Untouchable Sabir Ali
During election season, it is quite common for politicians to change their old party and join a new political party seeing their own prospect and the prospect of the party. This also gives an indicator which party has caught the imagination of the people. Many stalwarts either refused to contest the election on Congress ticket or abandoned it and joined BJP to contest 2014 election seeing the poor prospect of Congress in this election because of very poor track record of last ten years. They had no say in the governance or could not raise their voice as the Congress culture does not allow any party worker to raise dissent, only members of Gandhi family have say. Even the Prime Minister had no say in governance though he was the constitutional head of Government.
Many political leaders who have been spitting venom against BJP or its Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi since 2002 riots. He was called by various names in the last decade. Ram Kripal Yadav, General Secretary and right hand man of Lalu Prasad abused Modi for the riots. He was unhappy with Lalu Prasad for denying him ticket from Patliputra and joined BJP.He was welcomed by BJP and is contesting election on BJP ticket. Ram Vilash Paswan was the Minister in NDA government but resigned from it on 2002 riots in Godhara. He continuously abused Modi but BJP extended both arms and struck an alliance with his LJP and conceded 7 seats to him. There was no murmur against him. Satoal Maharaj from Uttarakhand was admitted in BJP and is contesting election on BJP ticket. One time chief Minister of U.P. fame Pal resigned from Congress and is a BJP candidate from U.P.
However, when Sabir Ali was denied Rajya Sabha nomination by JDU and was asked to contest from Sheohar in Bihar, Sabir Ali felt uncomfortable and started planning to leave Nitish Kumar and ride on Modi wave. The speculation came right and he was admitted in BJP fold on a day when BJP President was in Lucknow and other important leaders were out of Delhi. Sabir Ali was welcomed by Shudhansu Trivedi, a close confident of Sri Raj Nath Singh,in Party`s fold. Immediately, Sri Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, Vice President and a Muslim face of BJP tweeted against the admission of Sabir Ali in BJP by issuing scathing remarks against Sabir Ali that terrorist of Indian Muzahdeen Bhatkal was arrested from Sabir Ali`s residence and that next is Dawood who would be admitted in the party. Such a strong statement of Naqvi created ripples in BJP. Naqvi was supported by Rameshwar Chaurasia and Katiyar. RSS also took objection to his admission. Many BJP supporters on Twitter expressed strong reservation, I also expressed my doubts on his admission. Sabir Ali was a strong JDU face on TV channels firing against BJP and Narendra Modi. His comments against Modi used to be frightening, Modi was painted by Sabir Ali as a master mind behind 2002 riots. No doubt, it used to be very annoying for the fans of Modi, I was one of them.
All TV channels were so much abuzz with this one news item that they almost forgot to show the face of their darling Kejriwal. So much pressure was mounted on BJP was it became clear that Said Ali is also going to meet the fate of Pramod Muthalik who had become face of moral policing in Karnataka. Ultimately, Sabir Ali`s admission was annulled by the BJP President despite the clarification of Sabir Ali denying emphatically the charges of Naqvi that Bhatkal was never arrested from his residence and that he had no connection what so ever with Bhatkal.Sabir Ali has now sued Naqvi for defaming him without any foundation and has claimed Rs.5 Cr. as compensation.
All the aforesaid apart, I am thinking aloud whether it is beneficial for BJP to drain out this opportunity. No doubt, he was a rabid face against Modi and used to abuse him profusely in all TV discussion but was he admitted in the party without the consent of top brass of the party. Was the President not consulted or other top leaders not taken into confidence before his admission? I am not prepared to believe it. The entire think tank of BJP must had midnight oil burnt to ponder over the pros and cons of admission of such a sworn enemy of Modi. To my mind, Sabir Ali was a big catch for Modi and BJP and was more than willing to be an ardent follower of Modi. At least, one enemy was won and had become a follower. He could have been a weapon in the hands of Modi to beat a bigger enemy Nitish Kumar in Bihar. Narendra Bhai and BJP are trying hard to change the mind set of minority and draw them closer, was Sabir Ali not an amonition in their hands to win over a few percentage of Muslim votes.
To my mind, an opportunity has been squandered under pressure from a couple of leaders. Lot of efforts made before his admission has been drained out. A big catch has slipped between the fingers. BJP must think aloud.
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AKS has hit the nail. However I don’t agree with him. One should have never a bad friend. It is better to loose than have a bad friend.
Sir !Article is well written with all the facts.But I can not digest Sabir Ali venomous statements against Modi nd BJP .Some feelings don’t leave you and words are permanent scars.
Well AK Sir is mature and his views may be correct .Well.Time will tell.
Rumour mills are in over-drive. One theory that gained ground over the weekend is that, it is Zafar Sareshwala- a Ahmedabad based Muslim businessman (who also arranged Shahid Siddiqui interview with Modi) who choreographed Sabir Ali’s induction in BJP. Because, Zafar is considered very close to Modi, ‘Club160’ grabbed this opportunity to malign Zafar and in turn hit Modi.
I am reminded of your last week’s post “The Enemy Within”. It is rightly said that there are no permanent friends or foes in politics. Only thing permanent is ‘Self-Interest’!
It Is problem with Bjp It cannot face direct criticism from Public Sabir Ali might proved useful in Bihar against Nitish but due to stigma of his Association with Bhatkal brought criticism and BJP could not face and Ali was shown door which may result some lose to BJP in Bihar but in this regard congress seems to be >much bold and go to any extent to get gain in election .Cocgress is saving Mr.Imran Masood inspite of his open hatred remarks against Modi.
Well captured sir. However Sabir Ali is not a Big Muslim leader. Heard of him only during recent times. He ran away after being given a Lok Sabha ticket talks of his mass base. So BJP nothing to lose. Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi has been there for long and needed to be placated. However I agree that everybody would have cleared his admission for sure. Only later after these accusations were made they backtracked.
What to say on this…..I prefer not to comment on this issue…Anyways Thank you for sharing this article….BJP needs to concentrate on the core issues like discussing about people’s future and of course Nation’s future rather than getting involved in stupidity…This issue proves that there is no co-ordination and teamwork at all…..BJP needs to grow up…..
At times it becomes political necessity for Political Parties, particularly at the time of elections to welcome dihard critics in party fold.This was the main focus of the author and he has nicely expressed his views.my only disagreement is that Sabir Ali’s case was associated with his supprt to some terrorist, other cases were not and that was the reason why BJP chickened out backtracked. I think BJP has nothing to lose in this case
Thanks
A k SRIVASTAVA