(Secular Perspective Jan.1-15, 2006)
BJP'S SILVER JUBILEE - AN ASSESSMENT
by Asghar Ali Engineer
Is there anything to celebrate completion of twenty-five years for the
BJP? It has been history of hate politics, conflict and bloodshed. It
began on a promising note in 1980 by pledging to be secular and to
follow Gandhian socialism. One hoped that now Jansangh is its past and
BJP its future in as much as it has committed itself to secularism and
Gandhian socialism. Many thought it is a major shift in its Jansangh
days' ideology.
In fact history has its own lessons to teach. Once you resort to hate
politics, it is very difficult to shed it. Hate and violence have a
habit of perpetuating themselves. Hate has the tendency of becoming more
intense and violence an ever-rising spiral. The Jansangh was no
exception to this rule. Jansangh was not only its own past but its own
future too. The BJP was at best the Jansangh's continuum and extension
into the future. In fact the BJP, if one goes by its record on communal
front, turned out to be darker shadow of the Jan Sangh.
The
re was nothing surprising about this development. The BJP was borne
after the dual membership controversy during the Janata Party Government
during 1977-79. The socialist members of Janta Party wanted the former
Jansangh Party members to resign from the RSS if they have accepted
Janta Party's ideology of secularism. But they refused to severe their
link and the Janta Party government fell on this question.
Thus the signal was clear. The RSS linkage was too strong to be severed.
It was its umbilical chord and its very existence depended on the RSS.
So the BJP's secularism was indeed a pseudo one and to hide this reality
the BJP attacked the Congress secularism as well as the Constitutional
secularism as pseudo. The BJP, in order to hide its commitment to RSS
communal politics, aggressively attacked Nehruvian secularism as western
and pseudo. What a deception? It pledged itself to secularism on
Gandhiji's Samadhi and went all out to attack Gandhian secularism for
which he laid down his life and it was Godse, with hidden links to RSS,
who assassinated Gandhiji for his sympathy to the besieged minority. How
such a party could ever become secular?
The history of the BJP is the history of hatred, conflict and bloodshed.
It not only attacked secularism after pledging to be secular, it went on
all out to preach hatred against minorities in general, and Muslims in
particular. It was after its acceptance of 'secularism' that it
launched, most aggressively, the Ramjanambhoomi movement and ultimately
demolished Babri Masjid on 6th December 1992. It was great blot on
secular India and ironically, matter of 'pride' for the BJP.
The BJP celebrates this black day as 'shaurya divas' (i.e. a day of
'bravery'). What a commitment to secularism. The whole campaign of
Ramjanambhoomi was based on provoking among Hindus extreme fanaticism
and hatred against Muslims. The BJP cadre shouted in Ramjanambhoomi
processions 'Babar ki aulad, jao Pakistan aur Qabrastan' thus openly
provoking Hindus to kill Muslims and describing them as 'progeny of
Babar'. Naturally this resulted in several major communal riots
throughout eighties, after formation of BJP. Most of these riots took
place in U.P. and Bihar, the Hindi heartland where BJP's hate campaign
was at its worst. This campaign was led by none other than Mr.
L.K.Advani. This black campaign will ever remain part of BJP's history
and nothing can ever erase it.
It was result of this intense campaign of hatred (which has been so
vividly documented by Anand Patwardhan's documentary Ram ke Naam which
was acclaimed worldwide) that communal carnage like the one in Gujarat
took place in 2002. Now like Bosnia mass graves are being discovered in
Gujarat during the silver jubilee year of the BJP. Mr. L.K. Advani, now
the president of BJP spoke of glorious record of his party in last
twenty -five years. Does genocide of minorities form part of BJP's
'glorious' record during last twenty- five years.
There was time when the BJP boasted of being a party with 'difference'.
Of course it was. No other party resorted to hate campaign as the BJP
did. Is this not being a party with difference? But what it meant,
though with no truth in it, was that it is a clean party and most
disciplined. Other parties like the Congress, are not only corrupt but
also full of inner dissensions.
This myth was exploded before but it is in this year of its silver
jubilee that it has been exploded with all its intensity. Today it is
riven with dissension. The expulsion of Uma Bharti for her indiscipline
during this silver jubilee year is a unique gift for its 'discipline'.
Today BJP is riven with dissension as never before. There is no
discipline left whatsoever.
In fact the test of being disciplined and clean comes when in power.
During the eighties the BJP had not tested power and so could remain
disciplined and could feign to be 'clean'. The question of being clean
or corrupt arises only when you are in power. When the BJP launched
attack on the Congress as being corrupt, it (the Congress) had been in
power for more than forty years and the BJP not even for forty days. It
could well project itself 'clean' and free of corruption.
Once it came in power from 1999 to 2004 its false claims were fully
exposed. Many skeletons from cupboard began to fall out. What the
Congress had not done in forty years it did in four years. Remember the
scandal in allotment of pumps? The Indian Express headlined it as 'Pump
Parivar'. Petrol pump were allotted to relatives and friends from the
BJP and RSS. The Supreme Court had to annul these allotments and
Vajpayee, the then BJP Prime Minister cancelled these allotments through
issuing an order.
It is a long story of corruption. The Dalit president of BJP Mr. Bangaru
Laxman was caught on video camera in an sting operation accepting one
lakh rupees for ensuring defence contracts. He was a RSS man. The RSS
chief described him as a 'failed student'. He had to be removed as
president. The BJP Government at the Centre harassed Tehelka.com people
who exposed such corruption scandal and its financier was even jailed on
false charges. So much for the BJP's commitment to honesty and being
different.
And now in the silver jubilee year six of its M.P.s were caught once
again on camera in yet another sting operation. They were caught
accepting money for asking questions in Parliament. Six of them out of
11 were from BJP alone. The Parliament expelled them for such shocking
corrupt practice. However, Mr. L.K.Advani maintained in his presidential
address during the silver jubilee function in Mumbai on 27th December
that blamed the 'Congress Culture' for this corruption. He said that
the expose (cash for querry) "reinforces our conviction that unless
Congress culture was uprooted the task of combating corruption will
never be accomplished"
Is it not utterly ridiculous? Blaming the Congress for its own
corruption. Even a section of BJP members rejected such fantastic
position. Ms. Sushma Swaraj said we have to hang our head in shame for
such scandals by the party M.Ps. But for Mr. Advani it is the Congress
culture, which is to be blamed. Did the Congress ever blamed the BJP for
its own corruption. The BJP instead of doing sincere reflections on its
own faults, its president is blaming the rival political party. Such
gimmicks can hardly convince anyone. But then it is BJP, a party with a
difference.
And now a RSS representative in the BJP Mr. Sanjay Joshi has been caught
on video tap in compromising position with a woman and it turned out to
be case of consensual sex. RSS has always maintained its moral high
position. Earlier one of its members and the BJP President was caught
accepting money as pointed out above and now one of its members caught
in a sex act with a woman on camera. What a moral degeneration. He
quietly resigned and left the venue of silver jubilee meeting in Mumbai.
Even members of BJP were shocked. There is no more any morality left.
And it is ironical that an organisation like the RSS whose very
philosophy is based on hatred of minorities could claim moral high ground.
As for dissensions in the Party, less said the better. Uma Bharti was
projected as the chief ministerial candidate in M.P. election and she
was described as most dynamic leader. She did become chief minister of
M.P.but within a year had to relinquish her post due to a court case.
She was promised to be reinstalled after clearing it but she was never
given that opportunity. She rebelled and was thrown out of the party.
Now she claims to be 'real BJP'.
She writes in an article "The Party with a Difference" in Hindustan
Times of 30th December 2005 "The top leadership grew more intolerant of
dissent. Opportunists, power brokers and the corrupt gained prominence
and principled and ideologically committed workers were sidelined. It is
for this reason that BJP presidents were being changed one after the
other while those who spoke the truth were being ignored."
Thus it will be seen that a party which always claimed high moral ground
turned out to be so fragile morally in one term in office. What would
have been its fate had it been in office for longer period like the
Congress. In fact any communal party cannot claim to be clean.
Communalism and hatred are nothing but moral corruption. BJP's Hindutva
agenda itself is strong indicator of moral corruption.
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