BJP's mock panchayat draws all the eyeballs

Donning gamchas, squatting on daris and blowing smoke from hookahs, BJP protested against the Home Minister's comment in true-blue panchayat style

Azad Maidan exuded every hue, colour and smell of Uttar Pradesh, with gamchha clad men seated on daris, the aroma of hookahs heavy in the air, and Bhojpuri tunes resonating across the ground yesterday.

No, this is not a stage where a nautanki was being enacted. Believe it or not, it was the site of a political protest, undertaken in the form of a mock maha panchayat.


Mumbai BJP president Raj Purohit (second from right) acted as the sarpanch along with other party activists for the mock maha panchayat at Azad Maidan yesterday

The protest was held by members of the BJP, objecting to the alleged discriminatory remarks made by home minister P Chidambaram against North Indians.

There was a congregation of nearly 200 people at the maha panchayat, which, through ostensibly a solemn political protest, had quite a festive appearance.

A 15 feet high hookah, placed at centre-stage, was the cynosure of all eyes. The BJP leaders took drags at pipes.
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Though the turnout was rather poor at the outset, crowds started flocking to the arena as soon as bhojpuri tunes started wafting in the air.

The politicians on the dais could have given any member of the Bollywood bandwagon a run for their money. None of the observers could tell that the hookahs that they dragged at with such ease and expertise were actually fake ones.

Giving stiff competition to the BJP protestors was a group of teachers, from the Forum for Fairness in Education.

Each protest was in a race to grab more public attention. If the BJP leaders raised the volumes of their loudspeakers to drown out the neighbouring protest, the teachers' bandwagon would not be left out either.
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Amity was restored when the BJP assured the teachers that they would show solidarity by sitting with them at the end of the rally.

The maha panchayat was no futile festival. It resulted in a resolution that read as follows: 'Chidambaram is a traitor and should be immediately sacked from his post of Home Minister and should be punished for his unconstitutional remarks.'

Raj Purohit, BJP president, who acted as the sarpanch for the mock maha panchayat, claimed that Chidambaram had opined that India would have been better without the North, while talking to an American consul.

"The Home Minister should mind what he says, especially to a foreign ambassador. However, he doesn't seem to know this simple rule. He went overboard in his dislike towards those from North India.
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This is unconstitutional. Such acts shouldn't be condoned. The Congress Party should itself have taken up this issue and demanded an apology from the Home Minister," said Purohit.

Also on their agenda was raising their voice against anti-migrant statements made by Subodh Kumar. But the problem was briskly resolved.

"Subodh Kumar clarified his stand, and hence we have decided not to take any action against him.

But Chidambaram has not exhibited the minimum courtesy to acknowledge that he was wrong in making such a statement," said Purohit.

The party will forward the decision of the panchayat to the Prime Minister, and ask him to take appropriate action on the issue.