BJP's patriotism or 'anti-national', Modi wants you to choose

By deciding to launch a three-day long Jan Swabhiman Abhiyan, the Bharatiya Janata Party has decided not to cut its losses on the JNU issue by bailing out after making a scapegoat out of a few police officers and junior party functionaries. It is instead having a go at converting the episode into a position of strength by broadening its plank from communal sectarianism to ultra-nationalism.

In its official release, the BJP has stated, the campaign is being started for "unity, integrity and progress" of the nation. In the course of this campaign, party workers and leaders will organise "creative programme" for "mass awareness". The party would hold demonstrations, protest meets, exhibitions, seminars and discussions, programmes of patriotic songs, street plays and signature campaign at all levels staring from block and districts to state level units.

The programme is indicative that despite Arun Jaitley's tweet on Wednesday that the "media has an unhindered right to report. Attack on media persons is highly improper and condemnable"; the party is not giving up on the line of attack mounted by BJP president Amit Shah, home minister Rajnath Singh, HRD minister Smriti Irani and RSS joint general secretary Dattatreya Hosable besides several others.

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The principle argument being made is that the BJP's interpretation of what constitutes patriotism and nationalism is not a matter of debate but a question of faith. The campaign does not recognise the fact that JNUSU president Kanhaiya Kumar downward, other students' leaders, members of the faculty and an overwhelming majority of other have distanced from anti-national slogans that were purportedly raised at the controversial meeting on February 9.

Lines have been blurred and the principle belief behind the #ShutDownJNU is that the principle of free speech is acceptable only if it remains within the arc set by the RSS and its affiliates. At one level no distinction is made between liberals, mainstream communists and ultra-Left and at the other level, there is a concerted attempt at amalgamating the Hindu sectarian plank with the ultra-nationalism now the favoured thrust of the Sangh Parivar.

The distinction between the three distinct categories of adversaries is not being made because the Sangh Parivar's calculation is that presentation of "one foe" will enable it to rally its supporters more solidly. The Sangh's theoreticians argue that all communist groups - even CPI, the students' wing of which is Kumar's organisation and CPI(M) - are one and the same because parliamentary politics is simply a tactic to lure support for an armed revolution. Liberal groups, supporters of the BJP and RSS contend, too are in cahoots with communists of all shades because they oppose the sectarian and ultra-nationalist worldview.

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In the BJP's calculations, its campaign against JNU will enable it to widen its anti-minority platform. Publicity material being circulated on social media and by other means has a vicious thrust and names just one organiser of the February 9. This is handy for mixing ultra-nationalism with communalism because Umar Khalid is Muslim. The basic points being made in this campaign are the following: that besides being Muslim, Khalid is a JNUite, supporter of Afzal Guru's "ideology", an admirer of Kejriwal who also "loves" Khalid and that he is a pro-Pakistan person who wishes to hand over Kashmir to India's Western neighbour. The verbal fusillade does not mention that all his "comrades" in Democratic Students' Union (DSU), who called for the controversial programme are Hindus.

This suggests that the Sangh Parivar is building an argument that the campaign against the unity and integrity of India is led by Muslims but more importantly they are backed by communist and liberal groups. In this campaign, the BJP is attempting to club together everybody ranging from Rahul Gandhi and the Congress to Maoists and even radical Dalit groups because they are opposing police crackdown.

By adopting this strategy, the BJP appears to have abandoned its short-term political and governmental goals which include transacting anything more meaningful that just the annual Budget during the forthcoming parliamentary session. By default, this also suggests that the ruling party is less focused about the performance of the government and ensuring that it is able to deliver on the promises made during the parliamentary campaign. Instead, the emphasis is on strategising to widen support and prepare for a longer political battle ahead.

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Whether this means going in for a snap poll later this year is too early to state, but the manner in which the confrontation has been set up on the streets of India through the three-day campaign, suggests that the issue is no longer specific to campuses and such a consideration can be ruled out completely. Whether the cost of such line of attack on adversaries will outweigh benefits or not, is too early to say. But there is no denying that by putting his stakes on all-out struggle on a matter which should never have been allowed to snowball into such a massive confrontation, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has taken the biggest risk of his tenure.