S. Rajagopalan On Reversal in Gujarat
At the end of a wholly avoidable controversy, the BJP has emerged with egg on its face. For the Congress-led Opposition, it has been nothing short of a fairytale end to a potent political campaign at a time when its morale was at a rather low ebb.
There is little doubt that the BJP has had to pay a heavy political price. Its credibility has been called into question by the headlong rush with which its government in Gandhinagar lifted the ban (on employees joining the RSS) and then retraced its steps at the prodding of an embattled Vajpayee regime.
The reversal is certain to leave the BJP's committed supporters cold. The hardcore segments of the Sangh Parivar are hardly enthused by the manner in which the Vajpayee Government has had to yield ground to the opposition and its own "secular allies" within the NDA fold.
In retrospect, as BJP circles concede in private conversations, there was little sense in the party's government in Gujarat belling the cat on such a sensitive issue, knowing full well that its reverberations will be felt far and wide.
The Congress and the Left ... crying hoarse about the BJP's "hidden agenda", got some justification for their relentless campaign, thanks to the ... Gujarat government.
After the Lok Sabha polls ... the Opposition in general and the Congress in particular were bereft of issues to pin down the ruling coalition.
And then, out of the blue, Gujarat happened. Sure enough, it brought the rather disparate Opposition together ... Political observers feel that if the Gujarat circular had to be undone in this manner, the undoing could have been done much earlier.
Even now, sections of the Opposition are still intent on a discussion on the RSS issue, possibly under Rule 193 instead of the punitive Rule 184. The purpose is clearly to rub salt in the BJP's wounds ... (Source: The Hindustan Times, 9 March, 2000)
Saffron Hooliganism Undermining Democracy Editorial, The India Today, 14 February, 2000
No cultural police has the right to disrupt (Deepa Mehta's) work. The inability to tolerate another view - and the damaging of an M.F. Husain exhibition, the violence against a City of Joy or the banning of a Mee Nathuram Godse Boltoy are all manifestations of this – is mobocracy, not democracy.
The methods of the Sangh Parivar ... are objectionable. Their logic too is questionable ... Two and a half millennia ago, Gautam Buddha made more critical remarks about Varanasi - about its takeover by a self-serving priestly elite ... Presumably the Kashi Sanskriti Raksha Sangharsha Samiti will next run a posthumous campaign against that first great dissenter. From stopping cricket matches to film screenings, saffron vandalism holds all India to ransom. It is a painfully familiar routine - first create a violent situation, then force the state to cancel the event citing a law and order problem ... The only loser is Indian democracy, having to give that much more room to intolerance.
Bajrang Bullies Editorial, The Hindustan Times, 21 February, 2000
... The Bajrang Dal ... has reluctantly shifted (its Convention) to Mathura, but not before ... its cadres stormed through police barricades and raised their flag at the venue (in Bhopal). The Dal - a product of the RSS family - has now threatened to initiate an agitation.
Spearheading the programme are recognised Hindutva icons like BJP MP and former Union Minister Uma Bharti and Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader Giriraj Kishore, though the Bajrang Dal has occasionally revealed its preference for strong-arm methods.
Perhaps the Dal is sometimes made to double up as a front organisation for the BJP and VHP and, therefore, leaders of these bodies have an obligation toward it ... The recent unfortunate happenings ... taken together, these paint n illiberal picture of India ... The question is: has the Sangh Parivar stopped caring about whether its actions embarrass the government in Delhi?
A Law Unto Themselves
ABVP activists assaulted a schoof teacher in Marcela in Goa ... for setting an "unpatriotic" question for last month's SSC preliminary examinations.
Dharmanand Khotkar, a teacher of Konkani language at Sharda English School, was beaten up and his face painted black by 13 ABVP men. Six people have been arrested ... Francisco Sardinha government which depends on the support of the BJP, is dragging its feet on the issue. (Source: The Hindustan Times, 4 February, 2000)
