Author: Editorial
Publication: The Pioneer
Date: December 17, 2002
The man who wryly calls himself
the media's favourite dartboard, Mr Narendra Modi, made a keen observation
in an interview following the announcement of the Gujarat poll results.
He had been noting, he said, the media spin being given to the landslide
victory he had crafted, in order to denigrate it. This, he added, was all
of a piece with what had gone on for 10 months: A refusal to acknow-ledge
the popular groundswell in favour of his anti-terrorism plank, which had
unified "five crore Gujaratis" against the Congress- style fissiparous
politics based on the minority-majority conundrum. Mr Modi's advice to
his detractors was to look reality in the face. The advice is badly needed.
For, Mr Modi cannot be faulted for
pointing out that over the recent past very few people were willing to
stop milking the post-Godhra violence, which he himself had repeatedly
said was limited to certain pockets. Yet now that the BJP has won, these
very sections are no longer talking about the whole of Gujarat being scalded
by communal fires but about the supposedly 'localised' nature of the BJP
victory in riot-hit Central Gujarat. Such retrospective rationalisation
betrays an attempt to dilute the BJP's unequivocal popular mandate and
to save face. In this regard, Deputy Prime Minister LK Advani did an irrefutable
post-mortem on the media's behalf, saying the results expose the "disconnect"
between its self-serving projections and popular concerns.
There is no doubt Godhra and Akshardham
were central issues in the public mind, despite not being spelt out so
as not to ruffle so-called secular sensibilities. 'Terrorism' acted as
a terminological surrogate for the BJP, to the curious disapprobation of
the Congress and its media backers. The latter's objections to Mr Modi's
electioneering jibes at "Miya Musharraf" defy explanation. By insinuating
a subtextual association between terrorists and the minority community,
it is the latter's champions and not demonised votaries of Hindutva who
are harming Muslim interests. If anything, the poll results are a heartening
sign that threats to national security can act as a unifying force even
in a State election. They suggest voters can transcend the level of the
mundane, transforming into a rallying force around those who best articulate
their love of country. It is India that is valorised when nationalism can
motivate voters to set aside bread-and-butter issues, which remain constant
irrespective of which party is in the saddle. That Godhra, followed by
Akshardham, lingered in popular memory symbolises the emotive power of
both, which neither their forced untouchability nor the delayed polls could
suppress.
There is also an abiding lesson
for the Election Commiss-ion, which invited the charge of partisanship,
both political and communal. It postponed the polls with a questionable
view to perhaps scuttle the BJP's electoral chances. It then did not allow
communal wounds to heal, with Chief Election Commissioner JM Lyngdoh making
minority-majority distinctions that angered Hindus and deepened Muslim
insecurities. This went along with a vilification of the State Government
and its officials. The BJP victory in the face of such hostility proves
two things. One, popular emotions can be crushed neither by being in denial
nor by administrative fiat. Two, the acrimonious nature of the Gujarat
contest, on which much ink has flowed, originates in a political and institutional
failure to recognise Godhra as a horror touching society in its entirety.
In its massive mandate to the only party to have seen February 27 for what
it was, Gujarat has commemorated Godhra's victims and repudiated the conspiracy
of silence that emboldens the nation's destabilisers.
