People's Democracy

BJP NATIONAL COUNCIL MEETING

Futile Phraseology To Dupe People

Sitaram Yechury

BELEAGUERED with popular disenchantment and plagued with internal dissension and factionalism, the BJP has taken recourse once again to  meaningless semantics. Its national council meeting at Delhi on August 2 has put forward a new mantra of four 'D's for revitalising the party.  These are : dedication, discipline, determination and dynamism. Before we go into the hollowness of such claims, it is necessary to recall that some years ago, the BJP had put forward, as its mantra, four 'C's. These were : chehara (face), chal (conduct), charitra (character) and chintan (thinking) as being  distinctly different from all other political parties in the country. Over the years, the country and the people have seen through these tall claims and have  understood that such a slogan-mongering is only a cover that camouflages its actual fascistic character and its immoral conduct. A new phraseology had, therefore, become necessary for it to continue to advance its double-speak to hoodwink the people.

In this quest, it seems to have graduated from `C' to `D'. Notwithstanding its obsession with ancient Indian Sanskrit, it now seems to be learning  the English alphabet!

Let us examine these four `D's.  The only dedication that the BJP has shown in  government has been the consistency with which it has set about looting the people through corruption and permitting the loot of the country through its economic policy.  Such has been the dedication for India's disaster. The only determination they have displayed during their stint in government has been to systematically destroy the secular democratic foundations of the country and advance the fascist RSS vision of a "Hindu Rashtra".  The only field in which they have displayed discipline has been in conceiving and executing communal pogroms like what we have recently seen in Gujarat.  Finally, their dynamism is most evident in the manner in which they have surrendered India's economic sovereignty and  its esteem through their servile subservience to US imperialism. 

Such is their record and yet they continue to parrot that it is only the BJP, as a party, and  the Vajpayee government, as a government, that is different from all others India has seen so far. 

Different indeed, it is. A ghastly difference. This has been a government that, on all fronts, is systematically seeking to undermine the foundations of a modern Indian Republic.   The difference with others in the past can be seen most strikingly in the depths and degeneration and brazen corruption as they are indulging in. 

Reports in the media suggests that the BJP oblivious of the rapid erosion of its mass base is entertaining the idea of forming the government of its own without the requirement of  any of its allies.  So separated are they from the current public opinion that they can even entertain such illusions.

However, in order to advance completely the RSS's fascistic vision, they would have to actually come to power on their own.  If they succeed to do this, that would be the end of the modern secular democratic republic of India.

It is, therefore, pathetic to note the tasks that the BJP national council set before the Vajpayee government. It has talked of a five-point agenda of ending decisively Pakistan-sponsored terrorism; achieving an eight per cent rate of growth; fulfilling the promise of one crore jobs; focussing attention on agriculture, panchayati raj and rural development; and revitalising the implementation of  governmental development programmes.

Such high-sounding rhetoric sounds absurd given this government's abysmal performance.  For months on end, the country has been hearing of the "decisive" battle against Pakistan-sponsored terrorism. Yet, terrorist attacks continue to take place with impunity claiming innocent lives. The attack on the Jammu & Kashmir assembly, the Kaluchak massacre, the attack on the Indian Parliament, the Qasimnagar massacre, the list goes on. The latest was on August 6, when the militants killed nine Amarnath yatris making a total mockery of the massive security arrangements.

As regards the eight per cent economic growth that they are talking about, it can best put an illusion in a demented mind. The country is going  through one of its worst economic slow down with no immediate prospect of recovery. Likewise, the claims about agriculture run totally contrary to the ground realities where reports of starvation deaths and distress suicides amongst farmers are on the rise. 

The claims of creating one crore jobs annually are not even laughable.  The large-scale loot of public sector through privatisation has rendered  lakhs of people, who were once bread-earners of their families, jobless. The pathetic state of the economy is confirmed through official figures which have put the rate of employment growth  in the last two years successively in the negative.  Given its proclivity to make money literally at the drop of the hat, the emphasis on revitalising the implementation of development programmes can only mean further institutionalised corruption. 

Clearly, the only message to emerge  from this national council meeting was the fact that the BJP no longer needing the  Vajpayee mask is now looking for a new one.  This was apparent in Advani's vain effort at giving a pseudo-intellectual interpretation of BJP's history. Stopping short of saying that a new phase of its history is beginning under his leadership, his remarks can only be interpreted to mean the resurrection of a more dangerous phase than the one he had led with his infamous `rath yatra', which ultimately led to the  demolition of the Babri Masjid. 

In short, the BJP's national council has only reaffirmed the fact that its allies in the NDA are of no consequence.  In fact, they may soon be a burden for the BJP to carry forward the RSS agenda. The time would come then to dispense with them. Until then, however,  the cover of the NDA will be used by the RSS/BJP mired in corruption to advance their fascistic communal agenda.