<p>The Narendra Modi government in its second term is facing a mammoth challenge -- Covid-19 -- a health crisis that has the potential to turn into a political crisis for the BJP as the vertical spread of cases and massive number of casualties fuel anger against the government.<br /><br />This is the third major issue, which has put the government into a tight spot ever since it came to power for the first time in 2014, and it is the biggest of all. 2015 saw massive protests against Modi government's first reform legislation - the new land acquisition Bill, which it had to finally withdraw and the Agriculture Reform laws of last year, still being protested and had cost the party an ally -- Shiromani Akali Dal -- and possibly, also a chance to win the Punjab elections.<br /><br />"Covid-19 is a much bigger challenge than the previous ones. BJP is in power and so it just cannot blame anybody else. The mismanagement of the Covid-19 has taken the sheen away from Modi's good governance image to a great extent. Managing this politically is a big challenge for BJP. Apart from all other reasons, Covid-19 cannot be discounted as a factor in West Bengal polls that BJP lost," says political analyst Rasheed Kidwai.</p>.<p><strong>Read | <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/national/vaccination-strategy-equitable-overzealous-judicial-intervention-to-have-consequences-centre-to-sc-984414.html">Vaccination strategy equitable, 'overzealous' judicial intervention to have consequences: Centre to SC</a></strong></p>.<p>The bad press, coupled with repeated adverse remarks on the government's functioning related to Covid-19 by the courts, and angry reactions of people in cities and villages alike, have triggered a discomfort within the party, which has 300 MPs out of 536 MPs in the Lok Sabha. "The more the merrier" logic simply does not work here as with the exponential rise in the number of coronavirus cases, all public representatives are inundated with calls and requests for a bed, life saving drugs or oxygen, and most of the times the requests are not fulfilled as the demand is too high.<br /><br />"Yes there is definitely a challenge and it is an unanticipated one. There is definitely a poblem. Panic of people is a bigger problem. It's a tough time. My phone keeps ringing. I receive more than 200 to 300 calls a day," said former Union Minister Rajiv Pratap Rudy, who is a Lok Sabha MP from Saran in Bihar.<br /><br />Rudy was in news recently after former Madhepura MP and Jan Adhikar Party leader Pappu Yadav swooped on a place where over two dozen ambulances purchased from Rudy's MPLAD fund were parked. Yadav slammed the BJP leader for keeping the ambulances parked when there was a dearth for the same among needy people. After a war or words between the two, Yadav now faces a police case.<br /><br />While Rudy dismisses the political fallout of the pandemic for BJP, the problem for BJP in Bihar is that it is the main party in alliance headed by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar from JDU and hence, cannot pass the buck from the Centre to the state government. "Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has succeeded in creating the infrastructure for roads and electricity. I believe he will now give priority to health and education," is the hope of Rudy, who feels "we will have to do a lot in Bihar."<br /><br />Another BJP MP in Jharkhand, whom DH spoke to, also conceded the challenge that the pandemic has posed before Parliamentarians but hoped there is still time for Lok Sabha elections and feels things are improving. "We are doing all that we could." He also chose to pass the blame to the JMM-led state government for the sorry state of affairs.<br /><br />Meanwhile, acknowledging the "dreadful challenge" of Covid-19 before the nation, RSS on April 24 asked its Swayamsevaks to get involved in removing all sorts of deficiencies and act promptly to resolve people's problems. Its general secretary Dattatreya Hosabale appealed for creating awareness about wearing masks, maintaining hygiene and physical distance, taking ayurvedic Kadha, inhale steam and create a massive public awareness about vaccination.</p>.<p>Possibly for the first time, RSS got involved in health awareness drives on such a large scale in the last few decades. He noted that due to the sudden worsening situation of the pandemic, people are facing the shortage of beds, oxygen and necessary medicines.</p>.<p><br />The pressure is on the public representatives of the BJP all the more as they are the ruling party in the Centre as well as in most states and people have high expectations from them. Besides, the kind of active role the BJP was found playing during the first wave of the pandemic last year, was not seen this time.<br /><br />On the other side, the resentment resonating in BJP backyard in the party-ruled UP, which has 80 Lok Sabha seats and which goes to state polls next year, came to fore recently in multiple incidents.</p>.<p>Union Minister Santosh Gangwar, a senior leader with deep RSS background wrote to UP CM Yogi Adityanath complaining that officials do not take calls, cited shortage of oxygen cylinders and blackmarketing of medical equipment.</p>.<p>BJP MLA Lokendra Pratap Singh's letter to the CM highlighted that dire oxygen shortage has claimed many lives in the region that he represents in the House, while another MLA<br />Ramgopal Lodhi uploaded a video on social media complaining that his coronavirus positive wife was not admitted to an Agra hospital for over three hours and wondered what a common man would face if an MLA's wife is unable to get proper care.</p>.<p>BJP leader and Rajya Sabha MP Dr Subramanian Swamy last Friday suggested that in view of the situation arising from coronavirus pandemic, top six of the eight floors in the party office building in Delhi be converted into a hospital. "We now face a war-like situation on three fronts - Economy, China, coronavirus pandemic," he tweeted on Sunday.<br /><br />Earlier, a senior RSS functionary and its former publicity in-charge of Delhi, Rajiv Tuli's tweet questioning BJP Delhi unit's role in helping people in the capital, created a furore after which RSS stepped in to douse the fire, calling Tuli's remarks as his personal views.<br /><br />BJP, having failed to make it big in West Bengal and receding further in Tamil Nadu and Kerala in 2021 polls, concerns continue to mount up as big state elections, including Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Gujarat, are going to ve held in 2022, which will be kind of a semi-final for 2024 general elections.</p>.<p>Since pandemics and politics just do not go well together, BJP has its fingers crossed.</p>
<p>The Narendra Modi government in its second term is facing a mammoth challenge -- Covid-19 -- a health crisis that has the potential to turn into a political crisis for the BJP as the vertical spread of cases and massive number of casualties fuel anger against the government.<br /><br />This is the third major issue, which has put the government into a tight spot ever since it came to power for the first time in 2014, and it is the biggest of all. 2015 saw massive protests against Modi government's first reform legislation - the new land acquisition Bill, which it had to finally withdraw and the Agriculture Reform laws of last year, still being protested and had cost the party an ally -- Shiromani Akali Dal -- and possibly, also a chance to win the Punjab elections.<br /><br />"Covid-19 is a much bigger challenge than the previous ones. BJP is in power and so it just cannot blame anybody else. The mismanagement of the Covid-19 has taken the sheen away from Modi's good governance image to a great extent. Managing this politically is a big challenge for BJP. Apart from all other reasons, Covid-19 cannot be discounted as a factor in West Bengal polls that BJP lost," says political analyst Rasheed Kidwai.</p>.<p><strong>Read | <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/national/vaccination-strategy-equitable-overzealous-judicial-intervention-to-have-consequences-centre-to-sc-984414.html">Vaccination strategy equitable, 'overzealous' judicial intervention to have consequences: Centre to SC</a></strong></p>.<p>The bad press, coupled with repeated adverse remarks on the government's functioning related to Covid-19 by the courts, and angry reactions of people in cities and villages alike, have triggered a discomfort within the party, which has 300 MPs out of 536 MPs in the Lok Sabha. "The more the merrier" logic simply does not work here as with the exponential rise in the number of coronavirus cases, all public representatives are inundated with calls and requests for a bed, life saving drugs or oxygen, and most of the times the requests are not fulfilled as the demand is too high.<br /><br />"Yes there is definitely a challenge and it is an unanticipated one. There is definitely a poblem. Panic of people is a bigger problem. It's a tough time. My phone keeps ringing. I receive more than 200 to 300 calls a day," said former Union Minister Rajiv Pratap Rudy, who is a Lok Sabha MP from Saran in Bihar.<br /><br />Rudy was in news recently after former Madhepura MP and Jan Adhikar Party leader Pappu Yadav swooped on a place where over two dozen ambulances purchased from Rudy's MPLAD fund were parked. Yadav slammed the BJP leader for keeping the ambulances parked when there was a dearth for the same among needy people. After a war or words between the two, Yadav now faces a police case.<br /><br />While Rudy dismisses the political fallout of the pandemic for BJP, the problem for BJP in Bihar is that it is the main party in alliance headed by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar from JDU and hence, cannot pass the buck from the Centre to the state government. "Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has succeeded in creating the infrastructure for roads and electricity. I believe he will now give priority to health and education," is the hope of Rudy, who feels "we will have to do a lot in Bihar."<br /><br />Another BJP MP in Jharkhand, whom DH spoke to, also conceded the challenge that the pandemic has posed before Parliamentarians but hoped there is still time for Lok Sabha elections and feels things are improving. "We are doing all that we could." He also chose to pass the blame to the JMM-led state government for the sorry state of affairs.<br /><br />Meanwhile, acknowledging the "dreadful challenge" of Covid-19 before the nation, RSS on April 24 asked its Swayamsevaks to get involved in removing all sorts of deficiencies and act promptly to resolve people's problems. Its general secretary Dattatreya Hosabale appealed for creating awareness about wearing masks, maintaining hygiene and physical distance, taking ayurvedic Kadha, inhale steam and create a massive public awareness about vaccination.</p>.<p>Possibly for the first time, RSS got involved in health awareness drives on such a large scale in the last few decades. He noted that due to the sudden worsening situation of the pandemic, people are facing the shortage of beds, oxygen and necessary medicines.</p>.<p><br />The pressure is on the public representatives of the BJP all the more as they are the ruling party in the Centre as well as in most states and people have high expectations from them. Besides, the kind of active role the BJP was found playing during the first wave of the pandemic last year, was not seen this time.<br /><br />On the other side, the resentment resonating in BJP backyard in the party-ruled UP, which has 80 Lok Sabha seats and which goes to state polls next year, came to fore recently in multiple incidents.</p>.<p>Union Minister Santosh Gangwar, a senior leader with deep RSS background wrote to UP CM Yogi Adityanath complaining that officials do not take calls, cited shortage of oxygen cylinders and blackmarketing of medical equipment.</p>.<p>BJP MLA Lokendra Pratap Singh's letter to the CM highlighted that dire oxygen shortage has claimed many lives in the region that he represents in the House, while another MLA<br />Ramgopal Lodhi uploaded a video on social media complaining that his coronavirus positive wife was not admitted to an Agra hospital for over three hours and wondered what a common man would face if an MLA's wife is unable to get proper care.</p>.<p>BJP leader and Rajya Sabha MP Dr Subramanian Swamy last Friday suggested that in view of the situation arising from coronavirus pandemic, top six of the eight floors in the party office building in Delhi be converted into a hospital. "We now face a war-like situation on three fronts - Economy, China, coronavirus pandemic," he tweeted on Sunday.<br /><br />Earlier, a senior RSS functionary and its former publicity in-charge of Delhi, Rajiv Tuli's tweet questioning BJP Delhi unit's role in helping people in the capital, created a furore after which RSS stepped in to douse the fire, calling Tuli's remarks as his personal views.<br /><br />BJP, having failed to make it big in West Bengal and receding further in Tamil Nadu and Kerala in 2021 polls, concerns continue to mount up as big state elections, including Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Gujarat, are going to ve held in 2022, which will be kind of a semi-final for 2024 general elections.</p>.<p>Since pandemics and politics just do not go well together, BJP has its fingers crossed.</p>
