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A victory for nationalist forces: RSS
By Neena Vyas
But neither the RSS nor the BJP spokespersons, M. G. Vaidya and V. K. Malhotra, who held separate press conferences today, could explain which forces had won the Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and even Delhi during the last several months and years. Were "anti-national'' forces ruling a majority of the States? Were a majority of Indians in these non-BJP ruled States who voted for other parties anti-nationals? Were the people of Tamil Nadu who voted against the DMK-BJP alliance in the last round to be also described as opposed to nationalism? More important, were those who voted for the Congress in Kutch in Gujarat friends of `Mian Musharraf'?
For all these questions, Mr. Vaidya said: "There are the nationalist forces on one side and opposed to them are the secularists. By nationalism, I meant cultural nationalism or Hindutva.'' As for the remarks attributed to the Vishwa Hindu Parishad's Praveen Togadia, that a "Hindu rashtra" will be here in two years, Mr. Vaidya said "it is already here... We have been a Hindu nation for thousands of years, before 1947, we make a distinction between a Hindu nation and a Hindu theocratic state." And, of course, Mr. Malhotra rejected the idea of theocracy in India and added that correspondents should ask Mr. Togadia to clarify the remarks.
All through the last four years with defeat after defeat staring in its face, the BJP repeatedly stated that the results of a State election would not, and could not, impinge on the Centre. But after the Gujarat results, which have certainly boosted the party morale, the party has begun talking once again of coming back to power at the Centre
A little more of communal polarisation, some more "hard work" by its leaders and cadre, a win in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh next year, a few critical alliances (it is counting on the Bahujan Samaj Party in Uttar Pradesh and the AIADMK in Tamil Nadu), and the BJP could bounce back. That is the calculation.
Mr. Malhotra charged that the Congress had been able to get the block minority vote by creating a "fear psychosis" and his advice to the minorities was that they should "join the mainstream.'' He described the electoral victory of the BJP as "unprecedented and historic.''
Mr. Vaidya's analysis was somewhat different, although he agreed with the BJP on the formula "victory of nationalist forces.'' He gave all credit to "Hindutva forces'' which he described as "patriotic and nationalist.'' He ignored the question whether Mahatma Gandhi, Nehru, Sardar Patel, Indira Gandhi and other leaders of the national movement were "not patriotic'' or "anti-national'' as they had rejected the RSS and the Hindu Mahasabha stream of politics.
The "Hindutva forces'' included the BJP, the VHP, the Bajrang Dal and, of course, the RSS and all its other offspring. Mr. Vaidya was indeed happy that a RSS `pracharak' — the Gujarat Chief Minister, Narendra Modi — had pulled off such a big victory for the saffron camp. But many `pracharaks' were working in different fields, he noted. Should the BJP bring Mr. Modi to the national political stage? That was for the BJP to decide, he said.
Finally, Mr. Vaidya did not think that there had been Hindu-Muslim polarisation in the Gujarat elections. All the Congress candidates, except four, were Hindus, and the Congress also got a sizeable number of Hindu votes, Mr. Vaidya said. The polarisation, if at all, was between the "nationalist'' forces and "perverse Hindu bashing secularism'' which fed on "pampering the fissiparous attitudes of religious minorities.''
No word on why the Vajpayee Government had increased the `haj' subsidies or why the Prime Minister has every year hosted an Iftaar (this year it was Id Milan) and no Diwali Milan.
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