The Bharatiya Janata Party’s attempt to downplay the legacy of Congress leaders of the past and present has met with resistance from its own ally, the Shiv Sena. The party, which shares an uneasy relationship with the BJP, has claimed that it would be unwise to discount the contribution made by Congress leaders like former Prime Ministers Manmohan Singh, P V Narasimha Rao, Rajiv Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru to the country’s economic growth. “While it is true that (Narendra) Modi is immensely popular, Rao and Manmohan laid the foundation of India’s economic development. They opened the doors and windows of the country to invite other nations and opened up India’s economy. How can we forget this,” said an editorial in the Shiv Sena mouthpiece Saamana. [related-post] It also said even if Rao and Manmohan were not so popular, their contribution could not be ignored. “At a time when the economy was in a bad shape, both these prime ministers gave a direction to the country’s economy,” said the editorial. It pointed out that Nehru, Indira Gandhi and Rajiv too were famous abroad. “Doordarshan started telecasting its programmes pan-India since 1982. It was on August 15, 1982 that Indira Gandhi’s Independence Day address to the nation was first telecast on DD in colour,” the Saamana piece said. “Later, it was Rajiv Gandhi who ushered in an era of computers and ensured that every village had phone and STD booths. He and his advisor Sam Pitroda are known as the architects of Indian telecommunication sector.” “Nehru was immensely popular abroad. There still are people in Russia and America who sing praises of Nehru’s persona. They were popular at a time when there was no media or social media,” it said. Sena’s comment comes in the backdrop of BJP’s jubilation over the outcome of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s latest trip to the US and the Congress’s attack on him over his remarks about corruption in India while on foreign soil. Ever since the dramatic electoral performances of the BJP at the Centre and in the state last year, the Sena has been forced to play second fiddle to the BJP. It’s a role reversal of sorts for the Sena as it had earlier played a dominant role in the three-decade-old alliance. With the elections to the cash-rich Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, which has a budget of Rs 20,000 crore, just around the corner, the Sena is trying to step out of the BJP’s shadow.
