Battle Line Has Been Drawn

Harkishan Singh Surjeet

THE battle line is drawn. The Election Commission has announced a programme of holding elections to the 14th Lok Sabha and a few state assemblies. Naturally, now, the whole country is waiting to see, with bated breath, what this battle would yield.

There is no gainsaying the fact that these elections are not going to be like any other election, an ordinary and routine thing. For, as we have again and again reiterated what always needs to be reiterated, nothing less than the Indian nation’s fate is at stake.

LESS BY HOOK & MORE BY CROOK

LET’S recall a few facts. Six years ago, in this very month in 1998, fascistic RSS backed BJP came to hold the reins of power in New Delhi. But this was no simple transfer of power from one party or combine to another. Ever since the BJP came to power, it has gone on harming the secular and federal character of our polity, our syncretic culture and national unity by all means. From the burning of a Christian missionary in Orissa to the pre-planned massacre of Muslims in Gujarat, to the attacks on a church in Jhabua (MP), to the tonsuring of nine converts in an Orissa village simply because they had exercised their freedom of religion --- the country has witnessed a long series of attacks on minorities in these years. And for what? In order to establish a theocratic state where the minorities --- and not the minorities alone but even the scheduled tribes and castes --- will be compelled to live as second or third rate citizens, without any rights. The way a VHP-led mob lynched five Dalits at Jhajjhar in Haryana two years ago, is testimony to the so-called ‘love’ of the brigade’s outfits for lower caste Hindus.

To Sangh Parivar, the use of any means, fair or foul, is justified if it takes it an inch closer to the goal of a theocratic state. While a minister in Vajpayee cabinet, when Dilip Singh Judeo was caught in a bribery case, this Hindutva zealot’s ingenious justification was that he had taken the money from an industrialist for the sake of his re-conversion drive! This shows the extent to which they have perfected the art of hypocrisy. It is not that Judeo was the only person having been caught with his pants down. But what was distinctive of him was that he brazenly sought to justify his conduct in the name of religion, which was in fact an abhorrent act of defaming the Hindu religion. Regarding the criminalisation of politics, we said last week that “the most crucial difference between other bourgeois landlord parties and the BJP is that the latter has been doing all this in the name of principles and political morality.” Judeo perfectly epitomised this difference in regard to corruption.

Thus, the sole purpose of the RSS is to capture all the levers of power by hook or by crook. The fact, though, is that they have been going about it less by hook and more by crook.

GENERATING UNFOUNDED FEAR

IF one asks the truth, it would take volumes to present a reasonably complete picture of the depredations the Parivar has indulged in, during the last six years in particular, in order to achieve its nefarious end. The moves to pack up all educational, research and other institutions, in a bid to saffronise the whole set-up, was one important component of their strategy. They also made attempts to push down the pupils’ throats distorted versions of history or sheer mythology in name of history --- thus playing not only with the present of our nation but also its future. For, they well know that newer generations of bigots are very much necessary to act as cannon fodders in their battle of a theocratic state. The way they try to pit the lower class Hindus against Muslims, Christians or tribal converts gives enough indications about what kind of fratricidal conflicts they want to generate in this great country.

This is natural. For, unless they succeed in breaking the unity in diversity for which India has always been known, they have absolutely no chance to see their ambitions fulfilled. That is why propagating hatred is their most important stock in trade. By the very logic of things, the brigade is today the biggest trader of lies and deceptions in this country --- the goods which they try to sell wholesale as well as in retail. Therefore, if they say that increasing their population manifold is the sole aim of Muslims or that Christians are striving to take the country over with the help of (unnamed) foreign powers, it is clear that their aim is to instil a sense of fear among the Hindus.

One may ask: for a community that forms 82 per cent of this country’s population, is there really any ground to fear that it may be swayed by others?

The reality is that unfounded fear generation is what fascism always thrives upon. If Hitler swayed the German youth in the name of an imagined Jewish dominance, one well realises that he did not leave the world without leaving his ideological progeny behind.

As the latest example, the RSS is mongering rumours that a Japanese toy Pokemon may lure our children away from Indian culture and values. This is what a Hindustan Times editorial (March 2) described as “the kettle calling the pot black.”

ATTACKS ON INTELLECTUALS

ATTACKS on artistes, writers and other intellectuals are an integral component of the saffron tactic. As we know, they have launched attacks on artistes, institutions of learning, etc, from time to time in the last six years. Not to mention their past attacks on M F Hussain and Jatin Das etc, they launched at least seven major attacks between August 2003 and February 2004. Nay, in effect, the BJP led regime even banned book releases and other such functions at the World Book Fair 2004, while a book of Vajpayee’s poetry was released in the fair with all the state-managed pomp. Needless to say, this was a crude attempt to stifle the voice of artistes and intellectuals.

But this too is understandable. The fact is: all fascist outfits are afraid of intellectuals who are, in contradistinction to intelligentsia, the creators and propagators of ideas. The brigade well knows that its cadres lack calibre to contest one set of ideas with another set. From time to time, writers and intellectuals in this country have mercilessly torn to shreds the ideas and arguments which saffron ‘intellectuals’ have advanced. That is why, unable to face our intellectuals, the Parivar knows only one way of dealing with them --- of targeting them physically. It is not their concern that such attacks lead to loss of invaluable national legacies --- just what happened because of the communal goons’ attack on the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute in Pune.

It is also a telling commentary on their way of thinking that an institute earns world-wide acclaim for its contribution to intellectual pursuit, and communal goons deem the same institute to be a fit target for attack. 

ON SHAKY GROUND

HERE we will not go into the details of what the BJP led regime has done to our time tested foreign policy at the behest of US imperialists. We are also not going to list out what steps they have taken to sell our national interests at the dictate of imperialist controlled international organisations. Nor would we dwell on how they indulged in nuclear jingoism till the changed international situation as well as the force of public opinion compelled them to start mending fences with our neighbours. We can only sum up the international experience so far: attempts to fan chauvinistic and jingoistic feelings, fascistic attacks on the rights of various segments of population (including attacks on the right to life), attacks on the common people’s livelihood, and unashamed support to imperialist butchers --- all these go hand in hand.           

Now, the BJP is going to face the polls with a record of such things, and is evidently feeling that it stands on a shaky ground. This explains a number of moves, some dubious and some ridiculous, which the party has resorted to in the last few weeks, as it had done in the past. Moves to rope in film and TV personalities fall in this very category, unmistakably indicating the party’s inner feeling that, not to talk of its ideas and principles, even the ‘Shining India’ campaign of its central government may fail to click. (In December and January, as many as 9,742 such ads were telecast on TV channels alone.)

And as if that were not enough, Advani now says he will take out yet another rath yatra. Here the remarkable thing is not that, from Advani to Joshi to Singhal to even null sets, they all are very fond of riding well equipped motor vehicles which they nostalgically (!) call ‘rathas.’ The real thing to note is that such rath yatras are taken out precisely when one or another election is round the corner. Another important point is that this time the professed aim is to tell the people how much India is shining now though, hypocritically, Advani did tell that the BJP has not given up its temple plank and that “we will build the temple in Ayodhya.”      

A similar desperate game the BJP is playing (not for the first time) is to lure some Muslim leaders into its net. One of their latest catches is Mrs Najma Haibatullah who, the world knows, cannot win a single seat on her own. Yet another is Arif Mohd Khan who did play a role in the Shah Bano case but has since dissipated all his prestige. He has toured through many parties before landing in the BJP’s lap.

But the less we say about such politicians, the better. Rather, we would like to let others speak. An HT editorial on March 2 says about many like Khan: “We know that the claims of an ideological conversion on the way to Ashoka Road are fraudulent; they know that we know that such claims are bogus; so why insult the intelligence of the Indian people by letting out mighty sobs on TV, complaining about mistreatment and pretending that there is an emotional and ideological component to what are cold and calculated political decisions?”

As for Mrs Haibatullah hankering for just another Rajya Sabha term, the same editorial comments: “So, from a career perspective, it makes sense for her to join the BJP. But why say things like “the BJP has apologised for Gujarat,” so it is okay to join? Do what you like for your own advancement. But don’t insult the memory of thousands of people who lost their lives in those riots just so that you can crawl your way to yet another term.”

An old proverb says a man starts coughing when he runs out of truthful ideas. One may only add that a party starts alluring discredited politicians and non-entities when it runs out of steam.

IMPERATIVES TODAY

THE BJP’s desperation has also aggravated because of survey predictions that the party’s own seat tally may come down. Yet another factor adding to its desperation is that this time there will be an unprecedented number of youthful voters below 40 --- 47.25 crore or an estimated 70 per cent of the roughly 67.5 crore strong electorate. The BJP seems to be mortally afraid of these youth, the bulk of whom are not only full of idealism and enthusiasm but have also been at the receiving end in the last six years. These young voters may well ask, for example, as to where are the 5 crore jobs that Vajpayee promised in 1999. Even if one ignores that 1.5 crore jobs were killed in public sector in five years, the long queues of the unemployed are enough to debunk the claims of massive job creation in this period.   

The BJP’s defeat is thus a highly probable proposition, and there appears to be not any important state where the BJP and allies may hope, if at all, to increase their seats. Yet this is no automatic process and all the patriotic people have to contribute what they can to this process. As for the Left, we are very clear about the imperatives of the situation:

1. All efforts must be made to see that the BJP is defeated at the hustings.

2.  Contrary to 1998, the BJP’s tally in 1999 did not increase even by one seat. Yet, it was able to ride roughshod over the nation’s destiny only because the tallies of many of its allies did increase. The people have to see that this does not happen this time and the BJP’s allies are also defeated.

3.  The strength of the CPI(M) and the Left must increase, in order to enhance their intervention. This is because on all vital issues facing the country --- economy, communalism and saffronisation, foreign policy, criminalisation of politics and corruption --- the Left has been the only consistent force fighting to defend the nation’s and people’s interests. In accordance with this aim, in its own strongholds the Left will give a tough fight to the BJP and allies.

4. Yet, as the Left is no big force in many parts of the country, it will extend support to such secular parties as are not allied with the BJP, even if their outlooks are different from ours.

5.  These elections must not be reduced to a fight of personalities; rather we have to do our utmost to focus the people’s attention on vital issues. Yet, in today’s context, the single most vital issue is national unity that takes precedence over everything else. For, as we said earlier, if the nation is lost, everything is lost and then the policy differences cease to have any meaning. All the patriotic, secular and democratic forces have to constantly bear this fact in mind.