People's Democracy

MANY had thought that our warnings through these columns were alarmist when we pointed out that the State-sponsored communal genocide in Gujarat was only the testing ground for the saffron brigade to universalise it all over the country. The developments during the last week only confirm the serious dangers of a fascist assault that seeks to destroy India's secular democratic fabric.

The elevation of a person accused in the conspiracy leading to the demolition of the Babri Masjid, the chief of the Bajrang Dal (the only historical parallel one can draw is the infamous Hitler's brown shirts) Vinay Katiyar as the Uttar Pradesh BJP chief is the forewarning of yet another Narendra Modi in the making. Soon it appears that we shall have such persons in each state.

Almost simultaneously, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad has reneged on its assurance of abiding by the court verdict on the Ayodhya dispute. The Sankaracharya of Kanchi Kamakoti has promptly jumped to the VHP's defence justifying their volte face due to the government's refusal to hand over the acquired land in Ayodhya. An insidious campaign that this was not done because of the opposition from the Babri Masjid action committee accompanies such double-speak. Nowhere is it even mentioned that it was the supreme court which restrained, and correctly so, the Vajpayee government from parting with any of the acquired land till the final disposal of the cases in the court. The reason for not taking cognisance of this simple fact reflects the saffron brigade's refusal to accept the authority of the judiciary and, thus, of the Indian constitution. Vinay Katiyar has gone one step further by stating that "Ram temple is very much there, although small, the issue is to build it massive". Such utter contempt for the law of the land can only mean greater dangers for the secular democratic Indian republic.

The VHP has mounted yet another tirade against the minorities accusing the Muslims that they are taking the country towards another partition and threatening them that they will have to stay in camps as in Gujarat all across the country. Those who were subject to one of the most horrendous brutality known in modern times are accused as the villains! This is further justified by terming the Gujarat carnage as a "positive response of Hindus". The RSS threat of a fascistic "Hindu Rashtra" is unfolding before our own eyes in bloody terms.

Such an upping of the communal ante is being done a week after the BJP-led NDA presidential candidate, supported by the Congress and the Samajwadi Party, files his nomination. If a confirmation was ever needed that Mr. Kalam's candidature will be used as a smoke screen by the saffron brigade to whitewash its role in Gujarat, then it has come. It is tragic that the main opposition party, the Congress, has chosen to play a role of being neither the ruling party nor the opposition in this affair.

After all, despite the almost universal condemnation of the Gujarat genocide, the state government headed by Narendra Modi not only continues but is now busy organising victory `rath yatras'. Despite the blatant patronage and partisanship shown by the central government, the Vajpayee government continues thanks to the "more loyal than the king" attitude and subservience of the BJP allies in the NDA.

Clearly, while the RSS-led saffron brigade is relentlessly pursuing its efforts for converting the secular democratic republic of India into a fascistic "Hindu Rashtra", the BJP is seeking to reap political benefits out of bloody communal confrontation. The BJP's allies in the NDA have become mere appendages of the saffron brigade. Having lost the people's support on every other count, this Vajpayee-led BJP government increasingly functions in its true colours -- as the political arm of the RSS.

The time has come for all patriotic Indians to rise in unison to exorcise such evil designs against our country.