People's Democracy

 Togadia Visit To Jharkhand Signifies BJP’s Desperation

 J S Majumdar

THE Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot put him behind the bar. Bihar’s chief minister Rabri Devi purchased a return ticket for him. Kerala’s chief minister Anthony decided to ignore him. He got an entry into Uttar Pradesh only after giving an undertaking to the High Court. But in Jharkhand? It was all along a sarkari karyakram (government programme) for the rabble rousing, high profile Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader Prabinbhai Togadia in this BJP ruled state.

At the time of the recent Togadia visit to Jharkhand, under direction from the BJP chief minister Arjun Munda, the partisan Ranchi district administration arrested thousands of leaders and workers of the Left parties, JMM, Congress, and other parties, and those arrested included even members of parliament. This took place when these people were trying to protest peacefully against Togadia’s visit to Jharkhand, by staging dharnas, processions, demonstrations and meetings. On the other hand, those belonging to the BJP and other RSS affiliates were allowed free entry to the airport in government cars, buses and two wheelers, brandishing swords and tridents, etc. Hundreds of armed policemen escorted this venom spewing VHP leader to a businessman’s place whose premises at Ranchi, Kolkata and Mumbai were raided by income tax authorities in last February. (See People’s Democracy, September 14 issue.) Breaking all protocol, Togadia was given official reception by the Arjun Munda government and this amounted to misusing governmental machinery. Such a reception is not accorded even to the chief minister of a state.

On the Togadia issue, two aspects have become amply clear. First, the people of the state are opposed to communalism and want to see peace and amity preserved in the state. This was evident from the fact that thousands of people came out into the street to oppose the entry of this symbol of communal cancer into this BJP-ruled state. Second, the BJP stands isolated from the people. All opposition parties, with or without representation in the assembly, opposed communalism and brought their cadres into the street. The BJP’s coalition partners in the ministry kept their distance, however, preferring to maintain a stoic silence.

The BJP’s desperation is understandable. In the entire eastern region, the BJP has the highest stake in Jharkhand. Out of 14 Lok Sabha members elected from here, 11 belong to the BJP. It is also the biggest party in the assembly, with 31 MLAs in a house of 81. Three factors contributed to the BJP’s gains in the last elections. First, it roused regional sentiments with the slogan for a separate Vananchal state through bifurcation of Bihar. Secondly, it played the communal card when a large number of RSS controlled organisations intensified their activities manifold. Finally, it ran an anti-Laloo campaign and used the caste card for the purpose. With the formation of Jharkhand, now two of these factors have disappeared, and only the communal agenda remains with the BJP.

This mineral rich state of Jharkhand has a higher number of central public sector units (PSUs) and the larger work force in these units, compared to any other state. Naturally, the Vajpayee government’s economic policies and its programme of dismantling the PSUs have hit Jharkhand the worst. The state is going through a stage of rapid de-industrialisation. Workers and employees are rapidly losing jobs while no new job opportunities are being created. Those who are already in jobs, are getting apprehensive. Hunger has become a perpetual phenomenon in rural areas. Whatever limited rural development work is going on, is being done by the contractors through the use of machines. The rural poor have little employment opportunity. In major areas, the land is not fertile. The peasants eke out their living on one time crop in a year. Successive droughts have affected big areas in the state. Entire families are migrating out of the state in search of job and food. Panchayat elections have not taken place since 1978. The mafia-contractor-criminal nexus has taken the state in a vice like grip, with the blessings of politicians of the ruling combine. Corruption from the level of ministers to the grass roots level has become a part of the system. Both the central and the state governments are in the dock.

An illusion was created before the formation of the state that all the woes of the Jharkhand people would be over once the state was formed. The illusion has been shattered. In between, the BJP has played other divisive cards such as the domicile issue. It boomeranged, however, and the chief minister Babulal Marandi was replaced by Arjun Munda. But the confusion in the BJP became apparent when Arjun Munda took an 180-degree turn on the domicile issue. On both occasions, the state was engulfed in violent agitations, leading to killing of the innocent people.

It is in this background that, out of sheer desperation, the BJP in Jharkhand is striving to take its communal agenda to a higher pitch. This is the context in which the BJP is repeatedly organising Togadia’s visits to the state, has been giving him a hero’s welcome, and the state government’s machinery has been pressed into service on each such occasion. But, yet, the party’s alienation from the people is unmistakenly visible.