[Reader-list] Feudalism in Pakistan

[anupam chakravartty]

Dea Rakesh,

I did not get this: "I don't see any BJP coming back to power, unless there
is an all-India pogrom/riot/genocide or the Congress rules absolutely badly,
or coalition politics ruins the Congress". If BJP comes into power only
because of a riot or genocide, then people who stand up for the peace (which
i am sure a majority of people believe in) are not doing a good job. There
are people from BJP as well trying to bridge the communities from fighting.
Some of them are not using the communal agenda at all but it has to do with
frustration with local congress or CPI or other party. basically, for some
BJP means a change of guard apart from other things such a communal stance
or jingoistic call. Even in the riot-torn localities, you'd see several
rioters from the both the communities sharing a bottle of booze in the night
analysing what went wrong. The appeasement quotient is nothing but a drawing
room conversation of those who are barely in touch with ground realities. It
is a tool to forecast election results, allegiances, future coalitions and
combines.

-anupam


9, Rakesh Iyer <rakesh.rnbdj at gmail.com> wrote:

> Dear Anupam jee
>
> I would just add one more thing to your mail. You have stated that BJP won
> because it went on the plank of 'security, development and fight against
> corruption' in the 1998 elections. I think more than the BJP gain, it was
> the Congress which lost, and the reasons to me are clear somewhat in this
> statement of Aashish, the friend I constantly refer to in this forum:
>
> '40 saal tak Congress power mein thee. Unhone kya kiya?'. (For 40 years,
> the Congress was in power, as till 1989. What did they do?)
>
> The BJP and other parties asked this question, and stated that the answer
> was that Congress had done nothing. They staked their claim to power by
> stating that they will do something for the people. So the BJP (and others)
> came to power. But such politics also has its limitations. When the people
> send you in Delhi with the hope of getting benefits, and you don't provide
> it to them (sometimes because of your inability or incompetence, sometimes
> because of administrative incompetence, and sometimes because of too much
> being asked in too little time and space), they get impatient and fight for
> their rights.
>
> The BJP has a very tough road to power even in 2014, according to me,
> simply because not only would minorities never vote for it (as most of the
> minority section is poor and is threatened by the VHP and the Bajrang Dal),
> but also because now that the BJP has ruled, people know that they are not
> the answer to the question they asked themselves.
>
> And hence, Modi or no Modi, I don't see any BJP coming back to power,
> unless there is an all-India pogrom/riot/genocide or the Congress rules
> absolutely badly, or coalition politics ruins the Congress. (Also of course
> is the case that BJP is limited only to certain states in India, not the
> case with the Congress)
>
> Regards
>
> Rakesh
>