The BJP and its roots in Gujarat

By Asghar Ali Engineer

THOUGH THE BJP's growth has been quite phenomenal all over India thanks to the Ram Janmabhoomi issue it took up in the late Eighties, its growth in Gujarat has been much faster and deeper. It is the only State where the BJP is in power on its own. Again it is the only State where the BJP and other members of the sangh parivar, such as the VHP, the RSS and the Bajrang Dal, are not only sticking to their ideology but also behaving in an aggressive manner. While in Uttar Pradesh the BJP lost a number of seats in the last Lok Sabha election and fears it may lose more, the party has no such apprehensions in Gujarat. The attitude of the Keshubhai Patel Government shows how confident the BJP is of its strength in the State. The BJP also captured 30 of the 48 municipalities in the State in early January maintaining its supremacy in urban and semi-urban areas.

The way the BJP is behaving in Gujarat clearly brings to the fore what remains its hidden agenda at the Centre and in other States. The BJP has been maintaining that it has given up its Hindutva agenda and that it has nothing but the NDA's common agenda for governance. The BJP maintains that it neither intends to strive for construction of the Ram temple in Ayodhya nor desires to enforce a common civil code or delete Article 370 from the Constitution. In its Chennai declaration too it made this clear. ``The BJP has no agenda'', the Chennai declaration said, ``other than the common agenda of the NDA.'' Obviously the statement was calculated to allay the suspicions of allies such as the DMK, the MDMK, the Janata Dal(U) and the Trinamul Congress.

Mr. L. K. Advani also had to mollify the hardcore elements in Chennai by saying that the BJP was not diluting its ideology. He advised the BJP leaders and cadre not to ``get imprisoned by dogma'' but denied that the BJP was diluting its ideology for the sake of power. The thrust of Mr. Advani's address was that the party was ``evolving'' as the circumstances in the country changed. The BJP had gone through many changes and this was one such phase. While responding to the ``challenges of the times'', the BJP's constants were ``nationalism'' and ``character'', which were derived from ideology and idealism.

Is the BJP really responding to the challenges of the times or is it adopting certain strategies to survive in power? There is a great deal of difference between the two. Judging by what the BJP Government is doing in Gujarat, it is hard to be convinced by Mr. Advani's assertion that it is responding to the challenges of the times. Rather, the BJP is adapting to the given circumstances without compromising its core ideology. The BJP has a more moderate face where it has to rule in an alliance and a hardened face where it is in power by itself, as in Gujarat. It is for the allies of the BJP to reflect on this. How can the BJP, if it is honest in its assertion that it has no separate agenda of governance, behave radically differently in States where it is in power on its own? Does it mean the BJP has two separate agendas of governance, one of the NDA and one its own? It certainly seems so.

Just look at what the BJP Government has been doing in Gujarat. The VHP's attacks on Christians began in the Dangs since December 25, 1998. The law and order machinery was a silent spectator throughout the period. The Gujarat Government also, going back on its word, allowed the VHP and the Hindu Ekta Manch to lay the foundation for a Ram temple in a Christian area, near the Dangs, in Surat district.

The Gujarat Government has also now permitted its employees to join the RSS. What will happen to objectivity and impartiality in the Gujarat administration? As it is, the administration is generally found to be subservient to the political bosses. Now if police officers join the RSS, will they show even a semblance of impartiality in controlling communal violence?

Naturally the RSS leaders are so pleased by this act of the Gujarat Government that they want the Centre to follow suit. The RSS at its ``Sankalp Shibir'' in Ahmedabad demanded that the Centre adopt the Gujarat Government pattern and allow its employees to participate in activities of the Sangh. Had the BJP- led Government not been dependent on an alliance at the Centre would it not have obliged the RSS leaders? After all, the ban has been lifted in Gujarat with the permission of the Union Home Ministry. What is surprising is that the BJP's allies which swear by secularism have not raised even a little finger against the lifting of the ban. Now VHP leaders have demanded that Government employees be permitted to join the Parishad.

The important question is why has there been an unrestricted growth of the BJP in Gujarat, one of the highly industrialised States in India? Does industrialisation not result in secularisation of the civil society? Also, Gujarat had produced Gandhi, the greatest champion of communal harmony. Yet today it is a stronghold of communal forces. Nothing moves in a straight line as far as social phenomena are concerned. The pattern is often convoluted. Thus one has to seek explanations for the BJP's phenomenal growth in Gujarat in various developments which have taken place there since Independece.

The growth of the BJP in Gujarat is not a sudden phenomenon. The Jan Sangh (the pre-1980 version of the BJP) had been steadily making headway in the State since its formation in 1952 and had succeeded in establishing its hold by the late Sixties when the decline of the Congress began with Indira Gandhi splitting the party. It was the Congress(O) under Morarji Desai's leadership which captured Gujarat. When the 1969 riots took place, Hitendra Desai, political protege of Morarji Desai, was the Chief Minister. The party lost much of its elan with the split. Though in the early Seventies the Indira Congress captured power, it soon came under a cloud. Jayaprakash Narayan launched his anti- corruption movement from Gujarat. Chimanbhai Patel was alleged to be most corrupt and he had to resign. The RSS and the Jan Sangh played an important role in this movement and got credit.

Later, Madhavsinh Solanki won the Assembly elections for the Congress with a two-thirds majority with the help of what was known as the KHAM formula in February 1985. He announced reservation for Kshatriyas, Harijans, Adivasis and Muslims (KHAM) and won their overwhelming support. But Patels, politically and economically the most dominant caste in Gujarat, brought down the Solanki Government within one and a half years. The 1985 communal riot in Ahmedabad was the most major one after 1969. The fall of the Solanki Government broke the back of the Congress in Gujarat for good. The party lost the support of the backward and minority sections as, faced with the anti-reservation agitation by the Patels, the Solanki Government suspended reservation for them. The BJP consolidated its position further by helping to bring down the Solanki Government.

The BJP projected itself as a ``party with a difference'' and filled the vacuum. There was another reason for the BJP establishing itself: the Janata Dal which had claimed to represent the interests of the weaker sections, Dalits, and minorities unfortunately came into existence under the leadership of Chimanbhai Patel who had been thrown out as ``most corrupt''. Hence, the Janata Dal could never take off. Also, unlike Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat did not throw up any Dalit or backward class leaders like Mr. Kanshi Ram or Mr. Mulayam Singh Yadav. So, the BJP, which succeeded in attracting these sections to its fold, continues to retain their support. Mr. Shankarsinh Waghela, who belongs to a backward class, broke off from the BJP and floated his own outfit and subsequently joined the Congress. He too failed to attract the backwards and Dalits to his fold, probably because he himself was associated with the BJP for long and was seen as breaking away to grab power.

These are some of the reasons why the BJP continues to rule unchallenged in Gujarat. The Congress will have to work very hard to replace the BJP in the State.

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Section  : Opinion
Previous : A welcome move
Next     : Paying for the long neglect