Editorial

BJP in Jitters

The BJP is in jitters. As its political stocks are plumetting it has begun losing its balance. Clearly the numerous scams that it managed to produce in a record time of three years in power have started to recoil on its hopes and aspirations. Even before it completed its term in power at the Centre, the people have passed their judgment: that this government does not work. For a party, that for decades boasted that it was different from others and could offer a government that "works", the results on the ground are too dismal to give it any comfort. With each passing day the failures, the acts of commission and omission of the BJP-led NDA regime are increasing with such regularity and pace that it has realised that its dream house is on fire.

The long catalogue of its failures owes its origin in the basic fact that BJP never understood India, its people and their ethos, let alone comprehending the crucial dimensions and demands of democracy. Indians are generally conservative, God-fearing and religiously-inclined. But they are not communal. It was this remarkable aspect of the Indian personality that sustained the nation as a confluence of amazing diversity. The Hinduism itself is a phenomenon that not only welcomed but promoted varied and even contradictory faiths. Theism as well as atheism, dwaita and advaita philosophies co-exist within the vast space of Hinduism. This automatically nurtured tolerance and respect of other?s beliefs and convictions. This forms the foundation of India?s secular edifice. Unmindful of this basic reality, the BJP sought to impose on India the Ram Janam Bhoomi controversy. It failed to realise the limited appeal of its venture. It met with a miserable failure only because the Indians are averse to view religion as a political vehicle. This explains why despite being religious, the people rejected the BJP, election after election.

The masses are concerned only with the developmental philosophy and programmes of political parties. In this test the BJP failed repeatedly and when finally it was given a chance, it confirmed people?s suspicion that it cannot rule and is not fit to govern. The recent electoral failures were so resounding that the BJP today is in a state of shock. The seven scams (Land, Tehelka, UTI, Coffin, Disinvestment, Telecom, Petrol & Gas) that shook the BJP marked the turning point and offered a permanent proof of its total inability to govern. This coming even as the Supreme Court administered a humiliating snub over Assembly elections in Gujarat, turned the BJP into a neurotic. Regional satraps changing their nominees in the NDA Government at will against the wishes of the Prime Minister and ministers openly questioning the functioning of their own colleagues, the fig leaf of collective responsibility has simply disappeared.

In jitters, the BJP threw to winds all pretences and unleashed a vicious onslaught against the Congress, which alone offers it a real challenge. The sudden withdrawal of Delhi government?s powers by the Union Home Ministry without any provocation, whatsoever, is a glaring and shameful example of the BJP?s growing realisation of its own incompetence, intolerance and insolence. That for every thing the popularly-elected legislative Assembly, its Council of Ministers, the government would have to turn to the Lt. Governor, clearly shows how little the BJP respects the people and their verdict. What the Union Home Ministry has done was infact the imposition of Governor?s rule in the Union Territory of Delhi even as an elected government is in place. This sets a very dangerous precedent which should alert every democratic-minded person and party. Rule by executive order is an anti-thesis of democracy. It shows shades of fascist attitude. The BJP is coming out in its true colours. It calls for vigilance.