away at the strength of the nation by fanning hatred against members of the minority community? Who was behind the post-Godhra riots? Should not these leaders first introspect on their own acts before criticising the Congress and its leadership. The truth is that they have shown themselves in a poor light by overreacting to what Sonia Gandhi said.

In fact, political observers have begun to be pessimistic about Mamata’s leadership

The Jammu and Kashmir elections were held, but they did not create as much sensation and brouhaha as was witnessed during the run-up to the Gujarat Assembly polls. Vying with each other, if the BJP fielded 34 candidates with a criminal background, the Congress fielded 28 candidates with a criminally tainted past. All together 138 candidates, of them several habitual offenders with more than 10 cases each pending in courts, were in the fray for the 182 Assembly seats. But this was not enough. Besides film stars, look-alikes of cricket heroes such as Sachin Tendulkar, Virendra Sehwag, Saurav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid were also campaigning for the political parties. Some Independent candidates brought in hordes of eunuchs as well as magicians. The Congress Party and the BJP, whose political interests were at stake in the State, unloaded plane after plane of leaders from across the country. Former Bihar Chief Minister and RJD President Laloo Prasad Yadav, too, was in the streets of Ahmedabad and other cities of the State crying for secularism and social justice. Another first. For the first time in the history of India, a candidate left a meeting venue without listening to his own invited guest. Narendra Bhai Modi did this. He left the dais much before the party’s star campaigner, Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, could speak. When journalists covering the PM’s speech asked him as to how he reacted to Modi’s leaving the venue, the embarrassed Vajpayee, in his inimitable style said: "I do not think one needs to speak after Narendra Bhai’s speech. But I am his advocate and it is my duty to hold brief for him." It is clear that anything can happen in the unpredictable land of Gujarat.

Former State Agriculture Minister H. Nagappa is dead. But his death has left behind several questions—was he killed by Veerappan or a police posse. The forest brigand sent a sixth cassette claiming Nagappa was killed in an encounter with the Tamil Nadu STF. The Karnataka Government has asked for an investigation into the circumstance leading to the death of the JD(U) leader who was abducted from his house in Kamagere village on August 25. But before that, the governments of the two States, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, would have to probe their own consciences.

What the brigand wanted was the release of Koluthur Mani, the LTTE sympathiser who is in a Karnataka jail. Establishment of communications between the brigand and the authorities was also lacking. Since the abduction took place, no attempt was made to establish communications with Veerappan in the manner they were done during Rajkumar’s abduction. A virtual clash of egos between the Tamil Nadu and Karnataka Governments also plagued the issue. Otherwise, it may have been possible to save Nagappa whose decomposed body was found 40 km from Kamagere.

The need of the hour now is that both the States, acting together, nab the forest brigand who has, so far, been a law to himself.

The continuous absence of Jammu and Kashmir PCC leader Ghulam Nabi Azad from the State has made party workers feel despondent. Even for their petty work, they have to go to PDP vice-president, Mehbooba Mufti, who naturally has a softer corner for her own party workers than those belonging to the Congress. To keep the party’s constituents in good humour, while her father dutifully meets them and listens to their problems, Mehbooba keeps track of each and every development concerning the party.