Gadkari’s plight a Narendra Modi plot?

See how beautiful the plot is. By using Kejriwal the Joker (short for Joker in the political pack), Narendra Modi is ensuring a win-win for both. Kejriwal gets to prove that he is not afraid of attacking the BJP, thus establishing that he is not anti-Congress alone. And Modi gets to see the back of his detractor and party President Gadkari, thus paving the way for his ascent to PM in case a chance arises. Maybe this is the allegation that Digvijay Singh recently made…..that Joker was merely the B team of a faction within the BJP. He hadn’t elaborated then and most TV channels and newspapers didn’t speculate on it either, but it sure appears to be true….

When I did research on this Diggy accusation, I was surprised that there was already some speculation on this theory. So I am not the first one writing on this L In fact, DNA carried a story four days back “Nitin Gadkari worries; Narendra Modi’s joy” in its online edition (maybe following Diggy’s TV statement). There were also a number of stories after the May national executive meeting of the BJP held in Mumbai, in which Narendra Modi “won” convincingly over Gadkari. By removing Sanjay Joshi from the party, Modi asserted his clout within the party. But he could still not be sure. With Gadkari slated to get a second term as BJP President (the rules were amended specifically for him it would seem) with the RSS backing him as well, Modi was a worried man. His recent meetings with the RSS in Nagpur and the spate of revelations against Gadkari could be driven by that fear.

The faction that Kejriwal allegedly represents is the Modi-Jaitley one against the Gadkari-Advani-Sushma one. So many PM candidates within the BJP we are told….but just see how they are teamed up against each other! I would rather have one anointed heir! The theory of a factional struggle gets strengthened when one considers maverick lawyer and BJP MP Ram Jethmalani’s recent “suo motu” proclamation that Modi is a better PM candidate than all the others in the party. What provoked this pronouncement? This was hardly an isolated incident. Jethmalani had only a few days earlier said that he would ask for Gadkari’s resignation if Joker did so. Is he working in tandem with Joker? He also said that he possessed “evidence” against Gadkari but he was waiting to verify it. Verifying it or waiting for the go-ahead from Modi? The series of moves made by Jethmalani clearly point to the two coteries in the BJP.

Lets get one other fact right. This entire “scoop” against Gadkari is hardly a media scoop. Several media outlets have been provided the inputs for the story. A few days back, NDTV’s Sreenivasan Jain had aired an intereview with Gadkari in which he touched upon these precise points. Then TOI followed it up with a much better researched story yesterday. Once that happened, all media pounced on it. Today, every media outlet is claiming that it was the first one to get the facts. Times Now claimed last night that it was its RTI application filed in August this year that finally brought the muck out. This is not how a “scoop” breaks. If it’s a genuine scoop, it would break exclusively on one outlet. This is more like someone (Modi?) feeding ready made information to a select few media outlets. All of media is being used. And abused. By Narendra Modi and his coterie. Call this smart politics? Maybe, but with what results for the party?

Here’s more. Some time back, there was speculation that Modi would cut loose and set up his own party. That was the pressure he mounted for Sanjay Joshi to be sacrificed. Such shrewed tactics are completely in line with what one knows of Modi. One knows that from history. Once he’s made up his mind, he doesn’t give up easily. One remembers how a young Haren Pandya, a “dynamic” leader of the BJP and considered by many to be a direct challenger to Modi was bumped off after being denied the ticket from his constituency. By throwing out the prosecution’s case that Pandya was murdered by some assailants from Hyderabad to avenge Godhra (was CBI being misused by the BJP central government even then??!!), the High Court pointed to the political conspiracy theory that has many takers in Gujarat. Pandya’s two sisters and father have accused Modi directly for Pandya’s murder and have demanded a fresh probe. Modi’s involvement was never established, but what points to a possible link is that Pandya had started to squeal on Modi’s sinister handling of the post-Godhra riots and had secretly deposed before the Citizen’s Tribunal comprising several eminent judges. As per a Hindustan Times story of May 11^th 2012, “One of the judges on the citizens’ tribunal, justice Hospet Suresh, told Hindustan Times Pandya had alleged that Modi asked the police not to take action against the rioters. Modi allegedly gave the instruction during a meeting with top police and government officials on February 27, 2002, the day the riots started after the burning of a train coach near Godhra station.” Clearly, Pandya was an irritant who had to be taken care of.

One also knows of the fall out between Modi and Advani with Modi denying Advani the permission to launch his most recent yatra from Gujarat. Why was Modi turning against his former mentor? The speculation is that Modi didn’t want Advani to be in the contention for the PM’s post should it become available to the BJP.

“Connecting the dots” as is the new mantra of investigations these days, one would have to conclude that there are reasonable grounds to assume that Gadkari’s plight is the doing of Modi’s PM aspirations. Those who croon for Modi as PM should take note of the man’s Hitleresque characteristics. This is precisely the way many of the world’s biggest despots conducted themselves; blunting or crushing any form of protest against them. Does the country need a PM like him?

For his part, Joker has to think of which path he is treading on. Is this the political strategy he wants to adopt? Is this why Anna refused to back his political plans….surely Anna would have known his political game plan? Well, all of this is now starting to unravel. Not only is the needle of suspicion pointing towards Modi and his coterie, there is also a needle pointing at Joker. Joker has never spoken against Modi in spite of there being several cases of alleged corruption against him. Joker never bothered to criticize Modi for failing to appoint a Lok Ayukta in the state for 8 years as well. So there are some strong reasons to believe that Joker is not the BJP’s B team, but Modi’s.

The real truth is that Gadkari finds himself in the cross-hairs of Modi’s gunfire. Modi’s making sure that he remains the only contender for the PM’s post if it comes BJP’s way. Gadkari is nothing but an inconveneient hurdle….getting him out of the way is a necessity. But what Gadkari and his team do now remains to be seen. Will they play-up Nitish Kumar’s even more against Modi? Will they play on his Marathi manoos reality and get Shiv Sena to attack Modi? Wait and watch….this promises to be fun!