Nitin Gadkari's 'criminals change for good in BJP' comment reminds of past controversy
Last month, there was a news report that till further instructions from the national party leadership, no turncoat would be able to join the Uttar Pradesh unit of the BJP. The decision apparently was taken after leaders from different parties started approaching BJP leaders and office-bearers with requests for inductions.
But this decision was specific to UP. On April 18 in Delhi, Arvinder Singh Lovely, former Delhi Congress chief, joined the BJP.
The BJP is a cadre-based party. And its cadres resent the fact that such turncoats are given tickets, made ministers or given prominent positions. Their obvious question is — why did the party neglect its own cadres and go for outsiders?
As rumours are rife that former Maharashtra chief minister and Congressman Narayan Rane may join the BJP, Union minister Nitin Gadkari have been advocating the induction of new leaders (read turncoats) and said the BJP's doors are open to leaders of other parties.
Advocating the need to induct people from the Congress and the NCP for increasing the party's base, he said that BJP's "Midas touch" can transform people, even of criminal background.
Speaking at the Maharashtra state executive meeting in Pimpri-Chinchwad, Gadkari said the BJP can't bring a new vote bank like Alibaba's treasure and it has to eat into the Congress and the NCP votes. He said that "the BJP always faces criticism for admitting criminals into the party. If criminals enter the party, we lessen their faults and increase their merits… In our party, criminals change for good, in the same way in which Valya, a robber, turned into Valmiki".
"Hate the sin and not the sinner" is a precept which, though easy enough to understand, is rarely practiced. It seems Union minister Nitin Gadkari, too, is suggesting a similar principle and painting the ruling BJP as a reform house.
This reminds me of a controversy that the BJP faced in 2012, after inducting sacked BSP leader Babu Singh Kushwaha, who had allegedly played a crucial role in the Rs 10,000-crore National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) scam in Uttar Pradesh. Just a few days before bringing him into the party fold, Kushwaha was accused of being a partner in the BSP chief's "crimes".
The then BJP state chief, Surya Pratap Shahi, who got Kushwaha into the party, had said: “We will defend our decision to induct him. Well, it is quite evident that the CBI was guided by the central government and that is why it was selectively targeting people.”
BJP spokesperson Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi too had justified Kushwaha's inclusion in the party, saying that "even a dirty drain becomes holy after meeting the Ganga [BJP]".
Rajasthan Governor Kalyan Singh, who was then a patron of the Jan Kranti Party, had alleged a "financial deal" behind inclusion of Babu Singh Kushwaha in the BJP.
Even veteran BJP leader LK Advani wasn't happy over the induction of Kushwaha. An apparently embarrassed BJP first said it will not give a ticket to Kushwaha. Fearing rebellion from key campaigner in the 2012 UP assembly elections, Uma Bharti and MP Yogi Adityanath, the BJP leaders later put his membership on hold.
Incidentally, that induction too had happened under the patronage of Gadkari, who was then the national president of the BJP. In 2012, the "holy waters" of the BJP failed to purify Babu Singh Kushwaha despite him taking a dip into it. It will be interesting to see which Valya robber joins the BJP now, and how the party turns him into a Valmiki.
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