The Politics of Yatras

The BJP’s ex-President LK Advani and current incumbent Rajnath Singh will undertake a series of rath yatras to all corners of the country. The reason: to protest against the “minorityism” policy of the UPA Government. The announcement came days after the bombings in Varanasi. The BJP has been trying to link the terror attack in Varanasi to the minority appeasement of the Congress and the Left. However, there is a fundamental flaw in the very idea behind that logic. It is highly regressive to link the two together. First, the BJP has always prided itself on being strong on internal security and terror. They did prove that while in power. However, one cannot deny that there were numerous terror strikes when the NDA was in power. Akshardham, Parliament attack and attacks in Kashmir were all carried out during the BJP led regime. Were the BJP following a policy of minority appeasement at the time? The BJP leadership would shudder at such a thought. The terror strikes have continued since the NDA demitted office and the UPA took over. It just goes to prove that terror follows no political events or public sensitivities. Their idea is to foment terror and raise communal tensions no matter who is in power. It was the imperative of the BJP to stand united with the UPA when the attacks took place. Sadly, their myopic vision and utter lack of internal coordination led to them linking virtually apples and oranges together as an excuse to go on another series of yatras.

I am sure there is also a sense of malaise that has set in the citizens towards these yatras. I do not see what political benefits they will gain out of it (it is likely that the yatras will not tour states going to Assembly polls later this year). Yet there was a time when the Rath Yatra of 1990 by LK Advani virtually changed the political landscape of the country. His hopes to emulate that feat will sure come to naught this time around. Not only have the political issues changed, the needs of country have also been altered. What the yatra will do is further take the party away from the mainstream and indulge in policies for which the return on investment it is seeking is highly unlikely. The BJP took to heart the defeat of the elections in 2004 and dumped their “India Shining” policy in the wake of the defeat. No matter what analysts and political pundits may say, during the NDA regime there were some significant steps taken to make India a rising power and though the idea of India shining everywhere was far from accomplished, steps were being taken for the same. The BJP should continue its earlier plank of a strong nation built on ideas of moderate nationalism along with economic prosperity of the “aam admi”. Sadly, today the party looks miles away (on a rath!) from achieving that goal.

Secondly, there is some truth in the fact that political parties like Congress, the Left and Samajwadi Party do try to woo Muslims and in fact at times have policies in place which could be labeled as minority appeasement. But in no way does that give a free hand to terrorists to go ahead and create havoc in the country. I firmly believe that no matter what political leaning a Government may have; they will not indulge in activities that have effects on India’s internal security. So to that extent the BJP’s insistence on minorityism and terror is as true as the link between Iraq and al-Qaeda.

It is high time that the BJP separate the two and follow the agenda, which is in its interest. Nationalism and national pride along with sound socio-economic development for all will garner more votes than going on long yatras which may never bear fruit.