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Tanveer Jafri: Amitabh in Political Spiral

Amitabh in Political Spiral

By Tanveer Jafri

A mitabh Bachchan, the most popular Indian cine artist was again in the headlines of media. The discussion around him was whether he is a farmer in India or not. He had got some documents that gave proof of his being an Indian farmer. These documents were prepared at the time when his well wishers were in the government of Uttar Pradesh, the largest state in India. Because of his so said proof of being a farmer, Amitabh has taken a piece of precious land on lease for a farm house in Pune. According to Indian law, only that person can use the land as a farm house, who is an established farmer. For this reason, Amitabh Bachchan was got issued a certificate by the government of Uttar Pradesh. According to that he was shown the owner of some cultivable land in the district Barabanki of Uttar Pradesh.

Now the government has changed in Uttar Pradesh. The Samajwadi Party, the well wisher party of Amitabh Bachchan, has lost to Bahujan Samaj Party. The present ruling party, the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) is getting enquiry done in many decisions, seemed irregular, & taken by or during the previous Samajwadi Party government. The certificate given to Amitabh Bachchan for being a farmer is being considered a doubtful decision of such kind. The stay order given by Lucknow bench of Allahabad High Court in this issue, has given Amitabh a relief to some extent, but undoubtedly the so said certificate of being a farmer has not only again thrown him in a controversy but there have come some worries in between his adorers also.

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When in 1987, Amitabh being a member of the parliament as a member from the Congress Party submitted his resignation; he had broken his bond with the active politics. He knew better whether his decision was wrong or right. But even 15 years after of this resignation, he used to say that he would not associate himself with politics. He said that he didn't know politics & he didn't find himself fit for politics. But during the last five or seven years, there was seen his inclination towards a regional party, The Samajwadi Party. It is one Mr. Amar Singh, who played an important role for this inclination & for associating Amitabh & his family to politics. Amar Singh left no stone unturned to bring Amitabh & his family in favour of Samajwadi Party. Some people said that Amar Singh paid a visit to Amitabh's house every morning. He tried to take part in his every personal & public function. Amitabh, who belonged to a noble family, gave regards to Amar Singh in return of his love to him & never felt nerves in keeping him with him.

It was the so said political good wishes of Amar Singh towards Bachchan family that Jaya Bachchan was got elected twice for the Rajya Sabha from Uttar Pradesh. The Samajwadi Party made it an issue of prestige to get her elected for Rajya Sabha. Jaya Bachchan was given all the facilities equal to as given to a minister in Uttar Pradesh by giving her an office equal to a minister. Amitabh & his son Abhishek Bachchan were given honourable prizes in Uttar Pradesh. Obviously it had only one objective & that was that fans of Amitabh Bachchan might keep in mind that Amitabh Bahchan & the Samajwadi Party are one & the same. In that way they wanted to attract the votes of the adorers of Amitabh Bachchan in favour of the Samajwadi Party. Not only this, before the last assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, a controversial advertisement was displayed on many TV channels by the Samajwadi Party in which there was a lot of praise of the Samajwadi Party of Uttar Pradesh by Amitabh Bachchan. This advertisement became too much controversial & it was strongly criticized in the media.

All these weapons of Samajwadi Party couldn't help it to win the power in Uttar Pradesh. Now, the Bahujan Samaj Party which defeated Samajwadi Party is looking into the affairs of its opponents where there were possibilities of irregularities. Making farmer to Amitabh Bachchan also seems one of the irregularities to BSP. What do these incidents compel us to think? Was the resignation of Amitabh Bachchan from the membership of Lok Sabha in 1985 was a right decision? Was this decision of 1987 his own or it was from the advice of then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi who was pained to be involved in the corruption case of Bofors Case? Was it necessary to delink Bachchan himself from Congress after resigning from the Lok Sabha? What were the circumstances that didn't let Congress make him its candidate again from Allahabad by-election in 1987? Who are the people, who want to deepen the ditch between Amitabh Bachchan & Congress especially Nehru-Gandhi family? Some clever people who appear to be well wishers of Amitabh are his well wishers in reality or hypocrite who want to harm his popularity? There is also a very important question. If Amitabh Bachchan had delinked himself from the Congress Party & he didn't consider himself fit for the politics, then what was the reason to awaken the public in favour of the Samajwadi Party in current assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh?

Undoubtedly it is very difficult to be active in politics, in this period. It is more difficult for the person who is away from cunningness, falsehood, cleverness & is quite simple in his behaviour. Clearly Amitabh Bachchan is one of the few simple, good natured & noble persons. This high feeling of his forced him to enter the politics for the first time in 1985. To be remembered that this was the time when Smt. Indira Gandhi had been murdered. One of the sons of Smt. Indira Gandhi, Sanjay had died in an aero plane accident. Because of the prevailing circumstances, Rajiv Gandhi came forward to lead the country as a young Prime Minister but he was feeling himself quite alone because of the untimely death of his mother. At that time, Amitabh Bachchan who had well established himself as an artist, left his most valuable film career & joined politics with the words- I have to give strength to Rajiv Gandhi. Congress couldn't assimilate a big personality as Amitabh. In other words the persons who were in the second line in Congress couldn't tolerate his easy relations with the Gandhi family. Whatever the reason may be, the result was that Amitabh couldn't bear the agony for the long time, because of his active part in the politics. Feeling it he said 'Good Bye' to politics in 1987 saying that it was not his profession.

Now why has he to bear once again, after two decades, a bite from the politics? Who stands responsible for his diminishing popularity & making him indulge in a spiral of controversies? Will these new friends of Amitabh also be helpful to him at the time when his popularity graph is falling? Perhaps, never. The controversy due to a small piece of land has again put him in a spiral with a sting from politics.

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(About the Author)
Author Tanveer Jafri is a columnist based in India.He is related with hundreds of most popular daily news papers/portals in India and abroad. Jafri, Almost writes in the field of communal harmony, world peace, anti communalism, anti terrorism, national integration, national & international politics etc.He is a devoted social activist for world peace, unity, integrity & global brotherhood. Tanveer Jafri is also a member of Haryana Sahitya Academy & Haryana Urdu Academy (state govt. bodies in India). Thousands articles of the author have been published in different newspapers, websites & newsportals throughout the world. He is also a receipent of so many awards in the field of Communal Harmony & other social activities.
(Email : tanveerjafriamb @ gmail.com )

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