The
Statesman
September 11,
2009
The
riot act ~ BJP Still Cannot Avoid Communal Provocation
Amulya
Ganguli
THE eagerness with which
the saffron camp tried to provoke and then exploit communal sentiments
in Sangli and elsewhere in Maharashtra was typical of its incendiary
tactics. Riots have always been the easiest way for the Sangh Parivar to
enthuse its cadres. The cynical ploy is not dissimilar to the recourse
to strikes by the Communists to make their presence felt. Given the
BJP’s current woes, it may not hesitate to fall back occasionally on
the time-honoured gambit of minority-baiting in a desperate attempt to
recover the lost ground.
Maharashtra is an ideal
testing ground for such devious manoeuvres with the prolonged Ganapati festivals
offering an opportunity to flaunt the party’s and the Parivar’s Hindu
identity. It may not be besides the point to recall that Tilak initiated
the Ganapati celebrations to wean Hindus away from participating in
Muharrum and other special occasions in the Muslim calendar. Since
then, the aggressive elements among the Hindus have always looked
forward to the Ganapati celebrations less with piety than with the
intention of challenging the minorities if any such chance presented
itself.
Sangli flare-up
IT wasn’t surprising, therefore, that the spark which lit the
communal fires in Sangli was a depiction in some of the puja pandals of
Afzal Khan being killed by Shivaji. The intention of the saffron
organizers was to keep the “blazing history” of the Maratha warrior
alive, as the Shiv Sena’s mouthpiece, Saamna, noted. It doesn’t take a
keen student of Hindutva politics to decipher why this aspect of
Shivaji’s life was sought to be highlighted instead of the fact that
he also had Muslim generals in his army. Clearly, it isn’t their
interest in history which drives the saffron zealots. Instead, they
prefer to pick and choose those facets which can play a divisive and
inflammatory role.
The success of this ploy with the outbreak of violence must have been
a source of satisfaction to the BJP in the midst of the all-enveloping
gloom which surrounds the party today. To fish in the troubled waters,
its leader in Maharashtra, Gopinath Munde, lost no time to decide to
fly to Sangli. When he was not allowed to board the flight, he started
out by road. His interest is perhaps all the greater not only because
of the challenge which he faces to his position from the party’s chief
of the state unit, Nitin Gadkari, especially now that Munde has lost
his powerful brother-in-law, Pramod Mahajan, but also because of the
impending state assembly elections.
That the saffron camp is on a weak wicket is no secret. Not only did
it lose the recent parliamentary elections in Maharashtra, it cannot
hope to recover its position as long as the Shiv Sena remains divided
between uncle Bal Thackeray and his estranged nephew, Raj, who has
floated his own outfit, the Navnirman Sena. What is more, the latter’s
attacks on north Indians in Mumbai and elsewhere, some of whom may
have been expected to vote for the BJP, cannot but make them turn to
the ruling Congress-NCP combination.
In addition, while Mahajan’s untimely death has robbed the BJP of an
energetic campaigner, Bal Thackeray has not been as enthusiastic a
supporter of the BJP in recent years as before, judging from his
decision to support Pratibha Patil rather than the NDA’s Bhairon Singh
Shekhawat for the President’s post, and his expressed preference for
Sharad Pawar as Prime Minister instead of the NDA’s LK Advani. Thackeray’s
attitude was evidently a case of Marathi parochialism trumping
Hindutva affiliations.
At a disheartening time like the present, therefore, a riot is just
what the doctor can be said to have ordered for the BJP. The Sena, of
course, has always been at the forefront of such outbreaks, for its
politics for the last four decades of its existence has been geared
round street violence. Moreover, as its aging patriarch, Bal
Thackeray, shows signs of fading away, and his son, Uddhav, is
outsmarted in the choice of a new target of attack ~ mainly the
Biharis ~ by his cousin, Raj, the Sena may depend on a communal
flare-up to boost its spirits on the eve of the elections.
Afzal Khan episode
IT has accused the Congress-NCP government of hypocrisy by
arguing that it was against the depiction of the Afzal Khan episode
although the ruling alliance was erecting a giant statue of Shivaji on
the Mumbai seafront. But the answer should be clear even to the
simple-minded. The statue is a tribute to the 17th century hero’s
military and administrative achievements ~ he is known as the “father
of the Indian navy” ~ and non-sectarian politics. In contrast, the
purpose of the saffron lobby’s focus on one episode in Shivaji’s long
and colourful career is too obvious to be stated.
Although the saffronities have partially succeeded in achieving their
objective of setting off a riot, the BJP may not like to pursue this
confrontationist agenda for much longer lest it should revive all the
familiar fears about the party, especially at the national level. The
Sena may not mind carrying on further with its mischief. Its base and
influence are limited to parts of one state and sections of one
community. The party has little interest, therefore, in widening its
appeal. The BJP, on the other hand, has to keep a larger audience in
mind, including the NDA’s virtually only remaining “secular”
component, the Janata Dal (United). Even then, its role in Sangli has
shown that there has been no change in its essentially anti-minority
instincts.
