Ram Puniyani
This year 2011 was very eventful
as far as the political arena is concerned. This year also exposed the duel
attitudes of BJP on most of the issues yet again. The various issues, Anna
Hazare’s movement, Government trying to bring in FDI in retail, bill for
rationalization of fuel price and the deletion of Ramanujam’s essay in the
University text, showed its real colors. In many of the bills related to FDI
etc., which were brought up for discussion in Parliament, BJP most of the times
vehemently opposed what it had been so far championing.
In case of Ramayana it did back
up its associates, the progeny of RSS, to get this brilliant essay removed from
the University text. The guiding compulsions in this case were not that the
essay was not factual, but that many version of Ramayana as outlined in the
essay go against BJP theory that Lord Ram was born precisely at the spot where
Babri Masjid was located. With so many versions of Lord Ram story, how can one
claim their own version is the correct one, and go on to demolish a
masjid!
How come a party which stood for
the FDI when it was ruling as the head of NDA opposed it so blatantly now?
Logically such policies should have gladdened the hearts of BJP as these are
what it had been propounding when in power as head of NDA. The shrewdest move on
BJP’s part was to give the full hearted support to Anna Hazare movement on the
streets but when in parliament it is took a cautious path. It is taking full
advantage of Anna’s anti Congress stance while hiding its own corruption and
underplaying its reservations to Anna’s bill.
This hypocritical, forked tongue
attitude of BJP is part of its character. As such BJP is supposed to work in
the electoral arena on behalf of RSS. It has to come to power by all means,
fair and foul, to pave the path for RSS agenda of Hindu nation. Its core agenda
is totally opposed to the concept of Democratic norms prevalent in the country.
Inherently BJP had been totally
opposed to the state intervention in the economic matters, despite the fact
that initially the public sector was the basic essentiality for India , as the
private capital was not substantial in quantum at that time to lay the
foundation of economic growth. BJP and its predecessor Bharatiya Jan Sangh had
been sounding loud and clear, opposing states’ role in these matters most of
the times. Now since UPA is also following many a policies which BJP wants to
be implemented, the same BJP turns around and changes its stance. It does smack
of a pure opportunism and it seems that what dictates its public stand most of the
times are the electoral contingencies of the time.
If it supports Government on
these issues it will sound to be toeing the government line and will lose the
electoral advantage in the elections to come. Apart from the turnaround in the
economic policies, its shrewd managers have taken a very ambivalent stand on
Anna draft after a façade of totally upholding Anna movement, and his bill as
the desirable one. As such BJP has a long tradition in these matters of
opportunism. It exploded the bomb in 1998, and tilted the foreign policy
grossly towards the US .
But when in opposition it again turned around and took contrary positions. If
we go back slightly we see the same ‘clever’ stance in the matters of Mandal
commission implementation. It did not have the courage to speak against the
Mandal commission, to which it was deeply opposed, as that would have alienated
it from a large section of voters. So to skirt around the issue, it went in for
Rath Yatra, bypassed the Mandal issue and tried to give confusing signals to
the electorate.
As a culmination of the Rath
Yatra, Ramjanmbhoomi movement, it went on to undertake the criminal act of
demolition of the Babri Masjid. It asserted that Babri Masjid is a blot on the
Hindu India. Let’s note that while taking the oath of office it swears by
Indian Constitution, secular India ,
while operating on political chess-board it keeps Hindu India as the reference
point. This demolition brought it to the seat of power in the Centre. After
grabbing the power, being in the government it did not build the temple for
which it had demolished the masjid and had unleashed the violence.
For BJP coming to power is a mere
path for giving more social, political cultural space to its associates, the
children of RSS. The aim is to impose in Hindu nation, under the supervision of
RSS. The dilemma of BJP is that it is a political party operating in the
electoral arena, in the democratic space, but at the same time to work for
abolition of democratic space when in power. So far, it could not come to power
without the non-Hindutva allies, so it has used the opportunity of being in
power to communalize the education and state apparatus, to give more
opportunities for the RSS progeny (VHP, Bajrang Dal, ABVP, Vanvasi Kalyan
Ashram to infiltrate into state apparatus.
The duplicity of BJP has a deeper
agenda. It is not just a party of right wing. It is a party of ‘religious right
wing’. The right wing parties aim at the status quo in the society. The
religious right wing parties not only aim to maintain status quo but go further
to reverse the process of social change which has taken place due to the
liberal space. The right wing parties may be principled, however wrong those
principles be, while the religious right wing groups are totally bereft of any
qualms about principles as they are out to use the democratic space for the
bringing in of the fundamentalist regime over a period of time.
The attitude of BJP towards Anna
movement is very interesting. BJP knows that Anna movement is the way to polarize
the society along the lines of hierarchy of various hues. A particular section
of society is more for this type of movement. While those looking for deeper
changes in society, are not the target support groups of BJP. So its affiliates
plunge fully to provide the driving force for Anna movement. Anna movement also
acts as a recruitment center for the religious right wing, so BJP overtly
supports it through and through. In parliament it sees that Anna movement is
out to undermine the powers of parliament, so the cautious and guarded
responses in parliament.
Double standards are strewn all
through in the practice of BJP on the electoral arena. This was well summed up
its own leader Atal Bihari Vajpayee, when he stated in Staten Island , US
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