Saturday, June 20, 2009

Is it Time for BJP and Left to rift away from its ideological twins?

Post the general elections, the BJP camp has been a veritable mess with accusations and counter accusations flying thick and high. While many theories are going around on the reasons of loss of stature of BJP, my personal belief is BJP lost because of its inadequate agenda. BJP failed to count on their noteworthy successes in governance and fell back on the Hindutva ideology. This has to do with the roots of BJP which are firmly grounded in the RSS and the “Sangh” which are fundamentalist Hindu by nature. Taking the Hindutva platform alienated the BJP from the minorities and the cause was not helped by the Gujarat Muslim pogroms and the Kandahar Christian massacres. Ultimately, the uncharismatic Advani tried to balance the image of a progressive BJP, with its plans for India and the radical Hindu beliefs of its parent, the RSS. The rest is history (as the word goes)

http://blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/ringsideview/entry/how_bjp_lost_the_plot
http://blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/clicklit/entry/leave-hindutva-bjp-left-it
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/BJP-situation-now-volcanic-Sushma/articleshow/4658037.cms
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/BJP-cant-give-up-Hindutva-RSS-Joshi/articleshow/4663136.cms
http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/StoryPage.aspx?sectionName=HomePage&id=e9c731c5-d28e-442b-8b58-db89d142d300&Headline=Lok+Sabha+debacle+haunts+BJP+as+party+National+Executive+meet


In another news this morning P Chidambaram, the Union Home Minister has asked the West Bengal CM Budhadeb Bhattacharya to do the obvious: Ban the Maoists from the state. Questioning the wisdom of Left-ruled West Bengal for not banning CPI (Maoists) in the state, home minister P Chidambaram said, "I believe there are voices in West Bengal which have raised this issue. We think they should be banned in West Bengal as in other states." Security and intelligence agencies have been raising the issue for long, arguing that West Bengal has become a shelter for Red ultras who take refuge there after committing violence in neighbouring Jharkhand, Bihar and Orissa and also in faraway states like Chhattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Why-arent-Maoists-banned-in-WB-asks-PC/articleshow/4675711.cms

Both these cases reflect the same fact: A relationship between two siblings (Marxists / Maoists and BJP / RSS). The difference being that one sibling has a progressive developmental perspective while the other is a more radical extremist ideology. Unfortunately, at this point of time, the road ahead presents a dilemma as these ideologies cannot have the same common identity and must part. It is time for the BJP leadership to recognize the fact that Hindutva is not a long term and sustainable platform (and instead it should look to eulogize its infrastructural achievements in Gujarat and else where). For the Kolkata based Left Government the choice is to dissociate with the Extreme Left Maoists to present itself in the right light to the people, for whom it stood for 32 years.