By Amulya Ganguli
New Delhi: The BJP’s delight over the Congress’s faux pas in handing over the Ram setu issue to the Hindutva camp may be tempered by two factors. One is that the subject doesn’t have an anti-Muslim angle. As such, it will be difficult for the saffron brigade to stir up emotional fervour and sustain it for any length of time. The essence of saffron politics is the Sangh parivar’s longstanding hate agenda directed against the minorities. In its absence, the Hindutva stalwarts feel a bit lost. Considering that even the temple issue has virtually petered out, the setu is hardly going to be the bridge to enable the BJP reach the corridors of power in Delhi.
The second factor is that the setu does not have in the south even the limited religious appeal which the VHP and the Bajrang Dal storm troopers may be able to generate in the north. For the present, Jayalalitha may have decided to side with the BJP, as when she banned conversions when in power and then backtracked. But she will not be unaware that her stance goes against the grain of the anti-religious, anti-brahmin and anti-north Indian sentiments which have long characterized the Dravida Kazhagam movement. Little wonder that Ravan has more admirers in the south than Ram.
It is precisely for this reason that Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.Karunanidhi has endorsed the Archaeological Survey’s original contention that Ram is not a historical figure. This is also the view of a majority of historians who regard Ramayan as a myth. Even it has a basis in fact, its location may not have been in sites like today’s Ayodhya or Sri Lanka. According to well known historian, Romila Thapar, “the transference of events (from the Ganges plain) to a more southerly location may have been the work of editors of a later period, reflecting an expanded geography, as was possibly also the case in the depiction of Lanka itself as a city of immense wealth”.
The BJP, therefore, will find – as during the Ramjanmabhoomi movement – that it is on the side of the obscurantists who believe that the 1.7 million years old ‘bridge’ was built by the Hindu god’s simian militia. The party will also lay itself open to the charge that it is again mixing religion and politics for electoral gains. Since the cynical mixture will influence only orthodox Hindus, the BJP’s partners in the NDA like the Janata Dal (United) and the Biju Janata Dal may not be too enthusiastic about a return to the medievalism of the temple agitation.
In the long run, therefore, the setu has limited utility for the BJP. Yet, the party had no option but to grab it with both hands because, first, Ram was associated with it and, secondly, because it had no other issue which it could exploit at the moment. Before the issue came into the public domain, the BJP’s main concern was the realization after the U.P. elections that an anti-Muslim stance was no longer paying dividends. So much so that the party had to withdraw the compact disc with its virulent portrayal of the Muslims following the Election Commission’s directive.
It is trying to make use of the nuclear issue at present, but the party is aware that this somewhat esoteric subject will not take it far. In any event, it has exposed the divisions in its ranks, as L.K.Advani’s flip-flops showed. So, like a drowning man clutching at straws, the BJP seized the renewed controversy over the setu project although it had been approved of by the Vajpayee government in 2002. But such contradictions do not always bother Indian politicians.
If the BJP is indulging in its usual religious-patriotic games, the Congress has again shown that its left hand does not know what the right is doing. As is normal with the party, it is feverishly trying to clean up the mess after the deed had been done. It’s not unlike the setting up of the Veerappa Moily committee to sort out the problems created by Arjun Singh’s announcement of OBC quotas in institutions of higher education. Or the CBI claiming that the Interpol is still on the alert about Ottavio Quottrocchi after the Italian businessman had slipped away from Argentina.
The party obviously still retains its relaxed working style where different sections function virtually independent of others. It is also typical of the organization that the slip-up has led to the party members taking pot shots at those they dislike, vide Jairam Ramesh’s criticism of Ambika Soni, which is reminiscent of the Mani Shankar Aiyar-Suresh Kalmadi exchanges over New Delhi’s failure to host the Asian Games.
There is little doubt, however, that the latest misstep will harm the Prime Minister the most because the party has handed an issue to the BJP on a platter. But if anyone expects a tightening up of the Congress’s and the government’s functioning from now on, he doesn’t know the party’s laissez faire culture. Moreover, since the party seems reasonably well placed at the moment where the elections are concerned, the uproar is expected to die down soon. As is known, conventional wisdom is predicting a more favourable outcome for the Congress compared to the BJP and the Left. Had this not been the case, the setu issue would have continued to set off tremors within the Congress. At the moment, only a few scapegoats in the ASI may be sacrificed.
- IPA
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