Secular doldrums

Sanjeev Kumar

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The latest post-Gujarat election saffron salvo against the Congress has come from the Sangh Parivar's well-known firebrands, Ms Uma Bharati and Mr Vinay Katiyar. The former, while kicking off what could only be a premature 'election' campaign in Madhya Pradesh, has declared that issues like Hindutva, Ms Sonia Gandhi's foreign origins and Pakistan are related to rashtriya swabhimaan. The latter has started district-level yatras in Uttar Pradesh, to strengthen the spirit of cultural nationalism.

Given this combative mood of the saffron brigade, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's Goa musings attracted the VHP's ire. He was described as a "pseudo-Hindu" by his own ideological kin. There is every possibility, though, that this was a well-crafted tactical move to confuse the people and the Opposition in view of the coming State Assembly elections. The musings may also have been intended as a sop to NDA partners. Mr Vajpayee's previous record of doublespeak confirms these suspicions. In my opinion, the VHP will never pose a direct challenge to the BJP, since both are two sides of the same coin.

The shocked and dejected Congress seems to be in a ruminative mood. Its first post-Gujarat victim was Mr Vilasrao Deshmukh, shunted out of the Maharashtra chief ministership. More heads may roll in the future. The party has been further demoralised by the Congress Legislature Party split in UP. It seems as directionless as other secular parties, and both are yet to come up with a convincing strategy against the BJP.

There are two important questions. One, will the Gujarat election result pose a serious challenge to the secular democratic forces? Two, is the BJP victory to be seen as a major setback for the latter, particularly the Congress? The answer to both is in the affirmative, and the responsibility lies squarely at the Congress's door. A party that chose to appoint former pracharak Shankersinh Vaghela as its Gujarat Congress chief rather than join hands with like-minded secular forces, cannot get away with passing the buck. It was senseless of the high command to expect party workers and the minority community to swallow its moral and ideological lapse when taking on Mr Narendra Modi.

The Congress has repeatedly failed to realise the strategic value of the unity of the secular forces. It came in for sharp criticism from the CPI(M) on its strategy in Gujarat, which involved deliberate non-cooperation with other secular parties. However, at the Mount Abu conclave, the Congress President showed herself aware of the reality of coalition politics and talked of an "open mind" on alliances. Yet whenever the time has come for the Congress to join hands with other parties, it has let the latter down. This has only made the BJP's task easier.

The recent CWC meeting spoke about forging alliances. Yet the party seems solely preoccupied with opposing each and every BJP move, negative or positive. This, despite the fact its failure to place Hindutva in the context of its popular appeal instead of viewing it as antithetical to secularism has already extracted a heavy price. The Congress is yet to realise it must chart its own course, not let the BJP set its agenda.

The communal polarisation in Gujarat sustained itself from Godhra on February 27 to December 15. The very durational length of such communal sentiment is unprecedented in post-Partition India. It is a matter of deep concern, since it has disturbing implications for the future of Indian democracy. It is time for the secular political class and civil society to introspect.