[nukkad] An article by Mrs Sandhya Jain on recent Gujarat elections

[zaverirm <>]

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I have learnt silence from the talkative, toleration from the intolerant, 
and kindness from the unkind; yet strange, I am ungrateful to these teachers. 
-Kahlil Gibran, mystic, poet and artist (1883-1931)
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Hello,
Read below a neutral and truthful analytical reading of Gujarat elections.

Rohit Zaveri.
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-----     Original     Message     -----
From:     "jsandhya" 
Sent: Monday, December 16, 2002 03:04 AM
Subject: sandhya article

For Pioneer, 17th December 2002

Modi: taken at the flood

By Sandhya Jain

Few  men in modern history have dared to meet a tide in flood and
ride  out  boldly into the  open sea.  Yet this is precisely what
Narendra  Modi  has  done.  Baptised  quite  literally  by  fire,
battered   by  a  sensation-mongering  media,  charge-sheeted  by
ideologically  committed activists and hounded by an irrationally
oppositionist  Election Commission,  the cornered  Chief Minister
batted  formidable odds  to  present the  BJP  its most  credible
electoral victory in recent years.

The Gujarat elections are a major watershed in national politics.
First  and foremost,  they have upheld Mahatma Gandhi’s desire to
give  India’s native religious and cultural traditions a place in
the  public  arena. Gujarat has demonstrated that Hindus, whether
Adivasis,  Dalits, or educated middle and upper classes, perceive
themselves  as one community. Surely it is poetic justice that is
has  happened in the Mahatma’s own state. Of course, this centre-
staging  of the nation’s civilizational ethos has gone down badly
with  Congressmen who  blame Modi’s  ‘communal’ campaign  for his
spectacular  victory.  But this  only  proves  that Congress  was
insincere  in  accommodating hindutva  in its electoral strategy,
and  that  it actually hoped to  win the election on the basis of
the  old formula  of  en  bloc minority  vote  plus support  from
certain castes.

Gujarat  has  given a  fitting reply  to such vulgar communalism,
which  lacks respect  for  the  dharma and  way  of  life of  the
majority  community.  It has  demonstrated a grand affirmation of
Hindu  identity and  self-respect. Henceforth,  political parties
hoping  to come to power on a minority of the total votes polled,
and  functioning  on the basis  of colonial stereotypes about the
Hindu  community being a mere aggregation of castes, will have to
do serious re-thinking.

I  emphasize  this because I  have noticed the crystallization of
Hindu  sentiment  across the  country, affecting the core support
base of each party. Therefore, no political party will be able to
trifle  with Hindu sentiments while seeking votes on the basis of
caste  affiliations and  minority  votebanks.  The Uttar  Pradesh
Chief  Minister, Ms.  Mayawati,  was the  first  major leader  to
discern this trend, and accordingly made startling changes in the
Bahujan  Samaj Party’s political rhetoric and electoral strategy.
The  Tamil Nadu  Chief Minister,  Ms. Jayalalithaa,  showed equal
deference  to Hindu concerns by enacting the law against forcible
conversions, brushing aside the protests of rootless secularists.
Now,  following Gujarat, Hindu-baiting parties may find the going
politically counter-productive.

Politicians,  however, can be trusted to learn some lessons, some
times, but not so the media. It would be an understatement to say
that  the media  was  biased  against Mr.  Modi.  Sitting in  the
capital  and subscribing to five newspapers daily, I can say that
most  newspapers failed  to even  hint that  the BJP  was heading
towards  a landslide victory. Common sense said that he could not
loose   after  Godhra;  that  after  Akshardham  even  the  Patel
community  could  not afford to  sulk over the loss of Keshubhai;
and that the people of Gujarat were bound to give a sharp snub to
the  shameless aggression  of Mr. J.M. Lyngdoh. But I had no clue
about  the mandate heading his way because the newspapers told me
to place my bet on Mr. Vaghela.

Besides the biased coverage, what is unforgivable is the complete
failure  of  the media to  introspect and take responsibility for
the  communal  polarization that it  lays at Mr. Modi’s door. Now
that  the elections  are over,  it is  time to  state a  few home
truths.  The  entire media approach  towards Godhra was driven by
the  attitude  that it was  a tragedy richly deserved by innocent
children,  women and  men because they had dared to visit the Ram
Janmabhoomi   in   Ayodhya.  That  Godhra  occurred  without  any
provocation  was simply blacked out. Even more despicable was the
manner  in which  the subsequent  riots were  de-linked from  the
Godhra  carnage and  treated as a suo moto aggression on the part
of   the  Hindu   community.  The   media-assisted  international
vilification of India was simply outrageous.

The  scandalous commentary  and visuals  relayed by  a television
channel  during those  troubled times  upset citizens  across the
country,  yet the channel itself remains benignly unrepentant. On
the  very  day of  counting,  a  programme  was aired  live  from
Ahmedabad.  And  in a  city that  gave a  thumping mandate to Mr.
Modi,  the  organizers were  unable to find  even a sprinkling of
persons  favourably inclined  towards  the BJP!  Talk about  fair
play!

As  if  this was not bad  enough, some sections of the media have
taken to playing up minority fears, as though planned pogroms are
in  the offing. I  think it is time to bell the cat about the so-
called  minority  fears  and  to  challenge  outright  the  media
dishonesty  in  this regard. To begin  with, there is no truth in
the insinuation that the minorities are in danger in this country
by virtue of being minorities. This may be true in societies that
practice  monotheism  (of whatever  persuasion), but it has never
been  true of  Hindu society on account of the enormous tolerance
and  innate decency  of the sanatana dharma. So we must no longer
tolerate  such  canards about  ourselves;  nor  should we  permit
people to disarm us with such vicious falsehoods.

The  second issue  we need to face is the sheer aggressiveness of
the minorities and their intolerance towards the native faith and
traditions  of this  country, as witnessed in their insistence on
the  right to  convert. Moreover, readers may recall that Leftist
historians  have  claimed for  decades that medieval invaders who
razed  Hindu temples  did not do so because they were iconoclasts
but  because they wanted the enormous wealth of the temples. This
Leftist  assertion was  falsified by the accounts of the invaders
themselves,   but   citizens  were  not  allowed  to  utter  such
politically  incorrect truths!  Yet  today, given  the fact  that
Hindu  temples continue to be soft targets of fundamentalists, we
need  to  ask why this is  so. The fig-leaf of an economic motive
does  not exist,  so another explanation will have to be found. I
am waiting for our secular apologists to offer it.

Some Muslim analysts have noted with dismay the sharp drop in the
number   of  tickets  given  by  the  Congress  party  to  Muslim
candidates.  Indeed,  falling Muslim presence in state assemblies
and  Parliament has  been a matter of concern to Muslims for some
time  now,  but has been  generally disregarded on account of the
specious claim for proportional representation. My own suggestion
is  that the  Muslim community can no longer avoid a long overdue
introspection  about  its future  course  in  a modern,  forward-
looking nation like India.

Muslims believe that secular parties take Muslim vote en bloc but
do  not  transfer  their  own  committed  Hindu  vote  to  Muslim
candidates  (of  whatever party) on  account of a secret communal
bias. This is not true. The reality is that Muslim candidates are
unable  to appeal  to other groups in society because they do not
have  a modernizing  or  non-communal agenda.  For instance,  why
should  Hindus vote  for a  candidate who  opposes the  Shah Bano
judgment  giving alimony  to an abandoned wife or supports triple
talaq  and  polygamy? Muslim  intellectuals have long lectured us
about  the  nation’s composite culture  - it  is time let it take
root on their own home and hearth.

End of matter







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