Asghar Ali Engineer is a rights activist and heads two organisations, the Institute of Islamic Studies and the Centre for Study of Society and Secularism. He has authored or edited 44 books on such issues as Islam and communal and ethnic problems in India and South Asia in general.

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Secular Perspective Feb. 1-15, 2000

Though the BJP’s growth has been quite phenomenal all over India thanks to the Ramjanambhoomi issue it took up during late eighties, its growth in Gujrat has been much faster and deeper. One can say the BJP has really, as of now, struck deeper roots in that western state. It is the only state today in India where it is in power on its own without any support from other allies as in other states or in the Centre. Again it is the only state where it and other members of its parivar  (family) like the VHP, RSS and the Bajrang Dal are not only sticking to their ideology but also behaving in an aggressive manner. While the BJP in U.P. lost number of seats in the last Lok Sabha election and is in the grip of fear that it may loose more in the coming bye elections there in the BJP it maintained its strength and there is no sign of any loss of strength in coming days. Not only that the way the Keshavbhai Patel Government is behaving in the BJP it shows how confident it is of its unchallenged strength in Gujrat. The Gujrat BJP also captured 30 of the 48 municipalities in the state in early January this year maintaining its supremacy in urban and semi-urban Gujrat. The Congress (I) which had received severe drubbing during the last Lok Sabha failed once again to find favour with the electorate.

 The way the BJP is behaving in Gujrat clearly brings out to the fore what remains its hidden agenda at the Centre or in other states. The BJP has been maintaining that it has given up its Hindutva agenda and it has nothing but the NDA common agenda for governance. The BJP thus maintains that neither it intends to strive for construction of the Ram temple in Ayodhya nor does it desire to enforce common civil code or delete the article 370 from the Constitution giving special status to Kashmir. In its Chennai declaration too it made this clear. “The BJP has no agenda”, the Chenai declaration said, “ other than the common agenda of the NDA.” Obviously the statement was calculated to allay the suspicion of allies like the DMK, MDMK, Janata Dal (U) and the Trinamul Congress which took strong objection to the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister’s statement that construction of a Ram temple in Ayodhya was on his Government’s agenda. It was also to allay the fears of its allies as some BJP M.P.s had introduced private members’ bills on cow slaughter and common civil code. Of course the Chennai declaration had to take into account the sentiments of the hard core elements in the BJP.

 L.K. Advani also had to mollify the sentiments of the hard core elements in Chennai by saying that the BJP is not diluting its ideology. He advised the BJP leaders and cadre not to “get imprisoned by dogma” and said it was untrue that the BJP was diluting its ideology for the sake of power. The thrust of Mr. Advani’s valedictory address at the BJP’s two day National Council meeting was that the party was “evolving” as circumstances in the country changed. The BJP had gone through many changes and this was one such phase. While responding to the “challenges of the times”, the BJP’s constants were nationalism and character, which were derived from ideology and idealism.

 Is the BJP really responding to the challenges of the times or it is adopting certain strategies to survive in power in the present circumstances. There is great deal of difference between the two. Judging by what the BJP Government is doing in Gujrat one cannot be convinced by Mr. Advani’s assertion that it is responding to the challenges of the times. Rather the BJP is adopting itself to the given circumstances without compromising its core ideology. BJP has more moderate face where it has to rule in alliance with secular parties and has real hardened face as in Gujrat where it is ruling by itself. It is for the secular allies of the BJP to reflect on this. How the BJP, if it is honest in its assertion that it has no separate agenda of governance and only NDA agenda of governance, can behave radically differently in states like Gujrat where it is in power by itself? Does it mean it has two separate agendas of governance, one of NDA and one of its own? It certainly seems so.

 Just see what the BJP Government has been doing in Gujrat. The attacks on Christians began in Gujrat in the Dangs since 25th December 1998. The VHP has been carrying on militant attacks on the Christians and the law and order machinery has been a silent spectator throughout the period. The Gujrat Government also allowed the VHP and the Hindu Ekta Manch to lay foundation for the Ram temple in a Charistian area near the Dangs in the Surat district. Earlier the Government of Gujrat had assured that it would not allow the foundation of Ram temple in the Christian populated area to be laid. A Christian reconverted to Hinduism was made to donate the land for construction of Ram temple.

 The Gujrat Government also has now permitted its employees to join the RSS vide its circular dated 3rd January 2000 issued by the General Administration Department. The circular says “Taking this into consideration (i.e. permission of the Central Government), the State Government has decided to remove Rashtriya Swayam Sevak (RSS) from the list of banned organisations, issued under Government circular dated 5-6-1986 referred to above.” Thus the government employees in Gujrat are now free to join the RSS. One shudders to imagine what will happen to the objectivity and impartiality of the Gujrat administration. As it is administration is generally found to be subservient to the political bosses and now that they are free to join one of the ideological organs of the government it will be even difficult to distinguish between the political rulers and the civil employees. The police officers, if they join RSS, will they have even a semblance of 
Impartiality in controlling communal violence? Their open partisan role has been a matter of grave concern for all those who are active in promoting communal peace.

  Naturally the RSS leaders are so pleased by this act of the Gujrat Government that they want the Central Government also to adopt the Gujrat pattern. Thus the Rashtriya Sewak Sangh in its Gujrat state level Sankalp Shibir has demanded that the Centre adopt the Gujrat Government pattern and allow its employees to participate in the activities of the RSS. Had the BJP-led Government not dependent on 22 party alliance at the Centre it would have obliged the RSS leaders by now. After all the ban has been lifted by the Gujrat Government with the permission of the Home Ministry at the Centre.What is surprising is that the allied parties still swearing by secularism have not even lifted a little finger against the fact that the Union Home Ministry has allowed the Gujrat Government to lift the ban. Now the VHP leaders have demanded that the Government employees be permitted to join the VHP.

 Now the important question is why there has been an unrestricted growth of BJP in Gujrat, a state which is supposed to be one of the highly industrialised state in India? Does industrialisation not result in secularisation of the civil society? This, of course, has been assumption of many leftist theoreticians. Also, Gujrat at one time produced Gandhi, the greatest champion of communal harmony and yet today it is stronghold of communal forces. Nothing moves in straight line as far as the social phenomenon is concerned. It often adopts a convoluted pattern. Thus one has to seek explanation for phenomenal growth of BJP in Gujrat in various developments which have taken place there since independence.

 Gujrat society, one must remember, was at one time, highly feudalised society. There were large number of princes in this state until few decades ago, particularly in the Saurashtra region of Gujrat. It is quite powerful in this region even today and is weakest in the tribal areas of Gujrat and hence attacks by the members of the Sangh Parivar on the Dangs which is one of the powerful tribal areas. The growth of BJP in this state is not a sudden phenomenon. The Jan Sangh (the pre-1980 version of the BJP) had been steadily making headway in Gujrat since its formation in 1952. The Jan Sangh had succeeded in establishing its hold in Gujrat by late sixties and it played a leading role in the 1969 communal riots, which had shaken the whole country. The 1969 riots were aimed mainly to weaken Mrs. Indira Gandhi’s Government at the Centre. Mrs. Gandhi’s Government had then tried to woo the minorities through its secular plank The Jan Sangh was, therefore, quite uncomfortable with it and wanted to weaken it any way.

 The Congress could rule the Gujrat unchallenged for quite sometime but its decline began for many reasons. It got divided when Mrs.Gandhi split it in 1968. It was the Congress(O) under the Morarji Desai’s leadership which captured Gujrat. When 1969 riots took place Mr. Hitendra Desai, political protégé of Morarji Desai was the chief minister. It lost much of its elan due to the split. When in early seventies the Indira Congress captured power it soon came under cloud. Mr.Jay Prakash Narayan launched his anti corruption movement from Gujrat. Mr.Chimanbhai Patel was alleged to be most corrupt and he had to resign under pressure from public opinion. The RSS and the Jan Sangh played an important role in this movement indirectly and got credit. The Jan Sangh in those days was always in the forefront of anti-corruption movement as it had not tested power. The anti-corruption movement further consolidated its position. The RSS cadre was of immense help.

 Later Mr.Solanki won the Gujrat Assembly elections with 2/3rd majority with the help of what was known as the KHAM formula in February 1985. He announced reservation for Kshatriya, harijans (now called dalits), Adivasis and Muslims (KHAM) and won their overwhelming support. But Patels, politically ad economically most dominant caste in Gujrat brought down the Solanki Government within one and a half year by staging caste and communal riots.  The 1985 communal riot in Ahmedabad was the most major riot after 1969 which lasted for one and half year. Thus the fall of the Solanki Government broke the back of the Congress in Gujrat for good. The Congress greatly lost the support of the backward and minority sections as faced with the anti-reservation agitation by the Patels, the Solanki Government suspended reservations for them. This opportunism on the part of the Solanki Government delivered a serious blow to the Congress from which it could not recover. Thus the BJP consolidated its position further by helping bringing down the Solanki Government. It added to its political clout. The Congress could never recover from this blow and after Solanki it did not have any leader of considerable political clout. It lost all its appeal among the electorate. It was seen as corrupt and weak party.

 The BJP projected itself as a ‘party with a difference’ and filled the vaccum. There was another reason for the BJP to establish itself well. The Janata Dal which claimed to represent the interests of weaker sections, Dalits, backward class Hindus and minorities unfortunately came into existence under the leadership of Chimanbhai Patel who was thrown out as allegedly ‘most corrupt’ and hence the Janata Dal could never take off and capture the imagination of the peope. Also, unlike U.P. the Gujrat did not throw up any Dalit leader of Kanshi Ram’s clout or a backward leader of Mulayamsingh Yadav’s clout. It was unfortunately the BJP which succeeded in attracting these sections to its fold and still continues to do so. Shankar Sinh Waghela, who belongs to the backward class, broke off from the BJP and floated his own outfit and subsequently joined the Congress. He too failed to attract the backwards and dalits to his fold. Waghela failed to convince them that he is their messiah probably because he himself was associated with the BJP for long and was seen breaking away from it for grabbing power, and for dedicating himself to the cause of the dalits, backwards and minorities.

 These are some of the reasons why the BJP continues to rule unchallenged in Gujrat and sees no threat to it self so far. The Congress will have to work very hard to replace the BJP in Gujrat.