(Re-publishing)
From the decade of 1990s Bharatiya Janata Party has emerged as the major player on the electoral field. It had one two seats in parliament in 1984 elections. Its strength went on upswing after it took up the issue of Ram Temple. Advani’s rath Yatra which intensified the violence polarized the society and jacked up the electoral prospects of the party. In 1996 it first came to power for 13 days, then by stitching up alliances it ruled in 1998 for thirteen months and in 1999 it came to power for the full term, as the lead party of National Democratic Alliance.
In 2014, after the ten year stint of rule of UPA (I and II) BJP-NDA returned to power in 2014. In these elections Modi had declared that he was a Hindu nationalist (I was born in a Hindu family, I am a nationalist and so I am a Hindu nationalist.) This time around the factors which helped it to reap power were manifold. To begin with Modi’s Chief Minster-ship gave the Corporate World a free hand and they declared that Modi will be our next Prime Minster. Modi cleverly shifted the discourse from the Gujarat violence, in which nearly two thousand people were killed, to Gujarat Model of development. This was done with the help of media, which helped Modi to build and image of a man who wants development. Around this time RSS backed Anna Movement, defamed Congress as the corrupt party. In Anna movement the cleverness was that Congress corruption was highlighted and BJP corruption was put under the carpet. Also RSS came forward with full force to ensure that Modi wins the elections.
BJP as such is the political child of RSS. All the major decisions of BJP are taken by RSS and the major leaders of BJP have RSS background and affiliation. That means that most of BJP leaders are playing the agenda of RSS on electoral arena. The RSS affiliate organizations like ABVP, VHP, Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram and scores of others supplement the RSS agenda in diverse social fields. BJP is committed to the agenda of Hindu nation. Times and over again its leaders have criticized the Indian Constitution. RSS leaders have stated that it wants to bring in a Constitution which is based on Indian Holy books, essentially the holy books like Manu Smriti, where caste and gender hierarchy is the central value of society. During last five years of BJP led NDA it became apparent that BJP is committed more to preservation of the corporate interests, then to the interests of average sections of society. The unemployment has grown, agrarian sector is under distress, prices have shown a terrible rise, the schemes floated by this Government are cosmetic be that Ujjwala Gas Yojna, health insurance scheme, Jan Dhan Yojna, housing scheme or what have you.
At present the chances of BJP can be assessed in two ways. One is the Pulwama created hyper nationalism guiding the voter sentiment, where the chances of BJP getting good number of seats are very high. The second is the hyper nationalism hysteria settling down and voters deciding on the issues of livelihood, dignity and unity of the country. In the latter case BJP stands no chance of forming even the coalition despite its 40 odd electoral allies.
How do we assess as to what BJP will do if it gets over two thirds of majority? This can be assessed on multiple grounds. One, it will give unrestrained power to change the Indian Constitution, which is a real thorn in the agenda of RSS, the path to Hindu Rashtra. In the name of nationalism, patriotism, the new Constitution will be the image of what RSS has been aiming at, the values of caste and gender hierarchy in a refined way on one hand. On the other it will officially relegate religious minorities to second class citizenship while imposing all the Brahmanical norms and social practices on the society. This will be accompanied by increased visibility and influence of RSS affiliates in the field of education, health, police, bureaucracy and practically all the social and economic aspects of Indian society. The so called Hindutva agenda, Uniform Civil Code, abolition of article 370 and Ram Temple will be fully applicable. The role of Sanskrit as the major language along with imposition of Hindu scriptures will guide the state functioning.
The armed forces may have stronger presence in matters other than military affairs, though the real writ which will dictate the state policies will be that of RSS. The RSS pracharaks will be the real powers at all the levels of society, with the non RSS members of team toeing their line to the last point. Suppression of freedom of expression and dissent with the ruling dispensation, which is already in vogue, will be enhanced. History has witnessed the likes of Hitler pronouncing the superiority of Aryan Race, superiority of Germans. Similar may be the order of the day here.
Lots of what has been taking place during last five years will be intensified and it is likely that the basic dictum of ‘one person-one vote’ will be replaced with qualifications needed for being able to vote, if voting-elections persist. The clergy has important place in the politics of fundamentalism, in India the clergy is diverse, but overall the likes of Babas and swamis will rule the roost. India has been able to achieve a lot in the field of science and technology. This will be given a reverse direction with directives from Gurus about orienting research around Holy books. The claims of India as the World Guru will be the order of the day and major seminars and conferences will be organized around the glorious Indian past, the historicity of Indian epics like Ramayana and Mahabharata.
The social welfare schemes will be given a go by and the support to temples and pilgrimages will be the major part of budget of the Government. This bad dream is surely not in the offing as BJP had its innings which has demonstrated as to how it has undermined the fraternity of India. Hopefully it will never return to power!
