Economic Times
FEBRUARY 03, 2007
Lest the opponents of Narendra Modi's politics
think otherwise, BJP president Rajnath Singh's
decision to drop the Gujarat CM from the party's
Parliamentary Board and Central Election Committee
does not spell his marginalisation.
In the BJP, it's politics that ultimately drives
the organisation. So, it's immaterial whether
Modi the individual holds any organisational
post as long as the politics he personifies
continues to yield dividends.
Moditva - characterised by a state of affairs
in which the minorities are cowed down and in
a state of fear - has of late assumed pan-Indian
proportions. The communal violence in east UP,
where economic assets of the minority community
are being specifically targeted, bears its stamp.
Deliberate attempts at economic cleansing has
reportedly been a pattern during various communal
riots the state has witnessed over the past
couple of years. The emergence of a Muslim entrepreneurial
class from among craftsmen and artisans in some
areas of the state, post liberalisation, has
reconfigured traditional social relations.
This may have led to tension which has been
exploited by those inclined towards communal
politics. It would be facile to argue that the
relative economic prosperity of a section of
the minority community inevitably leads to communal
riots. The reality in most Indian cities is
that the major communities are thoroughly economically
entwined.
But in times of trouble, such as Bombay in 1993
or Gujarat 2002, communal tensions, never far
from the surface in India, can be stoked with
devastating results. This results in attacks
on business establishments owned by members
of the minority community.
The Hindu Yuva Vahini - which has orchestrated
most of those riots, and which is in between
a gang and a socio-political organisation -
is a perfect embodiment of UP's new communal
ethos. It's true that Vahini chief and BJP's
Gorakhpur MP Adityanath has been arrested.
But he, like most key architects of riots in
UP and elsewhere, is likely to be released without
prosecution. That is only to be expected in
communally polarised states where all parties,
irrespective of their ideological professions,
are engaged in identity politics.
Forces like the Vahini, and their ideological
impulse, can be defeated on the battlefield
of socio-economic transformation; not identity
politics.
