Manipulative politics

No one has grabbed the opportunity to make political gains out of the tragic deaths of Dalits in police firing in Mumbai as eagerly as the ...

No one has grabbed the opportunity to make political gains out of the tragic deaths of Dalits in police firing in Mumbai as eagerly as the Chief Minister of Gujarat. Shankersinh Vaghela stops at nothing in his attempt to curry favour with Dalits. As shocking as the incident was, the usual reaction from a neighbouring Chief Minister would have been strong condemnation of the killings, expressions of sympathy for the bereaved and reiteration that no such incidents would be tolerated in his own State. It is unlikely even Dalit leaders, incensed as they were about what happened in Mumbai, expected anything more than this. Vaghela, however, has been determined to set new standards in manipulative caste politics. He has demanded the dismissal of the Shiv Sena-BJP Government in Maharashtra, supported an all-Gujarat bandh called by Dalit organisations and distributed compensation to the families of victims in another State in the attempt to cast himself in the role of a saviour of Dalits. Not content with all the publicity this was bound to generate, he still takes special pains to hold Press conferences before newly installed photographs of B.R. Ambedkar.

The cynicism is appalling. It would be a different matter if the Chief Minister had demonstrated through policies and programmes during the last few months how close the Dalit cause was to his heart. He has not. He displays the same indifference to the genuine needs of people, as many other politicians in the country today who shout from the rooftops their concern for Dalits. The explanation for Vaghela8217;s excessive display of zeal is not hard to find. After splitting away from the BJP, the Rashtriya Janata Party has lived, so to speak, on the edge. On one side are BJP leaders who have never forgiven him for ousting them from power. On the other is the Congress party. Unreconciled to its position of supporting the minority government from outside and getting none of the benefits of office, the Gujarat Congress has been in a constant state of restiveness. A few months ago, there were loud noises of unhappiness with the Vaghela Government. Some members urged Congress president to repeat his experiment with Deve Gowda in Gujarat but Sitaram Kesri was not persuaded at that time.

In the face of such challenges, the RJP has tried to build its own independent constituency among OBCs, Dalits and Muslims. To a lesser extent the endeavour has also been to pre-empt the mobilising efforts of the Bahujan Samaj Party. Not surprisingly, BJP and Congress leaders in the State have been quick to recognise the game in the wake of the Mumbai incident and to condemn it. Congress leader Chhabildas Mehta8217;s demand for withdrawal of support to the government is one of the more serious expressions of Congress concern about its further marginalisation in Gujarat. How soon and seriously the party high command will attend to the demand and what other options it will consider remain to be seen. Just now, other developments should be much more worrying for Vaghela. The violence in many districts during the State-wide bandh last week was a warning that caste tensions run just under the surface in Gujarat. Vaghela does no one any good by fanning them to shore up his position.