People's Democracy

THAT it is the coffin thieves who are today ruling this great country is now more than evident. The latest CAG revelation about how the defence ministry under George Fernandes effected a scam in the purchase of coffins for those killed in the Kargil war, has shocked the conscience of every Indian. The CAG report also revealed how the ministry endangered the life of our jawans by purchasing from abroad ammunition whose shelf life had already expired at the time of the war. Coming as an equally loathsome sequel to the Tehelka exposure, this latest-to-be-revealed scam once again underlines how the present BJP-led NDA regime is playing havoc with the security of our country.

It is not surprising that all sections of the media too have severely criticised the ministry and the government for this heinous scam.

As expected, the government has refused to concede the unanimous demand that the defence minister must own responsibility for the scam and quit forthwith. In anything, Vajpayee has again sought to defend Fernandes, just like he had done earlier. The parliament could not function on December 11 because of this issue, and the stalemate continues while we go to press on December 12.

This comes on top of the threat that the Sangh Parivar’s communal drive poses to our national unity and communal harmony in the country. The VHP-RSS have again given an ultimatum (sic!) to the Vajpayee government that they would prefer temple to the NDA government. True, it is just one more in the series of farcical ultimatums that the brigade had been doling out to the government at carefully selected times. Yet none can deny that even though it is a farce, it threatens to cause a tragedy of immense proportions in the country. The riots that took place in Bhopal, Jaipur, Surat, several other cities and the most horrendous riots at Mumbai in the wake of the Babri demolition nine years ago are a clear pointer to the gravity of this threat.

The latest threat is a logical Sangh Parivar response to the run-up to assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh where, by all indications, the BJP is in for a severe drubbing and Samajwadi Party, a Lok Morcha constituent, is giving it sleepless nights. With one of the worst records in governance in independent India, the BJP has no chance of even retaining its earlier tally, what to speak of getting a majority, and therefore it is out to polarise the UP electorate on communal lines. It is in this context that the RSS-VHP threat of starting the temple construction on March 12 assumes significance.

Quite naturally, this has given rise to fears among the minorities, especially the Muslims who are in a decisive position in over 75 assembly constituencies in UP. Muzaffarnagar and Moradabad have already witnessed riots in the recent past and this may well be repeated on a larger scale in other parts of the state.

There is nothing new in all this. Creating a fear psychosis among the minorities has all along been a part of the RSS tactic since its inception in 1925 and more so after independence. Then, after the BJP came to power at the centre in 1998, a new element was added to this tactic --- the minuscule Christian minority was made the target of attacks with a view to creating panic among all minorities. This in itself is against the basic principles of democracy, as no democracy can be called perfect if it does not ensure that ethnic, linguistic and religious minorities in the concerned country are able to enjoy all the civil and political rights without any fear. This also poses a grave threat to our secular ethos and political system, to our unity in diversity, to whatever is best in our composite culture.

But the worst part of all this is that the Vajpayee government has been acting as an accomplice of the saffron brigade all along, ever since it came to power. When Christians were being attacked with impunity and determined action against the goons was the need of the hour, Vajpayee boosted the morale of these very goons by saying that there should be a national debate on conversions. At New York he said he was a swayamsevak first and a prime minister later while at Kumarakom he "mused" that temple construction is an unfulfilled "national aspiration." Then, when the VHP gave the March 12, 2002 deadline last year, Vajpayee said talks were already on to resolve the Ayodhya dispute. This appears to be a plain deception, as he did not specify who were involved in these talks. Nor did any Muslim organisation whatsoever said that it was involved in negotiations or was invited for the purpose. The prime minister, moreover, revived the Ayodhya Cell in the PMO that had earlier paved the way for the Babri demolition.

And on top of all this has come the new Prevention of Terrorism Ordinance (POTO) which the BJP government is hell bent on pushing through the parliament. As detailed earlier, POTO contains many draconian provisions and, while it is certain to fail in achieving its stated aim, it is certain to be grossly misused against the minorities, just like the earlier TADA was. The opposition has been correctly demanding that the POTO must itself be scrapped in toto, but the ruling combine has refused to concede this demand. The government has singularly failed to realise that the menace of terrorism cannot be combated without taking determined political measures to address the genuine grievances of the people in the affected parts of the country. All it wants is to keep the minorities in a perpetual state of fear in order to realise its nefarious ambition. POTO too is more of a weapon to terrorise the minorities than a weapon to combat terrorism.

But the tragedy is that the non-BJP, non-Shiv Sena parties, which constitute the motley combine called the NDA, remain unmoved by all this and are busy in safely enjoying their loaves and fishes. Most of these parties had been swearing by secularism till the other day, but appear unconcerned when our secular edifice is being attacked. They fought for the principles of federalism but are not bothered when the BJP is attacking the very federal structure of our country, as it has no liking for the concept of states based on linguistic nationalities. The Dravidian parties used to fight for Tamil aspirations but have no compunction in joining hands with the BJP whose conception of a monolithic Hindu Rashtra threatens to crush the aspirations of all nationalities. The BJP and RSS also stand for Varnashram Dharma, which the Dravidian parties had been fighting all along. Similarly, late Shri N T Ramarao waged a determined battle for the sake of Telugu aspirations and for states’ rights. But yet these very parties have willingly compromised with the BJP just for the sake of power. How the Dravidian parties have been vying with one another to have the BJP by their side makes a really tragicomic spectacle. Then, no less tragicomic is to watch how the TDP and Naidu are propping up the BJP-led government from outside, bothering only about how to get as many crumbs as possible for Andhra Pradesh alone.

As for the power these parties and their leaders supposedly enjoy, that appears to be more illusory than real. The fact is that, by its actions and attitude, the BJP has made it perfectly clear that the NDA government in New Delhi is a de facto BJP government and that the BJP will do whatever it likes to do. The latest case is the move to foist from New Delhi a governor on Tamil Nadu even though the Inter-State Council had only recently decided that the centre must select the governor for a state in consultation with the concerned state government. The move is clearly in violation of the council’s decision and against the spirit of federalism, but none of the NDA parties appears to be worried about it.

But there is nothing surprising in all this, as these parties like to be guided not by principles but by their narrow ends. If the centre undemocratically dismisses the RJD government of Bihar or the AIADMK government of Tamil Nadu, who will be happier than the Samata Party or the DMK? And if it is a question of throwing the tenets of democracy to the winds, who will be more willing to support it than Ms Mamata Banerjee, provided only that she gets rid of the Left Front government of West Bengal? The way union defence minister George Fernandes had been itching to regain his ministerial gaddi, which he was compelled to give up after Tehelka exposure, and the way Vajpayee reinducted him into the ministry without even waiting for the inquiry commission’s findings, clearly shows how the BJP as well as its allies are playing opportunistic power games. In fact, it is this very opportunism that is preventing these parties from playing their due role in India’s regeneration.

The allies displayed the same attitude when the BJP government played havoc with the time-tested consensual foreign policy of the country, one that always stood us in good stead. This was a policy which all the parties in India except the BJP, Shiv Sena and the like swore by. But the allies kept mum when the BJP government, as detailed earlier in these columns, dismantled this policy piece by piece in order to make India a camp followers of US imperialism. Not to talk of earlier steps in this regard, the BJP government prostrated before the US, asking that it must be given a chance to participate in the Afghan war. It is another matter that the government was refused what it wanted and had had to eat the humble pie. Because of its geographical location and political importance in the US strategy, the US preferred to oblige Pakistan in contradistinction to India. The whole episode demonstrated how the BJP is out to humiliate the country in world affairs. The bankruptcy of the BJP’s pro-US foreign policy was never clearer than it is today.

The BJP regime is tailing behind the US imperialists even when the latter have virtually repudiated the ABM treaty in a bid to push their Nuclear Missile Defence system through, thus endangering the security of the whole world and sovereignty of all nations. This is in sharp contrast to India’s earlier pro-active role in defence of world peace and the sovereignty of the third world countries.

Moreover, contrary to our earlier foreign policy of non-alignment, the BJP’s foreign policy is one that is posing grave dangers to our very national integrity. During his latest trip to Washington, while Vajpayee failed to get from Bush any commitment about fighting terrorism in Jammu & Kashmir, Bush obliged Musharraf the very next day and promised him all sort of help in return for Pakistan’s role in the Afghan war. Moreover, the Bush administration has made it clear that the decades-old US policy on Kashmir stands unchanged. Ever since 1955, the US has been eyeing Kashmir because of its strategic location in the centre of the Old World and, quite recently, a high official of the Bush administration advised that representatives of India, Pakistan and Kashmir should sit together in order to evolve an acceptable solution to the Kashmir dispute. Thus, verbal jugglery apart, the US is in reality not prepared to accept that Kashmir as an integral part of India. This US attitude towards Kashmir poses the threat of Kashmir’s separation from India --- something to which the BJP government is blind because of its strident pro-US orientation. Needless to say, if anything of the sort happens, the people of the country would not forgive the BJP and its regime who will have to account for it.

But the allied parties appear indifferent to this looming threat to national integrity also.

But, be that as it may, the vast mass of people of this country are certainly not as unconcerned as the BJP’s allies are. Not to go into our people’s uprisings and sacrifices for the country’s liberation, they have demonstrated on numerous occasions that they are capable of defending our national interests. Our masses may be oppressed, poor and illiterate, but they rise as one man when the need arises. They are secular to the core and have a deep regard for one another’s religion, and it is these very masses that gave rise to India’s composite culture that is also its strength. It is more than certain that our people will defend the nation’s unity and integrity with all their might and not allow those to go unpunished who are posing dangers to this unity and integrity. The all-round opposition which the BJP government’s economic policies, its involvement in unprecedented scams, its communal drive and its prostration before the US are facing, is bound to multiply in the near future, and the fast approaching UP elections will demonstrate the fact of this opposition with a bang. It is not surprising if the imminent UP polls are being taken everywhere as the beginning of the BJP’s downfall.