JUBAIL: The siege of Mumbai brought Indians together but some political parties failed to rise to the occasion. As usual, they tried to capitalize on the tragic events in order to win votes, and their efforts backfired. The big losers are Kerala Chief Minister Achuthanandan at the one end of the political spectrum and Bharathiya Janatha Party at the other end.
The Communist Party (Marxist), now in power in West Bengal and Kerala, cannot be compared to the BJP. The CP(M) is secular while the BJP is communal with an anti-minority agenda. However, they did err in handling the aftermath of the Mumbai siege.
A valiant Keralite, Maj. Unnikrishnan, died bravely defending a colleague during the Taj Hotel operation. He was a commando from the National Security Guard (NSG). His burial took place at Bangalore, the capital of Karnataka ruled by the BJP. Chief Minister Yeddiurappa of Karnataka turned Unnikrishnan’s burial into a BJP affair. Congress leaders were mere spectators. The Kerala government failed to keep decorum and didn’t bother to send even a junior minister. Chief Minister Achuthanandan and his lieutenants were busy attending a party meeting in New Delhi. The next day, the media came down heavily on CPM’s insensitive behavior. Fearing a public outcry, Achuthanandan and his home minister rushed to Bangalore. The grieving father of Maj. Unnikrishnan refused to meet them and his public outburst against the Kerala ministers further damaged the CPM’s image.
For over a decade, the CPM’s Kerala unit has been plagued by inner-party wrangling, ego clashes and lack of ideological clarity on political and economic issues. Party meetings at higher levels have dissolved into tactical clashes between leaders such as Achuthanandan and party state secretary Pinarayi Vijayan etc. Party apparatus, rather than ideology, has become important. Such misplaced priorities have convinced its leaders to ignore public sentiment. This explains the series of developments that landed Achuthanandan in an embarrassing situation.
The BJP’s problems too are of its own making. After every terrorist attack the BJP and other Sangh Parivar outfits try to portray Muslims as responsible. But the revelations on the Malegaon blasts were an eye opener to the public. An extremist Hinduvata organization, Abinav Bharat, run by an army colonel named Purohit was found to be responsible for the blasts.
The investigations conducted by the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad chief Hemant Karkare (one of the three police officers killed during the Mumbai attacks) had turned the tables against the BJP and the Sangh Parivar forces. Karkare, himself a devout Hindu, was unyielding in the face of BJP threats. He gathered enough evidence to prove the involvement of Hindu extremist elements in the Malegaon blasts. Karkare went on to indicate that he had evidence linking the same forces with the Ajmer and Nanded blasts, also blamed on Muslims.
The BJP found a golden opportunity in the Mumbai siege to come out from the defensive mode. But they forgot one thing. It is usual for the VIPs to stay away from the scene of action when operations against terrorists are in progress. VIP presence diverts security personnel’s focus, in addition to possibly providing high-value, sensational targets to the terrorists. Mumbai was no exception. The Maharashtra Chief Minister Deshmukh requested Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to postpone his visit to Mumbai and the PM obliged. But Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi was in no mood to listen to such advice. Modi ignored Deshmukh’s plea and visited Mumbai. He went to ATS chief Hemant Karkare’s residence and even conducted a press conference to declare ten million rupees each to the families of those killed in Mumbai. The national and regional media, except for the Sangh Parivar mouthpieces, criticized Modi and his BJP bigwigs for their opportunism. The final twist came when Hemant Karkare’s wife bluntly refused to accept the financial assistance offered by Modi. The BJP’s rhetoric on patriotism was exposed as fascist propaganda to gain votes.
Dalits, Hindu lower classes and the minorities who constitute the majority have no place in their scheme of things. Saner elements in the Hindu community are becoming aware of the ugly realities behind the BJP’s mask of patriotism.
