New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi should become more accommodative, former Himachal Pradesh chief minister and veteran BJP leader Shanta Kumar has advised, a month after the Lok Sabha poll results humbled the party as it won fewer seats than in 2019 and what was predicted.
In an interview to ThePrint Wednesday, Kumar, one of the founding members of the BJP, said the “2024 mandate has broken the arrogance of BJP leaders after the party in power at the Centre took many uncalled-for decisions over 10 years and with a brute majority”.
“Now, PM Modi should make changes according to the mandate and become more accommodative,” Kumar asserted, while lauding the BJP and Modi government for winning a third straight term.
Kumar further asked party leaders to “introspect for taking hasty decisions out of political greed in Himachal Pradesh which led to horse-trading of MLAs and forced bypolls”.
He was referring to last month’s bypolls on six assembly seats in Congress-ruled Himachal which were necessitated by the disqualification of six rebel Congress legislators who voted for the BJP’s Harsh Mahajan in the Rajya Sabha election earlier this year, leading to the defeat of Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi.
The political crisis brought down the number of Congress MLAs in the 68-member Himachal assembly from 40 to 34 and the Sukhvinder Sukhu government needed at least one MLA to cross the halfway mark.
“The mandate for the BJP in Himachal was to sit in the opposition. The people of the state had given the mandate to the Congress to govern the state for the next five years, but the greed of leaders led to horse-trading which led to bypolls, which is not good for the state,” said Kumar.
While speaking his mind about the Modi government, Kumar also had some advice for new Leader of the Opposition, Rahul Gandhi.
“Rahul Gandhi, who became opposition leader after 10 years, should behave responsibly. The Leader of Opposition’s post is the most important after the prime minister’s in India. He is the leader of the opposition of the world’s largest democracy and he too should change accordingly and behave responsibly. This is the need of democracy and this is the mandate of the people,” Kumar told ThePrint.
The former CM also dwelt on the 2 July Hathras stampede, in which more than 120 people lost their lives, and demanded action against self-styled godman Bhole Baba at whose satsang the tragedy occurred.
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‘Modi govt took decisions which were not good but also created history’
Speaking about this year’s Lok Sabha elections, in which the BJP’s seat tally reduced from 303 to 240, and what led to the fall in numbers for the party, the former CM said the people had “given the right mandate to the BJP for the third time but had also ended the arrogance of party leaders by giving lesser seats and making the opposition stronger”.
According to Kumar, “BJP leaders’ 400 paar (400-plus seats) slogan went against the party”.
“Due to the absence of an opposition in the last 10 years from 2014 to 2024, and out of arrogance, the government took many decisions which were not good. But now things have changed and the people have made Rahul Gandhi the leader of the opposition,” he said, adding that “in changed circumstances now, Modi should change too”.
He, however, also pointed out that “forming a government for the third time is no small feat”.
“Jawaharlal Nehru became PM three times and his government’s numbers too were reduced in the third term. In this perspective, the BJP and Modi have created history as getting a third mandate is a difficult job,” said Kumar, a former Union minister who held several portfolios during A.B. Vajpayee’s term at the Centre.
‘BJP should not get disappointed if it doesn’t get power’
In Himachal Pradesh, BJP’s efforts to dislodge the Congress government failed, the former state CM told ThePrint.
In the state bypolls, the Congress won four of six seats. Bypolls were also held this month on three other Himachal assembly seats vacated by Independents who were supporting the Congress but had voted in favour of the BJP in the Rajya Sabha polls and later joined the party. The Congress won two of these three seats. With the bypoll wins, the Congress tally in Himachal went back to 40 seats, the same it had won in the 2022 assembly poll.
Speaking about the bypolls, Kumar told ThePrint: “People of the state had given a clear mandate to both parties in 2022. The mandate for the BJP was to sit in the opposition and raise people’s issues as a responsible opposition. The mandate for the Congress was to govern but the greed of leaders led to horse-trading during the Rajya Sabha poll. MLAs were traded like commodities and this led to their disqualification. Frequent bypolls are not good for a state.”
Kumar said that in a democracy, the role of the opposition was equally important and “the BJP should not get disappointed if it doesn’t get power”.
“The BJP has been in the opposition for a long time and responsibly played the role. Vajpayee become such an important leader while in opposition that (former PM) Narasimha Rao sent him to represent India at the United Nations. And when Vajpayee spoke at the UN, the whole country praised his oratory. So, the BJP should work among people to come to power in the next assembly poll and till then, it should behave as a responsible opposition,” Kumar advised.
“Unprincipled things have happened in the party in recent months and it should think over these at its executive meeting,” he added.
Another former Himachal CM and BJP leader, Prem Kumar Dhumal, had also criticised the BJP for “forcing bypolls in the state”.
“Frequent bypolls are not good in a small state such as Himachal which has other challenges. The BJP acted hastily —the Sukhu government would have collapsed on its own,” Dhumal had told The Indian Express earlier this month.
Himachal leader of opposition and former CM Jairam Thakur had claimed earlier this year that the BJP would form a government in the state after the bypolls.
The Sukhu government not only survived the political crisis in the wake of the Rajya Sabha polls but the Congress narrative of the BJP sabotaging the people’s mandate found resonance on the ground and became a loss of face for the opposition party.
Post the bypolls, the BJP could only improve its seat tally from 25 to 28. In Dehra, Nalagarh and Hamirpur, the party had fielded the three Independents who had joined it — Hoshyar Singh, Krishan Lal Thakur and Ashish Sharma, respectively — while ignoring its own leaders. The party lost the former two seats to the Congress, with Sukhu’s wife Kamlesh Thakur getting elected to the assembly from Dehra.
‘Fraud Bhole Baba should be booked’
Kumar lambasted Uttar Pradesh’s BJP government for “going soft on Bhole Baba” and giving him the clean chit by not naming him in the FIR in the Hathras stampede case.
After the FIR, the SIT formed by the state to probe the tragedy also did not blame Bhole Baba in its report and held the satsang organisers and local administration responsible for the stampede.
Barring BSP chief Mayawati, who on social media attacked the UP government over the SIT’s silence on Bhole Baba’s role and asked for action against him, most political parties have avoided attacking the godman, keeping in mind his following among Dalits.
“I am ashamed that a person guilty of sexual assault is wearing suit-boot and organising satsang and making a fool of lakhs of people by exploiting their religious beliefs,” Kumar told ThePrint.
“While more than 120 people died in the stampede, the fraud baba is roaming free. He has not been punished by the state government. The fraud baba and corrupt politicians in this country are looting people. Several of them exploiting the beliefs of people were convicted of rape and murder. Baba Ram Rahim and Asaram are a few. It’s not only the fall of state but society as well. I appeal to all gurus of Hindu dharma to expose such fraud babas,” he added.
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)
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