Ther Gujarat results are not only a defining moment for the BJP and the Congress, but for Sonia Gandhi as well. With the BJP bent upon using an aggressive brand of Hindutva as its poll strategy, the Congress, under Sonia’s leadership, is suddenly called to redefine what it stands for and to package it in a way that sells in the next round of polls. The saffron forces are using Hindutva at two levels. The first is to emphasise her alien-ness against the backdrop of the terrorist attacks from Pakistan. Crude references were made to her foreign origins in Gujarat and they are likely be made again. She may need either or both of her children to stand by her side as she leads the Congress into elections. Or she will have to project a collective leadership in every state. This would make her less vulnerable, provide her with greater feedback and demonstrate that there is no dearth of leaders in the Congress. Her daughter Priyanka had managed to electrify the dalits in Amethi. The incident pressed panic buttons in Lucknow with Mayawati holding a rally to ‘warn’and even rechristening Amethi district. Had Sonia gone to Gujarat on March 1 itself, visited the families of the Godhra victims, distributed food in the Hindu and Muslim camps, and sat on a dharna outside the Raj Bhavan to protest against the burning alive of a former MP Ehsan Jaffry, she would have electrified the state and seized the initiative in Gujarat. Modi was nowhere in the picture at that point. She would have done a Belchhi. Thrown out of power in 1977, Indira Gandhi had turned the climate against her by riding into Belchhi on an elephant to sympathise with families of dalits who had been killed in that inaccessible village of Bihar. But the party allowed too much time to lapse before moving into Gujarat. The second way in which the BJP is emphasising Hindutva is by painting the Congress as a pro-minority and anti-Hindu party. The Congress has not been able to counter this campaign which Sonia described as ‘venomous’. With 50% of the voters in Gujarat opting for the BJP, the Congress has to understand and address the concerns of Hindus, without diluting its commitment to secularism. Right or wrong, there is a section of Hindus who believe that the Congress views the minorities as more equal than the others. This feeling has been building up over the years, and the BJP has been able to exploit the majority community’s beseiged mentality. First it was in 1990, during L.K. Advani’s Rath Yatra and now it is in the wake of Godhra. Secularism is an issue on which Sonia Gandhi feels strongly. While the Congress must defend the rights of the minorites, it cannot come across as just a pro-minority party. Of course, this has more to do with perception than reality. In any case,the BJP has brought about the consolidation of Muslims behind the Congress in states where it is pitted against the BJP. The ‘perception’ of the Hindus is a complex reality caused by the loss of power by the upper castes, the empowerment of ‘others’ with the devolution of democracy over 50 years, the first- past- the- post system which enables a party to win with even 33% of the votes, which gave political clout to the Muslims—and now to the dalits— without improving their lot or making them secure; and compounded by the post 9\11 environment and the continuing export of terrorism by Pakistan. In the Nehruvian period it was alright to take the view that minority fundamentalism could not be equated with majority communalism, and that the Muslims needed special protection after the country’s partition. Today while affirmative action is still required for them in jobs and education, there is a reaction when the Congress or other parties like the SP fail to condemn Muslim communalism for fear of losing Muslim votes, when politicians prostrate at the feet of a Shahi Imam for votes, or when ‘fatwas’ are issued. It will be a long time before the country can live down the shame of the state condoned violence that followed Godhra. But Narendra Modi was able to get away with it because of the sentiment brewing amongst the Hindus under the surface. The Congress will have to condemn acts of minority communalism as much as it flays the communalism of the majority. But in a polarised situation, the party has to move away from a secular versus communal formulation,which goes to benefit the BJP. It will have to project the fight as an issue of civil rights and justice for all. Soft saffron can never be the answer to hard Hindutva. The Congress’ campaign strategy will emerge from a clarity on its line. It has to come up with more than mere visits to Ambaji temple if it is to take on the BJP’s ‘venomous’ campaign. That really is the challenge before Sonia Gandhi.
