Monday, July 18, 2016

Does Punjab need a BJP/RSS Chief Minister in AAP clothing?

So navjot Sidhu the BJP nominated Rajya Sabha member has resigned and AAP has been jubilant at the discomfort it would have caused Narendra Modi and the BJP.
Arvind Kejriwal has been quick to the draw on Twitter and has hailed Sidhu's resignation as courageous decision.
"People can give their rt hand for an RS seat. Ever seen a sitting RS MP resigning to save his state? I salute Sidhu ji for his courage," he tweeted.
So far so good. but any further dancing with joy and accepting him "with open arms" as an AAP man should be done with a lot of thought and care. Don't forget political opportunist can give up a RS seat for Chief Ministership.

Sidhu himself got on a high pedestal and said,
"In the war of right or wrong, you can't afford to be neutral rather than being self-centered. Punjab's interest is paramount."
The pertinent question is when did he realise that? Did he accept the Rajya Sabha nomination only to be in a stronger position to negotiate with the gullible AAP?

That Navjot Sidhu will be the Chief Ministerial candidate of the AAP in Punjab is still in the realm of speculation but a lot of commentators and analysts are treating his resignation a big enough sacrifice for AAP to offer him the plum post on a platter. I hope Arvind Kejriwal is wiser than that and doesn't go any farther than saluting the brave act.

 Sidhu has been a BJP MP thrice. Ideologically he is out and out a BJP/RSS man. This needs to be kept in mind before AAP takes any hasty decison and projects him as its Chief Ministerial candidate. Will AAP consider projecting Smriti Irani as its Chief Ministerial candidate from UP or Gujrat if she was to leave her party and join AAP now that she has been diminished by the BJP Government?

Punjab does not need a BJP Chief Minister in AAP clothing.

Is there any chance Sidhu would have left the BJP if he was given the ticket from Amritsar in 2014? Till a couple of months ago he called himself a protege of Arun Jaitley. What happened since? AAP should desist from entertaining disgruntled spurned politicians. If he wants to join the AAP he should be allowed to but, like other party workers, he should start from the ranks and prove that he has changed his ideology to that of the AAP. Changing the way you think and act takes time. So give him time. At least five years. AAP will be seetting a terrible example if he is inducted on the top.

 Another reason given by some commentators is that he is known to be honest and there is no corrupton charges against him. True but he is an honest BJP/RSS man. The danger is that he just might be the Trojan horse BJP is trying to induct into the AAP camp? A man who could stay in the BJP for his entire political career and considers Arun Jaitley to be his mentor is to be taken with a bushel of salt. That is one scenario. The other is that he was happy being in BJP till he was denied a ticket from Amritsar to accommodate Arun Jaitley. That's when he started looking around for greener pastures. Since then he has been waiting for an opportune time to leave the party only waiting for the moment he could negotiate the best price. Corruption is not just exchange of money for a favour done; it menifests itself in many ways in the political arena. Negotiating a political office is one of them. It seems the prize he has been waiting for has been offered to him. And if he has been offered the CMs position in Punjab by the AAP to leave BJP, I feel AAP has finally succummed to the level of BJP and Congress and has become another run of the mill party. Will Arvind Kejriwal be strong enough to desist from such grey politics he has so far so successfully avoided?

One of the strong reasons given by commentators is that SIdhu fits into Arvind Kejriwal's scheme of things as he is looking for a Jat Sikh candidate to be the Chief Minister of Punjab. If that is true you seem to think Arvind Kejriwal is no different from other politicians who are busy building vote banks. Here is a man who refused any support from a religious leader in the Delhi elections, he cannot be rooting for caste based politics in Punjab. Do you think there is overwhelming support for Arvind Kejriwal in Punjab because he is a jat sikh? AAP has come into the political arena to change, not just the rules of the game but the game itself. Getting Sidhu to become the face of AAP in Punjab is playing the old game that will only hurt AAP and not benifit it.

Sidhu had no qualms about accepting nomination to the Rajya Sabha from the BJP only a couple of months ago while plotting to ditch it all along. If he was so upright and had the interest of Punjab at his heart he should have rejected the nomination instead of ditching a party that gave him his entire political career till now. There is something deeper and more sereptitious that's going on here than meets the eye. AAP should be well warned, it's better to be safe than sorry. Rather than having to regret later for indirectly putting Jaitley's man in the top post in Punjab it would be better to put an honest AAP worker in the CM's offfice than a wily disgruntled politician. How is having Sidhu as the CM going to be any different from having Badal? Sidhu is as appropriate as the AAP CM candidate as Kiran Bedi was as the BJP Chief Ministerial candidate in Delhi. AAP will have no one else to blameif if they get the same kind of results as BJP got in Delhi if they foist Sidhu on Punlab. 
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.