Home > Liberation Main Page > Index Page October 1997 > ARTICLE

Saffron Hypocrisy

A chargesheeted person cannot continue in the office as chief minister — this was the clamour of BJP wearing the mantle of a moral crusader against the corruption of chargesheeted Laloo Prasad in neighbouring Bihar not so long ago. Hardly within a couple of months, at the time of rotation of guards at the top in UP as part of its opportunistic arrangement with BSP, the party opts for none other than Kalyan Singh as the chief minister — the man against whom the trial court has ordered filing of chargesheet, along with others, for the demolition of Babri Masjid.

In Bihar then, for these pretenders to a clean public life, it was a question of high conventions and lofty norms. Now, at the height of their hypocrisy, they have a different yardstick: courts and constitution can have no say in matters of faith. Is that heinous communal carnage, which caused an irreparable damage to the social fabric of the country, and which incidentally also took a toll of thousands of lives, a crime of a lesser order than Laloo’s venal acts of corruption?

Kalyan Singh’s culpability was perhaps greater. As chief minister, the top constitutional executive functionary in the state, he not only failed to protect the Mosque from the vandals of his own Parivar but misused his authority and conspired in every possible way to paralyse and tie down the hands of the administration. Strange indeed that this double standards of BJP has passed off almost unnoticed by the media. The Congress(I) too exhibited its share of hypocrisy. The party which is yet to come to terms with the complicity of its own leaders in the demolition observed a Black Day when Kalyan Singh took oath. From the opposition camp, CPI(ML) was the only party to stage a spirited demonstration in Lucknow protesting against Kalyan Singh’s oath-taking. For reasons best known to them, CPI and CPI(M) let this occasion pass by without any protest.

The first thing Kalyan Singh did after assuming office was to reiterate his commitment to build a temple at the disputed site and to back it up with a stronger gesture, the very next day he made a visit to Ayodhya.

Meanwhile, the first executive order that government passed — even as the houses of dalits were burning at Hapur and they were being killed elsewhere in the state — was against the socalled misuse of SC-ST Atrocities (Prevention) Act. After a one-shot bluster Mayawati could do nothing but put the government on notice. Understandably, the self-styled champions of dalit empowerment are more concerned at present about sharing the loaves of office with their Savarna partners, despite the fear of their MLAs defecting this time to BJP. But the escalating social strife might put an early end to this thoroughly opportunistic joint ride.

It is probably because of the apprehension that this tenuous coalition might come apart at any time, BJP wants to rake up the temple issue once again hoping for a repeat of its 1991 victory. Perhaps it is for the same reason it was wary of rocking its own boat and unable to change its choice of chief minister. Regaining power in UP is crucial for its march to power at Delhi. It is precisely for this reason all the left, democratic and secular forces in UP should step up their offensive against Kalyan Singh’s continuation in office as well as his communal gambit.

 

Home > Liberation Main Page > Index Page October 1997 > ARTICLE