BJP's communally provocative CD's not the first of its kind

(The Hindu,
April 6, 2007)


CD released by the BJP not the first of its kind

Neena Vyas

Similar disc released at its Lucknow national executive

# It was part of the party's packet of publicity
# "The message in CD has gone home"

NEW DELHI: The controversial and communally provocative audio/video compact disc released officially by the Bharatiya Janata Party — "inadvertently" it claims — in Lucknow on Tuesday is not the first of its kind.

At its Lucknow national executive/national council session in December 2006 it officially released a similar compact disc — it was part of the party's packet of publicity and election campaign material given to the media. Both the CDs include graphic details of the slaughter of a cow at the hands of Muslim butchers. The difference is that the second CD shows a Hindu selling his cow to two youths (they are Muslims but disguised as Hindus) who then slaughter it. The first CD shows a buffalo and a cow being slaughtered in the most cruel and primitive fashion. The meat was then loaded on to a handcart.

While the BJP reiterated that it did not authorise the release of the CD, there is no word from the party on whether the earlier CD distributed in December 2006 to the media was "authorised." And if that one was also unauthorised, how was it given to reporters as a part of the media kit? In any case, the cover on the CD shows the party's "lotus" in full bloom and the photographs of the top brass of the party. It also carries the address of the party office in Lucknow and the name of its "producer," Manoj Mishra, State unit spokesperson who has since been relieved of his responsibilities.

The CD released at the national executive has an audio track saying the Muslim youth dupe Hindu girls and elope with them at the behest of Muslim clerics. The CD released two days ago went a step further. It shows scenes of a woman grieving for her abducted daughter. It also shows the Muslim boy who eloped with the girl after pretending to be a Hindu boy. He then beats up the girl and tells her that she will be forcibly married to another Muslim boy.

At one point the CD also talks about Muslims "breeding like dogs" — a point also made by Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi in his election campaign in 2002, although without comparing Muslims to dogs.

A ghastly scene in the December 2006 CD shows the beheaded body of a person, who was presumably a BJP worker "murdered" by "goondas" of the Samajwadi Party.

The body without the head is held up by two BJP workers to be captured on camera. There are many references in both the CDs to terrorism, to immigration from Bangladesh and to the "appeasement" policies of the SP and the Congress party.

Party leaders privately admit that the "message" in the CD has already gone where it was intended to go. And they also said that if the Election Commission were to take harsh action against the party, it would only help the BJP.

Anonymous leaflets

While saner voices in the party openly state that the BJP does not need to resort to such dirty propaganda, others know and acknowledge that the Sangh Parivar and the BJP have used such provocative election material in the past. The difference is that earlier they printed and distributed anonymous leaflets and pamphlets, but this time the party has "officially" released provocative material, even if it is now disowning it.

In both the CDs senior leaders Atal Bihari Vajpayee and L.K. Advani figure prominently.