NATIONAL POLITICS

Historian Harbans Mukhia on End of Communal Politics?

An interesting paradox seems to have marked the political scene over the past few years: a steady rise in the electoral acceptability of the BJP, invariably characterized as the archetypal communal outfit by its adversaries; and the absence of any major communal riot since the dastardly violence unleashed in the wake of the demolition of the Babari Masjid in December, 1992.

 BJP's Strategy

Understandably, several streams have contributed to the emerging denouement. The BJP's own extremist Hindutva project has got diluted as its space in the political mainstream expanded. Its strategy of forging a uniform identity of the Hindus had a degree of egalitarian appeal in it inasmuch as it sought to blur the sectarian and caste dividing lines under the single colour of the saffron banner. But the reality of caste identities forced a two- fold dilution. On the one hand, the upper caste core of its ideology as well as resistance from the upper caste supporters for pragmatic political considerations moderated the implementation of the strategy; on the other hand, the growing Dalit support for the BJP too generated its own increasingly aggressive refusal to be taken for granted without commensurate space within the BJP spectrum. This phenomenon is best symbolized in the virtual indispensability of Mr. Kalyan Singh as the BJP's projected chief minister in UP.

The forceful emergence of the SP-BSP alternative, first in combination and now separately, has also helped though it has, in turn, generated social and political tensions of a different kind.

There is also the counting of costs of communal riots - economic dislocation, political instability and cultural consequences of fractured inter-community ties. These seem to have been the chief lessons from the last bout of riots. And the lessons have not been lost.

Not least has been the contribution of the silent, and therefore decisive, withdrawal of the Muslim community from the siege mentality that had been stoked by virtually every political grouping: the Congress, BJP, the orthodox as well liberal leadership of the Muslim community and, indirectly, by the Left parties. All of them, except the BJP, created an ambience of total helplessness and hopelessness for the Indian Muslims; the BJP inverted the image by focusing on "minorityism" in search of an aggressive articulation of a majority's solidarity. The result was the same aggressive Hindutva reinforcing Muslim defensiveness.

But then, the Muslim community seems to have responded to the challenge in two ways, on the one hand it forced its old leadership to tone down any aggressive projection of the threat to its existence and on the other to explore alternative categories of self-assertion.

The increasingly voluble opinion within the community that the way to survival and prosperity is in modern secular education and in self-help rather than in self-pity and in blaming others goes hand-in-hand with the movement away from the half-century of Muslim politics. It is not insignificant that one no longer hears even the BJP haranguing the Muslims to be Indians first and Muslims second. The dichotomy embedded in being Indian-Muslim has perhaps been rejected in favor of being both Indian and Muslim without any structured prioritization.

The absence of Muslim aggression moderates the aggression of Hindu solidarity. It is not easy to sustain one-sided communal hysteria of which communal riots are an extreme manifestation. The cry of politics without communal riots may not be very far.

(Source: The Times of India, 23 October, 1996)

BJP: Views of A.B. Vajpayee

We are against appeasement, not minorities. We are against appeasement of all kids, whether it is towards the minorities or the majority community. I am also personally opposed to any minorityism or majorityism. We should run the state without discrimination or favouritism. Allegations such as these are basically spread by the so-called secular parties. Their only aim is to create a fear psychosis in the minds of the minorities.

Why is no one talking about their educational problems or emancipation of women? If will give you a small example. The Congress government at the Centre had announced the formation of a finance corporation to help Muslims. It was to have started. with an initial sum of Rs. 500 crores. Ultimately, only a token corporation got underway with a capital of Rs. 5 crores. When the corporation was announced, Hindus thought they were discriminated against and all benefits were being enjoyed by Muslims while the Muslims actually got nothing. It is such hoodwinking that has brought the Congress to its present sorry state.

(Source: The Indian Express, 29 September, 1996)

Basically, I am an RSS man, but not a bonded laborer of the VHP and Advani's other goons, setting principles on fire for their five-star culture.

-Shankarsinh Vaghela,

Chief Minister of Gujarat