HVK Archives: How not to fight the BJP
How not to fight the BJP - Outlook
Padmanand Jha
()
23 April 1997
Title : How not to fight the BJP
Author : Padmanand Jha
Publication : Outlook
Date : April 23, 1997
One cannot but begin to have serious doubts about the strategic
vision of our so-called secular leaders in the nation's war against
communal forces. Witness the pathetic behind-the-scenes manoeuvres
to cobble yet another strictly ad-hoc coalition; the one-point
agenda of keeping the BJP out of power for a short while, even if
it ends up giving the foe additional ammunition for the long-drawn
battle ahead; openly admitting that they do not want to face
another election because the BJP will come out stronger; creating a
bogey that gives the right-wing party a far too larger-than-life
image.
What our leaders have completely failed to grasp is that the battle
against fundamentalist forces like the BJP and the Shiv Sena cannot
be fought in the bungalows of Lutyens' Delhi. If a serious war has
to be waged against them, the theatre of action has to be shifted
to the countless towns and villages of the country. And it is time
we realised that if we are to have a credible chance of winning, it
cannot be done through unprincipled alliances among discredited
politicians, but through a major campaign offensive among the
people. What is happening right now-I am referring to the efforts
for a United Front-Congress coalition at the Centre-will only
destroy whatever credibility the two organisations have left,
heighten popular cynicism and give major default benefits to the
Sangh parivar.
I, for one, am not too convinced of the argument that a BJP
government will destroy the secular fabric of India. To be sure,
the BJP will make an effort to curb the plurality of our society,
it will tend to be inherently hostile to the many-sided aspirations
of a composite Indian society. But I also have no doubt that such
efforts will boomerang and the party will subsequently be shown its
proper place by the discerning and mature Indian electorate.
In fact, those who live by raising the bogey of the BJP's damage
potential for India's plural fabric and the secular thrust of its
Constitution are insulting the intelligence and resilience of the
Indian electorate. Let us not forger how the Indian people had
sent a queenbee like Indira Gandhi packing when she tampered with
India's democratic temper during the Emergency. Or how,
post-Ayodhya demolition, the BJP fared in the assembly polls.
There is yet another argument against the shape of the blind
anti-BJP coalition which our politicians are attempting. It can
never be stable. It will be as fragile as the earlier experiments
against the Congress' former power monopoly. After all, the
limited view of keeping the BJP out can't prevail over other
political realities, like the absolute conflict of interest between
the Congress on the one hand and the Left Front, the Telugu Desam,
the Janata Dal and the AGP on the other. Fed on a diet of
anti-Congressism at the state level, these parties cannot possibly
entertain thoughts of having any lasting relationship with that
party at the Centre.
The best bet, therefore, would lie in the United Front remaining
intact, proving that it retains the essence of its political logic
even outside the portals of power. That it can do only by refusing
to join a coalition with either the Congress or the BJP, even if it
means going for fresh polls. The next edition of this drama of
democracy may well see the BJP in at least partial command of the
12th Lok Sabha, but we must understand that the 12th Lok Sabha will
not be the last Lok Sabha. The battle can be continued on the
three slogans which the Front can adopt as its guiding credo:
secularism, genuine federalism and social justice. The United
Front must send out a clear signal to the people. That though it
was formed purely in an anti-BJP and anti-Congress context, it has
the capacity to go beyond the circumstances of its birth and
provide a positive programme for the nation.
For this, the first requisite will be self-belief and a long-term
vision. And here, they must take heart from the Left Front's
experience in West Bengal. Remember Jyoti Basu's words of comfort
to the UF steering committee after the fall of the Deve Gowda
government had become imminent: the Left Front's first essay in
Writers Building, the seat of power in West Bengal, lasted barely a
few months. The second was only slightly longer.
But they held together. Kept working relentlessly at the grassroots
level. And when they came back to power in 1977, they have since
had an uninterrupted stint of two decades.
But what about the Congress? Can it also not play a major role in
the battle for secularism? I am afraid the answer has to be a
categorical no. Witness the current sorry state of its
organisation, and the fact that its sole ideology seems to be the
pursuit of power. The senile fogeys it now has as its leaders are
too busy playing the childish game of noughts and crosses, trying
to block out their adversaries (political and personal) from coming
to power, to be thought of as realistic opponents of communalism.
What's worse, the Congress appears to have lost complete touch with
the grassroots and, hence, cannot be expected to launch any mass
campaign to take the real issues to the people, to highlight the
threat the nation faces from obscurantist and communal elements.
Maybe the party can be revitalised and turned into a reliable ally
for the battles ahead. Maybe this is the time for its second
generation leaders to assert themselves and throw out the bulk of
the current geriatric crop lock, stock and barrel.
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