Dear friends (particularly those that argued vehemently about BJP's fate before the elections)
I think its time for stock taking, why I wrote this piece. I hope atleast some form of debate evolves around this. Edwin's reply to my post on Hogenakkal seems to be coming true. The question is not the simplicity of the narrative, the question is how to tackle the deeper and farther reaches of fascist forces and each one of us needs to take responsibility on this count Of course opinions and criticisms are welcome as always Warm regards * * *Secularism on the Dock* *Bobby Kunhu**·* <#11a2de9e7e54075a_11a2de5e7a020aa5__edn1>** * * *"First they came for the communists, and I did not speak out—* *because I was not a communist;* *Then they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—* *because I was not a socialist;* *Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—* *because I was not a trade unionist;* *Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—* *because I was not a Jew;* *Then they came for me—* * and there was no one left to speak out for me."* Martin Niemoeller As the results of the Karnataka elections started pouring in, my anger boiled over (while my pride in my own psephological skills brimmed over) – with myself and people like me and reminded me of the clichéd adage that "*History repeats itself" *– that the great economically up surging Indian middle class that represents the shining India seem to forget quiet often. No self respecting observer can deny that the BJP is the political front of RSS – a fascist self-serving organization that tends to promote divisive politics based on religious identity. But no, this large population finds it convenient to ignore and deny this fact like it is convenient to ignore and deny that they form only a small minority in the humungous demographic nation that India is. Let me start with the caveat, that this is a list of accusations broadly against the "shining India", and specifically against commercial establishments, political formations and civil society formations – essentially "people like us". Well, the truth cannot be denied that the legitimate growth of the political fronts of the RSS, both in its earlier avatar as Jan Sangh and the current avatar as BJP, was facilitated throughout the last four decades, starting from the emergency, by today's self professed secularists – and Karnataka – as one of the most important stages of the anti-emergency movement in South India – perhaps is the logical culmination for a new era of this dangerous phenomenon. Let me paraphrase this with some support from the historian Bipan Chandra's candid and controversial analysis in his book "*In the name of Democracy – JP Movement and the Emergency". *JP's personal animosity towards Indira and his eagerness to topple her at any cost, gave birth to a number of future political leaders for India touting the JP brand of socialism – whatever that might be. But the single entity that benefited most out of that experiment and still has JP on its pantheon of co-opted heroes is the then Jan Sangh, now BJP. The first non-congress Indian government thereafter, headed by Morarji Desai had Jan Sangh ministers including Vajpayee. This ministry was also supported by the Communist Party of India (Marxist). Since then, BJP has claimed legacy in terms of its adherence to democratic norms both to its opposition to the emergency and as heirs to the JP movement and that makes a load of difference in a country like ours that thrives on iconoclasm. If you chose to disbelieve Bipan Chandra or me, please ask the likes of George Fernandes or Nitish Kumar or Mulayam Singh or even Laloo Prasad. Since then, the next couple of decades were devoted to a myopic political project of dislodging the Congress, regardless of the costs involved. The mainstream left is as complicit and guilty in this project as anyone else in this drama – and the harvests from this project was reaped en masse by the BJP, while decimating the so-called alternative initially into a "third" force and later increasingly into political non-entities Now this is not to absolve the Congress of its crimes in facilitating the BJP's political growth. One would need to start with the variant Congress development models, but because of lack of time and space, I would start with that most foolhardy action in 1986 when there were Congress governments in the Centre headed by Rajiv Gandhi and UP headed by N. D. Tiwari, when they deposed before the court in a dramatically and insidiously short trial for the Indian Judicial system (12 days), that unlocking of the gates of Babri Masjid could not result in a law and order situation. This gave the necessary fillip for the Hindutva family to set out on its historical journey to legitimate constitutional power. In 1992, the Congress government headed by Mr. Narasimha Rao, sat on its haunches silently watching as a 150,000 strong mob led by prominent BJP leaders including L K Advani, pulled down the Babri Masjid structure on December 6th, followed by large scale communal rioting across the country. Anyways, this time around for the BJP, it had its own Chief Minister in Uttar Pradesh in the person of Kalyan Singh. This government also marks a watershed in Indian economic history by setting the wheels of neo-liberal market politics in motion under the stewardship of Dr. Manmohan Singh. This politics definitely also set the ball rolling for steadily increasing the genie coefficient and facilitating an interesting livelihood crisis particularly in the agrarian sector, creating the necessary conditions for social friction for the rise of divisive politics. Arguments against this can be countered by revisiting the history of socio-economic conditions that led to the rise of Nazism in William Shirer's *"The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich". * In the meantime, the judiciary, particularly the Supreme Court played its role in facilitating the rise of the BJP in its own inimitable ways. It kept and still keeps shirking from its duty in creating a final resolution to the Babri Masjid issue either ways, which would have taken the wind out of the sails of the Hindutva families' political surge. The best shot in the arm came in the form of justification of the main BJP ideological plank of "Hindutva" by a bench headed by Justice Varma, then the Chief Justice of India on the 11th of December, 1995. Immediately after this saw the first major fruition for the BJP efforts of around three decades in this particular direction was the ascent to the Central Government for 13 days for the first time in 1996. Lack of numbers fell the government. This was followed for 13 months in 1998 and a return to a full term between 1999-2004. All of this under the stewardship of Atal Behari Vajpayee, justified by the so-called chameleon-like "secular" constituents of the umbrella – NDA – that facilitated this ascension, as the right man in the wrong party. In the meantime, Corporate India and its constituents, buoyed by its own unexpected and unhindered increase in wealth and economic domination, silently started backing the political horse (BJP) that appeared all set to be the future of a super-power India, demonstrated further by the pivotal role played by the BJP in the election of the Nuclear technocrat A.P.J Abdul Kalam as the President of India, except for few lone dissident voices such as Anu Agha of Thermax. I am including the role of the English language media, both print and visual, and their consistent misreading of the BJP, inconsistent reportage, wavering between support on economic policies and criticism during horrendous incidents like the Gujarat genocide and their lack of touch with ground realities as part of Corporate India. Of course, the BJP continued the economic program set in motion by the previous Congress government in letter and spirit – I would allege to facilitate the increase in identity based socio-economic friction – and Gujarat became its first successful laboratory to test this thesis through the post Godhra genocide unleashed against the Muslims. This models success also depended on provoking communities traditionally suffering ascriptive disabilities against the Muslims, in ways similar to the attack on the Jews by the Nazis. So successful was this experiment, that the master-mind behind the genocide not only remains scot-free, but gets re-elected twice as the Chief Minister of the state – Mr. Narendra Modi. Nonetheless, the 2004 general elections, where BJP walked the plank of shining India backfired, returning the Congress to power, but in an extremely diminished form compared to all its earlier avatars. Unfortunately, the Congress and all its secular allies including the mainstream left did not read the bold writing on the wall – it was not BJP's communalism that got them to power, but the deepening socio-economic divide and an ever-increasing agrarian and food crisis that called for critical economic restructuring. But instead, the Congress reinforces its economic agenda with minor window dressing like the National Advisory Committee, progressive laws like the Right to Information Act and supposedly progressive policies like NREGM, JNURM etc. none of which has made any impact on the socio-economic conditions of the vast majority of the incessantly suffering Indian masses and instead created platforms for displacement through SEZs including Nandigram and Chengara in states ruled by the mainstream left, thereby creating ample opportunities for BJP to capitalize the schism to further its communal agenda, while setting the stage for political *hara-kiri *for themselves. Here it is pertinent to note that the run-up to the Karnataka assembly elections saw the BJP promising and promoting a Gujarat Development Model for Karnataka, while fostering communal discontent through issues like Baba Budangiri in Chikmagalur or Idgah Maidan in Hubli, preparing the base for a repeat of the Gujarat kind of experiment in Karnataka. Now, insofar as the non party – political civil society is concerned, in the initial days of the BJP's growth, we consoled ourselves and others that the geographic and demographic size and diversity of India would pose as the biggest insurmountable obstacle to the fascist ambitions of the RSS family. When they did manage to come to power in the Centre, we again consoled ourselves that the BJP would never truly be representative as a national party as coalition politics had come to stay, and BJP would never be truly able to come on its own – especially given its non-presence in the south. With Karnataka, BJP has announced its presence in almost all geographic regions of India through legitimate and constitutional means. They do not even feel it necessary anymore to hide behind a Sikandi (due apologies to trans-gendered friends – the usage of the term is only to co-opt one of the Hindutva terms and connote the use of a façade rather than the "sexual incompetence" it originally was meant for) right Man in the wrong party like Vajpayee, while biding their time to make the ultimate bid for power in the Centre on their own that can facilitate their fascist ambitions through constitutional mechanisms or even their dream project of over-turning the Constitution. How do we console ourselves now? Or do we as usual react every time only after BJP and its family members have set the agenda, be it Babri Masjid, the Gujarat genocide or Baba Budangiri, while the BJP is enthused and devising ways to make their presence felt in states where they traditionally have been non-existent from Kerala and Tamil Nadu to Mizoram and Nagaland. As I would not like to end on a pessimistic note, the only option that I personally see as having devised ways of corroding the BJP base as of now seems to be the BSP idea of a grand bahujan alliance. They also seem to be the only political party that seems to be increasing its cadre and voter base consistently across the nation. Well, we can either cross our fingers now or pray to our respective Gods, or we need to redouble and consolidate our efforts at exposing the BJP with equal or more professionalism and propaganda than the BJP can unleash!!!!!! ------------------------------ · <#11a2de9e7e54075a_11a2de5e7a020aa5__ednref1> The author is a Human Rights Advocate, Educator and Writer -- Bobby Kunhu --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Green Youth Movement" group. To post to this group, send email to greenyouth@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/greenyouth?hl=en-GB -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
