SPECIAL ISSUE BIG IDEAS Ram Janmabhoomi The Saffron Wedge The Right needs to shed its Ram Janmabhoomi-era identity politics and embrace real conservatism
SHILANYAS FOR THE RAM TEMPLE IN AYODHYA with other post-colonial nations? To be sure, if you tilt your head and squint just so you might see the outlines of a modern conservative party in the BJP. Like many conserva- tives, BJP supporters tend to wear their patriotism on their sleeves. (The NDA’s ill-fated India Shining cam- paign of 2004 was as much a celebra- tion of national pride as an appeal for votes.) The party plays up its respect for the armed forces, and senior BJP leaders such as Jaswant Singh and B.C. Khanduri began their careers in the army before switching to politics. Largely unconcerned about alienat- ing Muslim voters, the BJP, like other conservative organisations, supports relatively tough anti-terrorism laws. Some may even find the Indian equiv- alent of family values reflected in
JOGINDER CHAWLA Sushma Swaraj’s prominent bindi and sindoor-smeared scalp. and short-sighted populism, the BJP’s You could make a similar argu- Sadanand Dhume failure to emerge as a modern con- ment about foreign policy. After an is a resident fellow at servative party is disappointing. Why initial hiccup in the aftermath of the American Enterprise can’t the world’s largest democracy India’s 1998 nuclear tests, the BJP Institute in Washington throw up an Indian equivalent of used its six years in office to put the wo decades after the Ayodhya Britain’s Tories, America’s Republi- US-India relationship on arguably its movement propelled the BJP cans or Israel’s Likud? firmest footing in five decades. The from the fringes to the centre Where is the Indian political BJP also remains Israel’s only unam- Tstage of national politics, the grouping that emphasises growth biguous friend in Indian politics. party has failed to fulfil what ought over equity, seeks equality of oppor- Similarly, in economic policy BJP to be its natural role: as a centre- tunity rather than outcome, cele- supporters argue that the party’s tra- right alternative to the left-of-centre brates the private sector as an engine ditional base of traders and shop- Congress. Whether it’s the recent of economic prosperity, and champi- keepers makes it leery of Government opposition to FDI in multi-brand ons the cause of a strong military? In interference. Gujarat’s BJP Chief retail or earlier attacks on the Indo- a polity dominated by platitudes Minister Narendra Modi, the darling US nuclear deal, the Goods and about the poor, who will take up of Indian big business, is the only ma- Services Tax Bill, or fuel price ratio- cudgels for the middle class? In a jor Indian politician to espouse a phi- nalisation, the BJP appears to have strategic culture where the ghost of losophy of minimum government that followed a single point agenda since Jawaharlal Nehru’s Third Worldism Ronald Reagan or Margaret Thatcher losing office in 2004. It opposes the refuses to disappear, who will es- might recognise. In the BJP, more than Government not out of principle, but pouse a pragmatic foreign policy that in any other Indian party, one finds an for the sake of opposition. places India’s national interest—in instinctive understanding of the pro- For those who believe that India particular the twin challenges of an found damage done to India by Indira needs a robust alternative to a authoritarian China and a rising tide Gandhi’s Licence-Permit Raj. Congress steeped in dynastic politics of radical Islam—ahead of solidarity The BJP’s attachment to a Hindu
118 INDIA TODAY ◆ DECEMBER 26, 2011 SPECIAL ISSUE BIG IDEAS Ram Janmabhoomi
ethos also conforms to the wider ex- perience of the democratic world. Conservative parties tend to court the religious sensibilities of their coun- try’s majority faith. The obvious com- parison would be to Republicans turning to evangelical Christians for support, or Likud to the more muscu- lar sort of religious Zionist. On closer examination, however, the case for the BJP as a modern con- servative party falls apart. The party does not consistently espouse faith in market-based solutions to economic problems. Its powerful protectionist wing sounds like a bad copy of the CPI(M). In opposing FDI in multi-brand retail, party spokesperson Nirmala Sitharaman recently declared that “the BJP believes and works for an economic order based on Gandhian socialism and Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay’s integral humanism”. Is there a single economist on the planet who can decipher what this means? In foreign policy, the BJP remains fashioned bigotry. It must learn to KAR SEVAKS ATOP THE DISPUTED ambivalent about India’s ties with the make a distinction between assertive STRUCTURE IN AYODHYA, 1992 US and the West. In an abrupt about- Hindus and Muslim-bashers. tion movement roiling the middle face, three years ago the party voted Though things have improved classes. Any conservative party against the US-India nuclear deal in since the days of the Ayodhya move- would have quickly identified the nub Parliament. In the democratic world, ment and Sadhvi Rithambara, the of the problem—byzantine regula- conservatives broadly recognise that problem of intolerance persists. One tions and too much Government con- their own national interests are best of the BJP’s most prominent young trol over business. But the BJP has pursued in the current international leaders, Varun Gandhi, was caught on attacked the Government’s tawdry system, which is underpinned by tape in 2009 describing Muslims in record on corruption not by demand- American power. The BJP appears not the vilest terms. And though Modi has ing less government and fewer cum- to have thought this through. moderated his rhetoric in recent bersome regulations, but by backing Indeed, in an increasingly multi- years, a question mark hangs over assorted crackpots and activists: polar world, it’s not clear how a BJP him for his alleged complicity in riots from lawyer Prashant Bhushan, to foreign policy would be any different in Gujarat nine years ago that killed yoga guru Baba Ramdev, to ardent al- from that of Congress. Does it have a 1,000 people, about three-quarters of cohol-prohibitionist Anna Hazare. game plan for dealing with ISI-spon- them Muslims. Even today, it’s hard to The BJP’s tough line against terror- sored terrorism that goes beyond de- imagine a BJP leader being punished ism, its commitment to a strong de- manding Ajmal Kasab’s execution? rather than rewarded by the party for fence and its espousal of pride in In what way does a BJP view of China’s expressing anti-Muslim sentiment. India’s Hindu culture are all within rise differ from that of Congress? The same lack of discernment and the bounds of a responsible Indian Perhaps most troubling, the BJP a coherent worldview is evident in the conservatism. But to enter the global lacks the capacity to draw a clear line party’s approach to the anti-corrup- mainstream, the party needs to grow between its largely moderate main- up and become a responsible voice stream supporters and the assorted for limited government, market- flakes and bigots who seem to con- It’s hard to imagine a based solutions to India’s myriad sider the party their natural home. BJP leader being pun- problems and pragmatic foreign pol- The BJP need not be apologetic about icy. As long as it continues to be lim- pride in the majority culture or sen- ished rather than re- ited by a narrow focus on identity sitivity to its spiritual concerns. But at warded for expressing politics, and as long as it pursues poli- the same time, it needs to draw a line anti-Muslim sentiment. cies based on opportunism, the BJP between legitimate pride and old- will fail both itself and India. ■
120 INDIA TODAY ◆ DECEMBER 26, 2011