‘Shocking Numbers For The BJP’


‘The
politics
of
divisiveness
won’t
work.’
‘The

janta

is
too
clever
not
to
see
through
it.’

IMAGE:
Trinamool
Congress
supremo
Mamata
Banerjee
and
Shatrughan
Sinha,
the
TMC
candidate
from
the
Asanol
Lok
Sabha
seat.

Photograph:
ANI
Photo

Shatrughan
Sinha
won
the
Asansol
seat
in
West
Bengal
by
63,000
votes
defeating
the
Bharatiya
Janata
Party’s
Surinderjeet
Singh
Ahluwalia.

“I
am
elated.
I
am
also
sad
to
see
the
shocking
numbers
for
the
BJP.
Subhash,
it
is
the
triumph
of
honesty
over
dishonesty,”
Sinha
tells

Subhash
K
Jha
.

Yeh
sachchai
kee
jeet
hai
.
We
have
a
tradition
in
cinema
of
truth
conquering
lies.
That
applies
to
life
and
politics.”

Did
he
expect
to
win
by
such
a
margin
against
the
veteran
BJP
MP?
“The
margin
of
victory
did
surprise
and
reassure
me.
I
am
elated,
relieved,
thankful
to
God
for
allowing
me
to
remain
politically
relevant
after
so
many
years,”
declaims
Sinha
in
the
style
we
have
known
for
close
to
50
years
from
his
roles
in
Hindi
cinema.

“I
want
to
thank
Miss
Mamata
Banerjee
for
her
faith
in
me.”

IMAGE:
Shatrughan
Sinha
shows
his
ink-marked
finger
after
casting
his
vote.

Photograph:
ANI
Photo

About
the
jibes
over
being
an
‘outsider’
in
Bengal,
the
irrepressible
movie
legend
quips,
“The
last
time
I
checked
the
map,
West
Bengal
was
very
much
part
of
India.
If
I
am
Bengal’s
Babu
Moshai
now,
I
am
also
a
Bihari
Babu
at
heart
and
will
remain
one.”

“We
politicians
must
stop
playing
this
game
of
divisive
politics.
There
is
no
‘insider’
and
‘outsider’
in
politics.
It’s
just
good
and
bad
administration.”

“Again
I
will
draw
a
parallel
with
cinema:
There
is
Good
Cinema
and
Bad
Cinema.
Good
Cinema
works.
By
voting
in
such
massive
numbers
for
me
the
people
of
Asansol
have
clearly
proved
their
mandate
is
for
good
clean
governance.”

With
the
BJP’s
expected
landslide
proving
to
be
a
pie
in
the
sky
in
the
current
Lok
Sabha
elections,
Shatrughan
Sinha
is
not
happy.

“I
cannot
gloat
over
this.
I
was
a
proud
member
of
the
party
until
I
could
see
things
going
drastically
wrong
in
the
workings
and
the
targets
of
the
party.
It
is
sad
for
me
to
see
the
Bharatiya
Janata
Party
being
forced
to
climb
down
from
its
high
horse
to
confront
reality,”
Sinha
who
won
the
2014
election
from
Patna
Saheb
as
a
BJP
candidate,
but
soon
parted
ways
with
the
party
in
the
Modi-Shah
era.

“The
politics
of
divisiveness
won’t
work.
The

janta

is
too
clever
not
to
see
through
it.
The
time
for
complacency
is
over
for
the
BJP.”


Feature
Presentation:
Rajesh
Alva/Rediff.com