Parties indulge in one-upmanship

Parties indulge in one-upmanship
TANVIR SIDDIQUI

AHMEDABAD, FEB 4: Quite unmindful of the agony of the common man following the January 26 earthquake, political parties in Gujarat are busy extracting mileage out of it. Their modus operandi is simple: project the minutest details of the smallest relief work done by the party and criticise rivals for politicising the tragedy. They are also busy bringing bigwigs to affected areas, who make their own survey and then announce conflicting figures to add to the confusion.

The Congress is blaming the Sangh Parivar, especially the VHP and Bajrang Dal for creating hurdles in relief work. Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC) president C.D. Patel has alleged that VHP-Bajrang Dal workers are snatching away relief material from officials and NGOs. Without naming them, Patel accused ‘‘some elements’’ of selling relief material.

AICC president Sonia Gandhi, BJP president Bangaru Laxman, Samata Party president George Fernandes, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Sharad Pawar and Ram Vilas Paswan have all visited the state, not to forget Prime Minister A.B. Vajpayee and Home Minister L.K. Advani. The VIP movement has affected the pace of relief work but no party wants to criticise this as it is also the best time for them to impress people.

While C.D. Patel is critical of government inaction, he says in the same breath that Congress volunteers have reached affected areas and started relief camps in right earnest.

On the other hand, BJP is claiming that it has sent party workers from virtually every district to the affected areas of Kutch district with relief supplies. The party has even released the number of items, the number of party workers and their destinations. Party national vice-president Jana Krishnamurthy has also allotted specific areas to party office-bearers and ministers. But this was done five days after the calamity struck.

Even Karnataka’s Civil Aviation Minister C. John’s remark over the quake wherein he linked it with alleged excesses against Christians has been used to advantage. The BJP has issued a statement which says Christians are unsafe in Karnataka. ‘‘If there’s any state in the country where Christians are safest, it’s Gujarat,’’ claims BJP spokesman Jagdish Bhavsar.

Congress Legislature Party leader Amarsinh Chaudhary has accused the state government of acting with malicious intention and not taking any action. ‘‘The state government is interested only in projecting the RSS and VHP. The government is paralysed and is suppressing information,’’ he alleged.But the RSS is not impressed.

Senior leader H.V. Seshadri has demanded that ‘‘only honest officials’’ be posted at relief work projects. RSS workers, to their credit, spread out immediately after the quake and were seen actively helping in rescue and relief measures. The Congress too had put up stalls for distributing food and medicines.

While parties make allegations and counter-allegations, there’s no doubt that how the quake is handled will be a key factor in deciding the fate of major political parties when they go to the voters.