The Malegaon arrests and the BJP's agony | N.D.Sharma

Published on 05-11-2008 In General

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The Malegaon arrests and the BJP's agony

The polling for the Assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh just three weeks away, the problems for the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party are mounting. Even before it goes to the people to explain what it has done in the past five years, it is facing widespread protests within the party over the selection of the candidates. The arrest of Pragya Singh Thakur is making its own contribution to the BJP's difficulties.

Dissensions and protests at the time of selection of candidates have become common to all political parties. The BJP had been having its quota in the past. Former chief minister Sunderlal Patwa, who dominated the organisation with the backing of Lal Krishna Advani and the late Kushabhau Thakre for a long time, had to face angry protests from the party rank and file against the selection of candidates.

The things had taken such an ugly turn during the last civic elections in the State that Narayan Prasad Gupta had to resign as chairman of the committee for selection of candidates in disgust with the observation that the guidelines set for the selection had been outrageously violated. Gupta is the State's tallest surviving BJP leader. The protests within the party had also taken place when the process for selection of candidates for the last Lok Sabha elections was on. Whenever Patwa was not in the driving seat, he had himself led the protests.

The protests by disgruntled BJP workers this time are, however, much too vociferous and widespread. Slogan shouting and burning of effigy are being held almost every where ---Gwalior, Jabalpur, Sehore, Vidisha, Rajgarh, Mandla, Harda, Mandsaur, Damoh and other places. There were violent protests at the BJP headquarters in Bhopal. Rajya Sabha member and senior party leader Sushma Swaraj, who was instrumental in getting one of her cronies nominated for a Bhopal district constituency was also not spared. The angry party workers shouted slogans like "Sushma ka Lal, Daga dalal" Daga is the surname of her candidate.

The BJP has refused ticket to several sitting MLAs, some of them veterans and without mud sticking to their clothes. They are just puzzled, as are some other senior party leaders, as to why they have been dropped. Madhukar Harne, who represents Hoshangabad constituency, is one. He has announced that he will, in any case, file his nomination papers, apparently anticipating a last-minute change in the party leadership's attitude in his favour. Sudha Jain, who has been representing Sagar, is also said to have decided to file her papers. It is such candidates as are likely to join Uma Bharati's bandwagon ultimately.

However, a bigger problem for the BJP has been created by the arrest of Pragya Singh Thakur and other Sangh Parivar activists in connection with the terror killings at Malegaon (Maharashtra) and Modasa (Gujarat). After the initial shock over the arrests subsided, the Hindutva activists started coming to the fore – and not only in Madhya Pradesh. Over two dozen Hindutva organisations have sprung up from nowhere and have become active in support of those arrested, describing it as a conspiracy to malign the Hindus.

They are holding press conferences, organising dharna, issuing statements in newspapers and submitting memorandums to the authorities against the arrests. In other words, the sentiments of the Hindus are being aroused.

Uma Bharati was among the first to call the arrest of Pragya Singh Thakur as a "conspiracy". While a senior office-bearer of her Bharatiya Jana Shakti (BJS) offered to field Pragya Singh Thakur from whichever constituency in Madhya Pradesh she would like to contest, Uma Bharati offered to provide legal assistance to her. The point was made.

The BJP at the national level has failed to take a clear stand on the issue, party president Rajnath Singh and the party's prime ministerial candidate Lal Krishna Advani having reacted differently to the arrests of Pragya Singh and others. The BJP in Madhya Pradesh has to take a decision, and quick.

That may not be easy, with the polling day being so near. If the party decides to support the Sadhvi number two, that will alienate the Muslims (whose support the BJP does not expect even otherwise) as well as the moderate Hindus who make a substantial number among the BJP supporters. Taking the "let the law take its own course" attitude is bound to antagonise the hard-core Hindus who constitute a solid work force for the BJP in any election. Uma Bharati, out to rout the BJP, has already attracted their attention by lending her support to Pragya Singh Thakur.

The BJP's agony was witnessed more palpably in Indore which is the hotbed of Muslim as well as Hindu communalism. Kailash Vijayvargiya, the most powerful member of Shivraj Singh Chauhan's cabinet and a strong contender for the chief ministership himself, has been winning from one of the Indore city constituencies since 1990. He was also Mayor of Indore Municipal Corporation. He enjoys considerable popularity in the city, mainly by keeping his zeal for rabid Hinduism within manageable limits.

The arrest of Pragya Singh Thakur and others changed the perspective for him. He was quiet for a couple of days after the arrests. When he saw the support for Pragya Singh Thakur being voiced by Uma Bharati and others, he paid a visit to the family of Shyam Sahu, who was arrested by the Maharashtra ATS at the first instance. Vijayvargiya tentatively remarked that Sahu was one of his workers and he just went to console the family. Later on, he lent his support to Pragya Singh Thakur and others with the familiar clichés.

However, Vijayvargiya's confidence appears to have shaken, as he cannot be sure that he will be able to strike a balance, as in the past, between his moderate supporters and the hard-core Hindutva elements in this surcharged atmosphere. He dashed to Delhi, lobbied hard and got his constituency changed to Mhow, a cantonment town with a large rural electorate quite away from Indore city. Others in the BJP are not as influential as Vijayvargiya – and they fear that "to support or not to support" Sadhvi Pragya Singh will haunt them in the run up to the polling. Uma Bharati, with her one-point objective to defeat the BJP, seems to be the obvious beneficiary.

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