By Syed Shahabuddin M.P.
Janata Dal was not only conceived in haste before formal marriage but delivered prematurely through artificial means by unskilled and quarrelsome midwives. It is not surprising that the child suffers from congenital defects. These defects shall continue to plague its existence and give rise to deformities stunted growth and perhaps premature demise. The prognosis is none too bright.
However Janata Dal is an expression of the people’s dissatisfaction with the state of the nation their discontent with the rule of Rajiv Gandhi their desire to change the political order. To some extent Janata Dal reflects the aspiration of long deprived communities which have become politically conscious and wish to use their newly acquired economic muscle to gain entry into the charmed circle of power.
Janata Dal can also be looked upon in a limited sense as a phase in the long standing battle royal between two sections of the privileged elite on a resharing of the monopoly of power and prestige. Call it Brahmins Vs Rajputs. Politics of the Hindi heartland recalls this historic rivalry. Both are trying to enlist the OBC’s particularly 1the Yadavs on their side and to enlist foot soldiers from the lower ranks, the other BCs the SC, the ST and the Muslims. Alliance with the OBC sis relevant to the emergent scenario. The line is not clearly drawn it shall never be but the motivation and command structure on our side is in Brahmin hands and on the other in Rajput hands, Personal factors operate within the Rajput camps as they do within the Brahmin camp. Such factors shall always be there but both will close ranks behind the leader (renegades like Arun Nehru and Arjun Singh apart) who emerges supreme and has a fair chance of gaining the throne of Delhi.
To that extent, Congress (I) Janata Dal struggle for power is a family affair; an affair of the Establishment another round ‘of musical chairs. In this game, whoever draws the game plan, the minorities the SC and the ST are but pawns to be manipulated, exploited used, discarded and forgotten, who shall demand full payment for services rendered are the OBC’s led by Yadavs and Jats. This explains however reactionary it may sound, the AJGAR theory, the combination of Ahirs, Jats, Gujjars and Rajputs (order is no indication of hierarchy) that is exposed by the reigning raja of rural India, the symbol of Kisan Power Devi Lal. You may find him illiterate you may call him uncouth; you may consider his idiom unparliamentarily; you may term him feudal in outlook but he sees with clarity and focuses on objectives and adopts means and method and uses an idiom which To that extent, Congress(I) Janata Dal struggle for power is a family affair; an affair of the Establishment another round of musical chairs. In this game, whoever draws the game plan, the minorities the SC and the ST are but pawns to be manipulated, exploited used, discarded and forgotten.
It is not only understood but appreciated in rural India. He is a force, the culmination of a historic process and his influence is not and cannot be limited to his district or his state, such as Ajit Singh’s the foreign return son came back to claim his patrimony, howsoever Vishwanath Pratap Singh the blue blooded and cultural raja, or R.K Hegde the well packaged and well-advertised Saviour of the nation may resent,
But the democratic game unlike the battles of the past, involve the masses. The battle cannot be limited to the Aryans or to the Hindus or to North India or to the castes which consider themselves legitimate aspirants for supreme power. So the game goes on the game of appreciation and vilification of image building and denigration of image projection and public relations of state and purchase of loyalties, of appointment of brokers and common agents, of recalling ancient ties and of severing old connections of deputing spies to the hostile terrain and of purging one’s ranks of fifth columnists.
Even BJP and Left parties which represent ideological forces are not above playing the caste and the regional game, even though their vision of India is more total or comprehensive, more Pannational. But while BJP has shed off its secular mask, written off Muslim support and! has decided to play the Hindu card the Left, along with the Congress and the J.D., wish to involve the Muslims the Harijans the Tribals.
The Congress game plan and electoral strategy are well known. As far as J.d. is concerned it thinks that the traditional support base of the Congress can be penetrated, if not captured. Hence, the recent statement of V.P. Singh on Babari Masjid Muslim Personal Law and Urdu. Hence is repeated inclusion of “minorities” among the eligible groups for the much trumpeted 60% share (of party positions? election tickets? development resources? public employment?) Hence, his reiteration of commitment to Article 370 of the Constitution and his promise to give statutory status to the Minorities Commission or to restore the Islamic character of the Jamia Mills Islam and to establishment of a special anti riot force.
In all of these statements, V.P. Singh and J.D. are doing no more than repeating old formulations, Teiterating old promises restating old position, as the Congress (I) or the Janata Party did. There is nothing substantively new to carry credibility or to communicate conviction. Even the illiterate among the Muslim Indians have become wise to the unreliability of such statements.
What hangs like a millstone round its neck are many disabilities, V.P. Singh was the Chief Minister when the Moradabad massacre took place and no one was Punished though for the first time the next of kin of the missing were given excreta payment when the move to make Urdu the second official language of UP was aborted by his own cabinet (with the blessings of Mrs. Indira Gandhi), The Janata Dal has Arun Nehru comfortably in the saddle and the Muslim Indian associates Arun Nehru with the unlocking of the Babari Masjid and its defacto conversion into a temple. The Janata Dal has Arif Mohammed Khan as one of its high profile spokesmen whom Muslim Indians consider guilty
“Above. al s heavy weight Devi Lal has transferred shares in his family concerns known as Haryana to the BJP and only recently gone out of his way to induct some BJP leaders as Directors and appointed one of them as Vice Chairman of the Corporation.”
of cultural treason, if not of religious blaspheme an a is generally seen as deliberately playing to the Hindu gallery. Janata Dal’s Mufti Mohd. Sayeed was the instrument used by Fotedar and Arun Nehru to dislodge and subyert democracy in Kashmir and who, as a Minister was never known to have taken up any Muslim caste or grievance till he was about to be sacked. Janata Dal’s Vice President (Executive?) R.K. Hegde, a suave sophisticated operator if ever there was one on the Indian scene is known for generous promises to the Muslim community in Karnataka which he never keptand one of whose achievements was to impose Kannada as the First Language and as the medium of instruction upon all linguistic minorities. Above all Janata Dal’s heavy weight Devi Lal has transferred shares in his family concems known as Haryana to the BJP and only recently gone out of his way to induct some BJP leaders as Directors and appointed one of them as Vice Chairman of the Corporation.
And if Arun Nehru shall be ever known for Babari Masjid, Devi Lal will never be forgotten for Hansi Masjid. Janata Dal has accepted AGP with its fascist record as a partner in the National Front not to speak of that obscurantist called NTR. Ifa party is known by the company it keeps there is much to distance the Muslims from the Janata Dal.
Janata Dal may or may not survive the rough and tumble of factional struggle. But in the multi cornered power struggle among Janata Party (Chandrashekhar & Hegde), Lok Dal (Devi Lal and Ajit Singh) and the ex-Congress men, who have wandered into the wilderness (V.P. Singh & Arun Nehru) the Muslims are nowhere in the picture. The much trumpeted 60% (judged by the central and state level appointments made so far) are nowhere to be seen (except of course in J & K) and have a much lesser share than Yadavs and Jats & hardly any Muslim has been involved in the party set up at the national or state decision making level not even Mufti Md. Sayeed or Arif Md. Khan.
J.D. may have saved itself a lot of teething trouble if the leaders of JP, LD and JM had followed a systematic and logical course finalized the Constitution worked out the modalities of electing leaders of legislative groups and settling the composition of the National Executive & the Parliamentary Board in accordance with the constitution, before holding the Foundation Conference.
Before making adhoc appointments at various organizational levels the formalities have not been completed and the party has come into existence leading inexorably to confusing situations such as putting up candidates in the name of Janata Party, You may say that these are technical points but form matters as much as substance and in any case the JD leadership would have saved itself time and energy to evolve the order of battle against the Rajiv Gandhi Brigade.
There are however, more important political consequences arising out of the unprincipled play of “value base” (opportunist politics) : the way Deve Gowda was forced into a corner in Karnataka the way Hegde is being propped, despite prima facile evidence of misuse of power in land deals the way one man one post principle has been given a goby the way office-bearers of the J.D. have failed to make public announcements of their assets. All these prove only one axiom of Indian politics; the Opposition tends to be a mirror image of the Congress and the Congress culture pervades all parties! JD does not heal any breakthrough in the style or content of national politics nor inspire and such hope. Janata Dal has also failed to give any lead on the major national issues be it terrorism in the Punjab or the violence in the Valley or tribal upsurge along the Brahmaputra or the military adventure in Sri Lanka or the overall deterioration in our relations with the neighbors in South Asia. All its energies have been consumed first the furor on the Bofors case and then on the Thakkar Commission Report, to the almost total exclusion of issues like galloping inflation, worsening law and order atrocities against the weaker sections the squander mania the development resource gap the welfare cuts, etc J.D. has not organized any agitation on any issue of national or state or local significance; all the attention have been focused on the zero sum game the politics of plus and minus, the politics of addition and subtraction the politics of maneuvers. How far can political arithmetic take it, will soon be put to test.
From the point of view of the minorities particularly the Muslim community, JD must speak out and take the field against the rising forces of Hindu chauvinism must reassure the minorities on questions of legitimate concern religious freedom, cultural identity, economic equality administrative fairness and political participation.
JD must unequivocally denounce the concept of Hindu Rashtra and reject the idea or alliance of adjustment with the BJP (and its allies) and sincerely endeavor for an alliance with the Left, and replace The National Front with a Left Democratic Front which should battle against the Right Reaction and the Dynasty at the same time. Eyen in Assam and A.P., it can attract enough support to win more seats on its own that AGP ‘or TD would be prepared to concede!
JD must marginalise those elements in it: leadership who are regarded as hostile or unacceptable by important sections of our people, at least, not to insult them by projecting them as representatives of the very sections which reject them. JD must ensure a fair division of 60% among various backward classes, religious minorities, the SC the ST and OBCs at all levels within the organization as well as in the distribution of tickets at the time of election, Yo that end adequate number of Constitutes must be identified where candidates belonging to various communities may be put up.
What is more important is the J.D. stand on the question of electoral alliance or adjustment with the BJP. Some like V.C. Shukla the Subedar of MP and AK Sen the Subedar of West Bengal have repeatedly reaffirmed “adjustment” with the BJP.
Thirdly JD must adopt a National Plan for Social Justice based on a just and equitable division of resources, goods and services for all social groups and geographical regions with universal reservation in higher education and public employment for the economically backward sections of all communities subject to a uniform economic and educational criteria.
Now JD Parliamentary Board has decided to have seat adjustment with the BJP at the State level. In practical terms this is no different from the Central level adjustment, particularly because the authorized negotiator is Devi Lal who wishes to elevate the Haryana model to the national level. But to be fair, the state level does imply that adjustment may not be possible in all states like Maharashtra where the BJP may have an alliance with the Shiv Sena or West Bengal where the JD may make deal with the Left Front,
The irony of the situation is that the attempts at such adjustment may finally fail because of excessive demands of the BJP and JD’s inability to meet it. But in the meantime JD would stand exposed for its softness towards the ideology of Hindu Rashtra, for its unprincipled opportunism and for its readiness to sup with the devil. And also in the meantime the minorities and the Leftist vote as well as the SC/ST vote in the Hindu
The situation is grim for the Muslim Indians. The Congress (I) is taking them for granted and is poised to purchase their votes for a few lollipops for a few shop soiled promises taken out of the drawer dusted up for the bargain sale. On the other hand in the quest of power, the Opposition is ready to make peace with Hindu chauvinism. Lost between the devil and the deep sea, between frying pan and fire, which way shall they turn?”
belt would have turned their face towards the Congress I or even began moving in that direction. After all the devil you know is any day better than the devil you do not!
The situation is grim for the Muslim Indians. The Congress (I) is taking them for granted and is poised to purchase their votes for a few lollipops for a few shop soiled promises taken out of the drawer dusted up for the bargain sale, On the other hand in the quest of power, the Opposition is ready to make peace with Hindu chauVinism. Lost between the devil and the deep sea, between frying pan and fire, which way shall they tum?
My submission is that they need not turn to either; they keep their counsel; they keep both guessing they resolve only to vote untidily at the constituency level, and at the time of the election and vote for the candidate who is committee to keep BJP out of power and who is by his record the best among the candidates in his Commitment to the secular order.
Article extracted from this publication >> June 23, 1989
