The Last Battle of Saraighat – An insightful, informative and a fascinating account of how the BJP started making inroads in North East states

A few months back, journalist cum author, Prashant Jha came up with his book “How the BJP Wins” where in the chapter “Beyond the heartland” in his book, Prashant highlighted how the BJP was able to move beyond its identity of “North Indian Party”, “Upper Caste Party”,etc. and was able to create inroads in areas beyond its core areas of strength. In the same chapter, Prashant also highlighted about the birth of new poll strategists for BJP who are now proving very invaluable for BJP – Rajat Sethi & Shubhrastha duo. “The Last Battle of Saraighat” is the debut book of Rajat Sethi - Shubhrastha duo who played a great role in crafting election strategies for BJP in the recent past. As the cover of the book indicates, the book is about The Rise of BJP to power in the North East states of India. Legendary Chinese war strategiest Sun Tzu famously said “If You know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of hundred battles” and “The General who wins the battle makes many calculations in his temple before the battle is fought” and the way the BJP led NDA rose to power in Assam elections 2016 and subsequently in many states in North East is an epitome of the same and The Last Battle of Saraighat is a detailed insider account of the same.

The book is divided into 7 Chapters (a fabulous Introduction by the authors duo and 6 insightful chapters to be precise). The authors begin the introduction in style by invoking the iconic 1671’s Battle of Saraighat where the Ahoms defeated the invading Mughals. As Rajat tweeted a few days back, this historical battle captures the essence of politics of Assam in an unique way which you can realise as you read through the pages of the book. In the 1^st Chapter of the book, the authors takes you through the political history of Assam through the decades and the various issues that arose because of it. Assam has a history of various political blunders done by the ruling parties there in the past which had many repurcussions which were recounted during the campaign of 2016 Assembly polls in Assam.

In the 2^nd Chapter of the book, the author duo takes you through the issue of illegal migrants which was one of the burning issues in Assam, the rise of Assam movement, the rise and fall of AGP party, the birth of the party ULFA and the Tarun Gogoi era of 15 years as Assam CM, Maulana Badruddin Ajmal and the AIUDF party, emergence of Sarbanand Sonowal (current Assam CM) as Jatiyo Nayak and a brief introduction about Himanta Biswa Sarma (cabinet minister in Assam Govt and current convenor of North East Democratic Alliance). A month back, Himanta Biswa Sarma took twitter to storm by this viral tweet in response of a tweet by Congress VP, Rahul Gandhi. You can read in detail about that incident in this chapter.

The 3^rd Chapter of the book shows in detail on how the RSS has been creating inroads in Assam for nearly 5 decades and the results of the 2016 polls is a result of the long years of selfless hardwork and sacrifices by RSS karyakarthas which is now an inspiration to many RSS Karyakarthas especially in South India where the BJP is still trying to create a massive inroads. The authors began the chapter with an excellent quote from Bhagawath Gita which literally translates to “Lord Krishna asking Arjuna to surrender his work to the Lord and with his mind focussed on the Lord, fight the battle without any selfish desires”. I also came to know that the RSS conducted its first Shakha in Assam after reading this chapter.

The 4^th Chapter covers in detail about the pre-poll strategy followed by the BJP in their campaign to the Assam Assembly polls 2016, how they understood and studied the complex demographic maze of the Assam populations, the errors committed by the then ruling Congress party and how the BJP capitulated on those opportunities, the coming of rainbow alliances, use of Social Media as a tool,etc. Interestingly, the Assam elections were the 1^st type of elections where satires and caricatures were used to take digs at the opponents which was discussed in detail by the author duo here.

The 5th Chapter is about how the BJP fought during the different phases of the two phase bound Assam Assembly polls in 2016. You can find the relevance of the books’ title “The Last Battle of Saraighat” as you read through this chapter. Also you can read about Himanta Biswa Sarma’s meteoric rise in BJP in detail here. A twitter user from Assam, Mr. Raju Das tweeted in April 2016 about the goodwill enjoyed by Himanta Biswa Sarma in his home constituency Jalukbari in his brief tweet and I was able to read about the same in detail in this chapter.

The final chapter is titled “Elections and Indian Democracy” where the authors discuss in detail about the role of people in Indian democracy, the need to create connect with the local population by the political leaders, the road ahead for BJP w.r.t. North East states, increasing role of youth taking interests in politics and finally the role of many selfless volunteers and ground level workers which have a great impact in shaping the results of polls outcomes.

I wrote in my review for the book “ How the BJP Wins” that “Winning polls is very much as success in any endeavour where lots of hardwork, planning & careful execution of the same plays a good role”. It is relevant to this book “The Last Battle of Saraighat” too as reading this book makes you realise the above. The book is a reflection of the meticulous efforts and hardwork put in by the BJP workers and the authors who were the poll strategists for BJP in understanding the dynamics of the battle ground Assam and the way to conquer it and how they succeeded in it. Thanks Rajat – Shubhrastha for this insightful book and all the very best for your future endeavours too as poll strategists and as writers.

-      Srivatsan V

Deepavali with Fireworks

For quite some long time, i had seen many celebrities & pseudo liberals asking to celebrate Deepavali without crackers. Initially, the logic put forth was it was to stand up against Child Labour. Once that propaganda failed, they started citing environmental concerns with some dubious agenda too joining in their agenda.
Recently the SC has banned sale of Fireworks in Delhi till Nov 1 (notice the timing) & off recent the Chattisgarh govt has banned loud crackers in their state and Maharashtra govt is in talks to bring ban on fireworks in their state too. Do all these bans indeed make any sense?
If the concern is regarding environmental pollution, no, banning fireworks for those 2 days celebrations will hardly alter the situation. Statistically, the top polluted cities in India suffers a lot of pollution from dust pollution on unclean roads/poor infrastructure, pollution caused by various industries in various ways & finally vehicle pollution and if proper attention is given to tackling the same, you would be doing a greater help to the nature instead of banning fireworks for just 2 days. Regarding effects of loud crackers on old people, small kids, etc. Well, i have been always vocal and i still say - I don't agree with bursting too loud crackers in residential areas / roads which will put many to inconvenience but am okay with same being bursted in open/vacant spaces. Burstling harmless and light fireworks near residential spaces hardly does any harm/damage and i dont find any rationale in doing the same.
The bottom line i want to tell is ~ Issue guidelines of having a safe as well as a fun filled Diwali instead of bringing things like blanket ban on crackers. European or American countries don't go on a guilt trip for celebrating Christmas or New Year festivals with fireworks and we Indians too shouldn't go on a guilt trip for celebrating Diwali with fireworks. Ofcourse, for tackling pollution, pay attention on the issues which matters the most for a clean & better environment & implement practical steps towards the same.

Suggested reading:
1. History of Fireworks in India
2. Kiran Sir's blogpost on the same

How the BJP Wins - A Review

Recently I read the book “How the BJP Wins” by journalist cum author Prashant Jha. As the title suggests, the book is literally about how the BJP keeps winning elections back to back as you would have witnessed in the last few years and also been expanding into the territories where it didn’t have much existence in the past. As Ram Madhav has said in a chapter in this book “Elections are as much about management as politics. You have to understand your constituency well, you have to manage your resources, you need to know what to use where, you need to strategize, plan and execute it carefully.” The BJP – NDA Govt’s victories in various polls held during the last 3-4 years are a perfect example of that as well as it shows what boundless, unlimited ambition can achieve.

Apart from the introductory chapter, the book is divided into 7 different chapters starting with the Modi Hawa and the formation of a new govt at the centre which is distinct & unique in comparison as compared to its predecessors and how the Modi Hawa played the crucial role in BJP’s upcoming wins. Then the book moves on to Shah’s Sangathan which gives a good insight into Amit Shah school of election management. The Modi – Shah duo has completely changed the image of the BJP in terms of winning elections and also being a tough duo for the opposition to handle and all this comes after a lot of hardwork and playing the right cards. You will be completely exposed to the amount of sacrifice, hardwork and journeys Amit Shah undergone to make the present BJP an unbeatable force. The next two chapters focusses on the tools & technology uses to win the elections and how the ground efforts of RSS’s workers had proven to be crucial to winning elections for BJP. Also, it throws light on how the BJP is evolving to a more inclusive Hindutva party under Modi – Shah which appears in contrast to the ABV-Advani BJP we would have seen.

The chapter on “H-M” Chunav has useful insights (although I have read some contradictory news & views on the same. Hence, I am not commenting much on it). Then, the focus on the book is on how the BJP has expanded beyond its Heartland where it had not been in power before especially in J & K, North East states, etc. & how the tactics followed to win polls there differed with the tactics followed elsewhere. How Ram Madhav’s induction into BJP by RSS has proven to be invaluable for the BJP in expanding into newer territories. Also, this chapter throws light on the birth of new poll strategists for BJP who are now proving very invaluable – Rajat Sethi & Shubhrastha. Finally the book ends with the issues the BJP may face in future/ presently facing and things it may have to deal to stay in power. Prashant ends it perfectly with the words “Winning is easier than ruling. How the BJP uses the power it has acquired so successfully will determine whether PM Modi’s vision of a “New India” is fulfilled”.

Go and read this book to get a good insight on : How the BJP wins polls, How winning polls is very much as success in any endeavour where lots of hardwork, planning & careful execution of the same plays a good role, also on how the BJP is evolving at present politically as well as ideologically as compared to the BJP we saw decades ago. Thanks Prashant for this insightful book.

-      Srivatsan V

"India's Most Fearless" - A Review

After “Operation Jinnah”, this is Shiv Aroor’s 2^nd book (again in the background of Armed forces) and 1^st in non fiction category which he co-authored with another fellow journalist cum author Rahul Singh. As the name suggests, the book is about some of the most daring and fearless operations involving our armed forces (Army/Navy/Airforce all 3 included) and the authors made no mistake in choosing this title as no title would be so apt for a book with such awe inspiring experiences. The Indian armed forces always stood as an epitome of courage, selflessness, patriotism and nation above all philosophy and each of the 14 heroes whose stories the authors covered in this book are a best example to this. Beginning with the daring Surgical Strikes which the Special Forces did in PoK last year around this time to Wing Commander Gaurav Singh Chauhan, each of the chapter in the book was truly inspiring. The fearlessness, selflessness, strategic planning and careful execution of the same by the heroes of this book especially at the times of facing odds against them will surely never miss your attention. The authors have done a good deal of hardwork in bringing the stories(some of which you would most probably be hearing for the 1^st time) on India’s truly fearless as well as selfless souls to light via this book. Go and read it if you haven’t, worth your time and money. Thank you Shiv Aroor and Rahul Singh for this fabulous book as I really loved every chapter of it.