Pokhran II BJP's harmful legacy Defeat of BJP-Allies National task of today

The BJP and other RSS outfits are adept at concocting falsehoods and making malicious propaganda against the Left and the democratic and secular forces. Despite the support of a good section of monopoly houses and the media and despite the resort to massive use of money power, they could not stave off their defeat in the confidence motion in Lok Sabha. In an unsuccessful bid to underplay the importance of this defeat and the reasons thereof, they are seeking to lay the blame elsewhere. The Left has always been a convenient target for attack. But the fact remains that it was the withdrawal of support by their own pre-poll coalition partner, the AIADMK, which brought the government to a minority and led to its downfall. Laying the blame on other is, to say the least, ill advised.

It may be recalled that the BJP government's position had always been precarious. A ramshackle coalition with pre- and post-poll allies, it had to wait painfully for quite a few days before the "chitthi" from Chennai arrived for the president. But even this letter of support from AIADMK general secretary, Jayalalitha, was not enough to bring the BJP alliance to power. It was the last minute opportunistic defection of the TDP from the United Front camp that put them in the saddle.

The BJP leadership is conveniently hiding the fact that they did try every means at their command to remain glued to the seat of power. They went about with moneybags and also tried to re-do the Kalyan Singh trick of inducing mass defections with the lure of ministerial berths.

Now they are going to town saying that they lost by "just" one vote and that too could have been averted but for the vote of the Girdhar Gomang who was sworn in as Orissa chief minister but had not resigned his Lok Sabha seat. As Girdhar Gomang had not been elected to the Orissa assembly, to vote in Lok Sabha was very much his right. The BJP is also seeking to gloss over the fact that two votes from the opposition were not registered. If they had been registered, the margin would have risen. That they were desperate and could go to any length to remain in office was revealed by the Chautala episode. Chautala, who had some time back withdrawn from the BJP alliance and had been repeatedly till the last minute been swearing that his MPs would vote out the BJP, committed a volte face and "in national interests" voted in favour of the confidence vote. What was the bargain? It may be another JMM case in the making. But the people already know.

Why did they lose the November 1998 elections to the three state assemblies when they had a government at the centre and in two of the three states? They cannot blame the opposition of misleading the voters of these states. The people by their own judgement of the five-year BJP rule in these states had decisively rejected it.

REAL FACE OF THEIR STABILITY

Once again the BJP will be harping on its plank of stability. What is the stability they are talking about? They could not come out with a common manifesto for their alliance. All of them went to the people with their separate manifestoes. While the BJP advocated abrogation of article 370, was in favour of a common civil code, etc, its allies were opposed to these. Their alliance was based only on one point -- lust for power. Even the National Agenda for Governance, that was to be the programme of the alliance government, was not implemented earnestly. Instead, the BJP sought to pursue its own Hindutva agenda in various spheres, much to the consternation and discomfiture of some of its allies. The pulls and strains with the alliance were such that while some partners were openly accusing each other, some resorted to other methods like boycotting meetings, withdrawing from the coordination committee, etc. To keep its allies pleased, the BJP went on compromising. The threat of withdrawal was there from day one, and the BJP could not take any risk.

No other government in the past sought to remain in office after it lost the confidence of the parliament. Whether it be V P Singh, Deve Gowda or Gujaral, they promptly resigned and made way for another government. But not so the BJP. Though Vajpayee formally tendered his resignation, the BJP and allies mounted pressure on the president to accept a fresh claim from them to form a government. Identical letters were sent by the BJP and its allies to the president to consider this plea. This militates against the accepted parliamentary norms and practice.

Dissidence within the BJP and within its allied parties, especially on the count of being denied the fishes and loaves of office, was public knowledge. It is for this simple reason that Vajpayee did not think it prudent to go in for a cabinet expansion; it was promised twice but postponed. Of course, he did a minor expansion; two members defeated in Lok Sabha polls were given assignments in the government. Jaswant Singh and Pramod Mahajan were formally inducted as ministers after they were elected to the upper house. Jagmohan also came in as communications minister. These three were considered essential by the Vajpayee dispensation. It was the craving for office of various personalities within the different constituents and demands of lucrative ministries that compelled Vajpayee to shelve the promised expansion twice.

Samata Party has split in Bihar; there are bickerings in the Biju Janata Dal and its president has dissolved the political affairs committee; many leaders of the Lok Shakti have left Hegde and joined the Congress; Akalis are in a bad shape.

NOTHING MUCH TO DISPLAY

What is the record on the basis of which the BJP is seeking to go to the people? Having nothing much to display, except for its largesse to the monopoly houses and multinationals, it has to rely on the "big achievement," the bomb. This is an issue that is being discussed separately. This apart, there is nothing that the BJP can laud over.

Its record of one year in government have confirmed our worst apprehensions about the consequences of a communal party being in power at the centre. The opportunistic alliance gave the RSS ample opportunities to penetrate the state apparatus and push forward the Hindutva agenda. Its one year in office witnessed a sharp increase in the attacks on the Christians. While in Dangs district of Gujarat destruction of prayer halls, schools and physical assaults was a daily feature, in MP nuns were raped. In a bizarre incident, at Manoharpur in Orissa, an Australian priest and his two sons were burnt alive while in sleep. These were no isolated incidents but the outcome of a planned campaign launched by the RSS and its outfits. The BJP leaders, even while trying to demarcate themselves under pressure from their allies, sought to publicly defend the perpetrators of these crimes by absolving the organisations concerned. Advani gave a clean chit to the Bajrang Dal though its involvement in the Manoharpur outrage was revealed. Vajpayee sought to justify the activities of Hindu Jagran Manch in Dangs by calling for a national debate on conversions. The Shiv Sena, an important ally of BJP and a rabidly communal-chauvinist outfit, was also allowed to get away with all sorts of vandalism. While there were attacks on the houses of cine stars, Sena men dug up the cricket pitch in Delhi threatening to disrupt the Indo-Pak cricket series. The office of the Board of Cricket Control in India at Bombay was ransacked. Instead of bringing the culprits to book, however, peace was made with Thackeray.

The BJP's economic policies were brazenly pro-rich. It abandoned its swadeshi plank for videshi soon after assumption of power. While the last budget gave away concessions worth Rs 8,000 crore to the corporate sector and affluent sections, two-thirds of the additional taxes were to be collected through indirect taxes that affect the common people. Patronage to big business houses and nepotism reached scandalous proportions. It went in for disinvestment of public sector in a big way. Even recently, though in a caretaker status, the government has offered the shares of the national carrier, Indian Airlines, to the private sector. Its railway budget with an across the board increase in freight charges by four per cent and increase in sleeper class fares; the increase in postal rates, the hike in diesel prices -- all these measures are going to hit the poor very hard. The issue prices of rice, wheat and sugar distributed through the PDS were increased heavily; simultaneously there was an increase in the urea and cooking gas prices.

BRAZEN INTERFERENCE

The BJP brazenly interfered with the bureaucracy, the armed forces and the judiciary. While Admiral Bhagwat was dismissed, the chief justice of Chennai High Court was transferred. Another high court judge was removed on the ground of being over-aged.

Its authoritarian traits were evident when, within a span of six months, it recommended imposition of president rule in Bihar twice. While on the first occasion the president sent back the recommendation, on the second occasion the government had to beat a retreat in the face of sure defeat in the upper house where it did not have a majority and would have failed to get approval.

There has been a sharp reversal of India's foreign policy positions and its policy of friendship with neighbours. The Pokhran blasts undid years of work that had gone in to earn India goodwill and reputation in the international arena as an advocate of peace and disarmament. India is now being projected as the bully responsible for escalating tensions in South Asia. It has spoilt relations with our neighbours and its standing in the international comity of nations has been lowered. No other government was capable of achieving this within so short a time. It has also been unprecedented in its shameless surrender to US imperialism, whether on the issue of CTBT or other issues.

NATIONAL UNITY UNDERMINED

The BJP has sought to undermine two important pillars of Indian unity -- secularism and federalism. There are people following various religious denominations in India. While Hindus constitute the overwhelming majority, the minorities are also not insignificant. There are 140 million Muslims, 25 million Christians and 20 million Sikhs, apart from followers of Buddhism and Jainism. The framers of the constitution had rightly concluded that unity among the people following various religions can be maintained only on the basis of secularism, i e, separation of religion from politics. However, the BJP is a practitioner of the opposite.

Coming to the second pillar, federalism, India encompasses various linguistic-cultural formations with distinct historical backgrounds. This unity can be strengthened only on the basis of a federal structure where the states' rights are protected; their languages and cultures are allowed to grow and bloom. But the very concept of Hindutva -- one nation, one religion and one culture -- is anathema to federalism.

The CPI(M)'s opposition to the BJP is because of its avowedly communal character that is opposed to the very concept of Indian nationhood, its plurality and its unity. We must never forget the fact that the BJP draws inspiration from the RSS.

It is to foil the BJP's bid for power after the 1996 elections, that we took the initiative to form the United Front and secure the support of the Congress for it. On two occasions the Congress withdrew support and finally the UF government fell. When after the 1998 elections, the BJP managed to rope in some allies and came to power with a slender majority, we had warned of its disastrous consequences for the country. At the same time we also predicted that this won't last long as the inherent contradictions and conflicts would pull it apart. That is exactly what has happened.

RECENT HAPPENINGS

But in the aftermath of the Vajpayee government's fall, an agreement could not be reached for the formation of an alternative government due to the adamant stand of the Samajwadi Party, RSP and Forward Bloc. They refused to support a minority Congress government or a Congress led government supported by other parties of the opposition. The SP will have to explain to the people why it did a volte face, while earlier on several occasions it had been prompting the Congress to take the initiative to pull down the BJP government and form an alternative.

However, the fact remains that with one of its constituents withdrawing support, the BJP-led government has gone and forced another election on the country. While the BJP is now going with the same old plank of a "stable government, able prime minister" (it cannot go to the people displaying its record in government), the Congress is seeking to project itself as the only alternative. It is trying to sell the idea that it is going to come to power on its own, disregarding the existing realities today, both its organisational position and the increase in the number of regional parties and groups.

CPI(M)'S POSITION

As opposed to both of these, the CPI(M) will strive for the creation of a third alternative. This no doubt is a difficult task but the Left will make a concerted effort in this direction. The Left which has consistently fought against both the Congress's economic policies and the BJP's communalism and economic policies is seen by the people as a champion of their rights and aspirations. The only guarantee to keep the BJP out is an increased presence of the Left in parliament. This is the reason the BJP is directing its attacks against the Left, and the CPI(M) in particular.

The CPI(M)'s election tactics in the coming elections will be directed towards defeating the BJP and its allies. While directing the main fire against the BJP, the Party would also oppose the Congress party's politics and policies in such a manner as to project the need for a third alternative. The concrete tactics will differ from state to state depending on the concrete realities existing there. In states where the BJP has a strong presence and the Congress is the main rival, our strategy will be to register the presence of the Party while directing the whole campaign at defeating the BJP. This however is not to imply that our basic opposition to the Congress will be diluted to any extent. It is only for achieving the larger objective of defeating the BJP that this is being done. In states where the Left is strong, it will be a direct fight between the Left and the Congress.

The CPI(M) will strive to expose the BJP's record in government, make the people conscious of the communal danger and project alternative policies opposed to that of the Congress as well as the BJP. It will endeavour to rouse the people to reject the BJP and the communal forces and vote into office an alternative secular government. There is no escape from communal discord and disunity if the BJP is elected. The second option is reject the BJP to preserve national unity and secular democracy. There is no third option.