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BJP’s Hindutva conundrum

The Bharatiya Janata Party went to Bangalore for its national executive meet in an uncertain and somewhat anxious frame of mind. The mood reflected successive political wins scored by the ruling United Progressive Alliance: the outcome of the July 22 trust vote followed by the government’s diplomatic successes on the nuclear front. The BJP had banked on the government failing the confidence test. Instead the vote exposed the divisions in its own ranks. The BJP would have given anything to be the party that ended India’s nuclear isolation. Not only was this milestone crossed under a different regime, it presented the danger that the middle class vote would migrate from the BJP. Not surprisingly, the party chose to remain in the comfort zone of Hindutva through the three days of the meeting. Rajnath Singh set the tone by demanding the nationalisation of the Amarnath Yatra route — a dangerous idea, which, if implemented, is guaranteed to reignite the communal situation in Jammu and Kashmir. The BJP chief also advocated the abrogation of Article 370, conveniently forgetting that the Vajpayee government had ruled out the possibility within a coalition framework. With Saturday’s serial terrorist strikes in Delhi supplying further grist to the meet’s anti-minorities subtext, the focus inevitably shifted to the muscular rhetoric of Narendra Modi, who is increasingly seen within the party as its winning card.

It was back to familiar territory as the man at the helm during the 2002 anti-Muslim pogrom expounded on the pet themes of terrorism and minority appeasement. The emotive agenda he sketched for his party featured POTA, SIMI, Afzal Guru, the Amarnath Yatra, Ramar Setu, Bangladeshi immigrants, reservation for Dalit Christians, religious conversion, and the Sachar Committee recommendations. The clincher was provided by the Centre’s reported reluctance to clear the Gujarat Control of Organised Crime (GUJCOC) Bill, 2003. “Those concerned about terror,” Mr. Modi proclaimed, “obviously support GUJCOC, those concerned about terrorists understandably oppose it.” With the 15th general election due in April-May 2009, the key questions before the main opposition party are: What is its updated worldview? And why does it find itself unable to get away from the subject of India’s minorities and a profoundly divisive agenda? Before the party decides on an answer, it would need to do a reality check on the state of the National Democratic Alliance. As of today, the BJP has only four declared allies; and they are in a predicament over the political implications of the violence let loose by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and the Bajrang Dal — first in Orissa and now in Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka.

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