'Videshi dhan, videshi man, videshi bahu!'
R R Nair in New Delhi
'Videshi dhan, videshi man, videshi bahu!' (foreign money, foreign thinking, foreign daughter-in-law). That will be the Bharatiya Janata Party's slogan in coming weeks to counter Congress star Sonia Gandhi.
The ghost of 1989 -- when former prime minister Vishwanath Pratap Singh's campaign against the Congress on the Bofors gun deal snowballed into a personalised attack against Rajiv Gandhi -- will revisit the Congress. Or, at least, that is what the BJP plans to achieve with its slogan.
With Sonia invoking the Nehru family legacy to get votes for the Congress, her saffron opponents also plan to raise a name the masses recognise and revere -- Ram.
''It is not true the BJP has changed its strategy mid-way and is now banking on the Ram card,'' Sheshadri Chari, who edits the BJP weekly Organiser, told Rediff On The NeT. ''We knew Sonia would campaign for the Congress much before the party announced her tour programme. In Organiser's November 30 issue, we carried a cover story Ram Rajya and Rome Rajya.''
Even if the BJP had anticipated Sonia's entry into politics, it had definitely not reckoned with the response she has attracted.
Though the BJP's official response to Sonia's campaign is that 'the crowds need not translate into votes', party officials show signs of nervousness.
BJP general secretary M Venkaiah Naidu's statement this week -- asking the Congress and United Front to categorically state that they will not tie up after the election -- has triggered speculation that the party is unsure of forming the government.
The Left Front was the first to pick on Naidu's statement and point out a correlation between his demand and the BJP manifesto.
However, the BJP says the clarification has been sought in view of the ''deal that Sonia has made with Prime Minister Inder Kumar Gujral and former prime minister V P Singh.''
The BJP has arrived at the conclusion on the basis the statements made by the two leaders.
Gujral had stated that the UF would not make Bofors an election issue.
Similarly, V P Singh told the media that raking up the Bofors issue now would be like attacking his wife Sita after his death over the Mandal Commission report.
Representatives of the Sangh Parivar feels the deal is to let Gujral
stay on as prime minister if the Congress gets around 120 seats and keep out the BJP and its allies if they fall short of a simple majority.
''In return, Bofors will be consigned to the back-burner. Moreover, Congress members would be accommodated in the government,'' allege BJP leaders.
The Left alleged that the BJP has become nervous after Sonia began her campaign, forcing the saffron party to abandon its centrist tilt.
EARLIER COLUMN:
The Indian voter will choose Ram Rajya over Rome Rajya
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