Hidden Agenda

by Sanjay Kumar | June 07, 2011

Whether history repeats itself is a debatable topic but, sometimes, some events remind you of moments in the past. The mood of people and their passion for fighting corruption reminds me of the Eighties and Nineties, when I was in my prime.

That was the time when, in the name of national interest, zealots were busy whipping up passions all across the country to build a Ram temple at Ayodhya. Anybody opposing the cause, or not supporting it, was branded anti-national; the idea was to polarise the nation on communal grounds. They succeeded and it led to the demolition of the Babri Masjid, and subsequently, riots all across India and the emergence of a personality like Narendra Modi.

One of the arguments at that time was that no institution of the government could preside over a matter of faith. Disregarding the judiciary and the democratic process of debate, the fanatical rightist mob pulled down the mosque.

Now, in the fight against corruption, the argument touted is that since the cause is so important, it does not matter how it is being achieved. A yoga guru, Ramdev, riding on the popularity gained because of his teachings, assumes a larger than life image and tries to discredit the entire political class. The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (“the RSS”), desperate to come out of it’s defeatist mind-set, backs the guru, and its political progeny, the Bharatiya Janata Party (“the BJP”) follows suit.

Democratically elected leaders and institutions of governance nurtured for the last sixty years are being severely questioned by self-appointed arbiters of morality and values. Their disdain for democratic ways of argument and assurance come in the way of any negotiations.

Noted columnist Pratap Bhanu Mehta says, “Civil society is, unconsciously, abetting its own brand of authoritarianism. First, the sensibility at work in this self-appointed civil society is to enhance state power. Most of them hate the one thing that has made a brighter future possible for India: liberalisation”.

Baba Ramdev has crossed the limits of liberalisation and is using the anti -corruption platform to promote some dangerous designs that his rightist associates nurtured. Instead of being in the forefront of the anti-corruption campaign, he has become a front for the communal forces who were gradually becoming marginalised politically.

Baba Ramdev

Image above and on article thumbnail from the Press Information Bureau.

This design is patently clear from the kind of support and sympathy that Ramdev is getting from the RSS, the BJP, and the likes of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad. With elections in Uttar Pradesh just a year away, the rightist parties are trying to use the followers of the yoga guru to prop up their prospects in the heartland of the country. The victory in this crucial state is considered to be the key to the throne in Delhi.

The timing of the fast-unto-death at the Ramlila ground and the date of the National Executive meet of the BJP seem to be in tandem. Is this sheer coincidence or some co-ordinated planning to cripple governance, discredit the vulnerable ruling alliance at the centre, and create a political vacuum?

How come the Baba never talks about the blatant corruption in states such as Karnataka and Uttarakhand that are presently ruled by the BJP. Is it sheer chance that the rock star of yoga and the rabid rightist crowd hold the same opinion about the Congress and its leadership?

Right from the beginning, it was clear that Ramdev’s demand for bringing back black money was childish and nonchalant, but the design that Ramdev is part of is serious. The issue of black money agitates each and every Indian and any move to address this issue will have all of India’s support. But Baba was partisan in gathering support and relied on the advice of the Sangh Parivar functionaries to mobilise public opinion. As a result, the battle against corruption has assumed secular-communal divide, thereby exposing the most fundamental fault line of Indian polity.

The challenge for the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance Government is two fold - to address the genuine concern of the people on the issue of corruption and, at the same time, stop the attempt by rightist forces to undermine the secular, democratic polity.

The Government is to be blamed for the present mess to a great extent. It shows lacklustre commitment in fighting corruption, and when some individual or organisation starts agitating, it becomes hyperactive to the point of looking silly, as it has happened in the case of the Ramdev affair. In the Eighties and the Nineties, the Congress Government wavered in its commitment to secularism and paid the price for it when the communal elements hijacked the entire political agenda.

Today, history and the Congress are facing each other again. To strengthen the credibility of the parliamentary institutions and governance, a firm action against the malaise of corruption has to be taken. At the same time, it has to make sure that secular polity does not get caught in communal fault lines.

The RSS and other communal elements have always tried to piggyback on the popular movements in past. It used the J.P. movement in the Seventies to occupy the centre stage in politics, which later became the reason for its downfall. Similarly, in the late Eighties, the Hindutva group lent support to the anti-corruption movement of V.P. Singh to further its fascist agenda, and when it found that it could no longer live with the Janata Dal Government, it brought about its downfall.

Therefore, it’s sheer opportunism that is bringing the moribund Hindutva groups into action today. Corruption might be an issue, but the agenda is something different. In the Eighties and Nineties, the issue might have been the Babri Masjid but the agenda was quite sinister - to tear apart the secular fabric of the nation. Communal forces used the smoke of religious passion to cloud reason.  Similarly, by whipping up the passion of people against corruption, the RSS and other rabble-rousers want to undermine the power of Parliament and politicians, and further their agenda.

History, therefore, is repeating itself in a new format. Will our lessons from history be of some use?

Sanjay Kumar is a New Delhi based journalist, who keenly and very closely covers national and international politics and trends.