New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah yesterday (Tuesday) lowered the level of poll debate by likening the Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda to a courtesan, saying the chief minister did mujra [a dance] in Delhi durbar [ruler’s court].
Continuing with his diatribe against the Hooda-led Congress party, which has been in power in the northern state for the past decade, on the second day of his whirlwind tour, Shah explained his Monday election speech in which he had accused Hooda of dancing to the tunes of the central leadership of the Congress party by saying that while Haryana is a land of wrestlers, the chief minister of this land did mujra in Delhi durbar.
Shah’s rabble-rousing remarks, many believe, may harm BJP’s prospects in the state, where the party fancies its chances of coming to power on its own for the first time ever.
In his enthusiasm to disparage rivals — the state’s ruling Congress party and the main opposition Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) — Shah termed them as corrupt and goons.
“For 20 years, we are seeing Hooda and (INLD president and former chief minister) Chautala. One comes and corruption flourishes, the other comes and both goondaism [hooliganism] and corruption flourish. When you bring us to power, we will root out corruption and goondaism and undertake development,” Shah said.
The BJP virtually decimated the two rivals during summer general elections by winning seven out of 10 Lok Sabha seats of Haryana. While INLD won two seats, Congress party could win just one.
A series of follies on the part of the buoyant BJP since then has virtually revived the Congress party, which pre-poll surveys indicate is back in the hunt to emerge winner for the third consecutive time.
Hooda was invited as the Haryana chief minister to a federal government’s function in the state where prime minister Narendra Modi was present. He was heckled by BJP supporters in the crowd while Modi made no attempt to rein in his supporters.
This was seen as an insult by the people of Haryana, especially Hooda’s influential Jat community, helping him bounce back.
A Congress party spokesman yesterday responded to Shah’s “mujra” remark by saying it was to be expected when someone who did not even deserve to be a district unit president was made national president of the ruling party.
The Congress party is expected to frame Shah’s remarks as an insult to Haryana.
Meanwhile, Shah ruled out a post-poll alliance with any party, saying the BJP would win 62 seats in the 90-member Haryana assembly and form the government on its own.
He also took a dig at the Congress party’s national president Sonia Gandhi’s Italian roots.
“Just don’t press lotus (BJP symbol) button. Press it so hard that its current is felt in Italy,” Shah said.
Sonia is scheduled to address two rallies in support of the Congress party candidates on October 4, while prime minister Modi on whose name BJP is seeking votes in both Haryana and Maharashtra is expected to address 10 public meetings in the run up to October 15 polling in the state.
