Liberhan Report and Future of BJP & the Indian Right-wing

Kerala concerned about leak in Mullapperiyar dam; Parliament is rocked over the leak of Liberhan report: news.

Yes comrade, leak is a common problem, for you and me...!

WHILE DISCUSSING the Liberhan committee report on Ayodhya, and its implications for the future of Indian politics, I made the following points in response to some questions raised by a few friends:

a). My points are as follows:

1. The coming together for a second time of the malicious forces in the Hindutva right-wing is an idea they would surely pursue but they would see it does not work any longer.

2. The report and its debate in Parliament and outside in the public sphere would prove to be a severe indictment of the politics of communalism unlike the 90s when the right-wing carried the day almost wholly.

3. I am reserving my comments on the future of RSS and its right-wing agenda as one setback or a series of setbacks are unlikely to diminish their fortunes. Even the murder of the Mahatma did not do it.

4. But the future of Indian politics is going to be more assertively influenced by the forces from below, the sections who are genetically opposed to the right-wing, elitist politics of the right, that gives rise to the Hindutva phenomenon.

5. With the rising levels of social awareness, better communications and more aggressive questioning and nailing of the untruths and half-truths that helped the rise of the Hindutva agenda in the 80s and 90s, the battle for minds would be better fought and won by progressive forces. It is a more vigilant society and polity they have to encounter and their ancient Chanakya tactics might not wash any longer.

6. The global situation is also changing. Criminals in one country used to travel to another to escape the law. But things are changing and those who are able to stop the arms of law in their country with strong-arm tactics might find themselves running into trouble elsewhere. It is a matter of time alone for the gentlemen named as culprits in the report finding their nemesis.

b.) On a question on the possibility of new communications strategies from the right-wing:

I am sorry that I have to be very brief on how the changed circumstances in society and communications could defeat the criminal intent of all sections who would want to come to power through devious means.

If you look at the conclusions of Justice Liberhan, I think one of the major points to note is his conclusion that even then the Indian public had not endorsed the movement for a temple in the same place of the mosque. It was a constructed image and only a few people, like the writer of the letter Bina forwarded, were hoodwinked by it.

Now we have to ask why the Indian public actually rejected their claims?

I remember the widespread rumours they spread that hundreds had been killed in Ayodhya but it took little time for the people to realise what was the truth. In fact post 90s despite the crescendo of the Sangh Parivar campaign, what you see is that their political effectiveness was coming down though they were able to win power with the help of allies. But their campaign was showing a decline.

Why? I feel because truth ultimately prevails. Cynicism cannot hold itself for
long and other systems that depended on falsification of truth, iron curtains, media manipulations, etc, were also crumbing post 80s as we see in Eastern Europe and Soviet Union in the same period. So if you want to build a political movement, as the BJP might want to once again rebuild itself, they will have to think of new strategies based on truth and competition on an equal footing.Then, of course,they will no longer be the BJP we know but a right wing party which is welcome in any democracy.