People's Democracy

PRIME MINISTER Atal Behari Vajpayee has virtually conceded defeat of the BJP and its allies in the forthcoming assembly elections, especially in Uttar Pradesh. On the eve of polling, he has stated that these results would not in any way constitute a referendum on the performance of his government at the centre.

The last time around that he had made such a statement, the BJP lost badly in all the four assembly elections. This was after his own appeal to the people of these states to vote for the BJP and its allies, as their victory would reflect on his government at the centre. His retraction last time was followed by the rout of the BJP and its allies.

Vajpayee has retracted this time too. Barely hours after he had thundered that the BJP's defeat in UP would constitute a victory for Pakistan and General Musharraf, a beleaguered UP chief minister, Rajnath Singh, gleefully echoed this hoping that the voters would be carried away by pseudo-nationalistic jingoism. However, both of them soon realised that this was cutting little ice.

Similarly, the strident efforts made to revive the Ayodhya frenzy by picking up the temple building issue has also not succeeded in bolstering the BJP's electoral fortunes.

The PM's statement reflects the fact that the RSS/BJP's efforts to misuse both the religious and the patriotic sentiments of the Indian people for its electoral benefits are coming a cropper.

This broods well for India and its people. The campaign trail in UP confirms that the voter is being motivated by his immediate concern of day to day existence. The ruination of his livelihood due to the economic policies; the bleak future for his children and family; the mortgaging of our economy and above all the fratricidal conflicts and tensions that the BJP's unscrupulous communalism is creating -- are all factors that would influence the voters.

Whatever may be the fact of Vajpayee's motivated and irresponsible linking up of these election results with Pakistan, the reassuring fact is that the people see in the BJP's defeat the triumph of the secular democratic republic of India. This is a significant step in the direction of moving towards the resurgence of the modern Indian republic.