[Reader-list] Feudalism in Pakistan

[Rakesh Iyer]

Dear Anupam jee

I agree with you that there are good people in all parties who would never
want a riot or genocide at all in India. And what's more, there are bad
people in all parties as well, who would like to see that step being taken
for electoral purposes.

But my understanding of the BJP also comes from the ideology and the RSS to
which they attribute their ideology, by and large. While as per the
Constitution, every political party has to adhere to the norm of ensuring
that India is a 'secular, sovereign, socialist, democratic republic', in
practice these norms are flouted in different measures and degrees by
various political parties, while being in and out of power.

The problem as I see it with the BJP is that they are unwilling to accept
that the ideological basis upon which their vision of India is premised, it
itself wrong and incorrect. The age before Islamic invasion may have seen
scientific and other discoveries, but to term it as the Golden Age is
far-fetched. While the RSS tends to glorify Hinduism, it's ironic that the
two greatest rulers of India, were non-Hindu (Ashoka and Akbar). By
'greatest', I mean that they at some point of time in their life, realized
that violence is futile and against the principle of human rights. What's
more, in some measure they did allow democratization of the polity.

(Democracy doesn't only mean elections and legislature. It means discussion
and hearing every section of the society, which they both allowed in some
measure. Ashoka turned to Buddhism and went on this path, while Akbar made
secularism into state policy, way before Nehru. It's ironical that like
Nehru, Akbar was attacked for 'appeasing Hindus'.)

The RSS, when it states that minorities must live based on goodwill of the
majority community, by definition, deny the right of minorities to exist in
India on a dignified basis. And this, to a certain extent, is understood by
our minorities, as also those who suffer because of the violence unleashed
by the Sangh Parivar organizations in one form or the other (be it
desecration of statues of Jesus Christ, or those involved in Mangalore pub
attack whose ideological basis is also derived from the Sangh).

The BJP, as I see it, came to power predominantly because it aligned with
political parties, all of which were anti-Congress, and most of which came
into being to provide an answer to the disgruntled people of this country,
who wished to know what had the Congress rule given to them in the 40 years
of their rule. Of course, other political parties also made use of it, but
what it did was significantly unleash the forces of caste and religion into
the mainstream of Indian politics, as also the use of development as an
instrument thanks to the anti-incumbency factor.

Also, I said the loss of BJP may be based on certain factors, one of which
is existence of peace. However, that is not always necessary or true. If the
Congress or the UPA does what the NDA did (and to be honest enough, yes the
NDA did do good in certain sectors, but my problem is with their concept of
using revenues only for growth, and this growth was 'jobless growth'), then
it will be kicked out in the most surprising way. Even Vajpayee, the Bhishma
Pitamah of Indian politics, was unable to avoid his being kicked out, and
was too little in the face of complexities of Indian politics. Ironically,
he himself had advised his party to be austere in their campaigning. And it
was thrown to the dustbin. Then what is Manmohan Singh in front of the
public?

However, this does not mean that if UPA actually unleashes the public
schemes, it will come back to power. It may not. But if it does nothing for
the people, then it certainly will not come back, because people will not
feel satisfied enough to vote for it. And peace in that case is not going to
help them at all. That's why I said, if the Congress rules badly, they
should be prepared for a defeat under their mascot Rahul Gandhi.

As for coalition politics, I consider it important because these parties do
have a vote bank behind them, and certain voters who can switch over to or
away from them, depending on circumstances. They can and may determine the
course of Indian politics in various ways. And elections are the most
toothless way of proving a govt.'s accountability to the people, because you
may not be responsive and accountable, and yet you may actually win the
election, because of certain other reasons. That is the beauty of the
election.

So, it's not the media houses, but the complexity of Indian politics, which
makes me say that BJP will have inded a tough time to come back to power. Of
course, another matter is that if they do come back, they don't even know
who among them will become a PM, which seemed to be the primary concern for
them in 2009 elections.

Regards

Rakesh