From: bhatnagr@ucunix.san.uc.edu (Raj Bhatnagar)
Subject: Re: Dismissal of BJP Ruled States: Strategy ? Repost
Organization: University of Cincinnati
Date: Fri, 18 Dec 1992 17:23:38 GMT

In article <92352.095854DXS23@psuvm.psu.edu> Deepak Srivastava <DXS23@psuvm.psu.edu> writes:


>PVNR government has finally dismissed state governments of
                     ^^^^^^^
>all BJP ruled states UP, MP, Rajasthan and HP. 

It seems you were waiting, with a baited breath, for this to happen
for quite some time.

>A blow to
>democracy, a lot of political upheaval, possibly mid-term
>poles or simply a strategic move ?
>

I would say "All of the Above."


>After banning RSS and allied organizations in all the states
>Rao possibly did not have any other choice. Because recently
>the chief-ministers of some BJP ruled states, specially Bhairo
>Singh Sakhavat, have declared their intentions of not quitting
>their basic memberships of RSS and its allied organizations.

You are wrong in claiming the above. There is no such thing as
the "basic membership of RSS." You go to their shakhas whenever
you feel like and don't whenever you don't feel like. Nobody
ever fills up any forms and maintains rosters of formal members.


>The Congress and leftists will
                 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>go far preserving secular nature of the constitution/ Rao's economic
 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^                                     ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>policies of the last few years and the in general the comparison
 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>of Rao vs the BJP government performances etc.
>


Are you sure you are not making some mistake when you say that 
"leftists will go for preserving Rao's economic policies of the 
last few years." Leftists are with the Congress in this only becasue
they are scared of BJP's progress in the last few years and want to 
arrest it at any cost. But the love for Rao's economic liberalization 
is never going to be the reason for their alliance with Congress.


>Now by dismissing the state governments in BJP ruled Rajasthan, MP and
>Himanchal Predesh has democracy really been murdered ? 

Not exactly murdered, but sure "one more blow" has been inflicted.

>I do not think so,
>because the RJB/BM issue and the chalange to the secular nature of the
>the constitution is much bigger than what can be decided only by the
>people of UP. 

So the democratic process can be stepped over when what *You* consider to
be more important is not possible within the norms of democratic process?
Then whats the differecne between you and those who considered 
demolition of the disputed structure in Ayodhya more important than the
democratic process? Just that the goals considered to be more important
than the process are different.

>By dismissing neighboring state governments also and holding
>the mid-term poles in all the four states simultaneously Rao has simply
>covered the entire north indian span where BJP can claim to have any
>significant support on this issue. If with in next couple of weeks the Center
>declares fresh elections within these four states, and all the remaining
>parties goes along with Rao (which they very well may do so),this will not
>be a blow to democracy but the show of democracy at its best. Why ? Because
>this is the first time the people in these four states, covering almost
>the entire Hindi hartland, will get a chance to vote for BJP exclusively
>on its Hindu rightwing approaches to the problems of national interest. This
>is the first time political leaders within BJP will know how much real
>support they have for their Hindu right-wing ideologies.

So, according to you, the best show of democracy is when the center can
dismiss any state government at any time to call for a referendum on any
issue? That's exactly what Ishaq Khan had done when he had dismissed
Benazir Govt. in Pakistan. You sure like that form of democracy.

>Why then only BJP ruled states ? Because BJP and its state governments were
>the only ones who from time to time have been claiming that they have a
>majority mandate, atleast in the north india, to follow what they have been
>following for the last few years.

You sure are trying very hard to justify the dismissal of the BJP ruled
state govts. Just read the above sentences with Congress substituted for
BJP. There does not seem to be anything wrong with the new sentences.
To make weasy for you to read it here is your argument :

"Why then only Congress ruled states ? Because Congress and its state governments were
 the only ones who from time to time have been claiming that they have a
 majority mandate, atleast in their ruled states, to follow what they have been
 following for the last few years."

Do you see the meaninglessness of this justification?

>So for next few weeks let us keep our fingers cross and see which way finally
>the wind blows.

You have examined some selected aspects and have chosen to ignore some 
others completely. Arjun Singh has been after Rao from day one of Rao's 
PM-ship to dismiss the MP govt. Rao has been countering that pressure.
But now with the leftists of the Congress solidly behind him on this
demand the pressure on Rao is too much. He, therefore, seems to have done it
only for his own political survival within his Congress party. The Churhut
lottery cases against Arjun Singh which the BJP govt of MP was pursuing
against him were of interest to Rao also becasue they were keeping Arjun Singh,
Rao's internal rival, subdued to some extent.

>regards                       Deepak


---raj

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