Opinion Bihar Opportunity

The Left lost its support base in the state’s caste-based politics and retains only pockets of influence. Still,the editorial argues that the political situation in the state has opened up after Nitish Kumar’s decision to end the alliance with the BJP in Bihar. It rubbishes Kumar’s “matter of principle” argument and points out that he was not just silent after the 2002 Gujarat riots and continued in the NDA government as railway minister,but had,a year later,even foreseen a greater role for “Narendrabhai”.

It makes the case that there was a pressing need for Kumar to seek a new context for himself in Bihar. “He is aware that the social and political coalition that catapulted him to power was born under extraordinary circumstances and cannot be sustained for any indefinite length of time… In November 2005,he got a mandate to usher in ‘regime change’ in a chaotic and stagnant Bihar. In 2010,he played on the danger of a possible return of Lalu Prasad,but what fetched him a bigger mandate was Bihar’s aspiration for development. But now,in 2013,when the dream of development has visibly begun to turn sour,and social oppression,police repression and the highhandedness of a corrupt bureaucracy have become the hallmarks of his government,Nitish Kumar evidently needs to shift the goal post.”

MODI AND BJP

An editorial in the latest issue of CPM journal People’s Democracy discusses opposing the Congress’s policies and defeating the BJP. “For the Left and democratic forces,the task is clear-cut — apart from fighting the Congress,all efforts must be concentrated to defeat the Modi-led BJP in the coming days,” the editorial says.

The editorial says Modi epitomises the aggressive Hindutva ideology of the BJP/RSS combine. “Gujarat was the laboratory where the Hindutva experiment was first conducted by the Sangh combine from the mid-1980s. The success of this experiment saw the steady communalisation of society and systematic attacks on the Muslim and Christian minorities,which culminated in 2002… It was out of this communal project that Narendra Modi rose. Thus the elevation of Modi is also a result of the full backing accorded by the RSS leadership,” it states.

It argues that the rise of Modi also symbolises what the BJP stands for today — “an unalloyed communal agenda combined with [the advocacy of corporate and big business interests.”

PAKISTAN ELECTIONS

The CPI weekly,New Age,examines recent elections in Pakistan,saying a majority of the electorate voted for the “right reactionary parties who have failed to take any concrete position on the growing menace of religious fundamentalism and terrorism based on it.”

According to the editorial,the increasing sway of fundamentalist forces in Pakistan’s society is reflected by the fact that overall,“the presumed secular parties could not poll even one-fourth of the total votes polled… One explanation that Pakistani commentators are advancing for this dismal situation is that the religious fundamentalist forces had targeted the secular parties,particularly the PPP,MQM and ANP,and over 150 cadres and workers of these parties were killed during the two weeks of campaigning. This reign of terror forced the supporters of these parties to keep themselves away on the polling day,” the editorial says. It claims the “real” worry is that political parties failed to “publicly condemn these attacks”.

Drawing parallels with India,the editorial says here,too,“religious fundamentalism is being promoted though an overwhleming majority of people have repeatedly asserted their commitment to secularism. The recent example is the rejection of the BJP in Karnataka,particularly in the coastal region that the Sangh Parivar had attempted to make a laboratory of Hindutva,” it says.

Compiled by Manoj C.G.