JNU row: Moditva on the wane, it's Hindutva stupid
On Monday prime time broadcast, there was a bizarre scene in Times Now studio. BJP's spokesperson Sambit Patra suddenly burst into raising "Bharat Mata ki jai" slogans. He challenged fellow panellists to join him - once, twice, and thrice - to prove their love and loyalty to the motherland.
Theatrics and shouting matches are stuff of some television debates. But on that day, Patra was unusually tense and gung-go at the same time, though India had neither won a war against Pakistan, nor beaten it in a cricket World Cup final match.
Patra was a bit too hyped-up by the party's new push. Cut to Patiala House chaos, the BJP MLA O P Sharma leading physical charge at journalists, party activists and students. Patra in the television studio and Sharma in the court premises are also facets of macho nationalism the BJP has fallen on to pump up the party.
For the first time since the Narendra Modi government came to power, the BJP has so aggressively put the Hindutva's nationalism agenda upfront. And this time, the BJP has not couched its core ideological belief in sophistry.
Veneer of cultural nationalism has thinned down. It's nationalism. Taking it forward, the BJP is launching three-day nationwide "Jan Swabhimaan Abhiyan."
The BJP's confidence and urgency to bring the debate over nationalism to the forefront of national discourse was reflected in alacrity with which ministers and party leaders joined the fray. It was a well-thought-out strategy.
On February 9 the JNU event took place, by February 12 home minister Rajnath Singh, HRD minister Smriti Irani were spitting fire. RSS had joined the fray. JNUSU President Kanhaiya Kumar was arrested the same day. The Centre's crackdown on JNU, therefore, should not be looked at as a minor and side issue. It's essential to the BJP's core agenda.
Of course, the home minister made a tactical error in ordering Kanhaiya's arrest on sedition charge. Tactical error because sedition is unlikely to stand in court against him since neither his politics nor his actions amount to sedition. In this case, the alacrity is explained by the government's overconfidence and over zeal.
Over a period of 20 months, the government has been on defensive on issues that form its ideological core. Though the party has a majority in the Lok Sabha, it has been shying away from espousing what it believes is its basic ideological belief: Advancing nationalism, working to bind a diverse nation in an organic oneness of national identity by imposing its own idea of India through majoritarian politics.
It has been shying away because the BJP has been riding on Moditva, not Hindutva. The BJP came to power on Modi wave, not on the party's core, non-negotiable agendas. Now that Moditva has lost sheen, Hindutva is the only option before the BJP.
The party, it seems, has been waiting for an opportune moment to find a suitable issue and turn it into basis for advancing its political agenda. It appears there was a lack of clarity over the direction the Modi government wanted to take. Perhaps, there was confusion over the speed with which the party wanted to move in asserting its core belief.
In the flush of victory after securing an absolute majority in the Lok Sabha, the BJP had let loose the fringe groups within the party to take centrestage. The loonies made a mess of things by raising such divisive issues as ghar wapasi, love jihad and carrying on shrill anti-Pakistan rhetoric, which they believed could galvanise the Hindu street.
That strategy fell flat with the nationwide outrage over Dadri lynching and rise of intolerance debate followed by return of awards by prominent writers, filmmakers and artists. The resounding defeat in Bihar shocked the BJP into revisiting its strategy. The fringe elements were silenced. Modi's own pow-wow with Nawaz Sharif lost the Pakistan steam after the Pathankot attack.
Of the three Hindutva-based issues, the BJP has been espousing as its core agenda, the Ramjanmabhoomi-Babri Masjid issue is virtually dead after having catapulted the party from obscurity to power.
Quest for abrogation of Article 370 has been on the backburner, what with the BJP entering into alliance with the PDP in Jammu and Kashmir. And the demand for Uniform Civil Code is fraught with too many political and legal complexities to pursue, though the matter is central to the BJP's nationalism agenda.
That leaves the BJP to look for issues that can appeal to the middle class and inflame passions but without derailing the government and Modi's agenda.
The party felt that nationalism, lashed with patriotism and jingoism in right dozes, could appeal to its constituencies. JNU's fringe Democratic Students Union (DSU)'s pograamme to observe Afzal Guru's death anniversary offered a chance. The event had a heady mix of Kashmir, Pakistan, and Parliament attack components. There couldn't be a better mix of issues to ride on to destination nationalism.
JNU also offered a great location in the heart of Delhi and high visibility. On top of it all, there was the BJP's visceral hatred for the Leftists and liberals and a chance to challenge their hegemony on the JNU campus.
Imagine, if the government had not made those mistakes. If it hadn't arrested Kanhaiya, if it would have gone after the DSU students who raised slogans, if the police had followed protocol to enter the university, build up a case for anti-national activities at the university. And if BJP goons hadn't indulged in violence in court, the government would have had at least a case.
However, as the Congress spokesman Kapil Sibal said in a caustic remark, "Don't these people (Modi and company) know how to govern"? The battle is being joined from both sides.