Opinion - Editorials

The politics of hatred

WITH THE VISHWA Hindu Parishad backtracking on its `commitment' to abide by the court verdict in the pending Ayodhya temple case (tendered as part of a compromise formula during the runup to the March 15 `shila daan' ceremony), what was hailed by the official establishment and the pro-temple interlocutors as the "most positive development" that needed to be reciprocated by the `other side' has come to nought. But one wonders whether the so-called commitment was ever expected to be taken seriously, given the sort of prevarication, ambiguity and strident dissent that characterised it. Clearly, it was meant to last only for a brief period and to serve some limited purposes in the pre-March 15 context, as for instance giving the impression of being flexible and conciliatory and, in the process, providing the Atal Behari Vajpayee Government some leeway to manoeuvre itself out of the messy predicament it found itself in at that moment, what with the Supreme Court having been brought into the picture. Once the compulsions of `March 15' were over, the `commitment' had outlived its purpose and hence the VHP's decision to free itself from the shackles of the `commitment' given to the Centre at the instance of the Kanchi Sankaracharya in March last. Now the VHP has harked back to its much-too-familiar position on `Ayodhya' — that the Ram temple construction is a matter of faith and therefore not justiciable. The only `concession' the organisation is prepared to give is that it would abide by the court verdict provided the decision did not go against the `dharma sastras'.

What has emerged from the VHP's Haridwar conclave is a blatant declaration of intent to mount a new and aggressive campaign of hatred and whip up communal passions. Also notable are the outfit's return to its ideological base on `Ayodhya' and its decision to give a vigorous push to the incendiary temple movement. These are but a few of the provocative elements of its game plan. That the focus (at Haridwar) was on Gujarat and Jammu and Kashmir, the two communally sensitive States that will be going to the polls in the next few months, makes it clear that the Sangh Parivar is determined to go the whole hog in pushing its majoritarian agenda and striving for political mobilisation on communal lines. For all the formal attempts by the BJP to distance itself from the stated positions and abrasive campaigns of the VHP/Bajrang Dal — this has everything to do with the BJP's coalition constraints — there is no gainsaying their shared ideological goal as members of the RSS fraternity or the complementarity of the roles the two have been playing to achieve it.

Going by the tone and tenor of the VHP's Haridwar deliberations and decisions — as evidenced by the glorification of the discredited Gujarat Chief Minister, Narendra Modi, the demand for a ban on `madrassas' and the call for a division of Jammu and Kashmir on communal lines — the Sangh Parivar seems determined to give a sharper edge to its hate campaign. Ashok Singhal's statement — that, if the Muslims "continue to take the country towards partition" they would have to stay in "relief camps like in Gujarat" — is as much a brazen challenge to the constitutional authority and the country's pluralist polity as it is an open threat to the minority community. His warning was indeed an echo of what the RSS had sounded three months ago at its Bangalore conclave. No less vicious and dangerous is the reported call at Haridwar for support to the VHP's pro-Hindu "crusade" in Jammu and Kashmir. It may seem expedient for the Hindutva parties to try out the so-called `Gujarat under Modi' experiment for perceived electoral dividends. As a Government mandated to uphold the Constitution and its cardinal principles of secularism, pluralism and the rule of law, the Vajpayee regime is duty-bound to intervene effectively and with a sense of urgency to rein in the obscurantist elements that are hell-bent on pursuing such nationally divisive politics.

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• The politics of hatred
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• Not a deserter
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