The Hindu : Hanging together

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Mar 25, 2002

Opinion

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Hanging together

THE WAY THE ruling National Democratic Alliance has played out the `unity' act, when its leaders met on Friday against the backdrop of accentuated ideological faultlines, has a dreary familiarity about it. All that it required for the `secular' constituents, who were unhappy and upset with the Vajpayee administration in the context of the recent developments on the Ayodhya front and in Gujarat post-Godhra, to be made to fall in line was a formal `reassurance' by the Prime Minister notably on two points. One, that the NDA agenda would be adhered to. And, two, that there would be "more frequent and extensive consultations" among the allies. Such weary assurances from the Government side and impassioned collective calls for better cohesiveness and observance of the `coalition norms' by the alliance partners have been no more than a ritual, if not a farce, enacted every time the latent discord bursts into the open and threatens to cause a serious damage to the NDA regime's image. It is not going to be very different now. Less than a year ago, the disparate coalition talked of formulating a `code of conduct', and even put a panel on the job, when an exasperated Mr. Vajpayee sent it on a tailspin by declaring his intent to quit office.

What facilitated the reaffirmation of `unity' this time were two developments earlier in the day — tangible actions evidently secured by the Vajpayee regime as sops for the `secular' allies. One was the Narendra Modi Government's decision to withdraw charges under the draconian POTO in cases registered against the alleged perpetrators of the Godhra carnage (most of them Muslims). Mr. Modi's blatantly discriminatory action in invoking POTO in Godhra-related cases and not against those said to be involved (mostly Hindus) in the communal killings thereafter had called into serious question the BJP's credibility vis-a-vis its oft repeated assurance that the special anti-terrorism law will not be used selectively against the minority community. Surely, the Centre would not like to be haunted by the `Gujarat example' when it faces the joint sitting of Parliament on March 26 convened specially to deliberate and pass the POTO Bill. True, the arithmetic is weighted heavily in the Government's favour; but the spectacle of its own coalition partner(s) registering dissent or disapproval in the House — particularly a party like the National Conference — can be too much of a political embarrassment. More than anything else, these POTO Bill-related concerns would appear to have prompted the BJP leadership in Government to ask Mr. Modi to desist from applying POTO to Godhra cases at the investigation stage. The other development of course was the VHP's retraction on its reported plan to take the ashes of the Godhra victims across the country (asthi yatras), a recipe for communal disturbance given the present charged atmosphere.

Whether it is the abandoning of the `asthi yatras' or the Gujarat corrective (on the POTO front), the response of the BJP to the `revolt' by its `secular' allies is a typical case of tactical retreat, nothing more. For all its professed commitment to the NDA agenda, under which the contentious issues have been kept away, the BJP as the leading partner in the Government has never lost sight of its core ideological objectives, which it has consistently been seeking to serve by subtle and not-so-subtle ways. The sort of leeway the Hindutva outfits like the RSS, the VHP and the Bajrang Dal have been receiving from the Government for their divisive, vicious and, often, inflammatory campaign is a case in point. If anything, the Ayodhya-centred developments only reaffirm this perception. On their part, the `secular' NDA constituents have indeed contributed to the appeasement of chauvinist forces to the extent that they have conveniently accepted the BJP's pro-forma statements on commitment to the NDA agenda even when its actions demonstrate otherwise.

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