Having sleep-walked to defeat in 2004, the BJP seems determined not to be caught napping again. Thus, despite Congress’ poor showing in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh making premature polls unlikely, the BJP’s recent National Council meeting unveiled its main electoral planks. The unstated constituency remains the Hindu majority, and the call to address the agrarian crisis, terrorism, and insidious minority-ism is designed to address multi-caste and multi-class constituencies.
Mounting agrarian indebtedness and unending farmers’ suicides in several states present a grim picture. In the villages, all castes are directly and indirectly connected to the land. Indian culture and festivals are agrarian in origin, and are intimately linked to the seasons of cultivating or harvesting. It is thus surprising that it was only with Mr. Rajnath Singh’s recent Vidarbha yatra that the BJP paid more than lip service to the plight of farmers. Its Andhra Pradesh unit was unmoved by daily suicides by cotton farmers in the reign of Mr. Chandrababu Naidu – an insensitivity that affected the national elections.
It is shameful that we live with starvation deaths and farmers suicides when India is so well endowed with fertile lands, great rivers, and abundant sunshine. We need to admit the failure of modern technology and chemicals in agriculture. Sadly, even now farmers are being lured into buying high-priced pest-resistant seeds which fail; fertilizers and pesticides which are poisoning the soil and groundwater and further affecting productivity. The murderous impact upon public health is beginning to show in Punjab.
BJP should advocate a transition to genetically-rich agriculture and crop diversity which will keep India out of the trap of intellectual property rights. Traditional agriculture relied on genetically sturdy seeds. The Green Revolution exotic seeds are so delicate that the crop can be destroyed if irrigation is delayed a few days or a minor pest attacks.
We must also stress upon traditional minor irrigation systems to increase food grain output. Indian villages had different kinds of reservoirs to cater to village needs and recharge ground-water. Yet despite the emphasis on modern technology, as we enter the Eleventh Plan, we have failed to irrigate over one-third of our cultivated lands. Decline in agriculture also affects cattle population intimately. Agriculture has suffered steady decline in public investment from the highpoint of 1980-81 when it touched 15 percent of all outlay. Yet it is the government’s responsibility to feed over one billion people, and without food security we cannot enjoy true independence.
Closely linked to the agrarian crisis today is the persisting threat of crony capitalism in the form of Special Economic Zones (SEZ), whereby the Centre is gifting large tracts of valuable agricultural land to industrialists. As the land being allotted is far in excess of the actual needs of a specific industry, huge profits are built into every SEZ, at the cost of toiling farmers and the nation’s precarious food security.
BJP would do well to fine-tune its anti-SEZ strategy carefully. Given that farmers remain insecure in both Singur and Nandigram in West Bengal, and given the irritating intransigence of Ms. Mamata Banerjee, BJP should independently position itself on farmers’ issues here. Further, in states where allies tend to rely overly upon Muslim votes, BJP should subtly position itself as the pole around which the Hindu community can consolidate itself. Given time and unwavering commitment, the gains can be exponential.
It is worth recalling that Congress first took the murky SEZ route in Haryana where Mr. Mukesh Ambani received an inexplicable bonanza. Heady with its new victories, the party punished its own MP, Mr. Kuldip Singh Bishnoi, for opposing this crony capitalism. Sure of his ground, however, Mr. Bishnoi charted his own future and is now the rising star of Haryana politics; BJP would be wise to arrive at an understanding with him. Congress has meanwhile been forced to modify the original SEZ, the final status of which is unknown. Other Congress chief minister’s have drawn appropriate lessons, as exemplified in the Goa retreat from SEZ, including cancellation of three already handed over!
So precarious is Indian agriculture that former President APJ Abdul Kalam has urged farmers not to sell their lands for SEZ or any non-agricultural activity. Given the threat posed by Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mayawati’s Ganga Expressway project, which will desecrate almost 50,000 ha. of India’s most fertile agricultural land, BJP should consider joining hands with the Samajwadi Party and Congress to oppose it in the national interest.
Terrorism remains a scourge no party can defend. Yet when tragedy struck the CRPF camp in Rampur on new year’s day, Ms. Mayawati responded with a heartless taunt that CRPF should be able to take care of itself! The anti-terrorism rallies Mr. L.K. Advani and other leaders plan in Rampur, Lucknow, Faizabad and Varanasi should emphasize the continued presence of jihad in our midst, and the failure of the Congress-led regime to hang Afzal Guru who masterminded the attack on the Indian Parliament.
But the most dangerous policy of the UPA regime under Ms. Sonia Gandhi is the excessive stress upon minorities, especially the Sachar Report and Eleventh Plan attempt to allocate 15% of all development funds to minorities. In most parts of the country this will mean Muslims, but it is likely that in substantial pockets it will mean missionaries cornering benefits for Christian converts.
It is relevant to ponder the terms majority and minority. The Indian Constitution never used the term ‘majority,’ as this would have involved admitting that India is a Hindu-majority land, which would have given rise to calls for protecting this Hindu status in the wake of a bloody partition. Under the domination of Mr. Jawaharlal Nehru, it only spoke of minorities and vested certain special rights for them in the controversial Articles 29 and 30.
Yet, given Hindu sensitivity after partition, the Articles were careful to de-emphasize religion while identifying a minority. Art. 29 spoke of ‘sections of the citizens’ with a distinct language, script or culture they desired to conserve, and non-discrimination on any ground, including religion. Art. 30 dealt with the right of religious or linguistic minorities to establish educational institutions. BJP should denounce UPA’s tendency to define ‘minority’ purely by religious affiliation and crystallize it into a distinct economic and political category.
The Pioneer, 5 February 2008