Author: Shridhar Pant
Publication: The Pioneer
Date: March 30, 2009
URL: http://www.dailypioneer.com/165901/BJP-needs-to-be-honest-to-Hindus.html
This refers to the article, "Promises
BJP must keep" (March 25) by Mr Francois Gautier. Mr Gautier is a popular
foreign writer on Indian affairs, particularly on Hindu issues. The article
mentioned above was probably provoked by the reaction of certain sections
of India's polity to Mr Varun Gandhi's speeches in Pilibhit. His comment,
"… the media and the Congress have been much more severe with Mr
Varun Gandhi than Kasab (the former didn't say anything provocative while
the latter went on a shooting spree)", is noteworthy. Lately even Mr
Sharad Yadav and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar have been pressing for
action against Mr Gandhi.
In my view, Mr Gandhi's speeches have energised
otherwise diffident Hindu activists, just as they were during Mr LK Advani's
Ram Rath Yatra. These activists were disappointed not only during the UPA
regime but also during the previous NDA Government. The BJP had risen to power
on the issues of Ram temple, Uniform Civil Code and Article 370. But when
the party came to power under the NDA banner, it dropped these issues due
to the compulsions of coalition politics.
Mr Gautier is emphatic that, "The BJP
should make it known that it will really build the Ram Mandir, protect temples,
stop Christian conversions, honour India's gurus and impose some guidelines
on the media, which has a preconceived notion about Pope and Islam but always
sees Hindu godman and sadhvis through the eyes of 'secularism'."
In brief, Mr Gautier has read the Hindu mind
better than many in the BJP or in any other political party. His views need
deeper thinking, more particularly his words that "…the BJP should
not bother about its allies who are anyway jumping the ship as they think
the Congress will win the election. If Mr Advani stands true to the aspirations
of Hindu voters, the BJP can come to power on its own at the Centre..."
Fortunately, at present the country has the
full backing of gurus like Baba Ramdev, Yogi Yatendranath, and the entire
group of gurus with the VHP. The Bhagavad Gita concludes that success is assured
where there is yogeshwar Krishna (dhytama preacher) and dhanurdhar Partha
(read people equipped with the power to vote). Now, what is required of the
BJP is to project the honesty that will be visible to the Hindu masses. That
done, Hindus will come out of caste and class divisions, and rid the country
of the problems it faces today.
