Opinion: BJP’s unseemly political bullying

By JR Janumpalli The national executive meeting of the Bharatiya Janata Party held in Hyderabad was at its belligerent best, which involved a total assault on Telangana. But, the party could not garner enough traction commensurate with its effort and desire. For, the BJP is not in power in the State and the local party […]

By JR Janumpalli

The national executive meeting of the Bharatiya Janata Party held in Hyderabad was at its belligerent best, which involved a total assault on Telangana. But, the party could not garner enough traction commensurate with its effort and desire. For, the BJP is not in power in the State and the local party machinery also is not as formidable as it is in many other States. Also, there are certain shortcomings from the national party in meeting the requirements of the new State in its reconstruction. Actually, the holding of the national meet in Hyderabad itself was a kind of a riddle.

Strategic Agenda

Telangana has only 3 seats in the State Assembly and 4 MPs in Parliament from the BJP. There are many States in the country where the BJP is winning time and again or has manipulated governments and implemented its flagship schemes. It could have held its national meet in any one of those States to make a more striking impression. But, the BJP chose Hyderabad with a strategic view to wrest the initiative in the attempted grabbing of power from the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) government in the 2023 general elections. As part of that, it held the mega event exhibiting all its formidable resources and manpower, imported from the national level to showcase its strength and to belittle the TRS government. It all looked like political bullying in a democracy.

It is eight years since Telangana was formed. Both the BJP at the national level and the TRS in the State came to power at the same time in 2014. It is necessary to know the political relationship of the two parties from the beginning to understand the present-day political equation with each other.

The relations were not as florid as the new Telangana State wanted them to be. It is because of the BJP’s reluctant support for the new State formation, its strange political bonhomie with the residual AP for its political numbers, and the subsequent estrangement of the BJP government to Telangana as part of national politics.

Disparaging Remarks

Narendra Modi was not very sanguine with the idea of Telangana State from the beginning. In 2014, while campaigning for Lok Sabha elections, he had said Telangana State formation was like “killing the mother and saving the child”. Even after he became the Prime Minister, he and his Home Minister, have made disparaging remarks on Telangana State Bill inside and outside Parliament. In the implementation of the State division Bill, and also through finance commission recommendations, AP got more assistance. The BJP winning 4 MP seats has turned its focus on Telangana. Yet, the party”s understanding of the State has not improved. Their anti-Telangana comments and the discrimination in the Central help continues. In the disputes between AP and TS, the Centre continues to favour AP. The local BJP’s propaganda against the TRS rule doesn’t stop. In addition, the BJP has unleashed an ominous political agenda of employing a financial squeeze on Telangana to stifle its economic progress.

Instead of helping the State and finding political support, it started withholding finances to show the ruling TRS government in a bad light. Even regular finances were released in an inordinately delayed manner. No infrastructure project was sanctioned to the State and some earlier allotted ones were shifted to other States – a blatant violation of federal governance.

The Telangana government has taken up several mega projects in power, irrigation, drinking water and industries, with its own funds and implemented them successfully. Central institutions lauded the projects and recommended financial assistance. But the Centre did not deem it fit to oblige the recommendations of its own central institutions. In the case of NDRF funds, the Centre did not provide any funds despite the floods in Hyderabad and other such events. In the case of procurement of rice, the Centre has created an unwanted situation by denying the purchase of rice and causing a heavy financial burden to the State. It has even denied the State to take its FRBM limit loans, arbitrarily while allowing it to its other vassal States.

Putting Brakes

The Modi government has started employing brakes on Telangana’s fast-forward movement. It has denied national status to Kaleshwaram, the biggest irrigation project in the world. It has also denied providing Rs 24,000 crore as recommended by the Niti Aayog for Mission Bhagiratha and Mission Kakatiya. It has upset TS’ rice procurement programme adding about Rs 15,000 crore financial burden to the State. And, it has also denied its full loan portfolio of Rs 52,000 crore as agreed in the FRBM, adding another Rs 20,000-25,000 crore shortfall to the State Budget for 2022-23. It does look like a deliberate financial squeeze to subjugate the TRS government in the 2023 general elections.

Despite this, Telangana has achieved very creditable progress among the States of the country. It has maintained a surplus Budget in all the years except in Covid years in which all the States registered revenue deficit Budgets. In fact, Telangana has relegated to the background the so-called ‘Gujarat model’ and has projected its own model of development to be followed by other States. This has been recognised by the Central institutions and the media. Yet, the Centre does not take cognizance of it. The ruling BJP is making periodical political raids into the State to tarnish the image of the TRS government.

In a multi-party democracy, any party can canvass for its political power as much as it can, but here a national party and its government in a federal union of States, indulging in such political and financial discrimination using its government authority and making intimidating political raids on a State, does not look like democracy. It looks like medieval military raids. The national executive meeting was the biggest of all. The Prime Minister, Home Minister, cabinet ministers, party president, 18 Chief Ministers and MPs of the party descended on Hyderabad in a war-like raid. Many national BJP leaders fanned out into the Assembly constituencies of the State to brainwash the electorate for the next BJP government.

But, it is unlikely to succeed. For, Telangana has come into existence for political freedom after 58 years of bullying. It is not new to it.