Godhra, hide and seek

Everybody knows election manifestos mustn8217;t be taken too seriously. They are pious statements of unexceptionable intent, scarcely, if e...

Everybody knows election manifestos mustn8217;t be taken too seriously. They are pious statements of unexceptionable intent, scarcely, if ever, consulted even by the parties that framed them. But, having said that, the BJP8217;s just-released manifesto is startling: it would appear to consign manifesto-making to a whole new political irrelevance.

In spectacular contrast to the campaign the party is now running in Gujarat under the leadership of Narendra Modi and the VHP, the document is silent on the carnage in Godhra and its gruesome aftermath. So, as the Modi-VHP campaign pastes images of the Sabarmati Express bogeys on election posters and cut-outs and Modi gets his election office in Maninagar inaugurated by the teenaged daughters of a Godhra victim, even as the party readies a video clip starring Superhero Modi who comes to your rescue in the train and in the temple, and the VHP distributes T-shirts and CDs emblazoned with pictures of the burning train, the party manifesto studiously skips any and all references to Godhra.

The contrast is so striking that it provokes one to ask: is this manifesto-campaign schism merely political doublespeak-as-usual? Or does it signify more 8212; a secession of sorts, in Gujarat, of Modi-VHP from BJP?

But lest the faithful be alarmed, the BJP manifesto isn8217;t all about difference from the VHP-Modi agenda. Yes, it is silent on Godhra, but a closer reading reveals that Godhra and Akshardham are definitely on the party8217;s mind.

The overriding theme is security. In fact, it is possible to read the military-style call to arms, the proposals to launch an anti-terrorist movement by training youth and forming shakti gram in coordination with the defence ministry, and the creation of a second line of defence involving gram rakshak dal, home guards and the NCC, as Godhra in other words.

The invocation of terror looms so large in the manifesto that it completely dwarfs all of its other offerings 8212; be it the plan to usher in a Jayalalithaa style anti-conversion law in Gujarat, to regulate education in the states8217;s madarsas, or the lip service to development, industrialisation and good administration.

On second thoughts, manifestos are not so meaningless after all. The BJP8217;s manifesto in Gujarat has some important things to say. It says that there may be divisions within the party on just how much and in what manner the Godhra carnage is to be exploited for electoral gain. It says that the party is nevertheless united behind a world view that seeks to trade on majority fears, real and imagined, more imagined than real. It says that in this scheme of priorities, governance comes last.