Red victory

The lead story in the latest issue of the Organiser, complete with pictures of a smiling quintet8212;Manmohan Singh, Sonia Gandhi, Prakash Karat...

The lead story in the latest issue of the Organiser, complete with pictures of a smiling quintet8212;Manmohan Singh, Sonia Gandhi, Prakash Karat, Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and M Karunanidhi8212;is a visual celebration of the good showing by the Left and UPA in the latest round of assembly polls. But the content of the article is hardly celebratory. The Left victories in West Bengal and Kerala will mean 8220;more muscle flexing, more extractions, more extra-constitutionalism and more extremism, such as support to Maoists in Nepal and the resultant impact on the Maoist corridor running through several Indian states8221;.

Although the sub-heading to the article reads 8220;UPA consolidates8221;, the text highlights the tensions that are bound to rise between the UPA government and its Left supporters. 8220;If with 63 MPs, the Leftists could make hell for the UPA government, it is inconceivable to expect any concession after this much-touted victory, particularly on a Prime Minister, who is publicly humiliated day in and day out by Sonia Gandhi and her supporters8221;.

Lessons for the NDA

The Organiser editorial takes the argument forward. The Manmohan Singh government, it says, is now dependent on the Left Front 8220;even for its political rationale8221; and the Congress president Sonia Gandhi 8220;has started talking like a Communist8221;. The PM will be the 8220;fall guy when the chips are down8221;. The enhanced clout of the Left will also affect internal security. Apart from dictating the the government8217;s Nepal policy, 8220;our information is that the CPM is secretly working in tandem with the Naxalites and it is the Left Front influence on the UPA that is preventing the Centre from taking a convincing stand against the Left extremists spread across central India8221;.

But the editorial concedes that there are lessons for the NDA in the assembly election results. First, the Trinamool Congress 8220;could have been less humiliating to the BJP in the seat-sharing exercise in West Bengal8221;. Second, the AGP8217;s poor showing was a result of its opportunistic tie-up with the Communists. And third, the BJP suffered in Kerala because it was a 8220;divided house8221; where 8220;inexplicable groupism and personal egos resulted in the BJP8217;s woesome setback in at least three seats8221;.

Jaya8217;s 8216;deserved8217; defeat

The Trinamool Congress, the AGP and the BJP get off lightly compared to Jayalalithaa8217;s AIADMK. A separate editorial is devoted to the 8220;political message8221; of the Tamil Nadu poll result. Jayalalithaa8217;s defeat 8220;exposes the pitfalls of bidding for the minority votebank by antagonising the Hindus8221;.

According to the editorial, Jayalalithaa, 8220;who had carefully cultivated a Hindu image through her much-publicised gifting of elephant to the temple in Guruvayur, temple tank renovation programmes, banning religious conversion in the state and such moves, went back on each of the projects that appeared even remotely related to Hindus. The ultimate sin was her foisting the Shankararaman murder case on the aged HH Shankaracharya Jayendra Saraswati8221;.

Her resounding defeat is proof that 8220;Hindu vote counts and counts decisively8221; says the editorial, without explaining why the BJP did not win a single seat this time or why the disaffected 8220;Hindu8221; voters gave a majority to the DMK-led secular combine.

Subramaniam 8216;Huntington8217; Swamy

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Subramaniam Swamy, in his continuing series on the 8220;The search for a Hindu agenda8221;, approvingly cites Samuel Huntington controversial Clash of Civilisations thesis and advocates a US-India-Israel alliance to counter Islamic terrorism. The Cold War hangover and vote bank politics is delaying the 8220;fructification of a formal alliance,8221; says Swamy. Once the Hindus are consolidated into a votebank, the three-nation civilisational alliance against Islam would become a reality.

But that would only be the first step of a larger conflict. Swamy8217;s thesis: 8220;Once the Huntington clash of civilization is over, the clash of religions will begin8212;i.e., the clash between Hinduism and Christianity. It will not be a hot clash as with Islam, but a clash rooted in subversion: i.e., subvert or be subverted.

To stave off being subverted by Christian foreign forces, Hindus will need a new mindset and a clear concept of identity8221;. To learn more about this impending clash, Swamy advises readers to read his forthcoming book on the subject or at least follow his columns in the Organiser.