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Vajpayee willing to strike, but afraid to wound

Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee was in the chair, flanked by Home Minister L K Advani and Human Resources Development Minister Murli Manohar Joshi. The national committee for the 50^th anniversary of the Mahatma's martyrdom had been convened to suggest ways to observe January 30 when Gandhi was shot dead by a Hindu fanatic, Nathuram Vinayak Godse.

Strangely, none of the former prime ministers was present although chairs with the tag 'Ex-PM' were reserved on either side of Vajpayee. No representative of the Opposition, except Dr Manmohan Singh from the Congress, was there.

A historian sitting next to me whispered that nobody bought books on the Mahatma any more. The thin attendance and the tenor of the meeting showed a lack of interest. Gandhians like Sushila Nayyar and Usha Mehta, although furrowed by age, whipped up enthusiasm. But theirs was a flicker, the flame in the hearts of people seems to be dying out. They spoke with the same poise and poignancy which distinguished them from others in the past. But what about the future?

Vajpayee is persistent in paying homage to Gandhi's memory. Even when he was in the Opposition, he attended all the committee's meetings. Maybe this gives him the liberal streak which has sustained him in his fight against party hardliners. At last month's Bharatiya Janata Party session in Bangalore, he made party chief Shashikant 'Kushabhau' Thakre, an RSS man, eat his words of criticism. But isn't Vajpayee somewhat late? The RSS -- and the Hindutva supporters -- are too entrenched and too strong.

The time to assert himself was before Advani took a rath yatra through North India and polarised even the countryside. Vajpayee kept quiet then. His defence was that the BJP was forced to do so. He made no bones in saying that had there been no Mandal (the reservations for the backward castes announced by then prime minister V P Singh), there would have been no kamandal (a small vessel, which distinguishes the sadhus from others).

Looking back, it is clear that both divided Indian society. V P Singh's step articulated casteism and Advani's rath yatra communalism. While V P Singh's reform stopped at benefiting the creamy layer in the backward castes, Advani made a tolerant society parochial. It will take India many years to wash out the poison injected at that time in its body politic.

Vajpayee's silence harmed the nation still further when the Babri Masjid was demolished at Ayodhya. Although upset, he did nothing to repair the damage inflicted on India's composite culture. I recall when I met him on December 7, a day after the demolition, I found him greatly disturbed. But his remark was: 'Let the temple come up.' This was no solution when the Muslims were worked up and the matter was pending before the court. He can, however, help now to get an early verdict by requesting the Supreme Court to order a daily hearing by a special court.

The distancing by the Vajpayee group from the RSS may be a tactical move. If there is any reality, it is that the BJP leaders in the government have realised they cannot return to power if their party continues to have no support from the minorities and liberal Hindus. The BJP is itself to blame for this. It played the Hindu card to divide society and get votes. In the process, the genie of fanaticism and fundamentalism has come out of the bottle. The realisation that the party has gone too far does not mean that the genie will oblige it and go back into the bottle.

The BJP spokesman had reacted saying 'there is a limit' when the Vishwa Hindu Parishad went amuck and attacked Christians. VHP chief Singhal's criticism of Mother Teresa and Amartya Sen was resented rightly. But it is the philosophy of Hindu Rashtra that has given birth to the VHP and the Bajrang Dal. Maybe they owe their existence to the strategy of blowing hot and cold at the same time. How can the BJP leaders disown the two when all, including the BJP, are members of the RSS Parivar? True, Vajpayee is a liberal. But he has also stood in knickers at a rally held in the RSS chief's presence. Differences between the hardliners and the others exist, but they are no more than tensions within a family.

The point to worry about is a party like the Shiv Sena which has used the same chauvinistic Hindu stance to build up its following, but which is not under the RSS influence. Singhal can be made to eat his words -- as he has done in Amartya Sen's case -- but Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray is not amenable to any plea. He is a stray bull.

The prime minister said that Pakistan would play cricket matches in India. Thackeray challenged his statement and followed it up with the digging of the pitch at the Kotla ground in Delhi. He has made India -- and the prime minister -- a laughing stock. If no action is taken against him, Vajpayee will be seen as a compromising prime minister. The BJP should at least resign from the Shiv Sena-led government in Maharashtra.

That the BJP has changed its tune is clear from what Advani said in the wake of attacks on the Christians in Gujarat. He said it was the duty of the state and central governments as well the BJP to ensure safety and equality to members of all religions in the country. These are laudable thoughts. But when it comes to implementing them, the BJP drags its feet.

Even now the home ministry's response to the excesses committed against the Christians in Gujarat has been lukewarm. Advani's, or for that matter the BJP's, stock would have gone up had he recommended the state government's dismissal. Instead, the resolution passed at the BJP's national executive session in Bangalore commended the handling of the situation by Gujarat Chief Minister Keshubhai Patel. His proximity to the RSS rescued Patel.

Such instances only prove that Vajpayee is willing to strike, but afraid to wound. His liberal posture is not enough. He has to undo the harm his party has done. The polity has got so contaminated that disparate ethnic groups are having their way. In fact, the BJP's governance has let the worst elements in society come to the fore. Violence and hatred are rocking the nation. Religion is being mixed with politics with a vengeance.

Take the Akali Dal, the BJP's ally. It sees no difference between religion and politics. So much so that it does not mind misusing the Akal Takht, the Sikh's highest temporal authority. Its head, Ranjit Singh, issued a hukumnama recently, ordering Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee chief Gurcharan Singh Tohra not to make statements against each other. How can the Akal Takht interfere in a matter which is solely political? Badal has been rightly trying to establish the supremacy of an elected government over religious zealots, but the Akal Takht's interference has emboldened them.

The hukumnama and Bal Thackeray's fiats have created a situation in the country where there is no respect for law and order. Normalcy has been pushed to the background. The Mahatma's martyrdom should remind us, if nothing else, about the futility of violence. It will be interesting to watch how Vajpayee counters fanatics, fundamentalists and hardliners when his equation with the RSS is somewhat diluted.

Kuldip Nayar