From: banarji@unixg.ubc.ca (Ajai Banarji)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.indian
Subject: Murder of democracy? Big deal
Date: 17 Dec 1992 06:09:10 GMT
Organization: University of British Columbia, Vancouver, B.C., Canada
Distribution: na
NNTP-Posting-Host: unixg.ubc.ca

		Murder of democracy? Big deal

  What is so bad about the dismissal of the BJP governments in MP, HP and
Rajasthan? There are umpteen number of times when state governments were
dismissed on frivolous grounds. A few particularly bad examples were in
AP in 1984 (Ram Lal vs NTR) and in Tamil Nadu in 1976. 
  And don't blame the Congress alone. The Janata Party (which included the
Jana Sangh) dissolved the assemblies in most of the Northern states in
1977 although the Congress had good majorities. VPS's government did the
same in 1990.
 It remains to be seen what would happen if there is a mid-term poll. The
Indian public has provided surprises before, notably in 1977 and 1980. From
what I could gather, the BJP governments in MP and Rajasthan were not
particularly efficient (though a little less corrupt than their Congress
predecessors). The BJP government in UP was supposed to be rather inefficient.
Among other things, the incidence of Khalistani terrorism in UP went up
sharply only after the BJP government came to power.
  Has the BJP really proved itself more capable or running the government      than the Congress? Probably not. There are numerous incidents like
the Uma Bharati "affair" with Govindacharya which showed that the much-
vaunted party discipline is not much better than that of the Congress. 
  Has it gained support outside it's traditional areas of strength? 
Probably not. Despite all their effort to create a big issue over Tinbigha
in Bengal, they hardly got any support from the local people. It remains
almost non-existent in Tamil Nadu and the North-east. It is still to win
a single assembly seat in several other states like Kerala. They are
unlikely to do well in Bihar or Orissa. They might pick up a few LS
seats here and there in AP or Karnataka, but if the people there are
sufficiently pissed off with the Congress they are more likely to vote
for the Telugu Desam or the local JD faction.
  Finally, the other non-Hindu voters are certainly not going to support
them. The Christians in Kerala, Goa and the Northeast may well wonder if
they are next on the BJP's "hit list". The Sikhs already think they are on the
hit list since 1984. Strangely, even the Hindus in Punjab (who were a
majority of the voters in the recent election) voted in favour of the
Congress rather than the BJP. Even the backward classes in the North
(especially Bihar) are more likely to support the JD.
  My point is, the BJP/VHP/RSS lobby on this net is perhaps being too
optimistic if they think they can improve their position if a new election
was held. 
  But is it really necessary to have a mid-term poll? If the National Front
and left parties do support the Congress at the centre, then they can 
do without the BJP's support. The left parties will, of course, do their
best to screw up the economic reforms. Sold your IGF shares yet?
  Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe there will be a BJP government in New Delhi which
will make India a Hindu republic and mirror-image of, say Pakistan or 
Saudi Arabia.  Strangely, some people on this net seem to think that India
should become a saffron version of Pakistan. So you actually think that
Partition was a good idea? Would you like to see saffron-clad ayatollahs
like, say, Uma Bharati or Ashok Singhal issuing death threats to anyone
who writes something vaguely against the government's policy?
  More seriously, the BJP/VHP/RSS government is too heavily dominated by
people from certain communities in certain parts of the country. Tensions
between the North and South are certain to rise. There is a real possibility
of a strong breakaway movement starting in several states (particularly
the South) in the event of a central government dominated by the BJP.
  Enough speculation for one day :-)

Xref: sparky soc.culture.indian:41523 soc.culture.tamil:4533