Not a final verdict

Is Gujarat a laboratory? Only time will tell. But there is no mistaking that the sangh parivar threw down the gauntlet in the name of Hindutva and won 126 seats in the 182-member assembly. Chief Minister Narendra Modi8217;s plank was anti-Muslim and anti-Pakistan and he made the two slogans synonymous. He ploughed the furrow of hatred and reaped a rich harvest of bigotry.

He did best in the areas where he planned and executed ethnic cleansing, a swing of 18 per cent in central Gujarat and 11 per cent in the north.

One explanation being offered is that secularism or Mahatma Gandhi has never appealed to the Gujaratis. This was particularly true in those parts of the state where people had no qualms of conscience in voting en bloc for Modi ten months after their complicity in the riots.

Modi8217;s warning not to support the Congress lest its win should be considered Pakistan8217;s victory worked but the other way round. His win has pleased Islamabad. It feels that the two-nation theory on which Pakistan was founded has been vindicated all over again. In any case, since the days of the BJP-led government at Delhi, Pakistan has been claiming that secularism in India is another name for Hindu raj.

The sangh parivar does not hide its ambition to establish a Hindu raj in India. Its anti-Muslim propaganda in Gujarat was open and blatant. But New Delhi is apparently embarrassed over the manner in which the international community has reacted initially to the BJP8217;s victory in Gujarat.

Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani has been quick to say that it is not a victory for Hindutva. But mere words will carry no conviction because as many as 17 diplomats from different countries were present on the ground to see the low level to which the parivar took electioneering in Gujarat.

And why should the BJP feel shy when it is bound to duplicate the same formula in other states? It must, however, keep one thing in mind: riding the wave of hate in a particular state is one thing but converting the entire country to Hindu chauvinism is another. What it seeks to do is against the ethos of our independence struggle in which people from different communities participated and sacrificed all.

The sangh parivar was never in the picture but the saga of the national movement is India8217;s proud heritage. Independent India did not become a Hindu state because such an ethos was at odds with the pluralism which the country has reflected for centuries. After freedom, the sangh parivar suddenly became active in raising the demand for a Hindu raj.

But people followed Mahatma Gandhi, who even at the height of post-Partition riots, said: 8216;Hindus and Muslims are my two eyes8217;. In fact, his values, which were consecrated by his assassination at the hands of a fanatic, gave us respite for nearly 40 years from the Hindutva zealots. They came to be hated so much that they would not get even a two-digit figure in Parliament. Indira Gandhi8217;s Emergency gave them relevance because they were among the few to defy it under the leadership of Jayaprakash Narayan.

After the victory in Gujarat, the BJP may begin to nourish grandiose ideas. But I do not think that the party has any substantial strength beyond the middle class in northern India where a 8216;Hindu8217; identity has become more attractive than the Indian ethos. Still, the battle to defeat the forces of Hindutva will be tough and long. The sangh parivar has permeated every part of our collective life and those who believe in pluralistic and democratic values have taken secularism for granted.

Whether the Congress is the right party to lead the fight is not yet clear 8212; it played a soft Hindu line in Gujarat. Secularism is not a matter of politics. It is a commitment. You either have it or you don8217;t. There is no halfway house.

Modi or Togadia did not flinch from tearing apart our secular fabric to combine religion with politics and the state. But the party whose president belligerently demands to know how anybody can dare criticise Indira Gandhi has little room for ideas or introspection. In fact, if one were to look back one would find that the amendment to the Constitution after the Shah Bano case and the unlocking of the Babri masjid were the two main factors that bolstered Hindu chauvinism. Advani8217;s rath yatra only consolidated it.

The clean sweep of the BJP in three by-elections in Rajasthan indicates that the state may be the party8217;s next target. It may even be Maharashtra where its tried and tested ally, Shiv Sena, will provide support. The sangh parivar may also be thinking about early general elections. But it may yet go wrong in its calculations.

The BJP8217;s win in Gujarat had very much to do with ethnic cleansing. The police and the authorities in that state came in handy. This is not possible in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh or even Maharashtra where the Congress is in power. And Bihar, with all the taint of crime and corruption, continues to be Laloo Prasad Yadav8217;s preserve.

What the BJP leadership has to reckon with seriously is the emergence of Modi and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, which was in charge of the polls in Gujarat. They will want to cash in on the 8216;image8217; they have built of not stopping at anything for achieving their ends. The ageing party leadership may not be willing to go all the way yet.

Naroda resident, Peer Mohammad Allah Bakhsh, wounded during the riots, says defiantly: 8216;8216;This is our home, our country and we want to live here, work here and earn our livelihood here. Where will we go?8217;8217; It is he who represents the nation8217;s resolve, not Modi8217;s pyrrhic victory.