RULING COMBINE: DEVOID OF ISSUES

The pattern and tenor of the poll campaign in all these states or parts of states very clearly indicates that the ruling BJP and its allies are very much on the defensive and it is proving very difficult for them to give an account of their deeds and misdeeds during the last 17 odd months. The opposition rallies in all these areas have evoked big response from the people who, it seems, are going to throw cold water on the ruling combine's hopes about staging a comeback. Touring through these areas and addressing several poll meetings there, I have myself been witness to the big turnout at opposition meetings.

Of course this is quite different from the picture the media -- print as well as electronic -- are projecting. According to them, the BJP is all set to come back to power, and that too with bigger strength. But the ground reality appears to be otherwise, and it will not be very much surprising if, from October 7 onward, it begins transpiring what a big surprise the masses had kept in reserve for the ruling combine and its wellwishers in the media.

The poll campaign so far has made one thing very clear -- that the BJP and its allies are simply devoid of issues and are only trying to garner votes on dubious issues or non-issues. For example, they are trying to raise the bogey of a videshi Sonia versus swadeshi Vajpayee and to cash in on the Kargil issue. Of late, they have started talking of nuclear policy as well, in the vain hope that riding on nuclear tipped missiles they would be able to cross the poll vaitarni that lies just ahead. These are in fact the only stocks in trade with the BJP leaders and their allies. Verily, no ruling party had ever faced such a paucity of issues for its poll campaign!

EXTENT OF DESPERATION

It is therefore nothing surprising that the ruling party leaders have now come down to the level of character assassination and have begun using abusive language. Pramod Mahajan's recent diatribe against Mrs Sonia Gandhi gives an indication of the extent of desperation that has gripped the BJP leaders. Yet the fact remains that the RSS-BJP leaders are past masters in abusive language and character assassination.

But, then, as our rural people's wisdom tells us, a weakling cannot do anything but abuse his opponents!

AKALI-BJP'S NIGHTMARE

Punjab is a case in point where the ruling Akali Dal-BJP combine is having sleepless nights over its bleak prospects and is sure to lose many of its seats. In the last Lok Sabha polls the combine had captured 10 out of 13 seats in the state; Gujral too won the Jalandhar seat with Akali support. But now it seems there is no way the combine can win even half of that tally.

The reason is obvious. In the state the Akali-BJP combine had won the last assembly polls on a number of promises, but most of them were forgotten the day this combine assumed office. The Akali-BJP government promised to provide free power and water to the peasantry, but power was made free in such a way that only the richer sections benefitted from the move. At the same time a majority of the peasantry was practically deprived of power. It is not for nothing that peasants of the Kandhi area are up in arms against the ruling combine. And, then, what has happened in the past few months is really astonishing: virtually everyone in the rural areas has been sent an electricity bill ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand rupees; even agricultural workers have not been spared. On the other hand, more than 2,50,000 applications for power connections have been gathering dust in electricity department offices for the last three years.

During the last three years it has been a virtually total lack of developmental work that has characterised the state of Punjab. On the other hand, the state government has been making all out efforts to privatise education, health and other social sectors, thereby adding to the woes of the common people. Fees for various tests in hospitals have been hiked by 200 to 900 per cent. The condition of the scheduled castes and farm workers has gone from bad to worse. Therefore maybe it is surprising for the BJP but is not so for others if the Hindus of Punjab, whom the BJP has been considering as its reserve vote bank, also stand greatly disappointed and are thinking in terms of teaching a lesson to the combine.

MOOD OF MASSES: AN ILLUSTRATION

Such a big shift in the mood of the masses became apparent at a recent election meeting of the ruling combine in Barnala in Sangrur district. Here the people asked the speakers to tell what they had done for their electorate in the last three years, hooted the speakers when no satisfactory reply came forth and were beaten by the police in return; even women were not spared. The Barnala episode has pushed the people of the whole state into an angry mood.

There is yet another factor that has given rise to mass discontent in the state. Fourteen long years have passed since the Rajiv-Longowal accord was signed and duly endorsed by the parliament. But the Akali-BJP government moved not a small finger to get the clauses of this accord implemented even though the Akalis were part of the central government in the last 17 months. All the genuine problems facing the people of Punjab, most importantly that of irrigation water, remain unresolved as a result. It is this thing that has made the Badal Akali Dal afraid of the people's wrath, and the party has included the accord's clauses in its future agenda. But who is going to believe this falsehood and poll ploy?

OPPORTUNISM ONCE AGAIN

In neighbouring Haryana, the BJP has once again bared its real face as an opportunist party par excellence. Here, it first entered an alliance with the Haryana Vikas Party (HVP) of Bansilal and enjoyed power in his company. Then as soon as it realised that the HVP-BJP coalition government had got discredited, it dumped Bansilal midway and began to abuse him. Now it is in league with the same Chautala whom Advani had, not very long ago, sought to castigate. It also egged on Chautala to purchase HVP MLAs, as per the Aya Ram Gaya Ram tradition for which the state had gained notoriety in the 1960s and later. However, the BJP is currently supporting the Chautala government from outside and has kept the option of joining the state government open till after the Lok Sabha elections, lest its participation in the present state government mars its prospects! This is a classic example of an opportunist party making a bid to keep both worlds in hand.

Up till now the BJP has not been able to explain to the electorate of Haryana why it chose to effect such a volte face.

But yet the people are not likely to forget that it was the HVP-BJP coalition government that was guilty of massacring the peasants of Mandihali (district Mahendragarh) and workers of Tosham (district Bhiwani) who were agitating for their genuine demands. It was the same government that went quite ahead to privatise the state electricity board and divide it into several independent corporations, thus threatening to impose substantial burdens on the people of the state. And it was the same government that heaped unheard of brutalities on state government employees, and university and college teachers. The severe repression that government let loose on the peacefully agitating nurses is a blot on the BJP's face which it will never be able to erase. It is therefore not surprising if the opposition parties are receiving good response from the electorate of the state.

The BJP's opportunism has been laid bare in Rajasthan as well. As recently as on August 30, prime minister Vajpayee visited Sikar to announce support for the Jat Mahasabha's demand that the Jats be extended the benefits of reservation that are given to the OBCs. But the demand is not a new one, and the Backward Class Commission had already accepted it during the United Front's tenure in 1998 though it could not be implemented at that time because of the Election Commission's ruling that this should be taken up only after the elections are over.

Naturally, it was the Vajpayee government which should have done this thing. But this was not to be. For about one and a half years the prime minister, who is now shedding crocodile tears in sympathy with the Jats, sat over the concerned file pending with him and kept delly-dallying though just one notification was required for the purpose. He did not pay any attention to the issue even after several people, including myself and former minister Shishram Ola, wrote to him.

THREAT TO PRESENT & FUTURE

It is very much clear that during its entire tenure, the BJP government did not try to address any substantial issue facing the country and its people. During its regime the life of the working class, peasantry, agricultural workers, even urban middle classes, has only worsened, in which regard onions have now become a classic example. On the other hand, its government in Delhi only allowed the oil magnates to amass wealth even by subjecting the people to dropsy deaths -- just one case of how the rich were enabled to get richer.

At the same time this government has done immense harm to the minorities and national unity, and allowed the RSS brigade to go on rampage with impunity. Its bungling in Kargil and its corrupt ways in telecom now stand as unenviable monuments of its anti-national credentials. The government has also to do some explaining about its sugar deal with Pakistan.

The ten pamphlets recently issued by the CPI(M) expose the real character of the BJP led regime in a graphic way, illustrating in a convincing manner how the continuation of such a party in power would further jeopardise the country's present and future.

SWADESHI DHOTI, VIDESHI CHAAL

This lack of issues with the BJP and allies and the absence of any achievement during the last 17 months explains why the combine is forced to stoop so low and feels compelled now to resort to personal attacks on opposition leaders. As said, they are trying to pose the non-issue of a videshi Sonia versus swadeshi Vajpayee, even though the Congress party has declared that it would decide the leadership issue only after the elections are over.

Moreover, who can forget the bitter truth that, in so far as the BJP leaders are concerned, the only swadeshi left with them is their dress; otherwise in its 52 years as an independent nation India has never seen such a pro-videshi government -- whether in foreign and military policy or in economic and trade policy spheres. The way they put as many as 340 items in the open general license (OGL) including even fruit juices and pickles, thus jeopardising domestic industry; the way they surrendered the national interest on the patents issue; the way they are still avoiding preparing for the coming WTO ministerial level meet to review the TRIPS agreement; the way they tried to open the insurance sector for the foreign multinationals; the way they have prostrated before the US and are itching to sign the CTBT -- all this convincingly shows where their true sympathies lie, notwithstanding all their protestations about being nationalists.

Is it for nothing that the corporate houses and the MNCs are pouring a lot of money into the BJP's coffers? Is it for nothing that even CII chairman Rahul Bajaj has given the BJP government the certificate of being most pro-industry (read: pro-capitalist)? And is it for nothing that even the fundamentalist Lashkar-i-Tayyaba of Pakistan wants a return of the BJP government, thinking it will help their own cause?

NO INKLING OF MASS ASPIRATIONS

However, all this is very natural for a party whose ancestors never took part in the national movement -- whether in the freedom struggle in British India or in the people's struggles in the erstwhile princely states. If anything, they only sided with the infamous rulers of these states as in Kashmir, fomented and took part in communal riots that preceded and accompanied the transfer of power, or even gave statements to the police which resulted in incarceration of freedom fighters, as in Agra district in 1942.

If only the ancestors of the BJP leaders had ever participated in the freedom movement or the state people's struggles, they could have understood what the real sentiments of the people are. Then they could have understood how, for example, it was the heart-felt desire of land reform that had prompted the peasantry to plunge into the freedom struggle head on. Coupled with its class character, it is such a dismal lack of understanding about the people's genuine aspirations and desires that has to date prevented the BJP (or its predecessor, the Jan Sangh) from demanding land reform of any sort.

If, then, the BJP leaders talk of taking pro-people measures, it seems either they are ignoramuses par excellence or they are trying to become clever by half; in any case their claims seem to be nothing but ridiculous. One may well ask, for example: Is the beginning of an arms race, nuclear or even conventional, in South Asia a pro-people measure? Who, if not the people, will be made to pay for the extraordinarily heavy cost such an arms race would involve? Is their surrender on the patents issue not going to cost our people quite heavily? One can well go on multiplying this list. However, if their claims are ridiculous, it does not mean that they would not harm the national interests or the people's aspirations.

MILLION DOLLAR QUESTION

But, the million dollar question is: Are the people going to be duped by the antics the BJP leaders and their allies are indulging in? The answer is a firm No! Not very long ago, in November 1998, the masses had well demonstrated their mood in Delhi, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh assembly elections. Before that they had given an inkling of their mood in Rajasthan and Maharashtra at the time of the Lok Sabha polls. In the same manner, our people simply refused to be swayed by jingoism in the wake of Pokhran II explosions. They also well realise where the tension on our borders would lead us to, or what would happen to this country if the neighbours are made to fight their neighbours in the name of religion.