Tuesday 1 October 2002

One more ruckus

Look at this sequence of events: Terrorists come from Pakistan via Jammu& Kashmir border.
They Leave Himachal Pradesh
They Leave Haryana
They Leave Punjab
They Leave Delhi
They Leave Madhya Pradesh,
They Leave Uttranchal
They Leave Rajasthan

They leave all these states and come all the way to Gujarat carrying AK-47 and explosives – to enter a temple – kill the people and spread terror!

Look at the political scenario: BJP is the ruling party in Gujarat. Gujarat has gone through too much in the last couple of years - What with floods, earthquake and the latest in the line of destruction – communal riots creating havoc in the lives of people of Gujarat. BJP has been in the power when this - once prosperous - state was going through this pain. Its election time now and it will not be an over statement if I say that BJP is on the path of losing the elections. They have failed in rehabilitation process carried out after every such incident. They have been selective in rehabilitating the people after earthquake and during the communal riots they were very selective in eliminating people of a particular religion.

What do they have to show for the last 5 years of governance of the state in question?

Attacks on Christians
Attacks on Muslims
Failure to warn in advance about the floods approaching the Gujarat shores – therefore lacking in administrative duties.
Failure to rehabilitate people after natural or man made calamities
Change of guard from one inefficient chief Minister (Keshubhai Patel) to a more dangerous Communal one (Narendra Modi).
Succeeded in bringing misery to a state, which once spearheaded the financial growth of the country.
Succeeded in bringing one more state in Pakistan’s wish list where they plan and execute terrorist attacks. First Pakistan had Punjab then J&K and now they have a burning state like Gujarat! (No wonder Musharaf has been raising Gujarat issue on all the forums he gets his head on!)

These are just a few failures that come to mind instantly.

Let us look at the position of BJP around the length and breadth of the country to get a broader picture of a party on the fall.

BJP is in majority in only four states - Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Goa and Gujarat. They are supporting parties in power in different states like Uttar Pradesh, Orissa, Andhra Pradesh and Haryana. In all these states they are so terribly low in numbers that they are insignificant, to say the least. As can be seen - they have hold in only one big state – Gujarat. Himachal Pradesh, Goa and Jharkhand are too small a state to be considered in the bigger picture. The election in Gujarat thus is a battle of honor for them. Their total existence depends on this election – if I may say so.

Unfortunately all the opinion polls show that BJP is heading for a big collapse here. Opinion Polls I must say have been dubious in their predictions. We must not forget that these same polls have been predicting the downfall of Laloo Prasad Yadav in Bihar for last 10 years. But Laloo is still sitting on top and must say – he is sitting firm!

Having said that – this time some how the opinion polls look close to correct, simply because Gujarat has been through too much of pain in the recent past.

BJP had to do something to get the attention of the public away from their failures. The best way of doing that was – to do something dramatic – something big. It is in this context that I put forth this theory in front of U all. Anybody who understands the philosophy of this party and the psychology of the leaders of this party will know that these people will go to any extent to remain in power. No wonder that they raise issues like Ayodhya and Ram Janm Bhoomi every time an election approaches in UP. No wonder that they raise issues of Bangladeshi immigrants in West Bengal when election takes place there. All these issues are the sensitive to the region in question and create unrest of major magnitude – but then they hardly care.

What perplexes me in the latest attack in Gujarat is the choice of the state itself to carry out terrorist activities. Why would the terrorists leave easy targets in Punjab, Delhi, Himachal, Uttranchal, Rajasthan and come all the way to Gujarat. Why would they take such a risk? Even if they had got into a temple in Himachal and killed people there – it would have evoked same kind of reaction – isn’t it? Then why choose Gujarat? They would have got more attention if they had done something in J&K, especially in these times with election in progress. Then why Gujarat?

Is it not possible that the same BJP or its affiliate organizations – planned and executed this heinous act of terror? After all they are capable of killing people. Case in point is demolition of Babri Masjid and subsequent riots in Mumbai, Attacks on Christians and well - the riots in Gujarat. Is it a secret that Nathuram Godhse was a RSS Swayam Sevak? And he killed the so-called Father of this Nation – Mahatma Gandhi!

The rationale behind the present attack on Temple is simple - Continue harping about Pakistan’s involvement and keep the focus of public on Pakistan till the elections get over. Get on the nerves of people and hit them hard. Make them do what you want and leave them before they get back their senses – a very effective way of Torture. People generally have very short memory. What they will remember in the coming elections will not be Godhra or the aftermath. It will be this attack on the Temple. And BJP will keep this point boiling till the elections and just drop it thereafter. This is the only way out for them, because with Godhra and the Riots they were certainly looking down the barrel.

And if you have been following the events of the last 2 – 3 days, RSS-VHP has called for a peaceful Nationwide Bandh! For them the killing of these people has been more gruesome than the ones killed in Godhra – More than the ones killed in riots too! Some logic that! Come to think of it – the riots would not have happened had these same people called for a nationwide Bandh after Godhra and protested peacefully!

Again – if anyone thinks that only Islamic terrorists produce Fidayeens then look again. LTTE has the best lot of people ready to sacrifice their lives. Why – even committed organizations like RSS will also have these set of people. And they have been using them in these kinds of operations. You have to give it to the terrorists – they are the first ones to claim if they have done anything like what happened in the Temple. Honesty in spreading Terror they say!! If you look deeply at this incident and the one carried out in Lok Sabha a few months back – U will find that the “Investigations” have thrown up two new names of terrorist organizations. The one that attacked Lok Sabha has never been heard of again! Isn’t it a bit odd? Have U ever thought why? If not I say think about it now.

Beware my fellow citizens – ‘cse U are looking at a very ugly face of politics here. If U don’t realize and rise now – I guess it will be too late.

Its Montoo..
1st Oct 2002'