Author: Mr. Malkani. When, in 1991, the Congress formed the Government on its own, even though it did not have a majority of its own, the BJP acted very responsibly and helped it have a speaker of its choice, content with deputy speakership of the Lok Sabha. Having been all along opposed to a licence-permit-quota Raj it welcomed the policy of liberalization in principle. At long last New Delhi recognised Israel and South Africa, something the BJP had urged for long. BJP also took a far-sighted view of reservations - conceding the same to OBCs on the basis of an economic criterion, which translated itself in the Supreme Court judgment into the "creamy layer".
BJP state governments enunciated a new education policy; they made copying in exams a congnisable offence; they decentralized the administration; their Antyodaya took care of the poorest of the land; they waived the loans of poor farmers; and they made war on criminal elements and put them in jail.
But before long the double-dealing of the Congress came to surface. They organised defections in JD, SS etc. to give themselves a majority that the country had withheld from them. They kept playing games with Ayodhya resulting in the December 6, 1992 demolition of the disputed structure. While those who welcomed that demolition congratulated the Sangh parivar, and those who didn't like it condemned the Parivar, the fact is that the Parivar leadership does not know who did it. We all wanted it removed respectfully and through due process of law. What actually happened was no part of our plan. It is, therefore, a mystery wrapped in a riddle inside an enigma. And now comes the revelation by Shri Arjun Singh in his letter of resignation from the Cabinet that on December 1, 1992, he had sent the PM a copy of a fax message sent by an active Congress worker from Ayodhya, which said: "There is indication that some agent provocateurs from Pakistan have been able to infiltrate into Ayodhya and would try to damage the Babri Masjid if the VHP Kar-sevaks fail in their mission to do the same." The VHP had no such mission. But the point is, why was this fax message kept out of government's White Paper on Ayodhya? Obviously the object of Pakistan and its friends and allies was to trigger Hindu-Muslim violence, culminating in the Bombay serial bombing, give India a bad name and slow down the Indian economy. There are reports that on December 6 evening there was a celebration in Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi. But additionally the government used the incident as an excuse to dismiss four state governments, dissolve four state assemblies, and arrest top BJP leaders.
Meanwhile, in the name of liberalisation and globalisation foreign banks and unscrupulous speculators were allowed to cheat the country of thousands of crores through the securities scam and the government did not have the decency to accept even the unanimous report of the joint Parliamentary Committee on the subject. Many more thousands of crores have been lost on businessmen who have not returned their loans to nationalised banks. On the other hand even profit-making public sector undertakings are being sold. The result of all this is an unprecedented rise in prices. The BJP has responded with an yearly alternative budget, showing how the growth rate could be accelerated while augmenting employment and holding the price line.
However, potentially even more dangerous is the government's knuckling under to foreign pressure on issue after issue, compromising our soveriegnty and endangering our very independence.
While the BJP is for liberalisation we find that we have liberalised too little internally and too much externally. Even now we need a licence to start a sugar mill or a shoe factory. And of course the corrupt "Inspector Raj" continues to harass the small-scale manufacturer who is the backbone of Indian Industry. But foreigners have been allowed to come in even with junk foods.
The BJP position is very clear on this issue; Indian Science and technology have come of age, as examplified by our Defence and Research Development Organisation presided over by Dr. Abdul Kalam. Therefore, foreign capital is welcome only in capital intensive hightech and infrastructural areas, however, it must come on fair and competitive terms. And because Enron was an opaque, expensive and dubious deal it has been cancelled by the BJP-RSS government in Maharashtra. This has protected national interests and upheld national honor. The new watchword is "Swadeshi". The world has been told in unmistakable terms that India cannot be taken for granted. The entire thrid world feels good about India standing up.
Vindication of the BJP position comes from no less person than Samual D. Huntington, the US Establishment ideologue. In his article "The Clash of Civilizations" (vide Foreign Affairs Quarterly, Summer 1993) he wrote: "Through the IMF and other international economic institutions, the West promotes its economic interests and imposes on other nations the economic policies it thinks appropriate. In any poll of non-Western peoples the IMF undoubtedly would win the support of finance ministers and a few others, but get an overwhelmingly unfavourable rating from just about everyone else."
Today, strong foreign pressure, New Delhi's pussillanimity and nationalist India's strength are all simultaneously at play in the country. Under foreign presure our missile program has been capped. In its timidity the government has signed an unequal agreement with CNN and the country is being increasingly served cultural garbage. But the people of India represented in the Rajya Sabha have, under the leadership of the BJP, taken a stand on all these issues. They have also prevented an anti-national patent law amendment bill from being passed. And they have acclaimed the cancellation of the Enron deal. They caused the Star-TV's anti-Gandhi and anti-national program to stop. And they have made the government agree to start and close Parliament session with "Vandematram". The BJP's Ekta Yatra under the leadership of Dr Joshi hoisted the national flag in Srinagar on Republic Day in 1992. And the BJP's Karnatak unit saw to it that the National Flag is duly hoisted on the Hubli public ground, which is used for Namaz on Id-days.
While the Supreme Court faltered on the issue of Article 356 of the Constitution to dismiss four BJP governments, it has come out categorically for implementation of Article 44 of the Constitution, directing the adoption of a uniform civil code for all citizens of India. It has denounced the embracing of Islam just to get rid of your wife and/or indulge in bigamy. And it has struck down the ban on the VHP. Today the BJP is poised to take a great leap forward.
Calculators think that the arithmatic does not quite add up to a majority for the BJP. They, however, forget one thing: elections are not arithmatic; they are chemistry. Once it becomes clear that the BJP is poised to forge ahead of all other parties millions of people who have probably never before voted for it will plump for it. Regional parties could make a beeline for it. The UP development where the BJP helped a dalit lady become Chief Minister 'Ram ne Shabri ko raja banaya', said a Hindi newspaper headline is a pointer in this direction.
Until now the TINA (There Is No Alternative) factor worked in favor of the Congress. Now it works in favor of the BJP. Having tried state elections in 1967, support from inside in 1977, and support from outside in 1989, and found them all wanting, the BJP has, by a philosophical process of elemination - "neti" - come to the conclusion that it would be best to go it alone. The poet's plea for going it alone ("Aikla Chalo Re") has literally worked wonders for the BJP.
While the status-quoists may be shaken by this emerging brave new India, the people of India have every reason to cheer the emergence of this rejuvenated India with the promise of Ram Rajya and with Rabindranath Tagore's prayer for "Eka Dharmarajya hable a Bharate" (Let there be one Dharma Rajya - a just and moral order - in India).
Satyameva Jayate.
http://antibjp.tripod.com/history/history2.html
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