Hitler, Pervez, Indira? Odious comparison

Are we talking of the same Indira who won elections continuously for herself and for her party from 1966 until her assassination in 1984, barring 1977? A PM who beat the BJP/Jana Sangh hollow each time. Parties now talking of lack of legislative legitimacy were not even also-rans during her time. The BJP, as a very junior partner of the Janata Party coalition, tasted power for the first time in 1977 because it was Indira Gandhi who, without any compulsion to do so, held free and fair elections. And within three short years, she was back in power in 1980.

Such a leader, subjected repeatedly to the electoral fire test for decades, is compared with Hitler or Musharraf. The latter never faced any elections, came to power through the army, retained power through the barrel of the gun and has just proclaimed emergency to avoid his first election as a civilian president. Even jaundiced eyes like those of the BJP should be able to make out the difference, unless one chooses to turn a Nelson’s eye to reality.

To compare a vibrant democracy like India with either a military dictatorship like Pakistan or Hitlerian Germany is not to insult the Congress or Indira but to insult India. Thirty-two years after emergency, the BJP is struck by the similarities of three emergencies. Their conscience is troubled by the few excesses of overzealous officials during the Indian emergency, although they were unable to convict or hold responsible Indira Gandhi for a single aberration, despite three years of persecution. But do they ever lose sleep over Godhra or the antics of their in-house practitioner of fascism, Narendra Modi? One is surprised at the critical references to Hitler, because the philosophy of the ‘parivar’ remote controlling the BJP is the closest to Hitlerian fascism as any available political thought in Indian politics. Is the BJP prepared to disown the detailed conclusions of Golwalkar who eulogised Hitler as an icon?

Selective memory forgets that Indira Gandhi never scrapped the Constitution, never issued provisional governance orders, never administered new oaths of allegiance to judges and never wore two hats as army chief and president. It is ironic that Article 356 is also an emergency power occurring in the same constitutional chapter as Article 352 invoked by Indira Gandhi! The BJP is not troubled at seeing their sitting party president desperately demanding money on candid camera but attributes the casual remarks of Dev Kant Borooah to Indira and equates her to Hitler in this regard!

No one suggests that no wrong happened during emergency. But ask anyone — even a BJP party worker — is it fair to characterise Indira Gandhi as a dictator and put her in the same category as Hitler and Musharraf? Can one justify the 1973-75 climate of anarchy, with open calls for insurrection and rebellion given to the army and with the present-day convener of the NDA (does he remain so?) virtually admitting to blowing up a part of the Indian Railways in the Baroda dynamite case. And if Vinoba Bhave, who is admitted to be honourable, called it “anushashan parva”, was it at least not partly because of the tangible good effect of the 20-point programme which included pro-poor programmes like freeing of bonded labour and liquidation of debt?

The BJP is good at using selective and recurring references to history to make fake comparisons. Many careers have been built on such distortions of the BJP’s two hobby horses — the emergency and Bofors — both, incidentally, conforming to the same pattern of treatment. They are nothing but a convenient stick to brandish. But the BJP forgets that the stick elicits no fear, only pity and ridicule at its wielder.

The author is MP and national spokesperson, Congress