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Journalism of Courage
It is indeed ironical that Kalyan Singh — who will go down in history as the only chief minister who despite the Supreme Court verdict on the Ayodhya case oversaw the demolition of the Babri Masjid — should plaster Lucknow with his new slogan: Kanun ka raj hoga. Bhai mukt samaaj hoga (the law of the land and a fearless society shall prevail). Lucknowites amble past these posters knowing fully well whose law prevails in their land and how fearless they can be with mafia dons Hari Shankar Tiwari and Rajja Bhaiya deciding their fate in the legislative assembly. It is for this reason that Kalyan Singh possibly will never be able to muster absolute majority in the state. Yet he will continue to rule: manipulation, horse-trading and unprincipled politics will ensure his political survival.
And why not? He has the support of his party’s high command and its mouth pieces in the media. The results are crystal clear. Any political effort to check his manoueveres is projected as a great politicalmisdemeanour of the opposition and a dereliction of its “moral duty” to let the BJP raj continue. Alongside the virtual gagging of the opposition’s role comes the occasional demand for the removal of the Governor who used no extra-constitutional means to forestall horse-trading by the BJP. But most importantly, BJP’s novel political expectations from the opposition and the Governor are accompanied by the cupfull of martyrdom for the party and its leadership in case any of its demands are not met. The party hopes that these martyrdom waves will ultimately buoy it to absolute majority.
This BJP drama is not confined to UP alone. The props were set ever since the BJP lost its vote of confidence in 1996. The sinking boat of the BJP was fast converted into a martyrdom chariot for Atal Behari Vajpayee. Rumours and lies informed this martyrdom. The party used its short-of-majority mandate to convey the impression the it was the opposition that had ganged up to prevent the implementation of the “popular”mandate it had won. With more than half the MPs in the parliament representing non-BJP parties, one wondered what world of fantasy the BJP lived in.
That the party knew very well that martyrdom and imagined “popular mandate” were mere fancies and only meant for public consumption was soon evident when, after the 1996 defeat, it began a realistic search for allies. Anybody and everybody was welcome: from corruption-tainted Jayalalitha to the old foe Subramanian Swamy. The point of “principle” had now shifted from popular mandate to “pre-poll” allies. It was argued that theirs was a “principled” alliance because it was a “pre-poll” one.
Interestingly, once the 1998 polls did not give the BJP and its pre-poll allies the majority the post-poll allies concept became “principled” only because it had now entered BJP’s political bag. Now the post-poll friends were no less sacrosanct even if they included scam-tainted Sukh Rams.
As the BJP ties itself in knots — from myth weaving to fantasy tomartyrdom and then back to reality — it expects the opposition to sit aside and watch its bizarre political dance. For to dance is its “moral responsibility”. It is the “moral duty” of the audience — the opposition — to be mesmerised. How long will this opera go on? Will the non-BJP parties ever force for an interlude? Will they ever burst the BJP bubble of fantasy for which more than half the populace of the country have elected them. How long will we wait and watch this unprincipled politics unfold in the name of “stability” and “good governance”?
It is the moral duty of the non-BJP MPs to act. For the configuration of the present Lok Sabha indicates that more than half of this country has seen through the BJP gameplan. The party should read the message on the wall: its gimmicks are not going to earn it any more martyrdom and no more seats. It is time to breaks out of its self-defeating circle of fantasy and confronts the reality of a multireligious, multicultural and multiethnic India thatneeds to be governed with respect and sensitivity and not by north Indian upper caste high handedness which characterises the BJP.
The writer is an assistant professor of history at JNU
