The Hindu : Strategy for change

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Feb 24, 2003

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Strategy for change

By K.K. Katyal

The Opposition is in for the long haul if it is to pose an effective challenge to the ruling coalition, both in regard to the agenda and the tactical approach.

SOME THREE decades ago, the Congress under Indira Gandhi saved or snatched the socialism card from the Socialists and other Left groups. She was, thus, able to fend off powerful challenges against her, first in 1969, at the time of the party's split through her "stray thoughts" — bank nationalisation, abolition of privy purses, etc — and, later, through the garibi hatao (banish poverty) slogan. Today, the Congress and its leader, Sonia Gandhi, feel pressured to deprive their main opponent, the BJP, of its card, Hindutva. The job this time is not easy, howsoever pressing it may be, because of electoral compulsions. Two questions arise. Is it desirable for the party, given its ideological moorings, to try such an approach? And if it veers round to accepting the need to deprive the BJP of the Hindutva agenda, is the Congress in a position to do so? Therein lies the predicament of the party and its strategy managers.

This issue and that of electoral alliances and of power-sharing figured in the internal deliberations at the Centre and in the States more than once but firm conclusions could not be reached. What we witnessed was a reactive approach. Party leaders and the rank and file are worried at the damage caused by the BJP and others in the Sangh Parivar. There is a strong compulsion, therefore, to beat the BJP with its own stick. This could not be done by appropriating the Hindutva card straightaway — it would be seen as a blatant form of opportunism, apart from running counter to the Congress ideology. New ways are contemplated — like the attack on the BJP from the flanks and pre-empting the use of some items of its agenda. "Hinduism needs to be saved from the forces of Hindutva" may well be one line of action. That way, so goes the argument, the Congress could ensure the support of the Hindus without being misunderstood by the Muslims and other minorities. To the Hindus, it could say: "We are seeking to prevent the misuse and distortion of a religion which has tolerance, amity and liberal values as its hallmarks. Beware of those who bring a bad name to Hinduism." The message to the Muslims will be this: "There is no cause for worry from the stress on tolerance and amity. We reject the doctrine of hate and acrimony." This, according to sections in the Congress, is not soft Hindutva but a positive concept and it would not make the party the B team of the BJP.

The pre-emptive approach is already evident in the Congress camp — through the Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister, Digvijay Singh. He wrote to the Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, the other day, suggesting that the Centre introduce a legislation imposing an all-India ban on cow-slaughter. This was an obvious bid to forestall the use of an emotive issue by the BJP for the State Assembly elections. The intrusion of the Madhya Pradesh Youth Congress gave a dirty turn to the issue related to cow-slaughter — it brought out posters branding the Prime Minister a beef-eater, evoking angry disclaimers from him.

All in all, the Congress is still stuck in ad hocism, while the BJP has evolved a coherent strategy. Those who used to enquire whether it would replicate Gujarat in other States due to have Assembly elections this year have already got the answer. The Gujarat model is to be tried with suitable variations. Fortunately, there are no Godhras elsewhere but situations may well be created to whip up communal passions. It may be in the form of distribution of tridents (trishuls) in Rajasthan or the call for worship in the Bhojshala in Madhya Pradesh. The Hindutva agenda, practised in Gujarat, is to be pursued elsewhere, too, of course with modifications. To the terrorism threat, with implied anti-minority overtones, will be added other issues — Ram temple, religious conversions, activities of madrasas, apart from cow-slaughter (the pre-emptive move by Mr. Digvijay Singh notwithstanding). The Hindutva card of the BJP, no doubt, poses a major challenge to the Congress but it would be a grievous mistake to ignore other areas where the BJP has superiority — organisational, political and electoral to cite three instances. The Congress does not have the committed cadres of the type the BJP commands. The BJP has the additional advantage of support by RSS activists. In Gujarat, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad too plunged itself headlong in the campaign because it regarded the Chief Minister, Narendra Modi, as its mentor. Whether the VHP would work for the BJP in other States would depend on its equation with local bosses.

In its political dealings and electoral strategy, the BJP, because of its flexibility, had a clear edge over the Congress. At the Centre, the BJP, both in 1998 and 1999, forged alliances, pre-poll and post-poll, and managed to stay in power, already for nearly five years. It accommodated others (or made a show of accommodation) to evolve a common agenda, agreeing to shelve contentious issues. That, in its conduct, it did not stick to the undertakings is a different matter. This contrasted sharply with the Congress' rigidity and arrogance. The BJP did not hesitate to stoop to conquer.

In the ideological domain, the Congress failed to exploit the potential of its strength. On the contrary, it let the BJP hijack its economic agenda. The swadeshi movement was a part and parcel of the struggle for Independence with the Congress in the vanguard. All that is forgotten now. It is the Swadeshi Jagran Manch of the Sangh Parivar which is the main advocate of self-reliance. That is one side of the coin. Take the other side, represented by the economic reforms, initiated by the Congress Government with Manmohan Singh as Finance Minister in 1991. All that is nearly forgotten. The Congress could well challenge the BJP on the implementation of economic policies, making use of the Government's failures on several counts. Also, the BJP is highly vulnerable on the quality of governance provided by it. On Hindutva, the Congress could not match the saffron ranks, but it could partly neutralise their advantage by putting the issue in a proper perspective. The Congress agenda could thus be a mix of these three factors.

The recent move of Ms. Sonia Gandhi, in her role as the Leader of the Opposition, to call the Government's opponents to plan for floor coordination for the budget session is a significant development but it is to be seen for what it is. It is the first conclave of its type since the last general election — the first initiative by her to get such a wide response, with the participation of her foes such as Mulayam Singh Yadav and Sharad Pawar. It may be important as a preliminary step towards the goal of Opposition unity but the tendency to give it a larger-than-life dimension is to be resisted at this stage. Such an exercise merely helps the Opposition avoid overlapping moves in the two Houses of Parliament and ensure maximum possible use of the opportunities under the rules of procedure, even to pool their efforts, to put the Government on the mat.

This is not the first exercise of its type. It had been a regular feature during the period when the Congress was in power. Almost all the non-Congress parties, including the Left and the BJP, used to take part in it — towards the last stage the house of the CPI (M) leader, Somnath Chatterjee, used to be the venue. It continued in a truncated form in the changed context, after the BJP's ascendancy to power. It is not for the first time that the floor-coordination strategy was seen as a prelude to grand Opposition unity. The claims by H.S. Surjeet, CPI (M) leader, on such occasions in the past used to be far more emphatic than the remarks of Mulayam Singh Yadav and Jaipal Reddy in the latest case.

The Opposition is in for the long haul if it is to pose an effective challenge to the ruling coalition, both in regard to the agenda and the tactical approach.

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