Gulf News
December 29, 2007
Gujarat wins the battle in hate
by Kuldip Nayar, Special to Gulf News
Modi's win shows democracy without pluralism has little meaning because the participation of the people, without regard for religion and caste, is essential
Once again it is proved, if any proof was needed, that democracy has struck deep roots in India. The election in Gujarat was free and fair. As happens in a democratic state, the Central Election Commission was supreme and it rightly kept a tight rein on political parties.
For example, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress were admonished for the intemperate language some of their leaders used during the campaign.
Yet India failed because Gujarat's Chief Minister Narendra Modi defeated its ethos: pluralism. Democracy and secularism are the two sides of the same coin.
Democracy without pluralism has little meaning because the participation of people, without regard for religion and caste, is essential. By creating hatred against a particular community, Modi created an atmosphere of bias and fear.
Elections were free but people had been brainwashed. The result was that the BJP, led by Modi, secured 117 seats in the 182-member house, five less than the 2002 election held after the Gujarat carnage.
Poor second
Like the last time, he successfully played the anti-Muslim card and equated terrorism with Muslims. A poor second was the Congress with 62 seats. However, it increased its tally by 11 seats by winning in the riot-affected areas, central Gujarat.
The Congress never presented a clear cut alternative to Hindutva because it was too much on the defensive and too ready to compromise.
On the other hand, the BJP or Modi did not hide their philosophy of saffronising India. What the party and Modi did was an antithesis of the freedom struggle which was waged, not only to oust the British but also to establish a democratic, secular polity. These principles were ensconced in the constitution.
Hindutva was never envisaged and Mahatma Gandhi declared after partition in the midst of communal riots that Hindus and Muslims were his two eyes.
If the nation wanted to have a Hindu rashtra (nation), nobody could have stopped it from doing so because the 80 per cent of population in the divided India was Hindu. Still the proposition was not even discussed because the ethos of freedom struggle was secularism.
The tragedy about Gujarat is that it wants to pursue a parochial agenda which is not acceptable to the rest of India. Diversity is the country's strength and it can even break up if it is weakened.
The reason why a big country such as the Soviet Union disintegrated was the suppression of diverse communities in the name of communism. Modi is busy destroying India's integration and the BJP is trying to implement Hindutva, whatever it costs in terms of unity. Still, the BJP is impaled on the horns of a dilemma.
It cannot win India unless it sheds anti-Muslim bias. At the same time, it does not want to give up the Hindutva plank because its parochial line has given it dividends in some parts.
The Muslims command 15 to 18 per cent of the electorate and it is crucial in about 150 Lok Sabha seats. Modi's advantage begins and ends in Gujarat, because the Muslim vote in the state is only eight per cent. That is the reason why allies of the BJP appealed to it not to send Modi when they were fighting their election for the assembly.
Lesson
The Congress is still learning its lesson from Gujarat. Party president Sonia Gandhi is a crowd puller but not the vote catcher. No use re-emphasising that Rahul Gandhi is not making any impact.
Younger leaders in the Congress and persons like Lalu Prasad Yadav who is on the side of the Congress might have done better if they had campaigned.
Yet the biggest drawback with the Congress is that - this is not in Gujarat alone - it does not come out as an unequivocal exponent of pluralism as it should.
The party gives the impression of being Hindutva's soft version. Considered to be carrying the ethos of freedom struggle, the Congress cannot afford to compromise on the ideals.
The BJP is understandably against secularism but a diluted, half-hearted Congress can do only harm. It is sad that the party is not conscious of that.
Kuldip Nayar is a former Indian High Commissioner to the UK and a former Rajya Sabha MP.
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