From Vajpayee’s moderation to Modi’s machismo
By Amulya Ganguli
Since LK Advani’s pale imitation of Atal Behari Vajpayee’s moderation had failed to impress the voters in the last general election, the BJP has evidently decided to be more forthright in its approach to the next big test, which may be in 2014 or earlier. Hence, Narendra Modi’s return to the parliamentary board after a gap of six years. If the same man, viz. party president Rajnath Singh, who kept him out earlier has now facilitated Modi’s rehabilitation, it means that the Gujarat strong man has emerged as the first among equals in the organisation.
The elevation of the BJP’s only chief minister is all the more significant in view of the exclusion of the Madhya Pradesh chief minister, Shivraj Singh Chauhan, from the central panels although Madhya Pradesh is now number one in the country in terms of the growth rate, having moved ahead of Bihar. Considering that Chauhan had the backing of both the RSS and of Advani, his omission underlines the kind of influence that Modi has acquired in recent months.
The period of peevish abstention from the BJP’s national conclaves, and from the party’s election campaigns in UP and elsewhere in protest against his bête noire Sanjay Joshi’s inclusion in the national executive, has evidently paid off. Now, Modi’s clout has been demonstrated by the nomination of his right-hand man in Gujarat, Amit Shah, as one of the general secretaries, although he remains an accused in the Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake encounter case.
The choice indicates the contempt with which Modi regards the public perceptions, about either himself or his henchmen. Modi is fully aware that to many of his admirers, this disdain towards the judicial process, and the summary rejection of the concept of keeping tainted individuals out of politics, are a sign of his machismo. It is the same defiance of the conventional catering to public sentiments which has made Modi consistently refuse to apologise for the Gujarat riots of 2002, which he had sneeringly dismissed as ‘stray incidents’ although they took a toll of 1,200 lives, mostly of Muslims, according to official figures and more than 2,000 in unofficial estimates.
It may be safe to predict, therefore, that Modi’s return will mean that the BJP’s line in the ensuing election campaign will be a great deal more aggressive than it was five years ago. The emphasis may not be formally on a Hindu agenda – Ram temple, cow protection, eviction of Christian missionaries, et al – since this will divert attention from Modi’s trademark development plank. But, the focus will be on consolidating the votes of the communal-minded Hindus not so much by articulating a hard line as by the projection of individuals who are known as hardliners.
The appointment of Varun Gandhi as a general secretary is a step in this direction. While, unlike Amit Shah, Varun has been exonerated by the courts from the charges of having made anti-Muslim ‘hate’ speeches, his image in the eyes of the BJP’s core supporters remains that of a Muslim-baiter. For the BJP, his presence in the party’s frontline will be a counter to Rahul Gandhi. Moreover, the saffron camp no doubt draws a perverse pleasure from the anti-minority image of a great grandson of Jawaharlal Nehru, the patron saint of secularism.
However, even if Varun observes restraint in his speeches, there is little doubt that the television replays of his earlier diatribes against Muslims, including the thrilling or chilling – according to which side of the religious divide the audience is – chanting of “Jai Shri Ram” by Varun will remind the electorate of his predilections. It may help the BJP mobilize its core group of supporters, but will also be a reminder to others of the party’s true inclinations. The same impression will be conveyed by the inclusion of Uma Bharti, who was famously pictured beaming with joy along with Murli Manohar Joshi as the Babri masjid was pulled down, and of Vinay Katiyar, another saffron hawk.
What is evident, therefore, is that the BJP has changed tack again – for the third time in a decade and a half. First, it came into the centre stage of Indian politics by playing the temple card in the early 1990s. But when, on assuming office in 1996, it found that no other party (except the Shiv Sena) was willing to go along with it, the party announced that it was putting its Hindu agenda – the temple, uniform civil code and Article 370 – on the back burner.
Thus began its moderate phase under Vajpayee. It lasted till the party’s defeat in 2004 which Vajpayee ascribed to the Gujarat riots. Now, the man who was accused by the Supreme Court of playing the role of the Roman emperor Nero during the riots is behind the fashioning of a new phase of BJP’s politics, which emphasizes a combative Hindu nationalist persona. (IPA Service)