Prof. Sunil Dang

May be history is repeating itself albeit at a very short period of less than a decade-and-a-half. Torrid stories of the political fight between socialists vs fundamentalist that the nation witnessed with an utter shame in early 1990s are not forgotten yet. The Mandal vs Kamandal fight for political supremacy during 1990 between the then Prime Minister V P Singh and President of BJP, which was then supporting the National Front Government from outside, may not have done us any proud. Not only this led to fall of Singh’s government but also left deep scars on the society that witnessed political polarisition on the basis on either castes or communities.

The shock defeat during the Lok Sabha followed by the drubbing it got in the Maharashtra Assembly elections’ has perhaps hastened the BJP to go back to its roots. Crowning of L K Advani as the president to resurrect the fledgling fortunes of the sole ‘Nationalist Party" through reverting back to ideologies revives the painful memory of what had happened in 1990. In rather a strange coincidence, Advani went to Nagpur within days of taking over as president to take part in the Vijayadashmi Rally of Rashtriya Swaymsevak Sangh (RSS)) leaves little doubt about the principal opposition party taking to hard-line Hindutva, a plank that saw the saffron party resurrecting itself from political wilderness. With Advani taking over the reins of the party in 1986 when it was reduced to just two in the Lok Sabha, BJP continued to grow in geometric progression during the next 10 years and came to power as single largest party in 1996 although it is a different story that the party led coalition government with Vajpayee did not last even 15 days.

After halting the march of the Saffron party, Congress led by Sonia Gandhi, is now seeking to revive its fortunes in the Hindi heartland where it was either marginalised or forced to play a second fiddle. It was a shame for the oldest party to contest only four seats in Bihar or get less than 10 seats in Uttar Pradesh. The political realignment and the turn of events have perhaps given the Congress a chance to regain some of the lost ground, particularly since 1990s.

Therefore, it does not come as a surprise that the Congress is taking BJP head-on on the issue of fundamentalism. But at the same time, it has taken a leaf from V P Singh, a life-long Congressman who turned against Rajiv Gandhi during late 1980s and became the Prime Minister of Janata Dal led coalition government. The first move came from the Congress-led coalition at the height of the election campaigning, less than a week before the date of polling and even less for casting of votes in Arunachal Pradesh.

However, the Election Commission did not take it lying low. Rather it came heavily on the Central Government for the timing of one of its decision. In what could be a virtual indictment of the ruling Congress-led UPA combine at the Centre; the Election Commission rejected Centre’s stand on the setting up of a Commission to look into reservation for minorities. Questioning the announcement for setting of a National Commission to look into reservation for minorities, the Commission said, "at this juncture when elections are being held in two states of the country the decision gives the impression of being aimed at influencing some sections of the electorate". Reminding the Cabinet Secretary that the government had sought its views on the issue of changing the policy on subsidy for Haj travel and decided to defer it, the Commission said that it was "emphatically of the view that the decision on the constitution of the (National) Commission should also have been deferred till the date of poll, October 13."

To the dismay of the industry, the move to introduce job reservation in the private sector had gained momentum with Ram Vilas Paswan, Union Fertiliser Minister and president of LJP, raised the pitch and demanded that the issue be added in the President’’ Speech at the inaugural session of the new Parliament. His unrelenting stance prompted the Prime Minister to constitute a Group of Ministers on August 30 to fulfill the promise made in the Common Minimum Programme to provide job reservation in the private sector and to examine, among other things, the issue of "affirmative" action.The seven-member body, headed by Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar was expected to take a full view of the situation after the government initiated a national debate and started a consultation process with the political parties, industry and other organisations to see how best the private sector can fulfill the aspirations of Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe youth.

The political undercurrents of any reservation policy have been felt in terms of caste divide in the society. But none of the political party has taken a public position to oppose such a concept in public for fear of losing votes of certain section of the society even though many a leaders in many political parties do have their views in private. The particular school of socialists, which owes its allegiance to Lohia and Ambedkar, has unleashed the "competitive casteism", a move that has given them a political platform and a path to power. May be it is the irony that in the nation, that aspires to become an economic super power, a country that is emerging as a force in the global community, the elections are still fought on caste and communal ground and the development agenda is still given a go-bye.