Beware of New Year's Greetings

by PANKAJ SHARMA

          I am quite sure that prime minister Narendra Modi will greet the nation on this new year with the release of religious data of 2011 census which is still to be made public because it is another weapon for the forces who want to polarize the society by adopting different tricks to get political mileage in their favour. Modi is not one of them who think twice to use a weapon to achieve a goal even through sinful methods.

          Let the polls of Jammu-Kashmir and Jharkhand assembly elections be over, Modi-Government will come out with the population figures based on religion for the whole country and in different states. Rashtriya Swayam Sevak Sangh and all its sister organizations have already prepared themselves to launch a ‘social campaign’ from early next year ‘to create awareness with a new assertiveness about the continuous decrease in Hindu population in the country'.

          RSS is sure of the fact that census 2011 data will prove beyond any doubt that ‘for the first time in over a century the proportion of the Hindu population in the country has fallen below the 80 percent mark'. RSS ideologues think that the revelation of this data will greatly help in subtly change the core psyche of liberal Hindus. The decrease in Hindu population is psychologically important figure on India's religious demographics and what could be a cause for three cheers to RSS and Bhartiya Janta party if they can (mis)use this fact to prove their 'appeasement theory'.

          RSS top brass are keeping an eye over ‘the unique trend that the proportion of Hindus has shown a secular decline since 1961, matched by a corresponding increase in the proportion of Muslims’. BJP has a government in centre with clear majority. Therefore,  RSS is planning to address this issue in all its seriousness and feels that ‘the fact that proportion of Hindus has in the population shrunk from 83.4 percent in 1961 to below 80 percent in 2011 must get a focused attention’. RSS ideologues are of the opinion that Hindu population had come down to 80.5 percent according to the 2001 census and this trend matches with an almost equivalent proportional rise among the Muslims who had reached to 13.4 percent in 2001 from 10.7 in 1961 to 2001. RSS has also analyzed that decadal of Hindu population was 23.8 percent in 1961 which has now fallen to around 19 percent and in comparison, the growth in Muslim population has accelerated from 30.6 percent in 1961 to more than 35 percent now.

          RSS and BJP think tanks are working overtime to collect the data which can prove that even the crude birth rates—CBR—that show the number of births per thousand persons for Muslims is much higher than the Hindus. These think tanks think that whereas all India CBR average is 25.9 percent, for Hindus it is only 24.9 percent and for Muslims it is 30.8 percent—6 percent more than the Hindus. The comparison for total fertility rate for Hindu ad Muslim women has also been analyzed by BJP-RSS teams to prove their point.

          So, be ready to answer their questions first and don’t dare to ask that why it is for the first time that the country’s ruling party—BJP—does not have a single Muslim member in Loksabha? Why BJP had fielded only 7 Muslim candidates for 540-members’ Loksabha? Why for full 15 years when Narendra Modi was heading Gujarat, not a single Muslim was given a BJP ticket to contest in any of five Loksabha or assembly elections held during that period? How many Muslim candidates BJP is fielding in Jammu & Kashmir where out of one crore population around 70 lacs are Muslims? And, how many Muslim candidates are there from BJP in Jharkhand where Muslim population is around 38 lacs?

          One should also not ask the prime minister or BJP or RSS that why it is so that in spite of ruling more than one third of India’s population through BJP plus allies’ governments in nine states they have only one Muslim minister? These nine states have 151 ministers and the only fortunate Muslim minister is Yunus Khan in Rajsthan. One should also not ask that why in the assembly election for Maharashtra, BJP fielded only one Muslim candidate and in Haryana only two? Are both these states do not have sizable Muslim population?

          In a country where according to 2001 census the religious breakup between Hindus and Muslims is 80.5 and 13.4 percent and other minorities like Christians (2.3), Sikhs (1.9), Budhists (0.8) and Jains (0.4) practically have no polling booth level role in politics, the release of religious data of 2011 census with a specific purpose in mind is bound to make polarization process much deeper and faster. And, it will be both ways. One can also expect greater Muslim assertiveness immediately after census 2011 data is officially out.

Religious headcount is being undertaken since the first Census of India 1871-72. Colonel U.N. Mukherji had written a pamphlet in 1909—Hindus: A Dying Race. His projections were based on the study of three consecutive censuses 1881, 1891 and 1901. Mukherji met Swami Shraddhanand of Arya Samaj at Calcutta in 1911. His statistical and analytical study and the current data will provide ammunition to RSS and BJP and I can only pray, with my fingers crossed, that all the political outfits following the principals of inclusive politics are properly prepared to fight this battle from the beginning of 2015. It is high time when all the well meaning individuals and organisations with positive and liberal minds take a call to save the social fabric of India from these attacks.

Warning to Direct and Indirect Allies

by PANKAJ SHARMA

            Take it from me that Udhhav Thakre's Shiv Sena and Raj Thakre's Navnirman Sena in Maharashtra; Prakash Singh Badal's Shiromani Akali Dal in Punjab; Jaylalta's AIDMK in Tamilnadu and Omprakash Choutala's Indian National Lok Dal and Kuldeep Vishnoi's Janhit Congress in Haryana will be completely marginalised on the political canvass by the time country goes to next Lok Sabha polls in 2019. Let me also tell you that Navin Patnaik's Biju Janta Dal in Odisha, Mamta Benarjee's Trinmool Congress in West Bengal and Mayawati's Bahujan Samaj Party in Uttar Pradesh will be walking on a very rough road politically for next four-five years.

            And one does not have to be an astrologer to see this writing on the walls. RSS pracharak turned BJP leader, prime minister Narendra Modi can not afford to have allowed these political outfits become strong and flourish in the years to come. He had a strong sense of this reality from the day he took oath  as the prime minister around five months back that his survival in 2019 depends on the health of his own friends--individuals or organisations.

            Therefore we are witnessing a systematic alienation of BJP's allies and old guards. It had become quite obvious in the summers of 2013 when Narendra Modi started applying every possible tactic to capture BJP that he will not spare even the senior most leaders of his own party if they cross his way and will dump them ruthlessly. And he did it. Everybody in BJP had to tow his line and ultimately agree to his candidature as the prime minister.

            It was not only Lal Krishna Adwani who was sulking, but leaders like Arun Jaitley, Rajnath Singh, Sushma Swaraj and Nitin Gadkari were also not in favour of Modi initially. BJP's allies of course were against the idea of announcing Modi the prime ministerial candidate of NDA. But they had no guts to stop him and Modi ultimately high jacked everything and started asking the people to give his party 272 seats straight away. BJP allies might have dreaming for berths in NDA Government, but Modi had made it clear to them well before the results were out that they have no place in his scheme of things.

            Narendra Modi could crush all the dreams of the leaders of his own party and allies even when he was not occupying the highest chair of the country. Now he is the supremo of a government in which no other ministry or department or individual has any decisive role. Everything is run by Prime Minister's Office and Modi has 356 committed officers of his choice in PMO, out of them 64 work in his personal staff. Never ever after independence a prime minister had such a strong attendance of bureaucrats in the South Block. Even Atal Behari Vajpayee had a PMO of only 12 during last NDA Government and Dr Manmohan Singh effectively ran the country for 10 years only with a PMO of 11. Modi is enjoying an absolute control over his government as well as over his party through his trusted lieutenant Amit Shah. This can give him a tremendous appetite and temptation to swallow his allies as soon as possible and not wait for their natural phasing out.

            BJP has an eye on 141 Loksabha seats in addition to 282 which are already in its kitty and seriously working on the strategies to get the seats occupied by other right to centre political parties in different states. Jaylalta's 39, Mamta Benarjee's 34, Naveen Patnaik's 19, Udhhav Thakre's 18, Chandra Babu Naidu's 16, K. Chandrashekhar Rao's 11 and Prakash Singh Badal's 4 seats in sixteenth Loksabha are a reason of BJP's increasing saliva and it is very natural for a person like Narendra Modi who has a imperialistic approach to his politics to not to leave any stone unturned to achieve his goal. A person who thinks that the elections are not elections but wars and everything is fair in a war will go to any extent and will not hesitate in having a fight to finish even with his own people and like minded forces.

            As the organiser of L.K. Advani's Rath Yatra which left un-washable blood stains and as an administrator in Gujarat under whose watch state burnt and thousands were killed, Narendra Modi does not need to have a certificate from anybody of his organising and administrative capacities. His "Sabka Saath" slogan also does not need anybody's endorsement and everybody knows that no muslim was given BJP's ticket to contest in three Assembly and two Loksabha elections during the period when Modi was at the helm of affairs in Gujrat.

            So, this is the time when BJP's direct and indirect allies must be cautious because the threat is from enemy within. Sometimes the threat if extinction is more real than many realise. So, they really need to work hard on their threats.

And They Call It Tsunami

by PANKAJ SHARMA

            After the assembly elections for Haryana and Maharashtra, there are people, including Bhartiya Janta Party president Amit Shah, who have announced that it is 'Modi-Tsunami' in both the states. BJP leaders have also expressed their beliefs that the assembly elections in Delhi, Jharkhand and Jammu & Kashmir will prove the repeat performance of this 'tsunami' in coming months.

            I know that it looks foolish to swim against the tides and place the bare facts before everyone. But, I have certain questions in my mind which surely need to be answered. BJP has got a clear majority in Haryana with 47 seats and 33.2% votes. But can one ignore the fact that when around 1 crore 30 lac people went to polling booths why around 90 lac of them casted their votes against BJP? Prime Minister Narendra Modi had made it a point to have clear majority in Maharashtra, why then voters of Maharashtra did not give him a mandate to form the government without having the support from the people to whom he was 'the bird from Passeriformes order who becomes active during the fortnight of ancestors' (Pitrapaksh ke kouei)? Why out of 5 crore 20 lac voters who went to cast their votes in Maharashtra 3 crore 70 lac chose to go against the creator of this 'tsunami'? BJP could win 122 seats in Maharashtra, but it could get only 1 crore 47 lac votes.

            Nobody can deny the fact that Congress has not even lost but ended up third in Haryana and Maharashtra. It ruled Haryana for 10 years and headed the government in Maharashtra for 15 years in a stretch. Therefore, losing like this where you get only 15 seats in Haryana and 42 in Maharashtra, that too after a visible change of development and growth in both the states, should be a matter of deep introspection for the entire leadership of the Congress party. But I would take the liberty to pose some pertinent questions. If it was the continuation of 'Modi Hudhud' that started four and a half months back, how could a party with whom Modi wants the nation to get rid of attract nearly 1 crore voters in Maharashtra and more than 25 lac in Haryana? Congress has no right to celebrate the fact that BJP has come down in both states since May 2014. BJP had leads in more assembly segments in Maharashtra and Haryana during Loksabha elections than the actual seats it has won in October assembly elections. But a fact is a fact, however minor it is, and it should be taken note of.

            There are some more alarming indications that have come up from the results of these elections, specially from Maharashtra. It is now little more than a year since Supreme Court has given electorate the power to reject all candidates in an election by pressing NOTA, None Of The Above, button on the electronic voting machine. 'Modi Tsunami' is a phenomenon of last one year and normally nobody should probably feel like pressing this option if the country is obsessed with Narendra Modi and BJP. Why then in Maharashtra nearly half a million NOTA votes were registered? 50 lac may look a very small number. But do you know that this is more than what 9 political parties managed to get together in Maharashtra? And who are these parties? They are Samajwadi Party and CPM.  They are BJP's allies Republican Party and Rashtriya Samaj Paksh. It should be hard to ignore the fact that in a Naxal-affected constituency Garh-Chirouli, Nationalist Congress Party could get only 770 votes more than NOTA. BJP won there, NCP was second and NOTA was third with 17510 votes. What NOTA got in Maharashtra election is the figure which is more than what has given two seats to All India Majlis-e-Muslimeen, three seats to Bahujan Vikas Aghadi and one seat each to Bharipa Bhaujan Mahasangh and Rashtriya Samaj Paksh in the state assembly.

            Congress now has to address the challenges it is facing quickly, decisively, firmly and fearlessly to reinvent itself. No other party than Congress can lead the fight with a person of Narendra Modi's bulldozing persuasion without caring for democratic principals, electoral norms and human values. A strongly self obsessed man, that he is, Modi will go to any extent to achieve his dream of 'Congress free India'. While marching on this path, he will ruthlessly implement his plan of making irrelevant the individuals in his own party, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and its extended arms, strongly or loosely allied political groups and national icons. Congress, therefore, has a huge national responsibility to save the basic threads of our national fabric. Congress has to gear up without blinking and giving a second thought. India cannot revive its fortune unless Congress reinvents itself. It has to bring the real sense of politics under one umbrella.

             The hidden facts of these assembly elections seem not so discouraging for the Congress but it should not become a pillow of consolation on which one can take a siesta. Unless a roadmap of root and branch reforms is implemented immediately, Congress will find it increasingly difficult to win the confidence of voters. The rot in Congress has been long in the making and it is high time that Congress gets rid of its rent seekers. Only then Congress would be able to give a fitting reply to those who think that Modi has already setup a stall to get his second inning in 2019. Those who have some experience of witnessing the political storms from time to time and understand the political grammar of a complex country like ours would agree that there is still much hope of bouncing back for a party like Congress that led the movement for freedom, that united India and brought people of different religions and languages into a single political project and that has a universalist vision.

Iron Man and Iron Lady

by PANKAJ SHARMA

          Here was an 'iron man', born 139 years ago in 1875 who struggled with Mahatma Gandhi in the freedom struggle for our country--Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel. He played the instrumental role to make India unified after independence.

          And, here was an 'iron lady', born 97 years ago in 1917 who fought for the unity, integrity and development of our country and whose life was snatched by her own bodyguards on a Wednesday morning in 1984--Indira Gandhi. She was the only prime minister assassinated in the line of duty.

          The iron man was born on 31st October and the iron lady martyred on 31st October. Sardar Patel and Indira Gandhi shared this date in history for and nation had been remembering both of them with great respect and affection for last so many years for their contributions.

          But this Friday, on 31st October, our newly elected prime minister Narendra Modi chose not to go to Shakti Sthal to pay homage to Indira Gandhi who sacrifised her life for the nation's unity. He rather preferred to offer his 'shradhanjali' to Indira Gandhi through a tweet. But we should be grateful to Modi for his large heartedness that he did not forget another national icon who worked in the Congress party throughout his life and went to Sardar Patel's statue to wish him Happy Birthday and even joined 'Run for Unity', which Modi piloted in Vadodara in Gujarat last year when he was chief minister. He has also declared the day of 31st October as 'Rashtriya Ekta Divas'.

          During an address at Rajpath before he opened the run, Modi told us that how Mahatma Gandhi was incomplete without Sardar Patel and conveniently forgot to tell that how Patel and Jawaharlal Nehru were the right and left hands of Mahatma Gandhi. Modi also reminded us, 'Let us not forget that a nation that disregards its history can never create one…Don’t divide history, legacy in narrow confined of ideology.' We surely must congratulate him on this realisation of truth. Modi cannot be unaware of the fact as he himself is a proud pracharak of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh that Sardar Patel has always been a staunch Congressman, who after becoming the first home minister of India had to ban RSS just four days after Mahatma Gandhi became victim of Nathuram Godse's bullets. Patel signed the banning orders on 4 February 1948 and RSS chief Mahadev Sadashiv Golwalker was sent to jail after few days.

          The ban notification issued that time reads, "in practice, members of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh have not adhered to their professed ideals. Undesirable and even dangerous activities have been carried on by members of the Sangh...individual members of RSS have indulged in the acts of violence involving arson, robbery, dacoity and murder and have collected illicit arms and ammunition. They have been found circulating leaflets exhorting people to resort to terrorist methods, to collect firearms, to create disaffection against the government and suborn the police and the military. The activities have been carried on under a cloak of secrecy...".

          The government, of which Sardar Patel was the home minister, demanded RSS to reform itself. Patel wrote two important letters in this connection. One to Shyama Prasad Mookherjee and another to Golwalker. On 18 July 1948, Patel wrote to Mookharjee, "The activities of RSS constituted a clear threat to the existence of the Government and the State.....as time has marched on, the RSS circles are becoming more defiant and are indulging in their subversive activities....in an increasing measure....".

          Sardar Patel wrote a letter to Golwalker on 11 September 1948 in which he outlined the "objectionable part" of RSS activities which "arose when they, burning with revenge, began attacking Mussalmaans...". This letter mentions how "As a final result of the communal poison the country had to suffer the sacrifice of the invaluable life of Gandhiji...". Patel further said that people's opposition to the RSS grew when "the RSS men expressed joy and distributed sweets after Gandhiji's death."

          Even two months after the letter to Golwalker Home Ministry headed by Sardar Patel issued a press note on 14 November 1948 which said that Golwalker wanted the ban on RSS to be lifted without agreeing to the government's demand. Press note also quoted information received from the provincial governments saying, "the activities carried on in various forms and waysbt the people associated with the RSS tend to be anti-national and often subversive and violent and persistent attempts are being made bt the RSS to revive an atmosphere in the country which was productive of such disastrous consequences in the past...".

          Celebrating Sardar Patel's birth anniversary could have been a welcome sign if there was no mischievous blink in the eyes of Narendra Modi and he would not have ridiculed the assassination of a serving prime minister by saying, “But it is unfortunate that 30 years ago, an event occurred that threatened India’s unity.” We all love Sardar Patel. Whole country salutes him for his contribution. But, I can say for sure that Modi's recently found love for Sardar Patel in impure. Let's have the world's tallest statue to remember Patel at a cost of rupees 2979 crores, but why Narendra Modi failed to release even rupees one crore to Sardar Patel Memorial Trust at Patel's birth place Karmasad when he was the chief minister of Gujarat and in that capacity was the ex-officio trustee of that trust? Modi apparently took no interest when the trust celebrated 135th birth anniversary of Patel in 2010. Even simple needs of the trust were not taken care of by Modi government in Gujarat for full 15 years. Congress-led union government gave a grant of rupees 22 crore in 2009 for the activities for running the activities of Sardar Patel Memorial Trust and to protect and maintain Patel's ancestral house in Karamsad.

          Sardar Patel must have been sulking by watching the petty politics played by the government on the "Day of Iron Man and Iron Lady" only because prime minister belongs to an outfit called Bhartiya Janta Party that is a political mask of its mother-organisation--RSS, whom Patel asked to make provision in its constitution and declare that it would not indulge in politics. Article 4-B of RSS constitution was included after this. But, who cares!

Where Have Family Silver Saviors Gone

by PANKAJ SHARMA

          Narendra Modi government had made its intentions clear in the budget presented to the parliament in July this year that it will go ahead for an aggressive disinvestment of blue chip public sector undertakings to meet its fiscal deficit target.

          To achieve his goals, Narendra Modi does not want to lose even a single minute. He is a man in hurry. So, it was only little more than after a month that on a Wednesday morning in the second week of September the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs cleared the sale of stakes in Oil and Natural Gas Corporation, Coal India Limited and National Hydro Power Corporation Limited. The dilution of equity in ONGC, CIL and NHPC is expected to fetch Rs. 48,425 crore. The sale of 5% stakes of ONGC will make the pockets of the government heavier by Rs. 19,000 crore, 10% of CIL by Rs. 23,600 crore and 11.36% of NHPC by 3,100 crore.

          Its a huge privatisation drive by any measurement. It is not important that how one arrives at the price of any public sector unit, but in my opinion it can never be right. Because the very fact that a private purchaser finds the price worth buying the stakes even in a loss making PSU speaks a lot. These three companies are making huge profits and they are working in the areas where demand is already very high and increasing with a fast pace. Therefore, the Government of the day has an onus to answer the valid questions about the possible undervaluation of these companies.

          Narendra Modi government is in a mood to turn every stone possible to push the nation in an era of 'good times'. Next on the list of privatisation are the steel major Steel Authority of India Limited, premier gas distribution company Gas Authority of India Limited, key builder of our country's power stations Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited and founding energy generator National Thermal Power Corporation. It is a matter of few months that SAIL, GAIL, BHEL and NTPC would be available for more dilution in an open market where retail to institutional to financial investors will have a right to choose their booty.

          I have some polite questions to ask. Where have all the saviors of  family silver gone now? Why are Mohan Bhagwat and Suresh Bhaiya Joshi of Rashtriya Swayam Sevak Sangh and Ram Madhav who has recently been sent to Bhartiya Janta party from RSS are tight lipped? Why Swadeshi Jagaran Manch, Bhartiya Mazdoor Sangh and Bhartiya Kissan Sangh are shying away to raise a voice against the commencement of the sale of family silver to some of the biggest corporate houses? Is this not the time to take a honest review of Indian privatisation experience because the fact remains is that almost none of the disinvestment receipts of Rs. 1,52,790 crore in last more than two decades could form any capital and practically nothing of this money was utilised to launch any social programme. All the proceeds have gone to meet the immediate day-to-day expenditures.

        The Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh, trade union wing of the Sangh Parivar, observed 'save public sector' week and organised nationwide protest rallies against the disinvestment from 21 to 28 October last year when Congress-led UPA government was in power. Why is BMS silent now when Narendra Modi has offered the largest privatisation plan in the history of disinvestments to a bunch of capitalists who have already gained a lot at the cost of government enterprises? Let me remind present day leadership of BMS that they belong to a legacy of Dattopant Bapurao Thengadi who had the courage to raise the flag against the BALCO privatisation done by the NDA government headed by Atal Behari Vajpayee and organised a hugely attended rally in the capital on 15 April 2001.

       Isn't it surprising that the same RSS which was criticising not only UPA for disinvestments in last ten years, but had also strongly criticised Vajpayee for his disinvestment policies has now been made to shut its mouth. I still remember that it was the last day of the first week of September in 2002, when Cabinet Committee on Disinvestment met. A day before this, senior leader and spokesperson of RSS, M.G. Vaidya told the journalists that "certain key questions were relevant on selling profit making PSUs as well as those in the strategic areas like Railways, Defence Production and the Oil sector". Two months after this, he again repeated RSS' views and told the media that it has been made clear to prime minister Vajpayee what RSS wants.

       Those were the days when ideologues like K.N. Govindacharya were also intensely expressing their views against Vajpayee government's disinvestment policy and were of the view that privatisation cannot be the panacea of the problems and disinvesting even the loss making PSUs will have an adverse impact on the labour force of the country. Govindacharya, that time, was undertaking a thorough study of the effects of globalisation and liberalisation in India. He used to tell everybody that liberalisation and globalisation are 'explosives' and pursuing perestroika and glasnost without giving any thought to its consequences might have a negative impact on the nation’s development. RSS then wanted Vajpayee to not even think of disinvesting profit making PSUs and rather seriously implement a plan to turn over loss making units. Same RSS and its ideologues are helplessly looking with their blank eyes at the large scale privatisation plans of its own one-time pracharak. They know, Narendra Modi is no Atal Behari Vajpayee who was liberal enough to at least listen to dissents. Modi is Modi and it is for this reason that even organisations like All India Trade Union Congress, Centre of Indian Trade Unions and National Labour Organisation are also perhaps can't dare to refuse to dance on the tunes Modi plays.

CURTAINS COMING DOWN ON ARTICLE 370

by PANKAJ SHARMA

          In 1967, Organiser, a publication of Rashtriya Swayam Sevak Sangh, published in its October issue an interview of Madhava Sadashiva Golwalkar, the second Sar Sangh Chalak of RSS, who served this hard core right wing organisation for 33 years from 1940 to 1973.

          In reply to a question, Golwalkar said that time : "There is only one way to keep Kashmir – and that is by complete integration. Article 370 must go; the separate flag and the separate constitution must go too. If it is necessary to have, President’s Rule is a temporary thing. Within a year or two there will have to be fresh elections. And the new Vidhan Sabha may be more rabidly communal than the present one. But as I see it, the basic question is whether we want to keep Kashmir or not. Since it is decided that we must keep Kashmir, all necessary steps must be taken to implement that decision. If the border area of NEFA can be centrally administered through the Army, why can’t the border area of Kashmir be administered the same way for the same strategic reasons?"

          The interviewer asked him, 'what the world will say?' Replied Golwalkar, "We must decide what are our vital national interests and then proceed to safeguard them. We must not bother too much about so-called world opinion. Do you think it is favourable to you even now? Did this ‘world opinion’ favour you over Junagadh or Hyderabad or Goa? Bharat must be governed by Bharat’s interest and not at the bidding of foreign opinion, which is only a reflection of foreign interests." Then he added, "I say if we don’t integrate Kashmir, and lose it, this very world opinion will call us fools. To formulate policies on the basis of the world opinion will be like repeating the story of the old man, his son and his donkey."

          For all these years, RSS and its sister organisations and its political masks Jan Sangh and Bhartiya Janta Party have been singing a chorus against Article 370 and telling the nation and the world about how big a foolishness it was that the leaders of the time inserted such a provision in our constitution. BJP was vouching to remove the Article the day it will come to power. Cursing Congress for the 'Himalayan Blunder' has been the most favourite every day discourse of Sangh-Mandli after independence.

           But now life seems to be coming to full circle for RSS-Kutumb. During the election campaign for 2014 Loksabha elections, the then prime ministerial candidate and now the prime minister of a government with clear majority Narendra Modi, called for a debate on Article 370 which defines the provisions of Indian Constitution with respect to Jammu & Kashmir. Now, amidst the campaign for the assembly elections in Jammu & Kashmir, his Home Minister Rajnath Singh has said in a public rally at Kishtwad that the issue of Article 370 should not be raked up in these elections as it is a national issue that needs a serious debate.

          BJP does not know what to do with Article 370 now? It is difficult to chew its own words. To remove the Article from the constitution is not easy. To hope that it will die it's natural death one day is an indefinite hope. To keep mum on 370 is not possible for BJP in a long run. Therefore, keeping in mind the electoral contingencies BJP is now saying that the final decision it takes on Article 370 will be on the basis of the concurrence of J&K Assembly. It was never that difficult for BJP to contest a election in J&K and raise the issue of Article 370 till it was not enjoying absolute power in centre. It was easy for BJP to play the blame game over this issue to defame the opponents and make a promise to please the vote bank it has created by spreading divisive politics. But what now when several of BJP candidates are freely expressing their views against the abolition of the Article and some of them have even went to the extent of making statements that they might pick up the guns if anything is done to abolish the Article?

          I don't think Narendra Modi is unaware of the fact that at the time when Article 370 was being included in the constitution, even Shyama Prasad Mukharjee initially supported it. It is only after the intervention of RSS that Mukharjee backtracked. One does not realise the nitty-gritty of things when does not have the actual responsibility of managing a complex nation as India is. Article 370 has its history and is an unbreakable link to J&K. The deliberately delayed realisation of this fact by RSS and BJP is now compelling them to start a national debate on the issue to gain time in a hope that they will be able to create some face saving formula in time to come. But, then, let us all wait to see the outcome when curtains of India's biggest political controversy come down.

          Any meaningful debate on Article 370 is bound to separate myth from reality and fact from fiction. BJP's suggestion for such a debate is in itself an indication of its change of position on the issue and like an acceptance of the fact that RSS and its affiliates were making an unnecessary hue and cry over this issue for last six decades. Sangh Parivar tried to create an impression that Jawahar Lal Nehru and Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel had different views about Article 370. But it is other way round and the synergy between Nehru and Patel on the matters of governing India is evident in the negotiations on 370. During the drafting stage the Article was known as 306-A. It was in October 1949 when Sheikh Abdullah turned his foot down on certain clauses of the Article and tried to create a serious crisis. Nehru was away on a visit to America. Gopalswamy Ayangar was negotiating with Sheikh and felt very disturbed. He was a minister without portfolio in Nehru's cabinet and was a former Diwan of Maharaja Hari Singh of Jammu and Kashmir. In Nehru's absence, Ayangar immediately went to Sardar Patel and briefed him about how frequently Sheikh changing course. Patel finally managed the crisis and navigated the amendments. It was Patel who ensured that Article 370 become the part of Indian Constitution.