Parivar Tries To Regroup; UPA Has to Beware

 Harkishan Singh Surjeet

CONCLUDING at Goa on August 1, the BJP’s so-called chintan shivir only did what it was expected to do --- to reconfirm the party’s (RSS dictated) resolve to ‘go to the basics.’ While those attending the shivir enjoyed the refreshing winds from the Arabian Sea, what they produced at the end was by no means refreshing. It was only a rehash of what was already decided at Mumbai some time back.

This was perfectly in line with the RSS thinking, conveyed after Vajpayee’s recent sojourn in Manali, that the BJP must not seek (dare!) to blame the Hindutva philosophy for its debacle in Lok Sabha polls. As we have already commented on this aspect (see People’s Democracy, August 1), there is no need to go into it again. Here we can only say that the BJP seems to be as confused on the causes of its debacle as it was after its national executive meeting in Mumbai.

But this confusion in thinking is not fortuitous. If a party wants to introspect but its behind-the-scene bosses debar it from referring to at least one crucial reason for its defeat, what it can do except muttering ifs and buts! This is precisely what the BJP did at Mumbai and Goa.

JD(U)’S PHONEY SECULARISM

AND now the BJP’s allies are getting confounded. Meeting at Delhi on July 31 and August 1, the Janata Dal (United) national executive came out with a resolution that said it was opposed to any compromise with “religious bigotry.” The resolution said the party “joined the National Democratic Alliance only after the three controversial issues (construction of a Ram temple at Ayodhya, article 370 and common civil code) had been removed from the agenda of the NDA. If any effort is made to revive them, we shall have to take another road.”

All this is so far so good. If the JD(U), and other allies, take a forthright stand against communalism, we would sincerely welcome it. But the crucial question is: Has the JD(U) made a sincere introspection and decided to fight the threats to our national unity? There is no such indication. Though Vajpayee, the NDA parliamentary group’s chairman, appealed to the allies to keep the NDA intact, the fact is that he did not need to make any such appeal --- for the simple reason that allies like the JD(U) under George Fernandes are not going to leave the NDA, for the time being at least.

This is as clear as daylight. At the BJP’s Goa session, RSS joint secretary in charge of BJP, Madan Das Devi, plainly told BJP leaders that “the Sangh expected the party to remain firm on Hindutva and propagate its ideology confidently and effectively” (Hindustan Times, August 2). But, to the JD(U), this was perhaps no proof of the BJP reneging on NDA agenda! This is what The Hindu reported on August 2, “However, keeping its options open in view of the coming assembly elections in five states, including Bihar and Jharkhand, the party decided to continue its pre-poll alliance with the BJP.”

And as if not to let anybody remain in doubt about the phoney secularism of his party, Fernandes told mediapersons after the JD(U) national executive meeting: “The alliance is still on. We have not parted ways with the NDA.” This was despite the fact that, according to him, some delegates “said there was no need to stay on with the alliance.” He castigated Bal Thakare’s remark that the NDA had ceased to exist and added that JD(U) would join the BJP boycott of parliamentary committees. This boycott ended only on August 3.

FERNANDES AT HIS DUBIOUS BEST

HOWEVER, there is nothing surprising in it. During the six years of NDA rule (de facto BJP rule), some of the BJP’s allies behaved in the same abominable way. Despite the exclusion of three contentious issues from NDA agenda, they refused to see what the whole world was able to see --- that the BJP was doing everything it wanted to do in order to forge the RSS’ fratricidal project ahead, while verbally pledging loyalty to the NDA agenda. They even chose to ignore what several BJP leaders openly said --- that they had not given up but only postponed the contentious issues till they got their own majority. They also ignored the fact that even when the BJP did not say anything on the contentious issues, the RSS let loose other outfits to do what it wanted.

For example, if the BJP kept mum on article 370, the RSS and its outfits did advocate its scrapping and also the trifurcation or tetrafurcation of Jammu & Kashmir. From behind the scene, the prime minister’s office under Vajpayee made crafty attempts to get the Ayodhya dispute ‘resolved’ in a dubious way, to unduly favour one side to the dispute, and also involved the Kanchi Shankaracharya and a gamut of dubious persons for the purpose. But these allies either kept mum or at best made only faint murmurs in protest, even though they were in a position to force the BJP to stick to the agreed agenda.           

Nay, some allies went to still lower depths in order to keep enjoying what a Hindi writer has dubbed as Vitamins P-M (power and money). Thus Fernandes took no time in giving the Bajrang Dal a certificate of innocence when its hoodlums burnt Graham Staines and his minor sons alive. The same fellow certified that Modi had brought the anti-Muslim genocide in Gujarat under control in three days though the genocide continued full steam for over four months. Is Fernandes aware that low-key genocide of Muslims continues in that state even today?

It is therefore not surprising if Fernandes is seeking to project the UPA regime, and more so the Left, in a bad light. His charge is that the Congress and the Left resorted to a campaign of “damn lies” against the NDA government. Also, he accused the CPI(M) that while its poll manifesto made a “damning condemnation” of the Congress, it is now “faithfully pursuing” the Congress policies.

To call a spade a spade, this is Fernandes at his dubious best. Right now, paucity of space prohibits us from going into the details of his charges that are as baseless as Fernandes is. Nor are we going to tell him how we strive to protect the interests of this country’s common mass who are witness to our sincerity in this regard. Right now, we only assure him of one thing: let him contrive a few more charges against us and then we will demolish them one by one. That would also be more enjoyable to us --- certainly. 

Yet, we will say one thing before proceeding. If the JD(U) and some others want to rally the socialists, they are indeed welcome to do so. But, as a vital part of their endeavour, they must beware of the turncoats and windbags that are still parading themselves as socialists, as people of this very type destroyed the once powerful socialist movement from inside.  

THE QUESTION OF “BASICS”

RIGHT now, thus, our concern is not Fernandes but the BJP and other Sangh Parivar outfits that stand demoralised today but are seeking to regroup. It is clear from the BJP jamborees at Mumbai and Goa that it has not learnt any lessons from its debacle, nor is it allowed to honestly introspect as to what led to its ignominious exit from power. Yet, one thing is clear. Though the BJP’s resolve of going back to the “basics” is sheer humbug, as it had never deviated from its basics, it is plain that the BJP and the Parivar are thinking in terms of rousing communal passions in in order to polarise the masses along communal lines, which has always been their stock in trade.

To take one example, Modi won a big victory in Gujarat assembly polls in November 2002 but significantly lost in Lok Sabha polls in the state. The BJP held 21 Lok Sabha seats out of 26 in Gujarat and was hoping to take it to 23 or 24 this time, but finally came down to only 14. Moreover, its margin in 6 seats was less than 10,000. It is clear that if only the Congress had been more united in the state, the BJP could have still more suffered.

So, what is the reason for this dramatic turn-about in BJP’s fortune in Gujarat in only one year and a half? The reason is: the BJP fought the November 2002 polls at the height of communal polarisation, but it had dissipated by April 2004.  

Clearly, it is only by communally dividing the masses that the BJP can hope to regain power. Its policies in the economic, military and foreign policy spheres were of the worst kind while it surpassed all records in corruption and in criminalisation of politics. All its tall claims about being a party of principles are biting dust today, and are unable to sway the mass of Indian people now. It is thus that going back to its “basics” becomes of basic importance to BJP.       

CRUX OF THE PROBLEM

IT is in this context that the UPA government has to be doubly cautious and avoid taking any steps that may alienate the mass of people and only benefit the BJP. By now we have made this point sufficiently clear and it is up to the government to keep its record straight. Here we can only add that before taking any step to the detriment of the common people, the UPA government would do well to keep in mind that it is the people who will decide its stability or otherwise. Its stability and survival will not be decided by the Indian or foreign bourgeoisie who were, till recently, doling out large sums of money to the BJP and whose slavish media were singing paeans to the BJP. It will also do well to remember that the fate of Indian industry or service sector crucially depends on an enhancement of the people’s purchasing power; any reduction in the people’s real incomes can only harm these sectors. This is the crux of the problem of our growth and development. All our policies need to be accordingly oriented.

This also means that if the state withdraws itself from crucial areas like economic self-reliance, human resource development, employment generation and poverty alleviation, it won’t take long to go bankrupt --- like certain East and South East Asian countries did a few years ago or like Argentina did more recently, where the economic crisis led to a severe political crisis and four presidents tumbled in only 11 days. Implementation of the Kelkar and Rakesh Mohan advices is fraught with this very prospect. For instance, any attack on small savers can only reduce our savings rate that is still much below the optimum level of 30 per cent of GDP, and thereby harm our growth prospects.

But these points are unpalatable to our bourgeoisie and their media whose short-sightedness knows no bounds. This is why their penpushers are abusing the Left parties day in and day out. Instead of getting one golden egg a day, our bourgeoisie are out to kill the hen in the vain hope of getting all such eggs at one go.

Yet, we have to make clear that while the Left is determined to keep the communal forces out of power, it has its own independent programme that takes care of the country’s and its people’s interests. The principled position of the Left must not be construed as its weakness, as one minister recently did in a bombastic statement from Kolkata.

This makes proper coordination between the UPA and Left parties all the more necessary. Coordination is a must where parties with separate programmes are to cooperate on specific issues, and the recent formation of a coordination committee will go a long way in keeping the communal forces away from power. Here we can only assure our compatriots that this coordination will be based on principles, not on NDA type opportunistic considerations.

In order to take to the masses its viewpoint on crucial issues and its alternative policies based on a Left and democratic programme, the CPI(M) has decided to run a week long campaign from August 25 to 31. The party’s Central Committee has identified 11 broad groups of issues for the purpose; these are being printed elsewhere in this issue. We do hope this campaign will make the people aware of what is to be done to put India on the regeneration path.