HVK Archives: Malicious propaganda
Malicious propaganda - The Observer
Dina Nath Mishra
()
14 November 1996
Title : Malicious propaganda
Author : Dina Nath Mishra
Publication : The Observer
Date : November 14, 1996
The basic concern of all the non-BJP parties is to stop
the BJP from coming to power wherever they can, adopting
whatever means possible. A type of veto is resorted to
in the name of secularism. If the BJP is to be hurt, it
is done in a most unethical, unconstitutional and crass
manner. If forty months ago anti-BJPism was confined to
a limited number of parties, today it is true for almost
all non-BJP formations, shedding any pretence of loyalty
to principle. Forces pursuing contradictory policies are
prone to joining together whenever a situation of jetti-
soning the BJP arises.
Look at the Congress. It opposed the proclamation ex-
tending the President's rule in UP, and promised to the
people that it would oppose it in Parliament. Now, it
seems that the Congress Parliamentary party will allow it
to get approved.
This mindset is the biggest proof of their perception of
the BJP as a rising force which is unstoppable, if the
non-BJP forces do not align to jam it. But side by side,
an effort is made to create an image that the BJP has
risen to its apogee: now it has only to decline. Those
who are creating such a climate of opinion have written
in a similar vein earlier also. They had a shock at the
time of 1989 general elections when the BJP won 87 seats
in the Lok Sabha. They opted for an easy explanation, and
attributed the BJP's achievement to its alliance with JD
and V P Singh's leadership. Even then, the BJP baiters
had predicted that after reaching the pinnacle, a slide
towards the nadir would start.
In fact, those who had ascribed the BJP success in 1989
to the alliance with JD had predicted before 1991 elec-
tion that it would at best win 40 to 60 seats. But the
results shocked them. The same scribes and columnists
again came up with facile explanations, and credited the
BJP victory to the mandir issue and not Hindutva. But,
they led themselves and others to the belief that it was
the end of the road for the BJP. Just before the last
general election, the scribes suffering from BJP phobia
rejoiced the engineering of the Gujarat crisis by the
then Prime Minister Narasimha Rao. They exulted in their
articles, and tried to convince the readers that the BJP
would not perform well. When Advani was unfairly impli-
cated in the Hawala case, hundreds of concocted stories
were splashed on the pages of the newspapers.
To the discomfiture of the opponents of the BJP, the
party emerged as the numero uno of the polity, relegating
the Congress to the second place for the first time in
five decades. Hitherto, the Congress has not lost its
supremacy over others even when it was defeated. In 1977
and 1989, it got more seats than any constituent of the
winning bloc.
Thus, the opponents of BJP have indulged in wishful
thinking at each crucial moment, but they had been re-
peatedly proved wrong. Right now, what is the basis of
'declining BJP' thesis? There are two points. In Gujar-
at, the BJP lost power, and in UP it could not gain a
majority. In any civilised Parliamentary democracy,' the
dismissal could not have come about as it happened in
Gujarat where the party could win the vote of confidence,
and yet the Central government opted for political dacoi-
ty.
The BJP government was dismissed for creating a climate
for another defeat in UP. The UP results were interpret-
ed as a BJP defeat. Even wrong percentage figures relat-
ing to voting were published. The fact is that though
the BJP could not get a clear majority, it has emerged as
the major party, retaining its earlier strength of 1993.
In the whole political spectrum, all the non-BJP forma-
tions are either degenerating or declining. The same has
happened with the Congress. During Narasimha Rao's
period of stewardship, both these processes were at their
peak. After his ouster from power, the malodorous scams
surface. It seems that no scam at the central level
could took place without his active involvement. After
the general elections, the Congress has gone further down
in public esteem. One wishes in the interest of the
nation that the new Congress president Sitaram Kesri
arrests its further moral erosion.
The main plank of the United Front, the Left, looked a
stagnant force at a superficial glance during quite a
number of general elections. But, if one probes deeper,
one can find the decline apparent. There is no denying
that it declined ideologically. There is no hope for the
reversal of this trend in the Left.
The second formation in the UF, the Janata Dal, is con-
stantly on the decline. It was said that it had power in
three states - Bihar, Orissa and Karnataka. Nobody can
deny that the Bihar fortress is in ruins. The results of
Lok Sabha elections and by-elections confirm it. In
Orissa, the JD has been defeated and further fragmented.
In Karnataka too, it is declining. We would find it
later. Others in the UF are regional forces, alternating
victory and defeat. The whole spectrum of the Indian
political scene is getting more and more fractured, and
are at various levels of decline. If there is one excep-
tion, that is the BJP.
Let us examine the four developments that took place in
the,last one month which could provide an indication as
to whether the BJP is declining or not. The Bangalore
corporation went to polls. The results of the cosmopoli-
tan city are quite revealing. The ruling JD, which had
polled highest in 56 seats during the last Lok Sabha
polls, could win only 39, while the BJP won 26. It
increased its strength by four seats, compared to the Lok
Sabha polls. In the previous elections to the corpora-
tion, it had only won eight seats. Confirming the trends
of assembly elections, the BJP relegated the Congress to
the third position. The Congress won only 19 seats.
In Tamil Nadu, which had civic polls recently, the lion's
share of the seats had been claimed by the regional
parties, DMK, TMC and AIADMK. Among the national par-
ties, the BJP's performance even in Tamil Nadu is good in
comparison.
In Orissa, in the presence of the BJP president L K
Advani a fortnight ago, four ministers of the former CM
Biju Patnaik's government joined BJP along with six other
MLAs of the JD. Similarly, three former Congress MLAs
joined the BJP. The fourth happening is not directly
related to BJP, but the victory of ABVP in JNU is signif-
icant on two counts. First, because it was the last
bastion of the Left. Secondly, the elections were fought
directly on the Hindutva agenda.
Erroneous conclusions are drawn by the opponents of the
BJP because they interpret the events by the standard
parameters of Indian politics which became prevalent
during the Congress-dominated era. These parameters
cannot work well when applied to movements.
One-third of.the BSP had left the party in UP, but this
could not adversely affect its fortunes in the recent
elections. The Vaghela factor is not going to affect the
BJP either. BJP would certainly decline when it becomes
power-centric.
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