Opinion Tavleen Singh writes: BJP’s laundromat can’t revive high ideals that defined Modi’s first campaign

Unsurprising really if you keep in mind that just a year ago it was another Maharashtrian political party that was destroyed by supposed irreconcilable internal divisions so grave that they brought down Uddhav Thackeray’s government.

tavleen singh writes on the ncp divide in maharashtra and bjp's laundromat

Apologists for the BJP in the media have been busy justifying what happened in Maharashtra last week. (Express file photo by Pavan Khengre)

Tavleen Singh

July 9, 2023 08:06 PM IST First published on: Jul 9, 2023 at 07:30 AM IST

Political analysts have taken these days to seriously discussing the BJP’s laundromat and its magical powers. They make jokes about how corrupt, crooked politicians pass through the washing machines in this legendary laundry and come out smelling of saffron and lotuses. Instantly men and women whose names till just yesterday were at the top of the list of the Enforcement Directorate’s sleuths become purified enough to be given important positions in BJP governments. This has happened so often in recent times that most political analysts have been left gasping in amazement.

So, when the theatrical political split occurred in Maharashtra last week it was numbers that were analysed and not the amorality of what happened. Unsurprising really if you keep in mind that just a year ago it was another Maharashtrian political party that was destroyed by supposed irreconcilable internal divisions so grave that they brought down Uddhav Thackeray’s government. But it soon became clear that these were divisions that had been carefully created by the BJP. While negotiations were afoot to bring the government down, Shiv Sena rebel MLAs were transported on midnight flights to Gujarat, Assam, and Goa. They spent weeks luxuriating in fine hotels whose bills were picked up by mysterious millionaires. And then, when the time was right, the leader of this rebel group became chief minister and the man who became his deputy admitted openly that he had done what he did to take revenge. Should we see this admission by Devendra Fadnavis as honesty or amorality?

There has not been time to ask such questions because barely has a year passed and another regional party has been torn asunder. This time it is the party that Sharad Pawar built from scratch that has now slipped out of his hands because his nephew discovered suddenly that Narendra Modi was the only man who could lead India. Also, that he was no longer averse to the BJP’s Hindutva ideology. So, the man whose alleged corruption in an irrigation project was called out by the Prime Minister personally in Bhopal two weeks ago is now Deputy Chief Minister in a BJP government. He has been into one of those miraculous washing machines in the BJP laundromat and come out clean as have the other allegedly corrupt men who deserted the NCP (Nationalist Congress Party) mothership along with him.

Apologists for the BJP in the media have been busy justifying what happened. On social media they can be heard saying that Ajit Pawar had been in touch with Amit Shah some months ago and told him that most NCP legislators were keen to join the BJP-Shiv Sena government. They tried to persuade the NCP patriarch, Sharad Pawar, that it was time for them to abandon old alliances and forge a new path, but he remained unpersuaded, so they had to leave in the way they did.

Something similar happened in Madhya Pradesh not long ago when Jyotiraditya Scindia jumped ship to bring down a Congress government and benefited personally by becoming a senior minister in Modi’s cabinet. There have been shenanigans of similar kind in Goa and Karnataka in the past so we have reached a stage when we barely question what is happening, but questions need to be asked or Indian democracy will continue to be weakened. No matter what the Prime Minister says about our ancient democratic credentials when he travels in foreign lands, he needs to acknowledge that this kind of politics besmirches his name personally. He has chosen so far to hide behind silence but when he next campaigns for an election he might find it necessary to explain how he has taken into his embrace people at whom he has flung charges of corruption and family rule.

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Amorality and cynicism are things you get used to if you cover Indian politics as long as I have, but what has shaken me to the core is the brazenness with which the BJP continues to talk of morality and patriotism. Not to speak of the arrogance with which they sit on a high pedestal making charges of anti-nationalism against opposition leaders and unfriendly journalists. No sooner do these ‘anti-national’ creatures show signs of kowtowing and obeisance than they are passed through those miraculous washing machines in the BJP laundromat and judged patriots and idealists. Of course, those who kowtow deserve our contempt, but can we reserve some for those who insist on the kowtowing and those who claim the ideological high ground while playing the dirtiest politics? It is hard to assess how voters will react to this kind of political mendacity. But luckily the Lok Sabha election is less than a year away and we will soon find out. Meanwhile, the BJP laundromat will be kept busy by elections in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh before this year ends.

What the laundromat cannot do is revive the high ideals and shining values that defined Modi when he first campaigned to become prime minister. He seemed in those days to truly be a refreshing, new kind of leader. A man who would bring back the idealism that has been so absent in the men who have entered public life in recent years. It is his tragedy and ours that he has shown himself to be just the same as everyone else. He is just another politician cut from the same old cloth as the others.