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Bharatiya Janata Party is today the most prominent member of
the family of organisations known as the "Sangh Parivar". And RSS
has always been dubbed "communal", "reactionary" and what
not by its detractors. Sanghs of swayamsevaks have of course always shaken
off that criticism like so much water off a duck's back. They have never had
any doubt that the organisation is wedded to national unity, national
integrity, national identity and national strength through individual
character and national character. And today this organisation is poised for a
great leap forward. Even its long- time detractors think and say that now BJP
is "unstoppable".What is the story of this national epic?
History is the philosophy of nations. And the Sangh Parivar has
a very clear and candid conception of Indian history. Here was a great
civilization whose glory spread from Sri Lanka to Java and Japan and from
Tibet and Mangolia to China and Siberia. While it weathered the storms of Huns
and Shakas and Greeks it wilted before the Islamic storms of the Turks.
However, a 1000-year resistance saw this country bloodied but unbowed. Its
civilization survived through the heroic efforts of the Vijayanagar Empire
and of Shivaji, Rana Pratap and Guru Govind Singh and countless heroes and
martyrs.
In more recent times this torch was picked up by Swami Dayanand and Swami
Vivekanada. And in the present century the good work has been carried on by
Sri Aurobindo, Lokmanya Tilak, Mahatma Gandhi and others. The RSS, founded by
Dr Hedgewar in 1925 and consolidated by Shri Guruji after 1940, is the heir
to this heroic, historic heritage. It has nothing against Muslim Indians - as
distinguished from Muslim invaders. Its position on this issue has all along
been: "Justice for all and appeasement of none". But it has no
doubt that we were and are a Hindu nation; that change of faith cannot mean
change of nationality.
The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh
The RSS entirely
agrees with Gandhiji's formulations that "There is in Hinduism room
enough for Jesus, as there is for Mohammed, Zoroster and Moses" and that
"majority of the Muslims of India are converts to that faith from
Hinduism through force of circumstances. They are still Hindu in many
essential ways and, in a free, prosperous, progressive India, they would find
it the most natural thing in the world to revert to their ancient faith and
ways of life."
Due to the British policy of "Divide and Rule" and the politicians'
proclivity to compromise and temporise the country suffered the trauma of the
partition. But the Sangh Parivar has no doubt that before very long the
unities, the varieties and the strengths of our ancient civilization will
prevail. RSS has been continuing the task of nation building since its
inception. It did it through the tumultuous period of 1930s and 40s. But it was
rudely shaken by Gandhiji's killing and the Government's political
exploitation of that national tragedy.
The RSS, along with millions of people, did not approve of Gandhiji's Muslim
appeasement policy - starting with support of the Khilafat movement - but it
had the greatest respect for the Mahatma. Indeed, Gandhiji had visited the
RSS winter camp in Wardha in December 1934 - and addressed the Delhi RSS
workers in Bhangi colony, in Spetember 1947. He had deeply appreciated the
"noble sentiments" and "astonishing discipline" of the
RSS. He had never spoken even one word of criticism of the RSS. But after his
killing, 17000 RSS workers - including Shri Guruji - were accused of
"conspiracy of murder" the Mahatma Gandhi and the RSS workers
offered Satyagraha. But during all this time not one MLA or MP raised the
issue in any legislature. For the RSS, it was the moment of truth. And this
truth, as enunciated by Gokhale, was that "What cuts deep in politics
cuts deep all round" and that unless the RSS grew political teeth and
wings, it would always be at the mercy of unscrupulous politicians. This was
the context in which Shri Guruji blessed the birth of Bhartiya Jana Sangh
under the leadership of Dr. Syama Prasad Mookerjee in 1951. And in the very
first General Elections the BJS emerged as one of the four nationally
recognised parties. The Party has never looked back since then.
THE FIRST DECADE
The first decade was a period of steady growth organisationally
and policy evolution and elaboration ideologically. It took up the issues of
territorial integrity like Kashmir, Kutch and Berubari - and in the process
suffered the martyrdom of its founder-President Dr Mookerjee in a Kashmir
jail. It demanded cow protection as per Article 48 of the Constitution and Gandhiji's
declaration that "Cow protection is more important than even
Swarajya". It came out against Zamindari and Jagirdari. It criticised
permit- licence-quota Raj. And it came out for the nuclear option to
reinforce national defence. The 1962 China war and 1965 Pakistan war put
Sangh Parivar on the center-stage as the conscience of the country. When the
RSS Parivar was entrusted with police duties in 1965, and it performed the
same to the satisfaction of all-even Muslims began to join Jana Sangh. Shri Guruji
was specially invited to the National Integration Council. General Kulwant
Singh said at the time: "Punjab is the sword arm of India and RSS is the
sword arm of Punjab."
In all countries, parties associated with the freedom movement enjoy long
years of power. So did the Congress - for 20 years. But the 1967 elections
ended the Congress monopoly of power. From Punjab to Bengal there were
non-Congress coalitions everywhere. As a political wit put it: "You
could travel from Amritsar to Calcutta without setting foot in Congress
territory."
In most of the States Jana Sangh and the Communists worked together. They
seemed to be guided by the dictum: "We are all children of Bharat mata
and we are all products of the 20th century."
However, this was more than the monopolistic Congress could stand. It used
its vast money power and its capacity for intrigue to topple government after
state government.
But even so Jana Sangh did not lose heart. Under the leadership of Pt.
Deendayal Upadhyaya it held a tremendous session in Calicut. Here it
clarified its language policy of "All encouragement to all Indian
languages" to the delight of all linguistic groups. The Mathrubhumi,
leading Malayali daily, described the BJS session "the Ganga flowing South."
However, within days of this historic session Deendayalji was found murdered
near Mugalsarai railway station. In good faith the BJS asked for a CBI
enquiry. But the way CBI drew blank made it clear that Central Agency has
been politicised and that it would never unravel political crime.
Although the murder of Deendayalji was a stunning shock the BJS was too big
and too strong to be stopped in its tracks. Under the leadership of Shri Atal
Behari Vajpayee, it enthussiastically joined the movement for the libera-
tion of Bangladesh. Its agitation for a higher procurement price for cereals
gave the country food sufficiency and food security. Its election manifesto
for 1971 was titled "War on Poverty". The Congress stole that
slogan and hindi-ised it into "Garibi hatao" and swept the 1971 and
1972 polls. But once again Jana Sangh was too good and strong to be
overwhelmed by the ebb and tide of politics.
JP's RESPONSE
In election after by-election Jana Sangh showed its class. It
joined hands with Jaya Prakash Narayan on the issue of fighting corruption
and autocracy. The BJS was in the vanguard of the people's movement in Bihar
and Gujarat. To the professional detractors of Jana Sangh JP's categorical
response was: "If Jana Sangh is communal then I am also communal."
As the opposition parties won election after by-election, the cry ran through
the country: "Sinhasan khali karo, ki janata aati hai". A scared
Mrs. Gandhi declared Emergency, arrested thousands and baned the RSS. But the
country survived this agni-pariksha, thanks again to the Sangh parivar, which
contributed full 80% of Emergency-time prisoners, both detenus and
Satyagrahis.
Mrs. Gandhi was astounded enough to admit in the Chandigarh Session of the
Congress in 1975 that "even in places where the RSS was an unknown
organisation it has established a firm foothold." The Economist of
London (Dec.4 1970) described the underground movement of the Sangh parivar
as "the only non-left revolutionary force in the world." And even
Marxist parliamentary party leader Shri AK Gopalan was moved to say about the
Sangh parivar: "There is some lofty idea which is capable of inspiring
such deeds of bravery and stamina for sacrifices."
As a result of this successful resistance Mrs Gandhi's Congress Party was
trounced in the 1977 elections and a Janata party government consisting of
BJS, BLD, Cong(O), SOcialists and CFD took office. Here Shri Vajpayee as
External Affairs Minister and Shri. L.K Advani as information and
broadcasting minister made memorable name. But within thirty months this
government went into pieces, thanks to the vaulting ambition of individual
leaders. The Janata experiment miserably failed.
In the elections that followed the fall of Charan Singh government, countless
crores of foreign money came into play. The Stateman pointed out on Feb.11,
1980 that the Rupee, which normally sold at a discount in the world's black
markets, now began to sell at a premium. As against this official rate of Rs
7.91 to a dollar on January 4 the unofficial rate of Rs 7.20. "Those who
keep tabs on money markets attributed this sudden rise in the black market
value of the Indian currency to big orders from unknown buyers, believed to
include some foreign governments keen to funnel funds into the election
coffer of the ideological allies and friends in India". After the
elections, in the very first week of February, 1980, the Indian currency fell
even lower than before, to Rs 8 a dolalr to be precise.
While the splintered Janata Party was routed in January 1980, their suicidal
"dual memebership" campaign continued. The BJS component found this
situation impossible, went out and reorganised itself as BHARATIYA JANATA
PARTY. A bright new day had dawned in the chequered history of India.
The very first session of BJP in December 1980 in Bombay, presided over by
Shri Vajpayee, was a glorious success. Addressing this session the Grand Old
Man of India, Shri M.C. Chagla, said: "I am not a member of the party
and I am not addressing you as a delegate. Still I assure you that when I am
talking to you I do not feel like an outsider. I honestly and sincerely feel
that I am one of you. The BJP is a national party. I admire your discipline,
your honesty, and your dedication. This huge gathering is Bombay's answer to
Indira. This is the only party that can replace Indira."
It was during the Indira Gandhi's second coming that the country experienced
the trauma of Meenakshipuram and the massacre of Nellie.
However, her worst disservice to the country was the propping up of
Bhindranwale - till then an obscure granthi - to harass and divide the Akali
Dal. To this day the country has not recovered from that play with fire, the
latest victim of the same being Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh.
No less dangerous was her aiding, abeting, arming, and financing of LTTE
which was out to partition a friendly neighbouring state like Sri Lanka.
And when her political son died in an unfortunate and mysterious air accident
she promptly put up even her airline pilot son to succeed her and try to
pilot the ship of State.
The BJP, while exposing all these sins of ommission and commission, continued
to consolidate its organisation and fine-tune its policies. It won election
after after corporation election in major cities. The general feeling was
that Mrs. Gandhi would not be able to win the next election due early in
1985. And President Zail Singh was heard saying that in that case he would
not call her to form the Government. It was at this stage that she was shot
dead by enraged Sikhs for having violated the sanctity of the Golden Temple
in Amritsar. What followed was a titanic tragedy, costing the lives of
thousands of Sikhs and their property worth some Rs 10,000 crores. The whole
carnage was okayed by the state apparatus, with President Zail Singh himself
ringing up the Delhi BJP leaders to please save the lives of their Sikh
brethern. The whole gory drama was staged under Mr. Rajiv as PM and Mr. Rao
as Home Minister. No wonder nobody was punished for this genocide of innocent
Sikhs.
THE RAJIV REGIME
In the elections that followed the sympathy wave got Mr. Rajiv
Gandhi more votes and more seats than even Pandit Nehru in all his three
general elections. For a while he appeared as Prince Charming on a White
Charger, the 'Mr. Clean', out to purge "power brokers". However, it
soon became clear that it is much easier to run an election than to run a
country.
He signed an agreement with Shri Longowal of the Akali Dal, but never
implemented it. He signed an Assam agreement that left millions of Bangla
infiltrators this side of the border. he first welcomed the Supreme Court
judgement in the Shah Bano Case and then proceeded to negate it. Having done
this "favor" to Muslims he proceeded to organise the unlocking of
the Ayodhya structure in a bid to please the Hindus.
He despatched the army to Sri Lanka only to get a bloody nose there.
However, the BJP lost no time in preparing for the next round. It appointed a
high power Working Group to study the results of the 1984 elections and
recommend remedial action. The Party streamlined its organisation. It
re-pledged itself to "Integral Humanism". It urged early and
comprehensive electoral reform. And it highlighted the problem of massive
infiltration from Bangladesh. Within two years of Rajiv Gandhi's coming to office
the BJP had slapped on him a 50-count chargesheet. And then came the Bofors
scandal.
That a ruling party should make money on Government contracts was bad enough.
But that it should make money on Defence deals, compromising national defence
was wholly unacceptable to the country. The fat was in the fire.
In the 1989 elections the Janata Dal effected adjustments of seats with the
BJP and proceeded to form the Government with outside support from the BJP
and the Communists.
From day one Shri VP Singh did not play ball. The BJP had pledged him
unconditional support, which was probably a mistake; there is no charity in
politics; no free lunch. BJP should have probably made it clear that it
should be consulted on all major issues. But Mr VP Singh on his part only
added insult to injury. The BJP had made no demand on him whatsoever. But
whenever any of his colleagues suggested some gesture to be made to BJP he
was heard saying: "I do not have to give them anything; they have no
choice." Evidently the Raja Saheb thought that BJP was his "bonded
labour."
As BJP president Advani was heard remarking at the time: "Mr VP Singh is
like an old-style princeling. He is all courtesy and all conspiracy". He
would tell Advani that he himself would join him in Kar-Seva and then issued
a temple ordinance only to withdraw it within hurs and have Shri Advani
arrested.
Shri VP Singh suddenly came up with the Mandal report, not because his heart
was bleeding for the poor but because he thought that, on this issue, he could
dissolve the House to go to the polls, collect some 350 seats and rule the
country on his own without the bother of consulting anybody on anything. But
it was a gamble that failed, because the BJP had already raised the Ayodhya
issue. And it had done so early in 1989, not on the basis of any electoral
calculation, but on ideological conviction. Historic wrongs had to be
righted, however, symbolically, for a lasting solution of the Hindu-Muslim
problem.
SEA CHANGE IN
POLITICAL SCENE
Shri Advani's Rath Yatra from Somnath to Ayodhya effected a sea
change in the political scene. While Mandal had divided the people, Ayodhya
united the people. What violence there was in 1990 came only because the
government arrested Shri Advani and the UP Chief Minister fired on
Kar-Sevaks. Had they allowed Advani to reach Ayodhya and do symbolic Kar-Seva
there would have been no Bandh, no violence, anywhere.
Shri VP Singh thought that BJP had secured 89 seats in 1989 because of seat
adjustment with JD, and that was true enough. But he forgot that his JD had
also got 143 seats only because of seat adjustment with the BJP. He now
thought that in the absence of seat adjustment the BJP would lose scores of
seats. Actually the BJP would lose scores of seats. Actually the BJO added 30
seats to its old score and it was the JD that declined to 59 seats. And but
for the sudden killing of Mr Rajiv, which won the Congress scores of seats,
both the BJP and the Congress would have been around 175 seats. This was
particularly remarkable, because on this occasion the BJP had fought all
alone. It had emerged as the only major solid pole in a fluid Indian
political situation.
In assessing the BJP other parties make a serious mistake. They forget that
as a result of our first-past-the-post electoral system, the first party has
an undue advantage over No.2 Party. But the BJP, being a solid party and a
solid pole, can always survive adverse winds and live to thrive another day.
In 1984 the BJP had won only 2 seats, but in terms of vote it was second only
to the Congress. Under a system of proportional representation its 7.4% vote
would have won it 30-40 seats even in 1984. Therefore its win of 89 seats in
1989 was not all that much of a surprise. Parties like JD, being loose
outfits, are in no position to survive serious reverses.
This trend has been confirmed in State Assembly elections. In the 1993
elections the BJP vote and seats declined in HP and MP thanks to strict
administrative measures for which public opinion had not been prepared in
advance. In UP the party lost its majority due to a gang-up of all other
parties against it, but its popular vote went up by almost 30% to 34%. In
Rajasthan both our vote and our seats went up. And in Delhi we got a whopping
61.59% and a three-fourths majority. In these five major states put together
BJP won a hundred assembly seats and once crore votes more than the Congress.
UNSTOPPABLE BJP
The results of the 1995 elections in Andhra, Karnataka, Bihar,
Orissa, Goa, Gujarat and Maharashtra were, if anything, even more remarkable.
In Andhra the main fight being between TDP and the Congress the BJP got
squeezed to just 3 seats. But in Karnataka BJP won 40 seats, pushing the
Congress to the third position. In Goa, for the first time the BJP won 4
seats in a house of 60. In Orissa BJP trebled its modest strength from 3 to
10. In Bihar BJP pushed Congress to the third position and emerged as the
official opposition. In Maharashtra, Shiv Sena and the BJP have formed a fine
coalition government. And in Gujarat the BJP has won a two-thirds majority.
It is trends like these that have convinced even the detractors of BJP that
the party is now "unstoppable".
Conventional wisdom is that the BJP won 89 Lok Sabha seats in 1989 as a
result of seat adjustments with JD and 119 seats in 1991 as a result of the
Ayodhya issue. The fact is that these were only contributory factors. The
BJP's historic performance in the recent assembly elections, when there was
no seat adjustment with other parties and when the Ayodhya issue stood
frozen, is confirmation of the fact that basically the BJP is forging ahead
because of its excellent organisation, superb leadership and patriotic
people's policies.
When, in 1991, the Congress formed the Government on its own, even though it
did not have a majority of its own, the BJP acted very responsibly and helped
it have a speaker of its choice, contnt with deputy speakership of the Lok
Sabha. Having been all along opposed to a licence-permit-quota Raj it
welcomed the policy of liberalization in principle. At long last New Delhi
recognised Israel and South Africa, something the BJP had urged for long. BJP
also took a far-sighted view of reservations - conceding the same to OBCs on
the basis of an economic criterion, which translated itself in the Supreme
Court judgement into the "creamy layer".
BJP state governments enunciated a new education policy; they made copying in
exams a congnisable offence; they decentralized the administration; their
Antyodaya took care of the poorest of the land; they waived the loans of poor
farmers; and they made war on criminal elements and put them in jail.
CONGRESS
DOUBLE-DEALING
But before long the double-dealing of the Congress came to
surface. They organised defections in JD, SS etc. to give themselves a
majority that the country had withheld from them. They kept playing games
with Ayodhya resulting in the December 6, 1992 demolition of the disputed
structure. While those who welcomed that demolition congratulated the Sangh
parivar, and those who didn't like it condemned the Parivar, the fact is that
the Parivar leadership does not know who did it. We all wanted it removed
respectfully and through due process of law. What actually happened was no
part of our plan. It is, therefore, a mystery wrapped in a riddle inside an
enigma. And now comes the revelation by Shri Arjun Singh in his letter of
resignation from the Cabinet that on December 1, 1992, he had sent the PM a
copy of a fax message sent by an active Congress worker from Ayodhya, which
said: "There is indication that some agent provocateurs from Pakistan
have been able to infiltrate into Ayodhya and would try to damage the Babri
Masjid if the VHP Kar-sevaks fail in their mission to do the same." The
VHP had no such mission. But the point is, why was this fax message kept out
of government's White Paper on Ayodhya? Obviously the object of Pakistan and
its friends and allies was to trigger Hindu-Muslim violence, culminating in
the Bombay serial bombing, give India a bad name and slow down the Indian economy.
There are reports that on December 6 evening there was a celebration in
Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi. But additionally the government used
the incident as an excuse to dismiss four state governments, dissolve four
state assemblies, and arrest top BJP leaders.
Meanwhile, in the name of liberalisation and globalisation foreign banks and
unscrupulous speculators were allowed to cheat the country of thousands of
crores through the securities scam and the government did not have the
decency to accept even the unanimous report of the joint Parliamentary
Committee on the subject. Many more thousands of crores have been lost on
businessmen who have not returned their loans to nationalised banks. On the
other hand even profit-making public sector undertakings are being sold. The
result of all this is an unprecedented rise in prices. The BJP has responded
with an yearly alternative budget, showing how the growth rate could be
accelerated while augmenting employment and holding the price line.
However, potentially even more dangerous is the government's knuckling under
to foreign pressure on issue after issue, compromising our soveriegnty and
endangering our very independence.
While the BJP is for liberalisation we find that we have liberalised too little
internally and too much externally. Even now we need a licence to start a
sugar mill or a shoe factory. And of course the corrupt "Inspector
Raj" continues to harass the small-scale manufacturer who is the
backbone of Indian Industry. But foreigners have been allowed to come in even
with junk foods.
CLEAR BJP POSITION
The BJP position is very clear on this issue; Indian Science
and technology have come of age, as examplified by our Defence and Research
Development Organisation. Therefore, foreign capital is welcome only in
capital intensive hightech and infrastructural areas, however, it must come
on fair and competitive terms. And because Enron was an opaque, expensive and
dubious deal it has been cancelled by the BJP-RSS government in Maharashtra.
This has protected national interests and upheld national honor. The new
watchword is "Swadeshi". The world has been told in unmistakable
terms that India cannot be taken for granted. The entire thrid world feels
good about India standing up.
Vindication of the BJP position comes from no less person than Samual D.
Huntington, the US Establishment ideologue. In his article "The Clash of
Civilizations" (vide Foreign Affairs Quarterly, Summer 1993) he wrote:
"Through the IMF and other international economic institutions, the West
promotes its economic interests and imposes on other nations the economic
policies it thinks appropriate. In any poll of non-Western peoples the IMF
undoubtedly would win the support of finance ministers and a few others, but
get an overwhelmingly unfavourable rating from just about everyone
else."
Today, strong foreign pressure, New Delhi's pussillanimity and nationalist
India's strength are all simultaneously at play in the country. Under foreign
presure our missile program has been capped. In its timidity the government
has signed an unequal agreement with CNN and the country is being
increasingly served cultural garbage. But the people of India represented in
the Rajya Sabha have, under the leadership of the BJP, taken a stand on all
these issues. They have also prevented an anti-national patent law amendment
bill from being passed. And they have acclaimed the cancellation of the Enron
deal. They caused the Star-TV's anti-Gandhi and anti-national program to
stop. And they have made the government agree to start and close Parliament
session with "Vandematram". The BJP's Ekta Yatra under the
leadership of Dr Joshi hoisted the national flag in Srinagar on Republic Day
in 1992. And the BJP's Karnatak unit saw to it that the National Flag is duly
hoisted on the Hubli public ground, which is used for Namaz on Id-days.
While the Supreme Court faltered on the issue of Article 356 of the
Constitution to dismiss four BJP governments, it has come out categorically
for implementation of Article 44 of the Constitution, directing the adoption
of a uniform civil code for all citizens of India. It has denounced the
embracing of Islam just to get rid of your wife and/or indulge in bigamy. And
it has struck down the ban on the VHP. Today the BJP is poised to take a
great leap forward.
Calculators think that the arithmatic does not quite add up to a majority for
the BJP. They, however, forget one thing: elections are not arithmatic; they
are chemistry. Once it becomes clear that the BJP is poised to forge ahead of
all other parties millions of people who have probably never before voted for
it will plump for it. Regional parties could make a beeline for it. The UP
development where the BJP helped a dalit lady become Chief Minister 'Ram ne
Shabri ko raja banaya', said a Hindi newspaper headline is a pointer in this
direction.
Until now the TINA (There Is No Alternative) factor worked in favor of the
Congress. Now it works in favor of the BJP. Having tried state elections in
1967, support from inside in 1977, and support from outside in 1989, and
found them all wanting, the BJP has, by a philosophical process of
elemination - "neti" - come to the conclusion that it would be best
to go it alone. The poet's plea for going it alone ("Aikla Chalo
Re") has literally worked wonders for the BJP.
While the status-quoists may be shaken by this emerging brave new India, the
people of India have every reason to cheer the emergence of this rejuvenated
India with the promise of Ram Rajya and with Rabindranath Tagore's prayer for
"Eka Dharmarajya hable a Bharate" (Let there be one Dharma Rajya -
a just and moral order - in India).
Satyameva Jayate.
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