April 13, 1998

An NRI left-right battle may lead to an international group monitoring Vajpayee's ministry.

By Ashok Malik with Arthur J Pais

With the BJP-led alliance settling into office, a variety of political passions have found expression among its adversaries. Among the more peculiar -- and certainly the most adventurous -- is one from across the seven seas: the BJP Government Watch (BJW). The brainchild of S.P. Udayakumar, the BJW is planned as a committee of social scientists, journalists and assorted Marxist thinkers which will monitor Atal Bihari Vajpayee's Government.

Udayakumar is a research associate and co-director at the Institute on Race and Poverty, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis. A native of Nagercoil in Tamil Nadu, he says he has "at least 10 internationally acclaimed" scholars ready to back the BJW but can't reveal their names yet. The list is a bit of an open secret though -- supposedly covering names such as Tanika Sarkar, Gyanendra Pandey, Praful Bidwai and Aijaz Ahmed.

N. Ram, editor of fortnightly Frontline, is among those who has been invited to join the BJW. As he puts it, "Given the RSS' semi-fascist origins, we are suspicious about the BJP's attitude towards civil society and democracy." Yet, with India's free press and independent judiciary, isn't democracy safe? "The BJP threatens the institutions of civil society," cautions Ram, "in any case we are not seeking to replace the press or judiciary. The BJW is more an academic working group."

Others don't display the same certitude. K.N. Panikkar, history professor at Delhi's Jawaharlal Nehru University, admits to having received a letter from Udayakumar but knows "no details". Asked to speculate on the efficacy of the BJW, all Panikkar says is, "It depends on the character and purpose of the group." Romilla Thapar, doyenne of leftist historiography, too has apparently been requested to join the BJW. However, when contacted she said she had only "heard some talk which it would be premature to talk about".

Udayakumar -- whose doctoral thesis at the Hawaii University some years ago was a comparative analysis of the Sangh Parivar and the Nazis -- has a clear charter for the BJW. "Recent events," he says, "have challenged many people like me to monitor the Sangh Parivar and the BJP and raise our voices against the growth of fascism." All very well; but precisely how will Udayakumar and his friends "monitor" the new administration?

The man is clearly on the defensive here: "The BJW is as nascent as the BJP Government. The BJP has a hidden agenda. Our group will seek to expose it." Pinned down to specifics, Udayakumar talks of a compact BJW: "If there are just about 24 scholars involved, we could keep it effective." So what will the BJW do with the valuable information it collects? Ram says Udayakumar will be the repository and "sole spokesman" of this saffron surveillance squad. He will take the findings to "the press and maybe a special page on the Internet".

Udayakumar, whose ultimate aim is to write a book which is tentatively titled Bigots Encylopaedia, is actually in the midst of a trenchant battle between the NRI left and right across the campuses of America. The BJW is an offshoot of this conflict. Its chief target is the Hindu Students Council (HSC), born in 1990 but already 13,000- strong. Seeking to "speak for Hindu Americans", the HSC doubles as a sort of social service league, cleaning national highways and so on.

Alarmed, the HSC's opponents are swinging into action. An anti-BJP website has been developed and cultural camps (one's called Underground Ruptures) are being organised. Now, with the "help from secular groups like the Indian Progressive Students, Udayakumar hopes to keep the Vajpayee regime on its toes. As theories on the reversal of the "brain drain" go, this one takes the bakery.

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