The Hindu : BJP rethink on Hindutva politics?

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Mar 29, 2002

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BJP rethink on Hindutva politics?

By Neena Vyas

NEW DELHI March 28. The mandate in Delhi has certainly gone against the Bharatiya Janata Party, but it does not know why. The general mood is going against the BJP, that much is being conceded after the defeats in the Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, Uttaranchal, Manipur and Punjab and now in the municipal elections in Delhi. But party leaders are unwilling to point out the reasons.

At the national executive committee meeting in Agra scheduled from April 12 the party will get down to the business of self-introspection. But what is beginning to dawn on some leaders is that the Vishwa Hindu Parishad's `Ayodhya games', the so-called `Hindu backlash' in Gujarat and the generally `lumpen' Hindutva politics of the RSS affiliates is not helping the BJP.

The party was wary of commenting on the Prime Minister's remarks asking his men to keep away from the kind of Hindutva being practised by some. The party spokesperson, Sunil Shastri, said "the defeat in the municipal corporation elections in Delhi is worrisome. We expect the State leaders of the party to come up with a full report which will be discussed at the national executive''.

Mr. Shastri rejected the idea — articulated by some Delhi BJP leaders — that the municipal election result was the direct outcome of the Finance Minister's budget proposals, especially the increase in the LPG price and the reduction in tax rebate on savings. He said it was not correct to say that the string of electoral defeats reflected "poor performance" by the BJP-led Government at the Centre.

Another senior BJP leader, J.P. Mathur, said the VHP's high-pitched demands on Ayodhya and then the backtracking had affected the party's poll prospects.

The continuing riots in Gujarat were worrying as "even Hindu businesses were affected'' and the BJP could not win an election in Gujarat on the basis of a "Hindu consolidation'' even if elections were to be held early, he said. In any case, elections in an atmosphere of distrust and hate between communities would have a long-term adverse effect on the polity and on social harmony, he felt. The BJP has appealed to its cadres to spread the message of communal harmony during the Holi festival tomorrow even as it announced that no party leader would participate in Holi in view of the recent violence in Gujarat.

"We will use the festival to create an atmosphere of communal harmony, especially in Gujarat,'' Mr. Shastri said.

Condemning the reported appearance of hate leaflets in Gujarat, he said, although many had feared violent incidents during Moharrum, the festival had passed off peacefully.

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