BJP's 'hard state' line takes a beating

By Neena Vyas

NEW DELHI, DEC. 31. The biggest casualty in the hijack crisis has perhaps been the boast of the Vajpayee Government that it would never compromise national interests no matter where the pressure came from. In fact, the Bharatiya Janata Party has over the years been very careful to build its image around the keyword - ``nationalism'' - and has projected itself as a proponent of a hard state.

The release of three top militants - Maulvi Masood Azhar, Mushtaq Ahmed Zargar and Ahmed Omar Sayeed Sheikh - in exchange for the safe return of the passengers and crew of the hijacked plane has virtually demolished the BJP's claim that it wants to change the image of the ``soft Indian state''.

The BJP today was as shell-shocked as could be expected. It has barely recovered from its Chennai session where it made an attempt to virtually deny its own right-wing Hindutva ideology when it has been hit by the harsh truth of the soft ``deal'' hammered out at Kandahar.

Party vice-president, Mr J. P. Mathur, made a feeble attempt at justifying the Government decision seen by many as capitulation to the terrorists. He said ``the Government had done its best under the circumstances to save the valuable lives of the hostages''. However, he added, surprisingly, that by striking this deal ``India's prestige as a sober, responsible nation will be enhanced in the international community.''

On December 25, the Prime Minister, Mr. A. B. Vajpayee, had declared: ``My Government will not bend before such a show of terror,'' and a day later, he ruled out even diplomatic recognition of the Taliban regime. Two days ago at Chennai, the Union Home Minister, L. K. Advani, redefined the BJP's ideology as having two constants, ``nationalism'' and ``character.'' Surely, few will believe that India's prestige has been enhanced by the handling of the hijack crisis. Neither can it be said that the Government kept ``nationalism'' in mind or showed ``character'' when the country was forced to see its External Affairs Minister personally carrying and safely delivering to Kandahar the terrorists, whose release the hijackers had demanded.

Throughout the eight-day crisis the Government maintained that it would keep two key objectives in mind while trying to find a solution to the crisis - ``the safe return of the innocents passengers and crew held as hostages'' and the ``overall national interest''. But today, even as one is celebrating the safe return of the hostages, there is little certainty that the ``overall national interests'' have not been compromised.

For years the BJP had been denouncing Islamic fundamentalism and the terrorists it has spawned even as it blamed the ``soft'' approach of previous governments. In fact, in 1993, even as the Narasimha Rao Government was in the midst of the crisis caused by terrorists having holed up inside the Hazratbal shrine in Kashmir, Mr. Advani, then in the opposition, was declaring loudly that while the Rao Government was feeding the terrorists with biriyani the BJP would respond to them with bullets.

All that the so-called ``pro-active'' policy of the Vajpayee Government has achieved is that the militants are now bold enough to attack military and police posts, and even headquarters, when during the preceding years they looked for soft targets - labourers working by the roadside, tourists or passengers in a bus. It cannot be missed that even during the eight days of the hijack crisis a dozen or more lives of common people and officers of the police have been lost to violence unleashed by terrorists in Kashmir.

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