Close
on the heals Lok sabha (Parliament) elections, the results of
Maharshtra elections have come as a big blow to BJP and its
allies, Shiv Sena in case of Maharashtra. In the keenly contested
elections in Maharashtra, BJP coalition initially tried to test
the waters of emotive issues. Tiranga, Savarkar, Bangladeshi
immigrants and to its dismay found that these issues are no
longer able to rouse the passions of average people the way
similar issues did few years ago. Than they were left with no
option but to talk of worldly issues of the people but as average
people have already seen their performance during the period
of 94-99 it did not wash and they were trounced at the hustling.
It is also to be remembered that the 'Mumbai chauvinism' displayed
by Shiv Sena, like the attitude towards, Non Marathi speaking
could not be forgotten by the electorate. The campaign of Mee
Mumbaikar with its xenophobic tone, the beating up of Non Maharashtiran
boys by Shiv Sainiks was too fresh in the minds of people.
As far BJP, the Gujarat has been a big blow to the
sensibilities of the 'aam adami' (common man), the whole carnage on the
pretext of Godhra and
the post carnage humiliation and intimidation of
minorities and the
Supreme Court injunctions against Gujarat Government
have an indelible
impression on the minds of people. The dis-investment
of the major
properties in Mumbai, Centaur Hotel, at throw away
price and the petrol
pump allotment to the RSS coterie by previous govt.,
revealed a lot about
this political outfit.
During Lok Sabha elections (mid 2004) also the emotive
issues failed to
click, the high-fi 'shining India' campaign was
perceived as an insult by
the deprived masses and the highly confidant BJP
electoral machine had
to bite the dust. It seems, gradually the electorate
has realized over a
period of last one decade that the divisive politics
promoted in the
garb of religion is dangerous to society's amity and
the poor and
marginalized suffer much worse during BJP regimes. It
is their concerns, which get
pushed back to promote the interests of the handful of
elite and 'shining
Indians' of the society. It is the Adivasis, dalits,
workers, minorities
and women who suffer much worse during such
Governments.
So is it that it is the end of road for the BJP type
religion based
politics, the Shiv Sena type sectarianism? Is it the
end of the cycle
of ascendance, which began with Advani's Rath Yatra in
the year 1990, the
campaign which was meant to distract the social
attention for the
Mandal, the need for addressing the issues related to
social justice? One
Recalls that these parties propagating their politics
in the garb of religion
Were able to create a mass hysteria around Ram Temple
to begin with. This
increased their electoral strength by and by to the
extent that they
could come to power in the Center. When this emotive
appeal began to decline,
the Godhra happened and the clever projection of
threat of terrorism
did the trick and Gujarat could be won back with
bigger majority by BJP's
Narendra Modi, under whose supervision the biggest
massacre of 21st
Century has taken place. While this helped the BJP to
have immediate
gains, in the medium term it has become and albatross
in BJP's neck and
has been working against its political ambitions.
So is it the end of road for communal politics? Is it
that we can breathe easy and ignore the threat of RSS and its
progeny? It will be suicidal for democratic values to think in those terms. The
votes-polled in favor of
these parties is substantial. One has to know that the
communal poison
sown by this outfit has reached far and wide. One
should know that RSS
trained swayamsevaks have infiltrated in most of the
walks of our
society, educational, cultural and media. Its
penetration into bureaucracy and
other wings of state structures has been phenomenal.
By now it must
have hundreds of front organizations which are
spreading hate against
minorities in particular and against weaker sections
of society in
general. Its funding by the NRIs must be incalculable.
It is sure to come up with more aggressive
intimidating strategies in due course of time. Already one of its progeny VHP is
asserting that return to Hindutva is called far if they have to win
elections. In the past we have seen that communal violence, orchestrated in a
very clever manner, so that it looks to have been initiated by the
'others',
has been the major
Weapon of consolidation of RSS ideology. One cannot
take it easy that so much
subjective power bend upon destroying the concept of
Democratic Secular
India and to bring in Hindu Nation is scattered all
over. The need today is to combat this poisonous ideology. The very
notion of fraternity
(community) has been mauled by the hate ideology
dished out through
shakhas and other outlets of RSS. We are witnessing
the 'mini
Pakistans' and 'borders' right in our cities and small
towns. Surely no society can progress under these circumstances. The need is
that we try to build
bridges between our communities at social level. The
need is to
celebrate our diversity, to have mutual respect for
different traditions of the
country. The defeat of BJP. Shiv Sena should not lull
us into slumber.
We can only think that this has given the secular
democratic forces space.
And time to bring together communities, to bring back
the social issues back as the major concerns of our social and political
polices.
