|
The sanyasin from Khajuraho is presumably composing herself for a battle from her confines in judicial custody. In the final analysis, she chases ‘nationalist’ glory, which is what counts as political capital in the pavilions of the Sangh Parivar. If court proceedings in the Hubli Idgah case against her are dropped, as is now probable, Uma Bharti could return to Madhya Pradesh as chief minister. If not, she might have to get busy positioning herself as the toast of the Hindutva ‘street’. Either way, there is struggle to be done, as much against rivals within her party as against external opponents. Bharti’s track record shows she is not without ambition, her saffron habit notwithstanding. Nor are others in the BJP second-rung and a generational change in the party is very much on the cards. Age, after all, is not on the side of the ‘Big Two’, whatever the organisational pretensions of an outfit robbed of its sheen after a stinging electoral defeat. No price has so far been extracted for that humiliation. The rumblings within can be papered over for a time if the impending assembly election in Maharashtra brings good cheer. But if the contrary is the case, it is as good a guess as any that inner-party struggles will surface to the top in the BJP. Uma playing a part from the CM’s bungalow in Bhopal or from the bustle of the streets is likely to be determined by how the party factions take shape, involving those who call the shots now and those who will emerge as pretenders. The battle cry in the name of the national flag is just the outward show being staged by a party that has lost its face in the general election; the real games being played clearly lying off-stage. This renders the court pronouncements in Bangalore and Hubli and decisions of the Karnataka government almost incidental occurrences. In any case, pre-positioning must commence
for any eventuality, within the BJP’s ‘Gen-Next’ as well as those who make up the party’s prime numbers. The Idgah episode or BJP’s putative ‘tricolour war’ serves only as starting blocks in the uncertain race that lies ahead.
It is noteworthy, however, that Uma Bharti was booked for rioting and attempt to murder — and arrested at last after ducking non-bailable warrants for ten years — but grandstands on the basis of overweening patriotism. The nub of her case: that it is a nationalistic honour to hoist the tricolour at a Muslim congregational ground for Eid prayers if its custodians have a property dispute with the local municipal authorities. The Muslims are clearly a hostile ‘nation’ to be tamed. Bharti is by no means unique in the way she looks at minority communities. Her party frames the issue exactly as she does. Thus a satyagraha is planned in Bangalore in the nature of a flag-waving competition, as it were. The party’s top guns, Vajpayee and Advani included, are slated to attend. Clearly, time has stood still for the BJP, subservient as it is to RSS thought. The party is nowhere near throwing away the poisoned chalice. Government experience is meant to round off the rough edges of extremist organisations, but six years in office at the head of a coalition under a supposedly moderate leader has changed nothing. Forgotten is the talk of democracy, development and good-governance that we heard so much of from the BJP headquarters before the Lok Sabha poll. The BJP appears to have gone back to the basics. Of course, no one can remember Uma Bharti rushing to plant the tricolour when a property dispute arises between any two neighbours or between temple-keepers and public authorities. (No, we won’t talk about Ayodhya here — there they were busy waving Hanumanji’s saffron flag, not the tricolour, and thank God for that.) But it does bear mention that the BJP’s current stalwarts as well as those seeking to succeed them have all trod the path of phoney nationalism to attract attention to themselves, especially when there was an immediate goal to achieve or a precarious position to bolster. Thus Advani called the rabble-rousing at Ayodhya and the mobilisation that preceded it the ‘second freedom struggle’ (the first having eluded him and those of his persuasion). When his chair shook, and in order to secure firm RSS backing, Vajpayee called for a debate on conversions when Christians were being torched in Gujarat. Other unbecoming episodes of this nature involving the former Prime Minister can be recalled. Narendra Modi was elevated to the level of a Hindutva four-star general as the Gujarat pogrom raged and the Centre looked on. All of these personalities will most certainly form the dramatis personae of the BJP’s inner-party struggle, as might Sushma Swaraj, for the BJP the very embodiment of Indian womanhood. Like George Fernandes, deemed by critics as an ‘associate’ member of the saffron brigade, she was once a socialist but now seizes every opportunity to flaunt her new credentials. She declared not long ago that for her only they could be considered Indian who revered as ‘mother’ the holy Ganga, the sacred cow and the sacred ‘tulsi’. This is as pithy as a saffronite can get. Anyhow, here is the pick of our principal opposition party in the early years of the new century. |
News 
