Gujarat146;s yes-men

Two factors emerge from these developments8212;with potentially far-reaching implications for our woebegone country. First, despite all the stipulations in the rule books and exhortations from Delhi, the Narenda Modi parivar is fighting this election on a platform of outright communalism, from Godhra to Mian Musharraf. Second, the Modi-VHP brand of brazen hate politics, by simply winning the day, could well set a fashion for other extremists to emulate.

That Modi will win the election seems certain, unless dramatic shifts occur in the privacy of the polling booths. The clincher in his favour is the help the Congress is giving the BJP. When all parties have recognised the need for uniting against the BJP threat,the Congress alone refuses to join hands with others. It gives many reasons, but the real reason is that it is too arrogant in its Big Brother posture. In recent weeks it helped the BJP in UP and in a municipal election in Kerala, both for reasons of personal ego. In Gujarat this means that votes against communalism will be split, allowing Modi to laugh all the way to the Secretariat.

Another advantage for the Modi parivar is that many of those who would vote against it have either fled the state or are in relief camps. Only a minority of the minorities will have the guts to go out and vote in such an environment.

Whether a majority of the majority will vote for Modi depends on how far the polarisation has gone. It is too glib to talk of polarisation between Hindus and non-Hindus. It is more meaningful to see if there is any polarisation between bigoted Hindus and non-bigoted Hindus. The latter has always been dominant in Gujarat as elsewhere.

But the big question is whether the moderate can prevail over the intolerant in today8217;s conditions. Instilling fear in the populace is a favourite tactic of the bigoted. The Parivar in Gujarat have announced the induction of a specially raised, VHP-dominated 8216;8216;Home Guards8217;8217; for election duty. That should guarantee that the fear level is kept high.

All this is far removed from Hinduism or any religion for that matter. Political use merely diminishes religion. That was what bothered that great administrator of yester-years, M N Buch, when he said recently: 8216;8216;If the BJP has created a state based on adharma, the Congress too has failed to establish a true dharmic state. I make this statement as a Hindu who sees his religion being destroyed.8217;8217;

The destroyers have only Duryodhana8217;s classic Jaanaami Dharmam logic to justify their position: 8216;8216;I know Dharma, but have no inclination to practise it. I know what adharma is, but have no desire to escape from it.8217;8217;

There was a Lord then to defeat Duryodhana. Alas, we have no saviour today.