No Need To Panic Over BJP Not Winning the Election 09

I expected a lot of misplaced hue and cry over the election results that has put the Congress led coalition in power now. But those who have a deeper understanding of the forces that influence such changes in Indian politics will not panic on this turn which will not put the clock back on BJP. The strange thing about the ballot box is that it will not keep any party or coalition in power permanently. Sometimes the anti incumbency factor works, sometimes it does not. Moreover in a complex and conflicting multi party system that is fuelled by a plethora of conflicting motivations and goals such as the one in India, it is not prudent for the so called political pundits to jump to conclusion and condemn or praise a party and its leadership for its failure or success in an election. Our Hindutva friends should not get jittery over the present setback but remain focussed on achieving the fundamental national agenda of BJP and evaluate Indian politics from this prism. It is good to remember that the BJP leadership has grown in the nursery of RSS and the VHP which are strong as ever and no ballot box earthquakes such as the present election results can shake their foundations. BJP may be subject to ups and downs under the ballot box system, but not the RSS, the VHP, the Shiv Sena and many similar Hindutva organs which are the ultimate guarantors of India ’s national security and integrity.

 

In the euphora of the Congress victory, people in general and the so called Pundits miss to see some of the positive outcome that is supportive of BJP. For instance, Mamta Bannerjee’s Trinamool Congress has routed the Communist party in Bengal , which is a vehement critic of the BJP as well as the progressive Indo-US nuclear deal. Nitish Kumar’s JD(U), which is harsh critic of the Nehru-Indira dynasty, has toppled the Congress there. The communists in Kerala have been routed by the Congress party itself, which supports BJP’s anti communist platform. A negative outcome for the BJP as well as the country as a whole is the unfortunate victory of Karunanidhi’s DMK which has proved itself as a separatist outfit as well as anti-Hindu. It is sad that Jayalalitha’s heroic campaign to oust the DMK did not succeed because of widespread use of money power by the DMK to ‘buy’ votes, and the gross misuse of administrative machinery, especially the state police which was a silent spectator of the DMK atrocities of tampering with the electronic voting machines in gross violation of model code of conduct of the election commission. The once prestigious and popular Congress party in Tamil Nad has become a victim of Karunanidhi’s schemes against it and Sonia’s insistence of coalition with DMK and inclusion of Karunanidhi’s corrupt family members in the union cabinet will boomerang on the Congress sooner or later. The so called pundits of election results fail to see the positive gains that BJP has made indirectly.

 

The Hindutva platform has some fundamental components like a) scrapping of Secularism b)  scrapping of article 370 that gives a special status to Kashmir c) the enforcement of a common civil code for all Indians and d)  re enactment of POTA to fight Islamic terrorism and fundamentalism emanating from within and outside India, especially from Pakistan and Bangladesh and e) the long term goal of dissolution of Pakistan by supporting the separatist movements in Sind, Baluchistan and Pushtunistan in NWFP,  that are openly opposed to the concept of Pakistan. The setting up of a Ram Mandir at the site of Ram Janmabhoomi in Ayodhya is one of the several other goals to be accomplished. It is true that BJP could not realise any one of these goals even when it was in power under Vajpayee because its hands were handcuffed by the compulsions of survival in Coalition politics. BJP cannot hope to achieve miracles through the ballot box in the confused ‘free for all’ type of democracy that prevails in India .

 

It is therefore necessary to look beyond the ballot box  for achieving the long term goals of BJP mentioned above. It is necessary to point out that there is ‘De Facto’ Hindutva in India , though not ‘De Jure’, a fact that many fail to note and appreciate. India ’s national unity and integrity remains strong as ever due to the ‘De Facto’ Hindutva that binds the entire country. This is in great contrast to Pakistan which sixty years of its partition from India has become both a failed and a rogue state that will dissolve itself sooner or later.

Another key factor to remember is that the electoral victory

Of the Congress party may not be dangerous for the BJP so long as it is not influenced by and keeps itself away from the  Nehru-Indira dynastic rule. It is heartening to see other scions of the same Nehru-Indira dynasty, like Maneka and Varun Gandhi who are leading lights of the BJP and its Hindutva goals. Congress will cease to be a threat to BJP after it has cleansed itself of the anti majority and pro minority ‘vote bank’ politics. The fact that the Congress  recognises the unsuitability of Sonia Gandhi for Prime Ministership due to her foreign nationality by birth and her Roman Catholic allegience to the Vatican is a gain for the BJP. Even Rahul, who is projected to become Prime Minister sooner or later shows signs of distancing himself from the views of his foreign born mother on key issues of national integrity and security as revealed by some of his recent utterances that reflects the BJP stand. For example, Rahul has reportedly said that Afzal Guru, the master mind behind the attack on Indian parliament ‘will be executed when his turn comes’ is a comment that reflects the BJP stand. He also had some words of praise for Advani to the chagrin of his scheming mother. It should also be remembered that most of the Congressmen themselves are private sympathisers of BJP though they want to remain ‘politically correct’ to save their seats in Parliament and Assemblies. Another key factor that misses public attention is the fact that the ‘arithmetic’ of low minority representation in the Legislatures (less than 5%) has not changed a bit which shows that the vote bank politics of Congress and other parties is nothing more than a gimmick to fool the minorities for their votes.  So, a deeper analysis of the election results shows that  nothing is lost by BJP losing the election 09, since there are many other ‘routes’, besides the ballot box, by which its national goals could be achieved.

 

Lastly, Hindutva friends in North America should realise that India is not America and they should stop looking at India through American glasses. I support the theory that Indo-US friendship is good for India and we must pursue it by all means. But I would, at the same time, point out areas where we have to be wary of some of the policies of USA that are positively harmful to India and hence must be redressed through the powerful Indian lobby in America such as the Indo-US intellectual Forum, Indo-US Friendship Forum etc.

 

First of all, the continued US support to bolster and protect the failed and rogue state of Pakistan is not only contrary to the Indian view point that there is no alternative to the ultimate dissolution of Pakistan as a final solution to solving the menace of Islamic fundamentalism and terrorism. The US continues to treat Pakistan as a military base to meet its misconcieved potential thrests from Russia, China and also possibly India, a wrong policy that attempts to support Pakistan against India, India against China etc through its cold war policy of ‘balance of power’ to maintain its supremacy in the world.

 

Secondly, While welcoming the Indo-US nuclear deal, we should take note of BJP’s concern that it handcuffs India in the matter of further nuclear tests. The Indian nuclear scientists are second to none in the world and given the encouragement, they can out beat even America and put India in the forefront as a nuclear power. India ’s basic self interests in matters of defence should not be sacrificed in the altar of Indo-US friendship.

 

Thirdly, like the division of Islam in to moderate and extremist types, there is the moderate capitalism of the Classical and neo classical Keynesian Economics on the one hand and the extremist corporate capitalism of the US that has brought about the present economic melt down in USA and the rest of the world.  While the moderate classical capitalism aims at human economic welfare, the extreme Corporate capitalism of USA has produced economic greed and the concentration of global wealth in the hands of greedy capitalist class whereby less than 1% of the global population is controlling 98% of global wealth and income. It has also adversely affected Indian economy with its lop sided development leading to over concentration of wealth, urban congestion, rural neglect as well as affecting its traditional industries and employment.

 

On the social front , the extreme corporate capitalism by its greed and emphasis on excessive materialism, has tended to destroy the institution of family by giving legal status to perverse sexualism of Gay,Lesbianism, same sex marriage etc. It will lead to destroying Christianity as well as the concepts of God and morality in the US .

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