| Why BJP must keep off Siddhu from poll campaign? | |||
|
|
By: Ganesh Sovani December 30, 2006 Views expressed here are author’s own and not of this website. Full disclaimer is at the bottom. 
FeedbackThe author is Advocate at Bombay High Court The repeated assertion made by BJP’s spokesperson Sushama Swaraj of fielding in cricketer turned MP Navjot Singh Siddhu against the incumbent Punjab CM Amrinder Singh from Patiala assembly constituency and also making him as a ‘star campaigner’ for the assembly polls are quite baffling. Though BJP is trying to differentiate the conviction of Shibu Soren with that of Siddhu, in the end, what all that Siddhu did in the late eighties to Gurnam Singh is defined as a ’crime’ as per the law, no matter it was less grievous one when compared to all that Shibu Soren did to his PA. But ultimately, it cost the life of a human being. Until the Apex Court completely exonerates Siddhu, the tag of ‘convict’ attached to him won’t get erased. It is regrettable that party which has always stood for the values, morality and decency over the years and which has denounced the growing ‘criminalization politics’ is compelled to stand behind Siddhu, who may not be a criminal in that sense! Wonder, how the ‘Sangh Parivar’ is tolerating all this misdemeanor of a ‘party’ with a difference? If the BJP wants to utilize the ‘Siddhuism’ for assembly and / or Parliamentary polls in future, let him undergo three years rigorous imprisonment and then come out of the jail and then come into public life. A convict can not have any standing in the public life, no matter what kind of crime he was involved in. When it comes to babbling, Siddhu is in no way different from Uma Bharati. If pitted against Punjab CM and also given campaign responsibility, then ‘headstrong’ Siddhu would certainly become a liability to the party, as the audience would make a mockery of him, if he were to preach or talk about the morality, decency, equanimity, serenity, etc. in public life. Thankfully, BJP’s former MP is not averse with such kind of ‘double talk’, as he as a cricket analyst, over the years has always profoundly advised the perennially struggling Indian batsmen as to how to negotiate the quickies, when he himself was a terrific shirker against the likes of Sir Richard Hadlee, Marshall, Ambrose, Walsh, McDermott, Donald, Pollock, etc. and used to skip the even tours or matches on the ground of being unwell. Though he scored a century on India’s 1989 Caribbean tour, it included ‘four’ lives! BJP’s repeated insistence on Siddhu would ultimately backfire and it would ultimately land the party in soup, as it’s over all performance in the last two and half years is hardly noteworthy. Ganesh Sovani
Send your views to author Do you wish to reach our readers?
submit
your guest column |
Previous articles by: |