Author: Javed M. Ansari
Publication: The Hindu
Date: February 15, 2003
URL: http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/2003/02/15/stories/2003021505631100.htm
Senior All-India Congress Committee
(AICC) functionaries today refused to be drawn into commenting on the BJP's
suggestion that it would be willing to bring legislation banning cow slaughter,
provided the Congress agreed to cooperate in its passage.
The Congress leadership is inclined
to view the BJP's suggestion as bait being dangled before it on election-eve.
"Let them make a formal proposal
before the Congress president, we will give our considered opinion then,"
said the AICC general secretary, Ambika Soni.
The issue gained currency after
the Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister, Digvijay Singh, forwarded a request
to the Prime Minister seeking a nation-wide ban on cow slaughter.
The BJP has been quick to grasp
the electoral implications and has sprung the suggestion on the Congress
when four States are going to the elections in the third week of the month
and five more later in the year.
Given the political ramifications,
the Congress is predictably guarded in its response, which reflects the
internal debate on its reaction to Hindutva and other related issues.
The leadership is of the view that
the forces of obscurantism and communalism, irrespective of their colour,
ought to be confronted head-on. However, a section believes that the party
should be realistic and adopt a position not viewed as "anti-Hindu".
The Congress poll managers in Gujarat
challenged the BJP's position of being the real representatives of the
Hindus. In its bid to beat the BJP on the Hinduism issue, the Congress
ended up earning the sobriquet of being a poor imitation of the former.
At the CWC meeting after the Gujarat
elections, the party sought to clear the confusion by drawing a distinction
between the radical brand of Hinduism being espoused by the BJP and the
liberal and inclusivist brand of Hinduism that the Congress stood for.
The delicate distinction sought
to be drawn appears to have been lost on the rank and file of the party
and several of its Gujarat leaders are engaged in trying to outdo the BJP.
The challenge before the Congress
leadership on the cow slaughter and other related issues is to reconcile
the different perceptions within the party, and to adopt a stand distinct
from that of the BJP and in keeping with the Congress' core secular values.
