The Vajpayee government’s formal recommendation for the dissolution of Lok Sabha in a few days appears to have had little sobering effect on BJP General Secretary Pramod Mahajan. He has roundly reiterated his prejudice against persons who cannot boast of ‘‘100 per cent Indian origin’’ aspiring to the prime ministership of India. He has reaffirmed that his sense of ‘‘national pride’’ absolutely hinges on it. Mahajan’s poll-eve declamations are unfortunate. Because Campaign 2004 deserves opening shots far more sophisticated than are permitted by this xenophobic harangue on ‘‘foreign origins’’— now going back a generation further to outlaw the Gandhi offspring as well. And because as it goes to the electorate again to ask for another term in office, Mahajan’s party can afford to mount a genuinely political, genuinely aggressive platform. It must be hoped that Mahajanspeak is not a portent of the political debate to come. And that the BJP will use its unique vantage point in the run-up to these elections to set the poll agenda with care. Ever since the party fought and won three of the four states that went to the hustings late last year on the planks of development and good governance, it has raised popular expectations of a Lok Sabha campaign that speaks directly to the people. A campaign that frames issues which affect their daily lives and forces rival parties in the fray to clearly spell out their agenda. An articulate campaign that has no need to hide behind the dust kicked up by emotive and symbolic issues. One that takes up the issues of the economy upfront and fearlessly lays out the choices before the voter. It is not just that there were intimations of such an articulate and relevant politics in the hectic battle for the states in 2003. It is also that, by all accounts, the larger climate favours such a campaign as well. As he talks of placing restrictions and erecting barricades around the prime ministerial post, Mahajan sounds completely out of tune with the can-do mood his own party and the government it leads at the Centre has contributed towards generating in the country. This election must spotlight the relative stability or lack thereof of political coalitions. It must encourage a participatory discussion on economic reform. It might also take up India’s new prominence in the international setting and debate its use of its new opportunities. In such a campaign, personal diatribes are completely out of place.
