Author: Prafull Goradia, General
Secretary, Jana Sangh
Publication: The Pioneer
Date: May 1, 2005
The BJP is a scabbard carrying two
swords, one of Hindu nationalism and the other of Gandhian socialism, an
euphemism for a Nehruvian programme. The two are unable to combine with
each other; they are contradictions. Unless the two separate, the party
is likely to suffer from a chakkajaam.
On having to leave the Janata Party
in 1980, led by AB Vajpayee, the BJP was formed. The core of the new party's
ideology was declared as Gandhian socialism. In his inaugural speech, he
clarified that the new party had little to do with the Jana Sangh which
was centred on Hindutva. The word sangh was excluded from the party's name
lest it be obviously associated with Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh.
Evidently, the people, or rather
the voters, did not applaud this dissociation from Hindutva. They returned
only two representatives to the Lok Sabha during the 1984 general election.
Soon thereafter, LK Advani, who was perceived to be close to the RSS, replaced
Vajpayee as the party president. He went out of his way to expose the hypocrisy
of the self- styled secularists. He repeatedly called them pseudo secular.
Meanwhile, the environment warmed up to Hindutva due to the agitation by
the VHP for the building of a grand temple of Ramlalla. The request for
at least one Ramsheela or brick from every village motivated large tracts
of rural India.
The intelligentsia was upset with
the Congress and other secularists due to the overturning of the Supreme
Court judgement in the Shah Bano case. Advani's slogan of pseudo-secularism
carried all the more conviction. In the 1989 general election, the BJP
became the largest non-Congress party. But VP Singh had to be supported
as Prime Minister to ensure the Left Front's help. By 1990, Singh went
on the offensive with Mandalism. The BJP had reason to be anxious which,
in turn, induced the legendary rath yatra from Somnath to Ayodhya. In the
1991 election, the BJP improved its Lok Sabha tally further despite the
perceived martyrdom of Rajiv Gandhi.
The Babri Masjid fell in December
1992 and the excited Hindus saw hope in the BJP as the deliverer of Hindu
asmita or pride. The party itself had remained largely unchanged in its
outlook and did not claim any credit for the demolition at Ayodhya. In
fact, its leaders regretted the event, a gesture overlooked by the people
generally. Hopes ran high when the BJP official manifesto for the 1996
and 1998 general election contained the promise of the temple at Ayodhya.
In the popular perception, whether Hindu, Christian or Muslim, BJP was
Hindutva and Hindutva was BJP.
The 1999 general election programme
produced another illusion. Articles 44 (Uniform Civil Code) and 370 (J&K)
were placed on the backburner by the BJP in order to placate the NDA coalition
partners. People took these clauses as also two other facets of Hindutva,
the third being Ayodhya. Almost everyone overlooked the fact that these
were articles in the Constitution which came into force in January 1950
much before even the Jana Sangh was founded. If anything, the articles
could be called Nehrutva but certainly not Hindutva. yet the people believed
what they did and the party allowed them to cherish the illusion.
Relegating promises to the backburner
did disappoint the Hindu voters somewhat, especially in UP where the Lok
Sabha seat harvest dropped sharply. Overall the BJP retained this total
of 183 or so seats. But this was notwithstanding the Kargil war which had
aroused a great patriotic sentiment all of which went to the credit of
the BJP. The following five years were all a disappointment for the Hindu
voter and especially for the Parivar's loyal cadres.
A greater disillusionment to them
was the duplicity of Vajpayee. He repeatedly produced the threat of the
NDA breaking up if Hindutva points were pressed by the RSS. Yet no coalition
partner resigned over the riots in Gujarat. Chandra Babu Naidu even asked
for the resignation of Narendra Modi but did nothing more. The message
to the RSS was obvious: Vajpayee was using the NDA ghost as a balance against
the Sangh. He wished to appear indispensable so that the RSS does not object
to his being PM as it had to Mr Jaswant Singh becoming finance minister
in 1998.
If the BJP were to become a truly
pro-Hindu party, an expanding constituency awaits to embrace it. Assam,
Bihar and UP, where the Muslims reside in large numbers, the Hindus feel
increasingly threatened. The UPA government is behaving as if it is a pro-Muslim
coalition. The Left front is virtually a B team of the Muslim League. There
is a gathering Hindu backlash which today feels it has nowhere to go. Unfortunately,
the BJP is a chariot with two saffron horses and three animals whose breed
is a cross between saffron and green The chariot would run much farther
with only two horses rather than with two divided by three. A separation
is inevitable; if not soon, it would be soon after the venerable dwi-murthy
retires.
