BY RAM PUNIYANI

Although the BJP and its allies were defeated in Elections 2009, Indians still have to be wary of their politics of divisiveness.

THE RESULTS of the 2009 Lok Sabha elections have thrown up a verdict where the BJP has lost lots of ground in the electoral arena, its voting percentage has declined and its number of seats has been reduced. Its strategies failed as its ambition of coming to power as the head of the NDA withered away. In the 2004 elections, despite predictions by pollsters, its power declined and it gave way to the Congress-led UPA alliance. While many states in the country are governed by the BJP and it seems to have entrenched itself there for the time-being, the overall opinion is that the BJP is fast losing popularity.

The BJP built its political fortunes on the foundations laid by the RSS for decades and the contextual economic and social changes which culminated during the early 1980s. These related to changes in the global political chessboard due to the decline of the Soviet states, leading to the US becoming the sole superpower in the world. This, in turn, changed the dynamics of globalisation, making it more averse to large sections of the population. The changes which occurred due to lopsided industrialisation in the country led to the rise of an affluent middle classes.

MIDDLE CLASS

WITH this backdrop, the interest of affluent sections seemed to be to support the politics of status quo with the political agenda to wean away deprived sections from the path of struggle by promoting identity-based politics. This might not have been a conscious move, but this is what happened in the course of political changes. The Ram temple issue grabbed the attention of the nation and marginalised social issues. Rights-based movements faced an uphill task in staying afloat in this atmosphere; an atmosphere seeped in divisive religious, social identities and enhanced religiosity.

The BJP at this stage, mid 1980s, shifted from its ploy of Gandhian socialism to Hindutva or Hindu nationalism. With Mandal coming to the fore, opponents of Mandal crystallised around the BJP in a big way. The ascendance of the BJP was assisted by the Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram wooing a section of Adivasis around the BJP. The Samajik Samrasta Manch co-opted a section of Dalits around Hindutva politics. This ascendance was further assisted by opportunist forces, the ilk of George Fernandes, that earlier would not touch it even with a barge pole. With the assistance of these forces, the BJP controlled the levers of power for close to six years. It is during this period that the infiltration and impact of the RSS ideology of Hindu nation spread and animosity against minorities seeped into the majority mindset. It is during this period that severe cultural and educational manipulations took place in the arena of education and social work.

OPPOSITION

THE BJP came to power because a section of the population is opposed to the process of social transformation of caste and gender. They also won over a section of the middle class by rallying around aggressive nationalism, nuclear explosion, threatening postures against Pakistan and, at times, bravado against the issue of terrorism. This section does not comprise the large masses. Affluent sections, those who benefit from ‘Shining India’ and some others, did remain loyal to the BJP, but others soon realised that the empty rhetoric of identity politics is not going to fill their empty stomachs and they voted against this ‘Hindu Nationalist’ party in 2004 and in 2009. Interestingly, other political formations operating around other identities also faced a setback during the 2009 elections.

Meanwhile, the BJP has tried to change its stripes and has tried to change lanes with issues like ‘Bijli, Sadak, Pani’ and harps on a development agenda a la Narendra Modi. But can it hide the fact that it is the party whose breakaway factions beat up women; it is the party which inherently believes in what Varun Gandhi says; its so called development talk is a mere electoral ploy… As they say, you can’t fool all the people all the time. The BJP has faced its moment of truth with its electoral vote share going down from the 22-odd percentage last time to nearly 20% now. Liberal space can be made stronger and those engaged in social movements can further strengthen their work.

So what happens to the BJP in times to come? There’s no doubt that the BJP has polarised sections of society through its ‘Hate Other’ ideology. Its major faces symbolising this divisive ideology have been L.K. Advani, Narendra Modi and Varun Gandhi in that sequence. This politics did lead to violence of mammoth proportions. It is not easy to write off the BJP as it has already laid its foundation around the ideology of Hindu nation. And the BJP is not a stand alone party. It is merely the electoral wing of the RSS, an organisation with hundreds of branches and offshoots which will continue to work, notwithstanding the defeat of the BJP. Apart from these multiple organisations, RSS ideology and politics has also got entrenched in education, media and social channels of cooption. Social engineering and increased religiosity is another phenomenon strengthening communalism.

DIVISIVENESS

COMMUNALISM does not stem merely from the power of the BJP in the political arena. Divisiveness begins from propagation of exclusivist ideologies of nationalism. The next layer is demonising minorities through various layers of propaganda. This has led to sectarian violence and polarisation of communities. Surely, these processes are very much intact and thriving in society. The ‘social common sense’ or perceptions about minorities has been doctored to frightening proportions. Subtle word-of-mouth propaganda against the Father of the Nation, against the values of the Indian Constitution and a blind reverence to tradition has been pushed through, broad and deep.

So, as of now, divisive politics is very much prevalent - in the form of ideas; in the form of different organisations, which may be presented as ‘cultural’, ‘religious’, ‘social’ or what have you. Surely, it is unlikely that the Ram temple or any other emotive issue can now come to the fore powerfully. It is unlikely that they can repeat Gujarat or Kandhamal so easily, though one does not rule these cataclysms out as the land mines of such politics have already been laid far and wide.

This type of politics knows that it can only thrive through identity issues and divisiveness; so those efforts may be intensified. The RSS - the BJP’s political father - has already started telling the BJP to return to Hindutva, i.e. take up issues like temple, Ram Sethu, etc. A lot will depend on how they are able to whip up hysteria around that. The nation has to be on guard against such deviations and stick to the ethos and values of the freedom movement in an unshakable way.