LESSONS OF HISTORY

Here it will not be out of place to recall the horrors that preceded and accompanied the country's partition in 1947. For as was wisely said by famous French novelist Balzac, "Those who forget history are condemned to repeat it." Because of the British policy of divide and rule, the country paid a very heavy price for its independence. Tens of thousands of people of all age groups were brutally massacred on both sides of the newly carved out border for no fault of theirs, lakhs had had to leave their hearth and home, a very large number of women were molested and raped. Nay more, the horrendous impacts of the partition still persist in the affected people's pshche: in many parts the minorities are still condemned to live in a fear psychosis; the mental make-up of the migrants in both the countries still exhibits traits of abnormalities.

Not only that, the scourge of communalism also took the life of Mahatma Gandhi under whose leadership the country's men and women had fought for independence. For it was an RSS man that shot the Mahatma dead -- simply because the latter was an ardent champion of communal amity and national unity.

It was therefore not accidental that the framers of India's republican constitution thoroughly realised the threat that communalism can pose to the unity of the nation, to our very existence as a civilised, pluralistic and democratic nation. This was the reason our constitution makers incorporated the concept of secularism not just as an ideal but as the "basic framework" of India's democratic polity; this is what the Supreme Court reiterated decades later in a landmark case.

MULTI-HEADED MONSTER

And it is this very pillar of Indian unity that is once again threatened -- that too by the same Rashtriya Svayamsevak Sangh (RSS) that claimed the life of the Mahatma.

The heinous assassination of the Mahatma, the consequent nationwide hatred for the RSS and the ban imposed on it also forced this communal fascistic outfit to change its tactic. In order to get the ban lifted, the RSS promised to remain a non-political, cultural organisation, and indeed it also claims to be so day in and day out. But as every student of contemporary Indian history very well knows, its non-political cultural character is just a sham, intended to dupe the gullible. Soon after the ban was lifted, the RSS moved to form a political outfit under the name of Jan Sangh which was, about three decades later, reborn as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). It is this very RSS-controlled political outfit that is today leading the ruling coalition and is seeking to stage a comeback in the impending Lok Sabha polls.

However, it will be a tremendously serious mistake if one does not recognise that the RSS also functions through, literally, several thousands of frontal organisations like the VHP, Bajrang Dal, Vanvasi Kalyan Parishad, Hindu Jagran Manch, Hindu Munnani, etc, to name just a few. This is what gives the RSS the character of a multi-headed monster and enables it to speak in several, sometimes apparently but only apparently contradictory, voices at the same time. This is precisely the way every fascistic organisation functions.

POLITICAL STUNT

If one even casually analyses the BJP's election manifestoes in the last one decade, one can well see the deceit resorted to by it. All these manifestoes, except that for the 1998 elections, raised the issues that have been described as "contentious," like the temple construction, "common" civil code, article 370, etc. But when the BJP and its remote control, the RSS, realised that they could not capture power without forming alliances with other parties, some of whom claim to be secular, they simply dropped these issues; the latter did not figure in the so called National Agenda for Governance either, which the BJP and 12 other parties adopted after coming to power.

But, that it was just a political stunt became clear very soon when several BJP luminaries including the home minister L K Advani thought it necessary to clarify that they had dropped these "contentious" issues only because they did not have a majority on their own. Their contention was clear -- the BJP has simply postponed these issues till the time it acquires its own majority. This is what opened the eyes of every sane thinking parson in the country, except the BJP's allies who do not want to see this naked truth because of their opportunistic lust for power.

However, for the BJP and the RSS, it is not simply a question of sharing power. It is something much more than that; it is a question of spreading their tentacles far and wide. It is precisely with this aim that the BJP thinks it prudent to form alliances in various parts of the country, more so in areas where it has only negligible presence like the south and the east. In sum, its real aim is to capture power on its own so that it could implement its communal agenda, in popular parlance the "hidden" agenda.

With this aim in sight, the BJP has also been trying to disrupt other parties. In Haryana, it has dumped its erstwhile ally, the HVP of Bansilal, and extended support to the INLD led by Om Prakash Chautala who has also purchased many HVP MLAs. It egged on Sharad Pawar to echo the same "foreigners" issue that the BJP has been raising. Then it caused a split in the Janata Party with the help of George Fernandes and Ramkrishna Hegde. Another erstwhile ally of the BJP, the AIADMK general secretary Ms Jayalalitha, had already accused the BJP of trying to disrupt the AIADMK-led front in Tamil Nadu. And the accusation was not without substance.

REAL CHARACTER

But what the shape of things will be in case the BJP acquires power, has already been indicated by several chains of events. One of them was the chain of barbaric attacks mounted against the minuscule Christian minority in many parts of the country; these came as a supplement to the anti-Muslim pogroms which continue even today. Example: the recent riots in Ahmedabad. The BJP not only never condemned these attacks and pogroms but even sought to cover them up and shield the culprits. Example: the Staines murder case in Orissa.

Then there were the attempts to communalise the Indian education system through tamperings with the textbooks, distortion of the historical facts, packing the higher education and research bodies with committed RSS activists, etc.

The BJP's real character became further clear after the decision to disenfranchise Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray for making a communal provocative speech in 1987. Even though the Sena chief was found guilty of naked violation of the country's constitution and the Representation of People's Act, the BJP has been mute on the issue and did not hail the decision as many other parties did. Not only that, the BJP led government sat tight for about eight months on the Election Commission's recommendation to the president to disenfranchise Thackeray (The Hindustan Times, July 29), with the result that the period of the punishment meted out to Thackeray has been reduced from six years to barely 17 months. This is the way the BJP disclosed its real affinity.

SEVERE TURBULENCES

However, nobody can say with certainty that the BJP's path to absolute power will be smooth. There are many reasons to that. First of all this country has a long tradition of amity and secularism which has strong roots among the people and it will not be easy to destroy that tradition.

But in the short term also, the BJP led coalition is facing severe turbulences which it will not be easy for the party to overcome on a more or less permanent basis. For, the BJP's allies are finding it difficult to justify to their rank and file their alliance with the big brother. In almost every state, the allies are fearing an erosion of their mass base and wondering whether their alliance with the BJP is a boon or a bane. The case of TDP's discomfiture in Andhra Pradesh is a classic case in this regard. And with the discontent growing over the policies of the BJP government, this erosion is bound to increase instead of dying down.

At the same time, these allies are demanding more seats for contesting. But the BJP cannot afford to concede such demands beyond a point, as it needs for itself more and more seats in order to establish its hegemony. This is the reason behind the Trinamul-BJP differences over the Bankura seat in West Bengal. In UP also, Loktantrik Congress and JBSP are giving the local BJP bosses sleepless nights with similar demands. However, even if the BJP is able to tide over these difficulties temporarily, such differences will certainly take their toll sooner or later.

The BJP too is plagued with internal dissensions in almost every state because of its leaders' lust for power. Such dissensions are only too clear to need elaboration. In Gujarat the VHP is reported to have taken up cudgels against the chief minister Keshubhai Patel.

And now, the entry of the break-away Janata Dal faction into the BJP led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) has become another cause of worry for the BJP leaders. Their Karnataka unit is stoutly opposing any such move; more or less the same can be said of their Bihar unit. On the other hand, those who broke the Janata Dal in the name of consolidation of "erstwhile socialist forces" are not likely to remain silent without getting some reward for their dubious feat. In fact, they broke the JD and merged this faction with the Samta Party and Lokshakti precisely with the objective of enhancing their bargaining power within the NDA. But precisely this thing is unpalatable to the BJP which is well aware of the merger's motive. That is why even senior leaders like Advani and Thakre opposed the entry of the new entity into the NDA, on the plea that the JD faction should have applied for entry into the NDA as an individual party. The ball is now in Vajpayee's court.

DUBIOUS CLAIMS

It is therefore not without reason that the BJP is trying hard to capitalise on the Kargil conflict, posing it as a victory for Vajpayee's leadership. However, here too the real worth of their claim is not concealed from the people. The latter know it very well that it is the Indian Army's courage, determination and valour to which the credit must go for the victory in Kargil, and that on this score no credit is due to the BJP which has, in fact, proved its incompetence in regard to the nation's security.

Similarly, their claim about providing stability also stands exposed. It is the BJP that in fact destabilised the Bansilal government in Haryana, and who can say with certainty that it will not destabilise the Chautala government in case it fails to extract its price from him!

Moreover, stability is in reality not a matter of numerical strength as the BJP is falsely trying to project. In the past too, some of the governments, whether in the states or at the centre, did enjoy bumper majority but yet they failed to provide stability. Stability is in fact a matter of policies, and only such policies can bring stability as are addressed to solving the real problems facing the people like poverty and unemployment, illiteracy and low level of education, lack of housing, adequate health care and even drinking water, and so on. It is here that the BJP's policies are sure to prove their bankruptcy, generate discontent and give rise to instability. For the real aim of these policies is to rush benefits to the haves, indigenous as well as foreign, at the cost of the country's have-nots. The recent telecom scam -- which the CPI(M) has described as one of the biggest scams of the millennium -- is a case in point.

Moreover, one cannot visualise any stability without secularism and federalism, the two pillars of India's unity. As we know, India is a country of vast differences in religions and creeds, in food and dressing habits, in languages and dialects, and so on. Yet, if India possesses a unity in this very rich diversity, it is because of its secular ethos which enabled many cultures to flourish here and intermingle. But it is this very secular ethos that is an anethema to the BJP. In fact, no country can claim to be stable without safeguarding the genuine aspirations of the linguistic and religious minorities, as we have seen in the case of East Pakistan, now Bangladesh. India too has to protect its secular ethos, its tradition of communal harmony like the apple of its eyes in order to remain united and stable. But the BJP is simply incapable of protecting India's unity and providing stability.