Engage, not attack
The attack on the Aam Admi Party office in Ghaziabad by fringe groups with saffron sympathies has to be strongly condemned. People who wish to live in a democracy but choose violence and intimidation as a means to silence dissenting voices have no place in a civilized society. The Hindu Raksha Dal is doing no favours to the Hindu cause by trying to intimidate other Hindu liberals. The vicious attack carried out by some 40 activists of the right-wing offshoot shows the levels to which these groups will stoop to silence liberal voices in a democracy.
Unless the Bharatiya Janata Party comes out strongly against such strongarm tactics, it would be difficult for the party to ward off allegations that it is somehow tied up with these groups. Prashant Bhushan, who made the remark on the need for a referendum on the army’s presence in Kashmir, himself a seasoned lawyer and ideologue of the Aam Admi Party, was targeted not because the ultra right has a great love for Kashmir, or for the Kashmiri people who have been at the receiving end of army excesses, but out of desperation, seeing the success of AAP in the Delhi elections. The BJP was wringing its hands in vain hoping it would assume the reins of government in Delhi, before the AAP spoiled its party.
The attack is an excuse to vent the party’s frustrations against the AAP which could upset Modi’s prime ministerial ambitions. With no clear BJP ‘wave’ in the air and fatigued by the current trend of corruption and doublespeak in politics, the Indian voter may well deliver a hung Parliament in 2014.
In order to become a truly national, secular and moderate party, the BJP and Modi have to learn that the very essence of democracy is the accommodation of plural viewpoints, a secularism that does not discriminate on the basis of religion, in line with the principle of equality of all peoples, tolerance of others’ beliefs and debate and discussion to solve vexed and complex problems.
The BJP should not forget that Atal Behari Vajpayee was chosen over the hawkish L K Advani for his moderate views. But unlike Vajpayee, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi is known to deride his opponents. The BJP’s top cadres themselves are fearful of Modi, who is now making the BJP a one-leader party. Though one might argue that it is against the culture of the RSS and BJP to spur a personality cult, in its desperation to seize power, this seems to be the party’s strategy in projecting the larger than life Modi.
The party would also do well to remember that in its most militant phase of the Rath Yatra and the Ram Janambhoomi issue, it was unable to convince the majority of Hindus to vote in its favour. It was Vajpayee’s acceptability as a moderate leader that won the saffron party the support of moderate regional allies to form the NDA. The BJP and its fringe supporters would do well to learn that democracy is about reasoned dialogue on any issue, including Kashmir. The destruction of the AAP headquarters in Ghaziabad, the vadalism of former Tehelka managing editor Shoma Chaudhury’s house, the attack on secular leader Vishnu Wagh leave impressionable images behind that are likely to put off most liberal people. The sooner the BJP’s followers learn the politics of accommodation and respect, the sooner the party can hope to rule India.
The BJP and its fringe supporters would do well to learn that democracy is about reasoned dialogue on any issue, including Kashmir
