By Kajal Chatterjee
Had the BJP had ever uplifted itself from its basic ideology ie the rabid divisive parochial policy of ‘Hindi-Hindu-Hindustan’? Prior to the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, had the BJP declared that it has forsaken its dream of building Ram Temple at Ayodhya? Had the BJP ever uttered a sole word of repentance for demolishing the Babri Masjid? Had the BJP apologised for the devastating riots in Bombay and large part of the country following that demolition? Had the BJP expressed a bit of regret for the Gujarat pogrom or at least admitted the absolute failure of the Gujarat administration in preventing the mayhem? Had the BJP declared that with the advent of “Good Days”, it would forsake its Hindutva policy permanently and identify itself as representatives of all Indians only irrespective of their linguistic and religious status? Certainly all the answers are an emphatic ‘No’. So by means of which logic can it be declared that an attempt was taken to give a different orientation to the agenda of BJP prior to the general election? Yes, shrill rhetoric of “development” was certainly rendered long enough and loud enough so as to convince the electorate about its “truth”. But people who prefer to keep the windows of their minds open and refuse to get brainwashed by the vested interests had clearly noticed that the BJP was boldly exploiting rabid Hindutva, communalism, racism and casteism to reap electoral dividends.
During the phase of campaigning, BJP boldly and barbarically came up with slogans like “Muslims prey on the honour of Hindu women”, “all terrorists are Muslims” and “cow-killer Muslims are by default deportable infiltrators”. What a vitriolic campaign in a secular democratic republic! It is nothing but an absolute myth that the “historic” mandate of the BJP had swept away caste, creed and identity politics! If indeed slogans of “development” and “governance” were the only mantra behind the success, why did the BJP leaders have to constantly engage themselves in rabid Hindutva during the campaign? Didn’t Amit Shah call for “revenge” while campaigning in Muzaffarnagar? Didn’t the most high profile leader of the BJP deliver a speech in Faizabad with a banner and picture of the proposed Ram Mandir at Ayodhya? Why did a certain leader continuously stress on being the “Hriday samrat” of a particular section of population? Why did the BJP constantly focus on the caste status of Narendra Modi? When Priyanka Gandhi had merely and rightly spoken of “Nich rajniti” so as to condemn the degrading electoral “culture” of mud-slinging and personal attacks, didn’t Modi immediately project the comment as an attack on his “humble” caste origin and started playing to the sentiments of the “backward” castes? While campaigning in Kolkata, BJP leaders felt no qualms in boldly declaring that the migrant communities are being “tortured” in West Bengal just because of the state’s “sin” of rightly arresting the Hindi-speaking mandarins of a Hospital(that too for merely a short period) whose supreme callousness, failure and antipathy towards all norms of fire-safety regulations had nipped the precious lives of more than 90 vulnerable patients! What a barbaric show of racism and inhumanity practiced by the BJP just for the sake of garnering Hindi-speaking votes of West Bengal! The whole campaign machinery went all-out to exploit race, religion and caste, that too by casting aspersions on the nationalism of our very own Muslim brothers and sisters; yet a section of the media foolishly declare that caste, creed and identity politics had been swept away by the BJP!
So the party, which did not feel a bit of hesitation in exploiting religion caste and race in the most disgraceful and communal fashion possible in the run up to the general election, will naturally get a huge boost on being rewarded with maximum votes and securing Central power with massive majority and boldly carry on communal programmes and rabid Hindutva with renewed zeal and energy. Apart from the brainwashed lot, no secular rational person is getting surprised by viewing the antics of BJP. The sane tolerant secular people of the country were very much aware of the real face of BJP and didn’t vote for such an outfit. Since electoral politics is nothing but sheer numbers and gainer of maximum votes will form the Government, BJP-led NDA had won the game or “war”. But the fact remains that only 31 percent of the electorate who actually voted had pushed the button in favour of BJP! Yes, only the corporate sector, communal elements and the brainwashed lot had voted for the BJP.
Prior to the 2015 Delhi Assembly election, none other than the BJP President had candidly declared that Modi’s shrill cry of depositing Rs.15 lakh on the bank account of each and every individual after bringing in the black money was nothing but “jumla”! Now perhaps the brainwashed lot are arriving at the realisation that all the slogans of “development” and “Good Days” were nothing but “jumla”!
And what one utters is absolutely irrelevant. A man/woman needs to be judged by his/her action. Mere rhetoric of “We are all Indians” or “India First” will not do. What is the picture in the ground level? How could a person accused in the Muzaffarnagar riots find for himself a proud place in the Union Ministry? How could a leader continue to remain in the Ministry by dividing the electorate on the lines of ‘Ramzaade’ and ‘…..zaade’? How can the marauders enjoy a free run and continue to kill the Kalburgis, threaten the Bhagwans, kill innocent persons of minority denomination for their alleged “sin” of consuming beef and burn churches? Still not a single word of condemnation is being uttered by the Who’s Who of Central power!
The nation will at last get “developed” by attaining Mars orbit, building gigantic statues, running bullet trains for the super rich, Yoga, Gita, Sanskrit, Hindi imperialism, cow mata and what not! And let the common people continue leading a life resembling hell thanks to the devils named hunger, poverty, malnutrition, illiteracy, unemployment, sex slavery, child as well as bonded labour and sexual atrocities!
Yes, only when welfare measures will get conducted for the upliftment of the downtrodden and all communities are placed on an equally honourable secured platform, can any Union Government lay any moral claim to represent all Indians.