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14 | HINDUSTAN TIMES, NEW DELHIFRIDAY, MAY 23, 2014

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No longer caste in stoneThe SP and BSP must realise that though caste is still a factor

in Uttar Pradesh, this alone will not win elections

S amajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav’s plain-tive remark “Who will I sit with in Parliament?” sumsup the sense of deprivation, indeed desolation, that the leader feels at the near total rout of his party in

Uttar Pradesh. He has predictably lashed out at his own sonand chief minister Akhilesh Yadav for his poor performance, which impacted the general elections. On his part, the CM hassacked 36 ministers. The BSP too is in stock-taking mode withleader Mayawati dissolving all party committees. These werethe two parties which had ruled the politically crucial stateof Uttar Pradesh for years, edging out the Congress and the BJP. In many ways, they were the kingmakers at the Centre and their tantrums were feared by the government of the day.But both Behenji and Netaji, as they like to be known, haveonly themselves to blame.

Ms Mayawati played the Dalit card for all it was worth for years. But what she seemed to have failed to realise is that theDalits are not impervious to their social milieu and perhapsdid not want the disadvantaged tag to stick in perpetuity. Theyseem to have voted for more employment opportunities anddevelopment rather than nurse the victim mentality. Duringher tenure too, Ms Mayawati went on a statue-building spreein the hope that these would be seen as symbols of pride by herflock. However, they were seen more as a wasteful indulgencethan a productive contribution to the state. Mr Yadav too madethe cardinal blunder of trying to run the state with the help ofhis cronies rather than leave his son to do the job. The appallingcallousness after the Muzaffarnagar riots certainly alienatednot just the Muslims but many others as well. The sight ofMLAs going on a jolly and a jaunt when people were dying inrefugee camps did not go unpunished during these elections. In the case of both parties, the message from these electionsis that they need a drastic change in strategy if they are torebuild themselves. People are no longer willing to listen totired old shibboleths or tolerate the sort of excesses that boththese leaders are guilty of.

Caste is still a factor in Uttar Pradesh, but this alone will notwin elections. The BJP used the caste card with add-ons andthat is what carried the day for it. The secular versus communaldebate too is one of diminishing returns. Both parties need toeffect a paradigm shift in their thinking in the new perform orperish scenario. The choice before the two is clear.

Stop this politicalgrandstanding

The protest against Rajapaksa’s visit is hardly constructive and will not help the Tamil cause

There are times when paro-chial domestic concernsought to be put aside in the greater national good.This is one such time. A new government is com-ing in and it is only natural that it will reach out to the neighbouring countries. So, Prime

Minister-elect Narendra Modi has invited Sri Lankan PresidentMahinda Rajapaksa to attend his swearing-in ceremony onMonday. But no sooner did this news come, and the Tamil par-ties are up in arms over the possible hurt to the sentiments ofthe Tamils. This is posturing at best and poor politics at worst.

Mr Rajapaksa is the elected president of a friendly country and an event like the one on Monday cannot be heldhostage to these misplaced sentiments. The Tamil issue haslong been raised by Tamil parties which have styled themselvesas spokesmen for the Sri Lankan Tamils. There is no doubt that the Rajapaksa government prosecuted a brutal civil waragainst the Tamil minority but then the LTTE was no lessbrutal. Having successfully concluded the war, there is also nodoubt that the Sri Lankan government could do much more byway of reconciliation and rehabilitation. But the Sri LankanTamils seem to have wisely understood that they need to livein harmony with the Sinhala community and they are tryingto pick up the pieces and get on with their lives. However, theTamil parties in India don’t seem to want to let go of an issuewhich they have milked for all its worth over the years. Whenthe civil war in Lanka was at its height, we did not see toomany tears being shed by the Tamil parties. So, it is passingstrange that they should think of raking it up now.

The AIADMK has done very well on its own in TamilNadu, but nevertheless it would not set the stage for a productive relationship with the Centre if chief ministerJ Jayalalithaa were to stay away on Monday on account of theTamil issue. The DMK, decimated as it has been, should havefar greater concerns than the cause of the Tamils at presentand the smaller parties have nothing to gain by politicisingthis issue. The new prime minister is not likely to addressthe Tamil issue for quite a while, saddled as he is with a fal-tering economy. So, we can only assume that this is simply grandstanding. However, this is hardly constructive and nei-ther helps the Tamils’ cause nor boosts their own stature orbargaining power.

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Modi leads from the frontThe people recognised the PM-designate’s motivation and commitment. His energy and leadership will now be dedicated to the nation

T here are many features of the 2014 Lok Sabhaelections that have not been highlighted till now. They relate to the BJP’s campaign, the message and the outcome. The significance ofthe poll result has drowned several aspects that should set the tone for any election dialogue

not just in India but abroad too. Several critical gainsachieved by the BJP have shattered many myths. Politicaldiscourses are yet to analyse the emergence of some sec-tions of voters from a perceived caste/religion cocoon theywere made to live in. For the BJP, these gains mean much and politically they have to be sustained and reinforced.

The BJP correctly read the mood of the people who yearned for the removal of the Congress from power atthe Centre. Our campaign did not mince words when it called for a ‘Congress-mukht Bharat’. The BJP’s primeministerial candidate, Narendra Modi, campaigned even instates where the party organisation was delicately poised.The overwhelming response to Modi’s election rallies wasthere for everyone to see. The outcome of this electioncaptures this dynamic.

In the 16th Lok Sabha, there will be no Congress memberof Parliament from 14 states: the National Capital Regionof Delhi, Goa, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu andKashmir, Jharkhand, Nagaland, Odisha, Rajasthan, Sikkim,Tamil Nadu, Tripura, Uttarakhand and Seemandhra.There will be no Congress MP from six Union Territories:Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Chandigarh, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Daman and Diu, Puducherry and Lakshadweep. The gravity of the Congress’ defeat can be understood byone more fact: In Tamil Nadu, out of 39 seats, the Congress’candidates have lost their deposits in 38 seats.

After PV Narasimha Rao and HD Deve Gowda, Modiwill be the third chief minister and only the second after

Jawaharlal Nehru for a first-time MP to become primeminister. He will become the first prime minister of India tobe born after Independence when he takes oath on May 26.

But these records pale when we compare the extentand nature of his election campaign. The scale of thecampaign has stunned many international observers. Asit is, remarks about Indian politics being an intense andfull-time activity are made without appreciating that thosein politics have no time schedules. Between September15, 2013 and May 10, 2014, the PM-designate covered over3,00,00 kilometres. Between March 26 and May 10, on anaverage, he held four to five rallies per day. In total, Modiheld 437 rallies and other programmes such as laying thefoundation stone for the Statue of Unity.

Modi’s campaign schedule ran on time, bucking thenotorious trend of public meetings running hours behindschedule. Between rallies, Modi also gave media interviews. There were a few motivational sessions with party workersand strategy meetings with senior leaders. He also met diplomats, new allies and concerned citizens.

The long working hours and the sheer diversity of activi-ties that required his involvement needed high energy levels and Modi was up to the challenge. His energy helpedus beat monotony, labour and the heat. Each Modi rally captured the imagination of the young and the old.

That energy also helped to increase the hopes and expec-tations of the people. However, it was contained and dif-fused with measured discretion. This can be exemplifiedby Modi’s conduct at the Hunkar rally in Patna. Informedof a bomb within the rally’s periphery, the BJP leaders under his stewardship ensured that there was no panic. It was providential that the entire party leadership andthe people of Bihar returned safe that day. Unfortunately,a few precious lives were lost.

It is a matter of interest for many that Modi is at easewith new communication technologies. That he readilyadopts them for efficiency was apparent when he startedusing 3D hologram technology for the campaign. He usedthis in the 2012 Gujarat assembly elections and foundthe public response inspiring and motivating. In the LokSabha campaign, 3D holograms were used in 1,350 loca-tions spread over 12 rounds.

The campaign outcome has brought hope for stability.After 1984, when the elections happened under differentcircumstances, voters have favoured a single party withmajority seats. The BJP has secured support from allsections of voters. Unquestioned and hitherto held mythshave been shaken up if not shattered.

Here are some interesting facts: 84 seats in the Lok Sabhaare reserved for the scheduled castes. The BJP contested in62 such seats and won 40. Of this, six were won by women.The NDA partners have won nine, taking the total numberto 49. There are 48 seats for scheduled tribes (ST) in theLok Sabha. The BJP contested in 40 seats and has won27. Its allies won two, taking the total to 29. The BJP alsofielded ST candidates from three general seats and wonall. The BJP fielded 38 women in the 428 seats it contested.Among them, 30 won. This Parliament will have 62 womenmembers and 48.38% of them shall be from the BJP. Theparty fielded eight minority candidates but no one won.

The Modi-led BJP has set high standards of endurance,substance and diversity in its campaign. This is reflectiveof the diversity of this country. The people related to Modi,recognised not only the tried-and-tested leadership in himbut also his dedication and commitment. Henceforth, thisenergy and commitment will be dedicated to nation building.

Nirmala Sitharaman is national spokesperson, BJP The views expressed by the author are personal

■ The Narendra Modi-led BJP has set high standards of endurance and substance in itscampaign. This is reflective of the diversity of this country

N I R M A L A S I T H A R A M A N

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Comparing Hitler’s Germany with India 2014 is odious

P rime Minister-designate NarendraModi is yet to take centre stage. Butlike masked, wailing choruses inGreek tragedies, liberal intellectuals

have already begun invoking the ghost ofAdolf Hitler, the greatest criminal in thehistory of mankind.

In one essay, writer Pankaj Mishra sug-gests that Indians have voluntarily chosenxenophobic dictatorship. The election,writes the author of Butter Chicken inLudhiana, signals a turbulent phase for India — “arguably, the most sinister sinceits independence from British rule in 1947.”

While the opening paragraph almostsounds like an absurd yearning for theRaj (ironically, on the eve of the rabidly Right-wing UKIP’s expected triumph in theEuropean and other local polls in Britain),the article’s near-Biblical sanctimonious-ness (“They know not what they do”: Luke 23:34) essentially insults the intelligence ofthe millions who chose Modi.

In short: It tells the world that India’s democracy, its Supreme Court (which dis-missed charges against Modi) and its votersneed not be taken seriously.

Discarding historical facts to declare an absolute similitude between thePM-designate and the evil brain behindthe gas chambers diverts attention from themost urgent problems facing the incominggovernment. It also turns what ought to bescholarly debate into arbitrary defamation.

Modi came to power in a democratic elec-tion in which 550 million people made theirchoices. Overwhelmingly, for his BJP.

Hitler did so only after several chaoticcabinets which did not have a majority inReichstag (Parliament).

From 1932 onwards, Ger many’s Chancellor began to be appointed by itsPresident (Paul von Hindenburg), a formerimperial field marshal, who made no bonesabout his hatred for parliamentary democ-racy. A series of emergency laws, enabledby the weak German constitution of thetime, had made it possible to bypass a par-liamentary majority at will.

The National Socialists (NSDAP) — Nazis — never got more than 30% of thevote share in free elections before Hitlerwas appointed chancellor.

While few skirmishes marked the recentLok Sabha polls, the political climate in

the Germany of the time was fraught withviolence and hatred. Consequently, Hitler’s electoral victory, 10 years after his botchedcoup attempt, did not, in any measure, meetthe basic free-and-fair criteria that marked the Indian elections.

Both Hitler’s NSDAP as well as theCommunists spared no efforts to destroyGermany’s first parliamentary democracy.It is for this reason that historians oftendescribe the Weimar Republic as a ‘democ-racy sans democrats’.

To the Germans, the Treaty of Versaillesafter World War 1 was a great ignominy.Its demand for costly reparations fromthem only strengthened public resent-ment against social democrats, liberals, centrists — in short, all those who were expected to execute the conditions laiddown by the Treaty.

Consequently, the 14 years of weakdemocracy before Hitler was sworn inwere marked by widespread public hos-tility towards democracy, the political lead-ership and the judiciary. Germans of thetime either sympathised with the extremenationalism of the Nazis or yearned for a return to monarchy. Right-wing extremistscould count on mild punishment for acts ofviolence. For his failed coup, Hitler himselfwas awarded a five-year prison term but pardoned after merely eight months.

Meanwhile, the country faced its worsteconomic crisis that the world had seen up tothen: The Great Depression, which broughtunemployment and disillusionment with thefuture. All these developments were decriedas the results of democracy.

Hitler’s national-socialist propagandaexploited precisely this public anger anddrew a destructive picture of democracy asa trap to enslave Germans: By the victors ofthe war, by ‘Jewish Bolshevism’, by ‘Jewishcapital economics’, by the ‘shameful Diktat of Versailles’ and finally, by all politiciansextolling democracy.

Concern over the more rabid componentsof the BJP, which frequently make theirpresence felt, is justified. But a will to deci-mate India’s democracy altogether cannotbe attributed to either Modi or the BJP.

In the nearly 70 years that India hasbeen a functioning democratic republicof raucous and free public debate, the only notable exception remains Indira Gandhi’s Emergency.

While the last four years were undoubt-edly marked by frustration over a stagnatedeconomy, the Lok Sabha polls did not take place amidst a crisis even remotely similarto the Depression.

Despite persistent poverty and othersocial problems, Indians are optimisticabout their future and see themselves as

a nation on the move. Modi voters essen-tially opted for less corruption, and betterinfrastructure, education and prospectsfor the future.

Since the economic reforms of the early1990s, millions of Indians did see an ele-vation from below the poverty line to theranks of the middle class. Many of thoseleft behind viewed the outgoing coalitiongovernment as an impediment to theirdreams and were pragmatic, rather thandogmatic, in their choice of the BJP as analternative.

Fulfilling their hopes will be the primechallenge for Narendra Modi and the BJP.

The new PM’s victory undoubtedlythrows up questions.

Will he invoke Hindu nationalism at theexpense of the Muslim minority?

Will Right-wing Hindus feel empoweredto use violence against political opponentsand other religious groups?

But an evocation of Hitler is a fallaciousresponse to those questions.

Already in the 1920s and before hecame to power, most Germans could eas-ily discern Adolf Hitler’s rabid desire for‘elimination’ and mass genocide. His anti-Semitic ideology, his hatred for Jews and alldissenters, his abhorrence of democracywere already well-known and espoused inhis book Mein Kampf.

An equally destructive and well-publi-cised urge for mass destruction can hardlybe attributed to Modi.

But though it is farcical to harp onan “apology” for alleged crimes that theSupreme Court has already cleared him of,it may help alleviate some of the uneasinessif Modi periodically vocalised his determi-nation to protect all minorities.

The overwhelming majority of Indiansrevel in democracy and are proud of the judi-ciary. There is pluralism in the media and anactive civil society: Assets which Germansin the Hitler-era were not blessed with.

But is India of 2014 the Germany of the1930s? Far from it. There is no Third Reich.

And there will never be another Hitler.Marcus Pindur is an India observer and

currently the Washington correspondent forNational German Public Radio.

Padma Rao Sundarji is a senior Delhi-basedcorrespondent for Germany’s leading media houses

The views expressed by the authors are personal

■ While the last four years were undoubtedly marked by frustration over a stagnant economy, the LokSabha elections did not take place amidst a crisis even remotely similar to the Depression

Narendra Modi’s voters essentially opted for less corruption, better infrastructure, quality education and brighter prospects for the future

M A R C U S P I N D U R | P A D M A R A O S U N D A R J I

byinvitationion

Illustration: SIDDHANT JUMDE

MILIND DEORA Former Union minister

THINK IT OVER >>

BE A YARDSTICK OF QUALITY. SOME PEOPLE AREN’T USED TO AN ENVIRONMENT WHERE EXCELLENCE IS EXPECTED: STEVE JOBS

›THERE WERE STRONG MURMURS IN THE PARTY THAT PEOPLE WHO ARE CALLING THE SHOTS ARE PEOPLE WITH NO ELECTORAL

EXPERIENCE… NO STATURE, STANDING, RESPECT AND CREDIBILITY IN THE PARTY... A LOT OF US FELT OUR VOICES WERE NEVER HEARD (ON CONGRESS VICE-PRESIDENT RAHUL GANDHI’S ADVISERS) .

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