Dear BJP Spokesman Uncle,
To qualify what follows, mindry.in has more than taken the mickey out of Rahul Gandhi, the current form of the Congress(not the same party that won independence at all), and the sad amalgamation that is the UPA.
1. Rahul Gandhi admitted that the LeT does have some support from fringe Islamic groups at home. Very few Indian leaders claim that in any context. Not even your own. He merely said that they did not worry him over much, we can sort them out. India has always been able to deal with Pakistan, neatly splitting it in two even. Nuclear weapons alone do not make a country safe or undefeatable, let’s not forget that a country with over 16,000 nuclear weapons simply collapsed from within (Pakistan has a staggering 90).
2. There is something to be said for one’s life experiences. The two PMs of Independent India who were assassinated were not done in by the LeT or an associate of an “Islamist” group. (Rajiv Gandhi was not in power at the time, but his party won more seats in ’91 than any other single party has managed to do so since. It’s been 19 years since.) These two prime ministers happened to be Rahul Gandhi’s dad and gran. So he’s not entirely off his rocker when his personal experience shows otherwise. The islamists, per se, were not involved.
3. The country’s experience also tells different. There’s still a haze of sorts over the assassination of the other Gandhi. You know, the one that actually mattered, did things because they were right and not because they were easy? The one that’s not related to Rahul in any way? One can always dismiss that legacy now as ancient history, a propaganda tool, or that wonderfully long adage “it was a complicated situation, partition, you can’t simplify”. But the fact remains that the man whose face is on all our money and a significant percentage of our stamps was assassinated by a man who sympathized with right-wing groups espousing a non-inclusive ideology.
So, these people that Rahul baba is concerned about aren’t exactly saints. That would end many high school debates. “People like them killed the Mahatma”. It’s great rhetoric. It works on an emotional level for vote bank politics if you’re talking to a nice narrow-minded mob. But…
3. It’s not vote bank politics. Rahul Gandhi said it to the American ambassador. Not to a votebank ATM during election time. So unless Rahul baba had more foresight than even die-hard sycophants in the Congress are willing to attribute to him, he could not have foreseen a possible cable from the ambassador which wikileaks would then, well, leak. The external affairs ministry may be focussed towards Pakistan but the Home Ministry (a larger ministry) may have other concerns. If he believes it strongly enough to tell it to the senior-most representative of the world’s only superpower it begs the question: Have you looked into the eyes of your “friends” and fellow travellers?
4. The world’s experience cannot be discounted, either. A fringe group claiming defence/support of a majority community has in many cases posed more of a threat to the system and the populace than a minority. The Nazis weren’t from a “minority community” in Germany, neither were the Fascists. The communist party in China (proud sponsor of the cultural revolution) draws its support from the majority Han community. The Klu Klux Klan(KKK) in America, even the Wahabis in Saudi itself are not aligned with a minority community in those nations. No one who’s studied their history will simply cast it aside as a statistical impossibility “in a country as vast and diverse as India”, without a slight unease. Several of those countries are quite diverse and vast and will stand up favourably with whatever other dimensions you want to measure.
In conclusion, pay attention to the wikileaks. The BJP has a mixed record on internal security and a downright dismal record in dealing with corruption. It has shown very little determination in dealing with Yeddiyurappa. It has shown even less determination in dealing with the Reddy brothers. The BJP needs to convince many people that it can be stern with its friends, before it focuses on how to deal with its enemies. But there are plenty of us who can still be convinced.
50% of this country doesn’t vote. Only 25% stands with the UPA and less with the NDA.
If the BJP wants the undecideds to take it seriously in the years to come, it needs to press for the rule of law. It needs to hold its leaders accountable, and hell, even put the country ahead of the egos of its fractured central leadership.
It needs to not to hold a bull-shit token bandh in states where it’s in power, or have large groups of unemployed, yet paid-off youth, shout loud shrill (yet not heartfelt) threats about revenge…that’s what extremists would do.
Thanks,
An Undecided
