Author:
Publication: The Free Press Journal
Date: December 23, 2000
THE Prime Minister's stand on the
Ram Mandir at Ayodhya has consolidated the Hindu vote in a very big way
and the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) can win hands down on its own if there
were a quick mid-term elections, says an official survey of the mood of
the people just concluded.
The survey, spread over all the
436 districts of the country, shows that the BJP has raced to the top as
the main political party in the eyes of the people all over India, except
for the exception of just one state of Tamil Nadu. It says just one offhand
remark of Atal Behari Vajpayee describing the temple as the unfulfilled
aspiration of the people has really brought a big upsurge in the mood of
the people.
The survey results are now being
collated for presentation of an executive summary to Vajpayee in the new
year after he returns 'from his week-long holiday in a Kerala bird sanctuary,
sources in the home ministry disclosed on Friday. Home minister Lal Krishna
Advani is believed to have been briefed early this week about the indication's
that, emerge from the raw data of the survey conducted on the style of
an opinion poll.
Though the BJP is not contemplating
any snap poll nor the survey Was got conducted with the poll's perspective,
the survey report is likely to be passed on unofficially to the BJP headquarters
with details of information gathered from each district to help the party
make own assessment and formulations for the national executive slated
to meet in New Delhi in January first weekend.
BJP ALLIES SHAKEN: The consolidation
of the Hindu vote so smartly managed by Vajpayee is a matter of worry for
not only the Congress and other opposition parties, who blocked proceedings
of both the Houses of Parliament for days together, but also for some of
the allies in the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA).
The home ministry's survey, which
was conducted to judge the mood of the people, also covered the Members
of Parliament (MPs) to know their personal reaction to the Vajpayee's Ayodhya
card irrespective of their parties' stand and it revealed that at least
two NDA allies - Telugu Desam Party (TDP) of Andhra Pradesh chief minister
Chandrababu Naidu and Trinamool Congress of railways minister. Mamata Bannerjee
are badly shaken.
The survey indicates a vertical
divide among the TDP MPs since as many as 14 of them are worried that Vajpayee
was deliberately pushing the country for another mid-term poll which they
may not be able to win because of the pro-BJP wave created by his stand
on the Ayodhya issue. Sixteen other TDP MPs, who include members of the
Rajya Sabha, however, do not share these fears as they are confident that
the TDP will not only continue to remain on the top in Andhra Pradesh in
any elections but it may gain further from its association with the BJP
because of the Hindu vote consolidation.
The divide in Trinamool Congress
is, however, much more sharp as only two MPs do not see any threat to their
existence from the Hindu vote consolidation while six others, and they
include Mamata as well, fear the consolidation of the Hindu vote would
help only the BJP and its allies would be marginalised in the process.
Mamata Bannerjee's decision to go
to the AICC headquarters at 24 Akbar Road to attend an Iftaar party thrown
by Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Thursday evening and the way she
mingled with her erstwhile Congress colleagues has already made all tongues
tickling in the political circles about her possible alliance with the
Congress or even a home-coming to the parent party in time for the West
Bengal Assembly elections. She had absented from the Iftaar party given
by Vajpayee only two days ago at Hotel Ashoka and hence observers wonder
if she has already dumped him and all that remains is to dump the NDA and
set herself free from the stigma of the association with the BJP. She,
however, had the valid 'excuse of being tied up with the debate in the
Lok Sabha at the time the PM's Iftaar was on.
