A party in search of enemies

There is not much ambiguity in the kind of political message the ruling BJP wants to disseminate vis-à-vis l'affaire JNU now that Bharat Mata and the National Flag have been introduced in the discourse. Nor, for that matter, can there be any argument when the government and ruling party spokespersons bristle with self-righteous rage at contrarian views.

This is the BJP doing what it does best, albeit with a little help from TRP-chasing news anchors. The ruling party is currently occupied in giving voice to the “majority” pained by the anti-nationals’ antics; they are “returning the word to the people ( render la parole au people )” to quote a phrase from French right wing leader Jean-Marie Le Pen.

The “majority” in India, let us be mindful, characteristically excludes Kashmiris, Muslims, communists, intellectuals, teachers and, evidently, students who may want to discuss Afzal Guru’s or Yakub Memon’s hanging, a ‘crime’ for which Rohith Vermula was driven to suicide.

As was de rigueur in the heady days of Ram Janmabhoomi movement, ‘ Garv se kaho ham Hindu hain ’ (Be proud to say we are Hindus) has now been replaced by ‘ Jan Swabhiman Abhiyan ’ (campaign for the people’s self-respect) where “ Rahstra drohiyon ko saja do (punish the anti-nationals)” is the favoured slogan.

The BJP is accordingly formulating its favoured populist strategy aimed at fanning latent anxieties and hidden prejudices, especially against Muslims/terrorists/Kashmiri separatists.

It is not for nothing that the Delhi Police’s current preoccupation in a city that witnesses approximately five rapes, two murders and 12 molestations in a day, is to hunt down a PhD scholar called Umar Khalid.

Khalid is supposedly the organiser of a meeting on the JNU campus on February 9, the day Afzal Guru, implicated in the Parliament attack case, was executed. He is seen on a video footage standing next to JNU Students Union President Kanhaiya Kumar during the meeting.

The footage, a doctored version of which was shown on two television networks, shows students shouting “Manuwad se, Azadi, Brahmanwad se, Azadi, Bhukhmari se, Azadi, Samantwad se, Azadi (freedom from casteism, brahminical hierarchy, poverty/hunger, feudalism)”.

The doctored video, of course, showed only the slogan “Azadi”, implying that both Kumar and Khalid were demanding freedom for Kashmir. Kanhaiya Kumar has since been booked for sedition and Khalid’s arrest is anticipated at the time of writing.

His arrest is critical to acting on the script created by home minister Rajnath Singh, who advanced the theory that the campus radicals in JNU were inspired by the Mumbai terror attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed.

Although the theory has since been thoroughly debunked by the emergence of the fact that he was quoting a fake twitter account by way of substantiation, the home minister has succeeded in creating the desired political narrative.

The narrative is tailored to create an enemy in the shape of “ISI/Jehadi-sponsored JNU anti-nationals” as a threat to Indian sovereignty or national pride. Ram Janmabhoomi appears to be suffering from the law of diminishing returns despite the RSS’s bid to whip it up in the run-up to the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections next year. The Sangh Parivar, especially its political progeny — the BJP, needs a new enemy.

Hence, “ISI/Jehadi-sponsored JNU anti-nationals” have to be constructed as the imagined enemies against whom the Hindu Nation will be coaxed into rising again.

A political campaign named Jan Swabhiman Abhiyan is already underway where the BJP MPs and ministers are holding events across the country against the threat of “Desh Drohis (anti-nationals)”.

Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi has declared that the war is between those who “Build India” and those who “Break India”.

The RSS is simultaneously busy organising demonstrations and protests through its sympathisers among lawyers, chartered accountants, retired army, navy and air force officers.

Sample the shape of this narrative on the ground. “In Kashmir, certain people have organised rallies titled ‘Thank You JNU’. We have read reports that such slogans may be repeated in other universities and places. This clearly is an organised attempt by divisive forces, possibly with foreign funding, to attempt to balkanise India. A firm resolve is needed at all levels, including the people and the government to resist such attempts and to maintain the unity and sovereignty of India,” says a statement signed by Air Marshal PK Roy, Major General Bakshi, Major General Raj Malhotra, et al . The statement is circulated by the RSS media cell as a call to “save the country” and march from Rajghat to Parliament.

Finally, this brings to fore the question of why the BJP, which won a majority in the Lok Sabha barely 21 months back, has shunned the development narrative in favour of whipping up national hysteria over a handful of campus radicals shouting slogans. One is that the political calculations and caste arithmetic have started to go awry since the party’s resounding defeats in Delhi and Bihar last year.

In the wake of Vermula’s suicide, the BJP is also facing the danger of a Dalit consolidation which may not bode well for the crucial assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh next year.

Combine this with the development narrative not quite working out for the ruling party. A poll conducted by a media house this week shows the NDA’s popularity going down, economy not doing so well and rural distress leading to farmers getting disenchanted with the government across the country.

The violence in Haryana where the Jats, who substantially voted in favour of the BJP only a year ago, taking to targeting the ruling party office-bearers, is an indication of the latent anger among farming communities displaying itself as caste quota demands.

As the ruling party faces another Parliament session where the possibility of getting critical reform legislations is once again very remote, the industry’s disappointment with the government is palpable.

Clearly, some digression from the development narrative is essential. A heady combination of robust nationalism and muscle-flexing against vulnerable groups is all that it takes to suit the purpose.

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