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RIGHT
ANGLE
Knee
Dip In Hindu Votes
The gains of Sonia's competitive Hindutva will accrue to the VHP
By Swapan
Dasgupta
It
is truly remarkable how much electoral politics in India has changed in
a decade. In the run-up to the 1991 general election which was dominated
by the Ayodhya issue, political pundits spent countless hours debating
whether or not a Hindu vote bank exists. Yes, everyone admitted, the Ram
temple had aroused passions but could its intensity blow aside traditional
affiliations and caste identity? Not everyone thought so. At the BJP national
executive before the polls, Kalyan Singh was asked for his assessment
of Uttar Pradesh. He thought the BJP would, at best, double its votes
from 8 per cent to 16 per cent. In the event, the BJP's vote touched 33
per cent in Uttar Pradesh and it won both the assembly election and the
majority of Lok Sabha seats in the state. A distinct Hindu vote bank,
it was conclusively proved, exists in varying degrees throughout India.
The Congress
has never disputed the existence of Hindu nationalism. Even at the height
of Jawaharlal Nehru's "hard secularism", it consistently injected
booster shots of Hindu nationalism into its bloodstream. Indira Gandhi
was never averse to making political capital from her interminable temple
visits and patronage of sadhus. Nor was Rajiv Gandhi, except that he made
a hash of his flirtations with Ram. But whereas both pandered to Hindu
sentiments with highly symbolic gestures, their electoral politics was
governed by traditional idioms, notably caste and community. The Congress
consistently genuflected before the religious Hindu, which it inevitably
equated with Brahmins, but never created a political community of Hindus
with a defined sense of self-interest and outrage. The Hindu vote bank
was essentially the creation of both the BJP and the VHP.
It speaks
volumes for Sonia Gandhi's ideological flexibility and innate sense of
expediency that she regards this Hindu vote bank as eminently vulnerable
and worth dipping into. With an anti-incumbency feeling running high in
Uttar Pradesh and a section of Brahmins contemplating a return to the
Congress, she chose the Mahakumbha for making a political statement-that
the Congress is mindful of Hindu sentiments. It was a gesture grounded
in the hoary belief that in politics symbolism is all, the same logic
that governs the plethora of Iftar parties during Ramazan.
In an earlier
era, this approach would have yielded results. It may still add to the
Congress tally in next year's Uttar Pradesh assembly election. But it
would be naive for Sonia to imagine that the Hindu vote bank's support
is unconditional. The Dharma Sansad and the congregations around it have
demonstrated that the distinction between the political and religious
Hindu is being progressively blurred. Sonia may get brownie points by
flaunting the Dwarka Shankaracharya's enthusiastic endorsement. But the
Dwarka seer's rivalry with the VHP stems not from any opposition to a
Ram temple on the disputed site but over who should build it. On the need
to clear the way for the temple in Ayodhya, the religious gatherings at
the Maha Kumbh demonstrated a remarkable unanimity. Since the constraints
of government will tie the BJP down, this determination could cost it
dearly and perhaps benefit the Congress.
These are
the vagaries of politics. In the game of competitive Hindutva, Sonia could
well emerge as the VHP's cat's paw, helping it to shape the national agenda.
For someone who has had to struggle to live down her Italian tag, that's
a great leap forward.
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