Amit Shah in Haryana

It was just as well that the rasp of Amit Shah’s poll bugle at Jind on Thursday escaped greater scrutiny because the news-cycle was captured by the salacious Nirav Modi-Punjab National Bank scandal. The special requisitioning of 36 paramilitary companies, generous handouts to cadres and the abeyance of governance in Haryana for several days begs the question: why such a show of strength was staged? A prime ministerial visit could have justified the commandeering of the state’s resources, even though eyebrows should be raised on squandering of public money even in such cases. But does a party president merit such serenading, especially when state elections are not even on the horizon and the 2019 Lok Sabha polls are over a year away?

Nor was any fresh, stirring message declaimed from the stage to the sparse audience below. Most of the speeches were reruns of statements ordinarily bandied about by the state’s leaders. CM Khattar and his colleagues will doubtless be preening themselves over the warm words of praise left behind by Amit Shah. But was that out of ordinary? All party presidents prefer to praise the local leadership in public and reserve the reading of the riot act in private, as Amit Shah would doubtless have done when Khattar earlier was summoned to Delhi. 

As was expected, the Opposition termed the rally a flop show. There is a grain of truth in that charge, as testified by rows of empty chairs while the BJP president’s peroration was on. The price that the Haryana Government paid for peacefully staging the rally went beyond the tangibles: Khattar defused the threat of disruption with a hastily-hammered peace pact with the Jats — a dubious agreement that may not pass muster with the courts. The low energy levels of the lay public and even the cadres seem to indicate that the BJP’s best days are behind it. Micromanaged and elaborately planned events are passé and do not generate the fervour of the bygone days. The message is stark: 10\10 from Haryana in 2019 is unattainable unless the party and the Khattar government begin to address basic issues of livelihood and governance.