In the Indian political system, an election is the interaction of parties and candidates in a Constituency, which forms an electoral unit. Given the plurality of the Indian society, the social demography of each Constituency is different. Hence a political party which is the instrument for the promotion of the interest of one or more social groups cannot possibly have a sway or even equal influence in all Constituencies.
POLITICAL PARTIES
There is no political party today on the national stage which is truly national either in its following or in the horizontal spread of its influence or in its vertical structure. That is why rarely has a government represented the majority of the electorate. That is also why, practically in all Constituencies, there is a multi-cornered contest. In such contest, a party whose candidate obtains the support of 25%-30% of the electorate generally wins.
No party is morally perfect, without a gap between its profession and practice, between its idealism, when out of power and its pragmatism, when in power. Every party wears a mask, tries to put its, best foot forward at the time of election, makes promises which are not meant to be kept. But, even then, a party is recognised by its ideology, its vision of India and its rack record and by its social constituency which, in other words, means its captive voters, its vote bank.
ANTI-DEMOCRATIC AND ANTI-SECULAR MAJORITARIAN FACE OF THE BJP
The BJP believes in the RSS philosophy of Hindutva, the ideology of Cultural Nationalism defined in exclusivist terms. Since it equates Indian culture with Hindu culture, its Cultural Nationalism stands exposed as Hindu Nationalism. It incites revanchist sentiments and dreams of converting the Indian State into a Hindu Rashtra. It has hardly any non-Hindu following worth the name; it has hardly ever had any non-Hindu legislator at the centre, with the exception of the old war-horse Sikander Bakht or in the states. In distributing its tickets it has traditionally discarded non-Hindus on the ground of vulnerability because it knows that a BJP-tainted non- Hindu will not secure the support of his community and, because he is a non-Hindu, he will not be supported by the traditional Hindu vote-bank of the party. Except in its minority cells - a recent creation - one can hardly spot a Muslim. In its programme of action, the BJP is, indifferent to the hopes and aspirations of the religious minorities and because of its Brahminical outlook, hostile to the emerging Shudras. It seeks to consolidate the Hindus on an anti-Muslim platform. That is why it builds up Hindu public opinion in the name of righting the so-called "historical wrongs". It presents the Muslim period of Indian history as a Dark Age and consider independence on 15 August, 1947 as deliverance from a thousand years of slavery. While promising equality to all, it seeks Hindu dominance over non-Hindus and to assimilate them all in the Hindu fold.
The BJP is essentially a majoritarian party, it sees politics and economics as a zero sum game so that any gain for the non-Hindu communities in the distribution of power and resources is seen as a loss for the Hindu community. It wishes to impose Hindu ethos on non-Hindus. It wants to transform the multi-religious, multi-lingual, multi-cultural Indian State into the Hindu State.
Internally, it seeks to restore Brahminical supremacy so that the State is equated with the Hindu while the Hindu is equated with the Brahmin. Thus, essentially, the B.IP is anti-democratic.
Its slogan "one nation; one culture and one people" leaves open the distinction between the nation and the people. In the case of a country of continental dimension which is in the process of 'becoming' a nation and building a state, the appropriate slogan should be "many peoples, one nation, one state".
The BJP places Hinduism above all other religions because in Vajpayee's words "Hinduism alone is a universal religion while all other religions are panths' or modes of worship". Joshi goes one step further and designates all religious groups as Hindus with a prefix -Mohammadi Hindu. Masihi Hindn Nanaki Hindu Mahabiri Hindu. He had no reply when I asked him once whether he would designate the Hindus as Hindu-Hindu? This is nothing but an expression of the mindset which sees assimilation as a desirable goal indeed a `favour' for all non-Hindu religions, languages and cultures which have their home in India. These are the reasons why the BIP is looked upon as a threat to national unity and communal harmony, democracy, secularism and social justice and rejected by an overwhelming majority of the Indian people.
The secular parties (are accused) of having treated Muslim Indian as a vote bank . The fact remains that every party subsists on a vote-bank, defined in terms of religion or caste or language or race or even geographical origin. In a plural society and in a multi-ethnic state, vote banks based on ethnic identity and ethnic mobilisation are inevitable. But India, being a sub-continent, the political parties face the problem of size. There is hardly a national party. Hence the Yadavas vote for Laloo Yadav in Bihar and then in UP for Mulayam Singh Yadav. Once the high castes formed a vote bank for the Congress. Today this vote-bank has shifted to the BJP. Yesterday the SCs were a vote bank of the Congress; today large sections form a vote bank of the BSP. So, the vote banks exist but their political impact varies with place and time, from Constituency to Constituency and from election to election.
PARTY MANIFESTOES
The manifestoes of the major parties/formations – the Congress, the CPM, the Janata Dal, the Samajwadi Party, the BSP, the CPI command political interest because the Common Minimum Programme of the secular parties, if they defeat the BJP, must address matters of concern to the religious and linguistic minorities and economically weaker sections. Selecting areas of priority relating to employment, education, development, welfare and identity, we may shortlist such items of concern and exert pressure on all secular parties/formations to commit themselves to them. This would generate a wave of hope and will transform negative (anti-BJP) voting to a positive act of political faith. But one thing is clear; no social or ethnic group can ask for special favours but only for a common dispensation for all based on the concept of equality and justice. Some concrete ideas are given below to judge the manifestoes:
PROPOSED PROGRAMME OF ACTION FOR RELIGIOUS AND LINGUISTIC MINORITIES AND WEAKER SECTIONS
1.1 Reservation in Public Employment for all identifiable social groups which form at least 1% of the population at the recruitment level in proportion to their population and index of backwardness.
1.2 Equitable share in Benefit of Development Programmes and Schemes to all social groups in proportion to their population at the operational level
1.3 Universal flow of bank credit to all small Entrepreneurs, shopkeepers, artisans and craftsmen and small and marginal farmers upto Rs. 25,000/- on nominal interest on the basis of production capacity 1.4 Declaration of public wakfs/endowments as Public Premises and Exemption from rent and ceiling laws.
2.1 Statutory compensation for loss of life, limb, property Dignity to the victims of mass frenzy and police firing in all cases of Social Violence.
3.1 Declaration of all languages as additional official language at the Panchayat, Block, District and State levels wherever at least 10% of the population speaks a particular language.
3.2 Universal use of the Mother Tongue as Medium of Primary Instruction and as compulsory First Language from Class I to X.
4.1 Reservation in University and professional education for all educationally backward groups in proportion to their national population.
4.2 Facilities of Recognition and Affiliation of Minority Educational Institutions.
4.3 Declaration of the A.M.U., the J.M.I. and A.K.A Urdu University as Minorities Institutions.
5.1 Expedition of the Title Suit, Ayodhya inquiry and Babari Masjid related CBI cases and assurance that final verdict on the title to the Babari Site shall be implemented at all cost.
5.2 Protection of the personal law of all religious communities against any interference or change against their express wishes.
6.1 Inclusion of all eligible residents in the electoral roil unless found to be foreign national by competent judicial or quasi-judicial authority.
6.2 Fresh Delimitation of Constituencies on the basis of administrative bodies; rotation of reservation and non-reservation of minority concentration constituencies.
6.3 Reservation in Central and State Legislatures for OBCs, Muslims and other identifiable social groups which form at least 1% of the population at the appropriate level, with inbuilt uniform reservation for women in each quota.
7.1 Establishment of Department of Minority Affairs at the Centre and the States and allocation thereof to the Prime Minister/Chief Minister.
7.2 Publication of Cross-tabulated economic and social census data on minorities.
PRE-ELECTION LINE-UP
The pre-election scenario is by and large clear. With the erosion of national parties and emergence of regional parties, the situation varies from one state to another. Even in the same state one secular party or formation may not be equally strong all over the state to take on the anti-secular threat the BJP and its allies pose.
MUSLIM REPRESENTATION IN PARTY LISTS
Finally, to judge a party's secular credentials is not only to judge its ideology or the programmes it proposes to implement but the extent to which it is prepared to share the power of decision-making with the deprived groups - beginning from the party structure, the list of candidates in elections to the government and the administration. Seen from this angle, all secular parties fail the test, partly because the deprived groups are not as active in mass politics and people's agitations as they should be. Yet all secular parties must make all possible endeavour to co-opt as many representative of the deprived groups in their structure in their candidatures and in the government, when they come to power.
There is no time to change the party structure but the representation of minorities in the lists of candidates and their quality are a good test of the sincerity of its secular professions. The BJP has so far fielded 5 Muslims out of 301. At this rate, the Muslim representation, quantatively comes to 1.6% for a religious minority which constitutes 12% of the population and the candidates are non-entities.
SECULAR PARTIES/FORMATIONS
The disunity of the Secular Forces is today the biggest advantage to the BJP - not its money, not its propaganda, not its programme, not its ideology, not its track record, not its manpower, the RSS. In a one-to-one contest the B.IP will be reduced to a shadow of its bloated self! In their mutual antipathy, in their personal ego-clashes of their leaders, in their cherished habits of thought of the past, they have refused to see the writing on the wall So, where the Secular Parties have failed, the Secular Voters must step in, organise themselves and stop the BIP Rath!
There are 3 categories of States. In the first category, the voter has no option but to vote for the Congress or the Congress-supported candidates almost in all constituencies of the state. In the second, Congress does not exist and the choice has to be a constituent of the UF.
In the third category, more than one secular parties/ formations, including Congress, are pitted against the BJP so the strongest secular candidate, constituency-wise, has to be identified and voted for. If (in any Constituency ) the BJP is on the margin or a minor player or not in the field at all, the electoral contest is between two secular formations. Here the secular voters may make an ideological choice and vote according to his conscience.
I- Congress:
Delhi, Gujarat, Haryana, H.P., M.P., Maharashtra, Orissa, Punjab, Rajasthan - Congress
II - United Front:
Jammu and Kashmir (NC), Tamilnadu (DMK-TMC).
III- Congress or United Front:
A.P. TDP (UF) or Congress
Assam AGP (UF) or Congress
Bihar RJD-Congress-JMM or UF (JD)
Karnataka Congress or UF (JD)
Kerala UDF or LDF
UP UF (SP) or Congress or BSP
W. Bengal LDF or Congress
ADVICE TO THE SECULAR VOTERS
All said and done, to sum up, my advice to the Secular Voters is as follows:
* if there is only one secular party/formation in the Constituency, all secular voters must vote for it.
*if there are more than one secular parties/formations in the Constituency, the secular voters must choose the strongest in order to defeat the BJP
*In constituencies in which neither the BJP or any ally is in the contest, the secular voter may vote according to his convenience.
*Everywhere they must vote massively and thus fully utilise their voting power.
*This is the only way the secular voters can save the Secular Order and Save INDIA!
New Delhi,
1 February, 1998
