NATIONAL POLITICS

BJP: National Executive, Political Resolution Bhopal, 21-23 June, 1996

The 1996 General Election is a watershed in India's contemporary political history a major turning point in Indian politics. The most significant aspect of this verdict is the removal of Indian National Congress from the centre stage of national politics and emergence of the BJP as the premier party. Henceforth, politics will be bifurcated into camps either friendly or hostile to the BJP.

The 1996 Mandate was obviously against the Congress (1). On the personal level it was a mandate for Vajpayee, and against Narasimha Rao. While Vajpayee personifies probity in public life, Rao symbolizes deviousness in politics. Rao has only accelerated the process of disintegration of the Congress party. Bereft of power and devoid political confidence, the Congress today is an utterly demoralized party

1996 election also marks the formation of a thirteen-party coalition, which notwithstanding such a plethora of parties is yet a Minority Government. The United Front is actually a disunited front, and inherently fragile. It represents political opportunism, sordid power lust and extreme ideological contradictions. Its farcical Common Minimum Programme is a mere camouflage. It is a one-point programme to keep the BJP out of power.

The Front is a curious political conglomerate. The largest political segment in the Front in the Janata Dal, and this has less than 8% of the seats in the Lok Sabha confined mainly to two states, Karnataka and Bihar. Its political strength depends upon its ability to create tensions in society and thus generate a constituency. Along with the Samajwadi Party, the two represent politics of casteism, gangsterism and opportunism.

Some Congressmen hostile to Narasimha Rao have taken temporary refuge in the United Front. The moment the leadership issue in the Congress (1) is resolved, the Nation may witness the collapse of the United Front with these Congressmen returning home.

The Left Parties in the name of anti-BJPism have made peace with Congress' corruption and have teamed up with those who represent criminalization and casteism.

Amidst this ideological collapse and moral decay, the BIP stands out today as the only stable pole of Indian politics. The phenomenal growth of the BJP in the last one decade is attributable to the ideological debate launched by the BJP on the real content of Indian Secularism Cultural Nationalism has struck a positive cord with the Indian people, The BIP is Ayodhya. It cannot jeopardize Indias' Security by permitting an unchecked infiltration of Bangladeshis into India. BJP has always demanded the enactment of Uniform Civil Code based on the Constitutional principles of gender equality and the right to life with dignity. It has always stood for the repeal of Article 370 and a ban on Cow-slaughter. The BJP has always Commission. The blind Anti-BJPism of our opponents is campaigned for establishment of the Human Rights due to our nationalistic commitments. The massive support to the BJP is evidence of an increased acceptability of our ideology.

The Congress (1) support to the United Front Government is resulting in a noticeable increase in the BJP vote. The Congress support to the Mulayam significantly. This phenomenon will not be repeated at Government in UP in late 1990 undermined its base the national level.

The United Front is the creation of ideological compromise and political opportunism. It will collapse sooner than expected. Its government is dependent on Narasimha Rao's support for survival. It is getting engaged in the exercise of covering up investigations against Rao.

The Congress has succeeded in installing an unstable, fragile and puppet Government which will seek to cover up his crimes. The United Front Government is a Congress proxy to whitewash its sins of corruption.

Regional parties are a product of struggle against the Congress misrule. The political paradox of support at the Centre and Opposition in the states cannot last long.

The mandate for the BJP to rule, a mandate against the Congress stands hijacked. The Deve Gowda Government, remote controlled by the Congress Party, has no relevance to the electoral verdict of 1996. A political mandate. The BJP will strongly oppose this mere arithmetical aggregation does not constitute a national betrayal by the United Front.

The BJP commits itself to struggle against those responsible for the hijacking.

The BJP manifesto talks of a Uniform Civil Code in the abstract. But I’m not sure whether anyone has applied his mind to the practical side of the complications it will create. I am more concerned about uniform justice for all.

BJP: Comments on the Minimum Programme of the United Front Government

Ram Janam Bhoomi:

The decision to refer the Ram Janam Bhoomi matter to the Supreme Court under Article 138(2) of the Constitution is unwise. The Court could well decline and, if not, it would be unwise to drag in the court on such a highly emotive issue.

Secularism:

The Front faults its own definition of secularism when outlining programmes for minorities. It chooses to specify only religious minorities and not any other. Why not? And why reservation for Dalit Christians? When such a measure can only be at the cost of the existing allocations for our SCS OR STS. Or do the Front, and Congress, wish to raise reservations beyond the Supreme Court's delineated 50% ceiling?

The Front further communalises gender equality by treating the quest for Common Civil Code as a religious issue. The essence of equal rights to women on marriage, divorce, custody and inheritance lies precisely in the realm of a reform of our Civil Code. Why does the Front wish to deny equality to women on the one hand, and plagiaristically then speak of reservations for them, on the other.

Illegal Immigration:

The Front must explain its stand clearly on the issue of illegal immigration into the country. This problem is not confined to Assam alone. It covers the whole of the North East. Indeed, large parts of West Bengal and Bihar are also affected. Colonies of illegal immigrants have sprung up even in the National Capital Region of Delhi. Besides, when the State of Assam has itself sought an amendment to the existing legislation, what does the Front mean by resolving this issue "in Assam" alone and on the basis of a decade old accord which has remained unimplementable?

Why this total silence on the consequences to national security by activities of foreign intelligence agencies like the ISI, by the virtual flooding of the country by RDX; by the presence of foreign mercenaries and other aspects of insurgent activities in Jammu and Kashmir, in the North East and elsewhere.

BABARI MASJID

 Inder Malhotra on Demolition

The demolition of the Babari Masjid was a defining moment in Indian history. The Muslim minority has not forgiven Rao for this outrage to this day. It, in fact, considers him an "accomplice" of the BJP, not a victim of the Hindutva party's deceit and breach of promise of protect the mosque.

Udayan Namboodiri On BJP's Upsurge in Bengal

4 debate on secularism has already started in Bengal. Bengal's bhadraloke elite, historically the original chattering class, is now all for the BJP.

The bhadraloke, according to numerous tomes on Bengal politics, keeps his communal feelings disguised. under a preference for Centrist political parties, dominated by the upper castes. But because this class' influence is largely restricted to Calcutta, its bete noir, the Communist parties, have never been seriously worried. in the past. Now, however, things look different.

The inspiration for coming out in the open, as it were, has been A.B. Vajpayee, whose two-day visit last week, has left drawing rooms here full of new interest in politics. Their denizens are unanimous that the old choice Congress, the party their forbearers conceived, is no longer fit to represent their interests.

Vajpayee not only drew unprecedented crowds but hundreds lined the streets of Calcutta to watch his convoy. zip past. The impact with which Vajpayee hit Calcutta has quite unnerved the CPI(M) and its allies. While Sailen Dasgupta, State secretary, accused Vajpayee of making communal speeches, Subhash Chakravorty, the strongman Minister, who is a great crowd puller for the party's rallies, was left worried. He told a SFI meeting that they should be worried that so many young people and students turned up for Vajpayee's meeting.

The post-elections equations at Delhi, where the CPI(M) and Congress are 'strange bedfellows', has given the BJP a new entry point in West Bengal. The Calcutta elite, which traditionally voted for the Congress out of disenchantment with the Left Front for its failure to address its basic problems, is, in the wake of Vajpayee's visit, looking for a new vent for its frustration.

The Communists themselves are conscious that a 'vacuum' has been created in State politics, which the BJP can well fill. Though the Congress would feel the first blow, the CPI(M) and its allies can read the writing on the wall. That in a State with 78% Hindus, a 'Hindutva' party does not exactly have a dead-end future. The Congress, on the other hand, is worried about its future in W.Bengal. Though the two-pole split of the electorate till now has helped it retain a 40% hold over the votes, it faces the prospect of erosion of this base too.

Thanks to the temple issue, the BJP increased its vote share in 1991 to more than 11%. That was at the cost of the Congress, as the results of the 1996 election have shown. Deprived of a wave, the BJP's share of the votes. came down this time to a little over 5%. The Congress. gained by this. But after Vajpayee's visit, all that seems like ancient history.

(Source: The ?????????????, 17 June, 1996)