The BJP seems to be finally waking up to the call to arms by veteran leader Yashwant Sinha, who has spent the last two weeks in a jail in Hazaribagh, Jharkhand, in protest against the power crisis in the State.
Sinha has refused to furnish his bail bond and is lodged in judicial custody, which on Monday was extended for 12 more days.
Senior leader LK Advani is expected to visit Sinha in jail on Tuesday, a fortnight after the latter was remanded in judicial custody after a group of BJP workers he was leading allegedly assaulted a senior electricity board official.
According to BJP spokesperson Shahnawaz Hussein, Sinha is being “punished” for protesting against the power crisis. Hussain, along with party MP and general secretary Rajiv Pratap Rudy, are the only two central leaders to have visited Sinha in jail so far.
“If Sinhasaheb had not been there, the officer could have been injured. People are angry about the power crisis and the Government has not responded. The protestors with Sinhasaheb had surrounded the electricity board officer and the situation would have spiralled out of control if he had not intervened.
“But instead of heeding a senior leader who is expressing genuine demands of the people, the Government has resorted to oppressive methods and jailed him,” Hussain told Business Line .
The party has now begun to take note of Sinha’s agitation with the State unit planning a state-wide stir against dismal power situation, erratic water supply and poor law and order.
Power cuts, which are fairly routine in the State, have become a political issue with the elections scheduled by the end of this year. The local government has responded to a political demand with an apathy that seems typical of the State administration. State Energy Minister Rajendra Prasad Singh has declared that the situation will improve only after July while the BJP is planning demonstrations in front of the district headquarters in a phased manner.
Sinha’s politics of agitating has also led to speculations about him projecting himself as a chief ministerial candidate. Other names doing the rounds are Arjun Munda, CP Singh, Raghubar Das, Karia Munda and Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment Sudarshan Bhagat.
More than anything else, this agitation has helped Sinha stay somewhat relevant at a time when his claim has been ignored in Cabinet formation along with other veterans like Advani and Murali Manohar Joshi.
However, there are still possibilities in the Centre with vacancies coming up in the Planning Commission as well as an expected expansion of the Union Cabinet shortly.