Gandhi is a chatur baniya : Amitshah

Chatur Baniya:-

Anmit Shah's nuanced comment "chatur baniya" or may be a casual comment has provoked many and it is quite amusing to see that many Modi Bhakhts (Mob) also have become slightly uncomfortable with this comment. Considering Shah's operational style, one has to safely assume that It can not be a casual comment but has to be a nuanced comment. It is not even like the rhetoric often Modi uses in his meeting that he is a smart trader, someone who knows how to make best out of his political capital. But here, in this case, more than his comment, the negative connotation towards "Bania" becomes more important.

Once famously known as "Bania jati party", BJP now under present party dispensation has taken an interesting shift from its Delhi-centric Bania party tag. Bania now in Delhi is a Kejriwal force. BJP now has moved on to install Brahmin chief ministers across the states. An exception may be is Khattar, a Khatri by birth. Amit Shah knows that relying on a caste name, which is disliked across the upper Indian villages, especially by the poor and Dalits (Ambedkar termed Bania worse than a degenerated disease) who are traditionally a victim of their business practice is not going to bring more than their 29% vote share. Shah knows it very well that if the party wants to grow beyond its traditional bania- Brahmin vote bank, a mere 29%, it has to shift its focus from Bania- Brahmin to Dalit - Brahmin experiment, something in the past gave a very good dividend for Mayawati in UP. This derogative insinuation should be seen in that context. Chatur bania, pleases his anti-Gandhi-RSS brigade first and then Anti-Gandhi and anti- Bania, Brahmin vote bank next. Then it assumes to give out a political message to anti-Bania- Dalit vote bank. Also, he knows it very well that demonisation has had its impact on Bania's trade in this country and they are very angry about it. Further, he knows very well that after the implementation of GST, it is further going to alienate them from the party. So Shah wants to move on from the traditional Bania jati party tag for party's future and it is very well evident in this clearly articulated insinuation.

But unfortunately what he misses is India believes a Chatur bania Gandhi than a politically (mis) calculative Amit Shah. Even if he throws a million stones at Gandhi, even if they make a million statues taller than Gandhi's statue and make million derogatory comments about Gandhi, he will still stand taller than any political ideology you may propound in this country. With all his failures and fault lines in life and politics, for a Christian, he becomes a Christ, for Hindu he becomes Saint, for Buddist he becomes Buddha, for Muslims he becomes Ali and above all for a politician he becomes Chanakya. His Hinduism has never been the textbook Hinduism of Brahminical order. It is the Bhakti that breaks those orders is his Hinduism and most importantly it is completely ambiguous between faith and morality. In other words, people find their religious teachings of liberation in him and also a rational for their moral orthodoxy. He represents their collective complex faith and social morality and this is what Shah and his mentor RSS misses in this land of faith.

Let us wait and watch what this shift "Chatur Bania" brings in Indian politics. I feel sorry for proud Baniyas for this grand let down by the party they have built from scratch.