Burden of the past

Raking up emotive issues won’t fetch BJP any dividends

Pragmatism weighed with the BJP when it dropped 41 sitting legislators in Uttar Pradesh while announcing candidates for 309 seats in the state. The party has identified them as the least likely to win in the February elections. That, however, does not mean that the other 111 are all set to win. In fact, there are many who believe the party would have done well if it had gone in for a total overhaul and presented an altogether new look to the voters. After all, the rationale for dropping so many MLAs is to overcome the anti-incumbency factor. In other words, the party realises it can’t win an election on the basis of its past performance. It recognises that even Rajnath Singh, who was brought in to refurbish the BJP’s image, has failed to deliver the goods. Obviously, his grand plans to create divisions in the backward castes in order to puncture the vote bank of the Samajwadi Party do not seem to have paid any dividends. What is at stake is the party’s ability to provide good governance, the plank on which it sort of won the last elections.

Does this mean the BJP will think of other options, given the crucial nature of the elections for the continuance of its government at the Centre? The doubts created in the minds of voters on what the party’s manifesto will contain compel one to answer the question in the affirmative. Take the case of the Ayodhya issue. Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee has given a firm commitment that it will not be an electoral issue. But state party chief Kalraj Mishra insists Ayodhya will indeed figure in the manifesto. The argument is that the BJP’s decision to put issues like Ayodhya, a common civil code and Article 370 on the backburner is only with regard to running the Central government. Besides, it is not under the banner of the National Democratic Alliance that the party is contesting the elections in Uttar Pradesh and elsewhere. The speciousness of the argument aside, it will only expose the BJP to the charge of political dishonesty. It will also raise a whole lot of questions about the BJP’s stand, vis-a-vis demands from within some of its front organisations that the temple should be constructed irrespective of whether the court’s decision comes in time or not.

To imagine that Ayodhya will bring the party back to power is to overlook the fact that it is an overused card. The past elections have shown that the issue had lost its electoral utility. Similarly, the current global fight against terrorism in which India is playing an important role is not an issue any party can exploit to its own advantage. As Vajpayee and other leaders have reaffirmed, time and again, the fight is not targeted at any particular community. Hence, it will be a serious error of judgement if this campaign comes to be regarded in partisan terms. This rules out the option of exploiting the anti-terrorism campaign for electoral advantages, though some of its leaders have such grand ambitions. All this leaves the BJP with the only option before it: of taking the people into confidence and owning up to the mistakes committed in the past.