In the state of gloom generated by fundamentalists, Prime Minister Narendra Modi took a rationalist attitude asking BJP President Amit Shah to reprimand party leaders who spewed anti-Muslim sentiments. It is good that the BJP leadership has dismissed the communal talk by some of its members and functionaries as that of fringe elements. A notice was issued to party MP Sakshi Maharaj who seemed frenetic over the beef issue. But the senior leaders including Modi had not taken firm enough steps to silence the fringe elements. Union Ministers Mahesh Sharma and Sanjeev Balyan and Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar threw a shadow over the party’s commitment to the Indian Constitution. The political implications appear to have knocked some sense into the party with the RSS pulling the strings behind the scenes. Allies like te Progressive Democratic Party(PDP) in J&K had been alienated. Foreign investors looked like getting cold feet. Civil society grew anxious about the country’s health. The PDP- BJP alliance in J&K has threatened to fall apart. The Muslim vote bank is likely to turn away in the Bihar poll. Narendra Modi’s recent bonhomie with German Chancellor Angela Merkel may ebb away. Islamabad and Rawalpindi might cash in on the hidebound orthodoxy of some BJP leaders to close the gap with Washington.
What is most significant during festival time in Delhi is to place the utmost emphasis on Narendra Modi’s ‘Sabke Sath, Sabke Vikas’ programme. The cow should be a salutary and not a destructive factor. Governance for social and economic uplift is the thing. If fanaticism gets the upper hand, economic development will take the back seat. Goddess Durga should slay the evil.
