BJP’s Nehru, Bose card may backfire

Attempts to belittle Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru by hijacking Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose and Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel could revive the Congress fighting spirit just as the campaign against Lalu Prasad Yadav consolidated Yadavs against the BJP in the Bihar Assembly polls.

Besides, these attempts could be counterproductive for the saffron party in Uttar Pradesh if it targets Nehru, directly or indirectly, in the coming state Assembly polls as the SP, BSP and the Congress could use it against the BJP.

According to Congress insiders, the BJP and the Sangh Parivar, which had never been comfortable with the philosophy and personality of Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru, are obliquely creating a wedge between Nehru and rest of the icons in the freedom struggle to gain political space.

This is because the RSS, the mother organisation of the BJP and the Bharatiya Jana Sangh, which had stayed away from the freedom movement are now identifying such personalities as a weapon against the Congress and thereby making itself relevant in the states where they have been weak.

They had ditched the Shiv Sena, there oldest ideological ally, ahead of the Maharashtra Assembly polls in 2014 and made the JD(U) its target in Bihar despite having a long association with it. And now, they are playing the Netaji card against its former ally, the Trinamul Congress, in the upcoming West Bengal Assembly elections.

This is a message to all the regional parties who are trying to create or maintain political space against the BJP and the Congress in their respective states.

The BJP had tried to use the image of Biju Patnaik by allying with the BJD in Orissa, used Devi Lal to get space in Haryana, spread in Maharashtra with the help of Bal Thackeray and created a goodwill among the Jats in Uttar Pradesh through Charan Singh in the Janata regime.

It also wanted to make inroads among dalits through the BSP leaders Kanshi Ram and Mayawati but they did not allow to be used.

The BJP and the Sangh Parivar are trying to hijack Dr B.R. Ambedkar but could not succeed so far because his anti Hindutva philosophy and programmes.

However, its attempts to become a pan-India party has alerted the Congress and the regional parties.