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VOICE OF ELECTRICITY WORKERS
BATTLE LINE HAS BEEN
DRAWN
- HARKISHAN SINGH SURJEET
THE battle line is drawn. The
Election Commission has announced a programme of holding elections to the 13th
Lok Sabha and a few state assemblies. Naturally, now, the whole country is
waiting to see, with bated breath, what this battle would yield.
There is no gainsaying the fact that these elections are not going to be like
any other election, an ordinary and routine thing. For, as we have again and
again reiterated what always needs to be reiterated, nothing less than the
Indian nation's fate is at stake.
LESS BY HOOK & MORE BY CROOK
LET'S recall a few facts. Six years ago, in this very month in 1998, fascistic
RSS backed BJP came to hold the reins of power in New Delhi. But this was no
simple transfer of power from one party or combine to another. Ever since the
BJP came to power, it has gone on harming the secular and federal character of
our polity, our syncretic culture and national unity by all means. From the
burning of a Christian missionary in Orissa to the pre-planned massacre of
Muslims in Gujarat, to the attacks on a church in Jhabua (MP), to the tonsuring
of nine converts in an Orissa village simply because they had exercised their
freedom of religion --- the country has witnessed a long series of attacks on
minorities in these years. And for what? In order to establish a theocratic
state where the minorities --- and not the minorities alone but even the
scheduled tribes and castes --- will be compelled to live as second or third
rate citizens, without any rights. The way a VHP-led mob lynched five Dalits at
Jhajjhar in Haryana two years ago, is testimony to the so-called 'love' of the
brigade's outfits for lower caste Hindus.
To Sangh Parivar, the use of any means, fair or foul, is justified if it takes
it an inch closer to the goal of a theocratic state. While a minister in
Vajpayee cabinet, when Dilip Singh Judeo was caught in a bribery case, this
Hindutva zealot's ingenious justification was that he had taken the money from
an industrialist for the sake of his re-conversion drive! This shows the extent
to which they have perfected the art of hypocrisy. It is not that Judeo was the
only person having been caught with his pants down. But what was distinctive of
him was that he brazenly sought to justify his conduct in the name of religion,
which was in fact an abhorrent act of defaming the Hindu religion. Regarding the
criminalisation of politics, we said last week that "the most crucial difference
between other bourgeois landlord parties and the BJP is that the latter has been
doing all this in the name of principles and political morality." Judeo
perfectly epitomised this difference in regard to corruption.
Thus, the sole purpose of the RSS is to capture all the levers of power by hook
or by crook. The fact, though, is that they have been going about it less by
hook and more by crook.
GENERATING UNFOUNDED FEAR
IF one asks the truth, it would take volumes to present a reasonably complete
picture of the depredations the Parivar has indulged in, during the last six
years in particular, in order to achieve its nefarious end. The moves to pack up
all educational, research and other institutions, in a bid to saffronise the
whole set-up, was one important component of their strategy. They also made
attempts to push down the pupils' throats distorted versions of history or sheer
mythology in name of history --- thus playing not only with the present of our
nation but also its future. For, they well know that newer generations of bigots
are very much necessary to act as cannon fodders in their battle of a theocratic
state. The way they try to pit the lower class Hindus against Muslims,
Christians or tribal converts gives enough indications about what kind of
fratricidal conflicts they want to generate in this great country.
This is natural. For, unless they succeed in breaking the unity in diversity for
which India has always been known, they have absolutely no chance to see their
ambitions fulfilled. That is why propagating hatred is their most important
stock in trade. By the very logic of things, the brigade is today the biggest
trader of lies and deceptions in this country --- the goods which they try to
sell wholesale as well as in retail. Therefore, if they say that increasing
their population manifold is the sole aim of Muslims or that Christians are
striving to take the country over with the help of (unnamed) foreign powers, it
is clear that their aim is to instil a sense of fear among the Hindus.
One may ask: for a community that forms 82 per cent of this country's
population, is there really any ground to fear that it may be swayed by others?
The reality is that unfounded fear generation is what fascism always thrives
upon. If Hitler swayed the German youth in the name of an imagined Jewish
dominance, one well realises that he did not leave the world without leaving his
ideological progeny behind.
As the latest example, the RSS is mongering rumours that a Japanese toy Pokemon
may lure our children away from Indian culture and values. This is what a
Hindustan Times editorial (March 2) described as "the kettle calling the pot
black."
ATTACKS ON INTELLECTUALS
ATTACKS on artistes, writers and other intellectuals are an integral component
of the saffron tactic. As we know, they have launched attacks on artistes,
institutions of learning, etc, from time to time in the last six years. Not to
mention their past attacks on M F Hussain and Jatin Das etc, they launched at
least seven major attacks between August 2003 and February 2004. Nay, in effect,
the BJP led regime even banned book releases and other such functions at the
World Book Fair 2004, while a book of Vajpayee's poetry was released in the fair
with all the state-managed pomp. Needless to say, this was a crude attempt to
stifle the voice of artistes and intellectuals.
But this too is understandable. The fact is: all fascist outfits are afraid of
intellectuals who are, in contradistinction to intelligentsia, the creators and
propagators of ideas. The brigade well knows that its cadres lack calibre to
contest one set of ideas with another set. From time to time, writers and
intellectuals in this country have mercilessly torn to shreds the ideas and
arguments which saffron 'intellectuals' have advanced. That is why, unable to
face our intellectuals, the Parivar knows only one way of dealing with them ---
of targeting them physically. It is not their concern that such attacks lead to
loss of invaluable national legacies --- just what happened because of the
communal goons' attack on the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute in Pune.
It is also a telling commentary on their way of thinking that an institute earns
world-wide acclaim for its contribution to intellectual pursuit, and communal
goons deem the same institute to be a fit target for attack.
ON SHAKY
GROUND
HERE we will not go into the details of what the BJP led regime has done to our
time tested foreign policy at the behest of US imperialists. We are also not
going to list out what steps they have taken to sell our national interests at
the dictate of imperialist controlled international organisations. Nor would we
dwell on how they indulged in nuclear jingoism till the changed international
situation as well as the force of public opinion compelled them to start mending
fences with our neighbours. We can only sum up the international experience so
far: attempts to fan chauvinistic and jingoistic feelings, fascistic attacks on
the rights of various segments of population (including attacks on the right to
life), attacks on the common people's livelihood, and unashamed support to
imperialist butchers --- all these go hand in hand.
Now, the BJP is going to face the polls with a record of such things, and is
evidently feeling that it stands on a shaky ground. This explains a number of
moves, some dubious and some ridiculous, which the party has resorted to in the
last few weeks, as it had done in the past. Moves to rope in film and TV
personalities fall in this very category, unmistakably indicating the party's
inner feeling that, not to talk of its ideas and principles, even the 'Shining
India' campaign of its central government may fail to click. (In December and
January, as many as 9,742 such ads were telecast on TV channels alone.)
And as if that were not enough, Advani now says he will take out yet another
rath yatra. Here the remarkable thing is not that, from Advani to Joshi to
Singhal to even null sets, they all are very fond of riding well equipped motor
vehicles which they nostalgically (!) call 'rathas.' The real thing to note is
that such rath yatras are taken out precisely when one or another election is
round the corner. Another important point is that this time the professed aim is
to tell the people how much India is shining now though, hypocritically, Advani
did tell that the BJP has not given up its temple plank and that "we will build
the temple in Ayodhya."
A similar desperate game the BJP is playing (not for the first time) is to lure
some Muslim leaders into its net. One of their latest catches is Mrs Najma
Haibatullah who, the world knows, cannot win a single seat on her own. Yet
another is Arif Mohd Khan who did play a role in the Shah Bano case but has
since dissipated all his prestige. He has toured through many parties before
landing in the BJP's lap.
But the less we say about such politicians, the better. Rather, we would like to
let others speak. An HT editorial on March 2 says about many like Khan: "We know
that the claims of an ideological conversion on the way to Ashoka Road are
fraudulent; they know that we know that such claims are bogus; so why insult the
intelligence of the Indian people by letting out mighty sobs on TV, complaining
about mistreatment and pretending that there is an emotional and ideological
component to what are cold and calculated political decisions?"
As for Mrs Haibatullah hankering for just another Rajya Sabha term, the same
editorial comments: "So, from a career perspective, it makes sense for her to
join the BJP. But why say things like "the BJP has apologised for Gujarat," so
it is okay to join? Do what you like for your own advancement. But don't insult
the memory of thousands of people who lost their lives in those riots just so
that you can crawl your way to yet another term."
An old proverb says a man starts coughing when he runs out of truthful ideas.
One may only add that a party starts alluring discredited politicians and
non-entities when it runs out of steam.
IMPERATIVES
TODAY
THE BJP's desperation has also aggravated because of survey predictions that the
party's own seat tally may come down. Yet another factor adding to its
desperation is that this time there will be an unprecedented number of youthful
voters below 40 --- 47.25 crore or an estimated 70 per cent of the roughly 67.5
crore strong electorate. The BJP seems to be mortally afraid of these youth, the
bulk of whom are not only full of idealism and enthusiasm but have also been at
the receiving end in the last six years. These young voters may well ask, for
example, as to where are the 5 crore jobs that Vajpayee promised in 1999. Even
if one ignores that 1.5 crore jobs were killed in public sector in five years,
the long queues of the unemployed are enough to debunk the claims of massive job
creation in this period.
The BJP's defeat is thus a highly probable proposition, and there appears to be
not any important state where the BJP and allies may hope, if at all, to
increase their seats. Yet this is no automatic process and all the patriotic
people have to contribute what they can to this process. As for the Left, we are
very clear about the imperatives of the situation:
(1) All efforts must be made to see that the BJP is defeated at the hustings.
(2) Contrary to 1998, the BJP's tally in 1999 did not increase even by one seat.
Yet, it was able to ride roughshod over the nation's destiny only because the
tallies of many of its allies did increase. The people have to see that this
does not happen this time and the BJP's allies are also defeated.
(3) The strength of the CPI(M) and the Left must increase, in order to enhance
their intervention. This is because on all vital issues facing the country ---
economy, communalism and saffronisation, foreign policy, criminalisation of
politics and corruption --- the Left has been the only consistent force fighting
to defend the nation's and people's interests. In accordance with this aim, in
its own strongholds the Left will give a tough fight to the BJP and allies.
(4) Yet, as the Left is no big force in many parts of the country, it will
extend support to such secular parties as are not allied with the BJP, even if
their outlooks are different from ours.
(5) These elections must not be reduced to a fight of personalities; rather we
have to do our utmost to focus the people's attention on vital issues. Yet, in
today's context, the single most vital issue is national unity that takes
precedence over everything else. For, as we said earlier, if the nation is lost,
everything is lost and then the policy differences cease to have any meaning.
All the patriotic, secular and democratic forces have to constantly bear this
fact in mind.
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