The Hindu Business Line : Politicking for power

ON THURSDAY, the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister, Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav, directed that teaching in all government-run and -aided missionary as well as private recognised schools would take place only between 8 a.m. and noon on Fridays to enable Muslim students offer Friday prayers. On the face of it, this is a very helpful step for members of the minority community. The question will however be asked as to why the community has had to wait for so long to enjoy this facility, the practical utility of which is beyond question.

The answer is of course very clear, but let us depend on the BJP to know what it is. The party's UP chief, Mr Vinay Katiyar, described the Samajwadi Party Government's decision as an exercise in appeasement of the minority community, the sole objective being to make the community happy in the run-up to the Lok Sabha elections.

In other words, Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav had taken the step only to cajole and persuade the Muslims in his State to vote for his candidates and look away from the BJP. There is little doubt that this interpretation is one of fact. The only point at issue is whether politicians are doing the right thing by taking such steps which, clearly, are transitory in their relevance and do not reflect any deep commitment on their part.

The easiest thing to do is to agree with the BJP's interpretation that the step is politically motivated, the objective being (to repeat) to get as many votes as possible in the coming polls. It is also equally easy to say with some conviction that such measures are the bane of Indian politics and society because what they essentially reflect is the politicians' craving for power and do not indicate in any way a genuine desire to help those whose votes they seek.

This should warm the cockles of the BJP's heart but, then, the question has to be asked as to why should the BJP at all take the stand it has when it has itself made use of the communal card (not once but a number of times during the past 15 years) to catapult itself into power on the national scene?

Indeed, what was the Ram temple movement all about in the early 1990s? What was Mr L. K. Advani's "rath yatra" all about during the same period? More important, if the temple movement and the "rath yatra" did finally yield political results for the BJP, then, among all parties on the national scene at the moment, it knows best the value of policy decisions such as the one taken by the UP Chief Minister.

The question then is: Has the BJP been stirred into action over the Friday school timings because of the impact it is likely to have on the electorate, or is it because a deep commitment to "secularism" has been disturbed by Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav's action?

Even when he is angry, a true secularist will not have recourse to non-secularist methods to show his anger and register a protest. Mr Katiyar has threatened that if Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav does not withdraw his order, "the BJP would ask all Hindu students collectively to recite the Hanuman Chalisa and reach their respective schools after noon on Tuesdays".

Certainly, the BJP's slip is showing, but who cares in these days when every means is justified to attain power, even if this means destroying the intricate fabric of a nation as large and diverse as ours.