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HVK Archives: Tilting at windmills

Tilting at windmills - The Observer

The Editorial ()
April 15, 1998

Title: Tilting at windmills
Author: The Editorial
Publication: The Observer
Date: April 15, 1998

The opposition parties have shown no signs of letting up on their
'hidden agenda' campaign against the ruling BJP.

But do they have a credible case for it? The answer sadly is in
the negative. Especially since top BJP leaders, including Prime
Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and party president L K Advani,
have left nothing to imagination. The duo have placed on record
that the party still swears by the programmes which the
opposition parties hold to be 'divisive' and 'dangerous'. They
have avowed on more than one occasion that a magnificent Ram
temple at Ayodhya, uniform civil code and scrapping of Article
370 of the Constitution are still very much on the BJP's agenda.
And that there is no question of diluting these. At the same
time, they have also hastened to add the all-important rider.
That compulsions of the coalition government have put a lid on
the implementation of these programmes. And, therefore, the
latter can be contemplated only when the BJP achieves a majority
on its own.

The enunciation of the BJP's stance on these programmes cannot be
clearer. Rationally, these pronouncements should take the wind
out of the opposition parties' sail. For, nothing can be more
counter-productive for the BJP than to risk a collapse of its
government by pushing programmes against the wishes of its
coalition partners. If the opposition parties choose to remain
unconvinced that the BJP-led government is bound strictly by the
confines of the National Agenda, then the roots of the problem
lie in their perception.

Granted, it is not an easy proposition to change attitudes.
Especially when those attitudes have been reinforced by decades-
old ideological animosity towards the BJP's core theme of
cultural nationalism. But given the BJP leadership's unambiguous
stance, it is only fair that the opposition parties suspend their
distrust for now. Should the BJP give them cause, the option to
revert back to the ideological cold war is always open to them.
Until then, the opposition parties would be well advised to
concentrate on playing the role of a constructive opposition.
Damning the party in power in any which way is not part of that
role.


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