The Friday fix

the campaign for the states in 2003, there has been an irresistible optimism about Campaign 2004. This Lok Sabha election is going to be more attuned to what the people want. It will be fought more on bijli, sadak and pani, less on caste, temple and other hoary things. But if the alarm bell was sounded by Kalyan Singh’s recent tour of UP where he announced that the temple was fixed firmly on the BJP agenda, Mulayam’s attempt to tamper with the school time-table was evidence of how an unscrupulous and short-sighted leadership could derail public debate. If it was allowed to.

Is it possible that the Mulayam government was forced to roll back his controversial order because it suspected the people would see it for the self-serving thing it was? Can it be it happened because of indications that they wouldn’t succumb? This is a hugely tempting conclusion. And certainly, this paper had recorded enough reasons to hope. In the wake of the order, several voices from within the Muslim community plainly told the Express that UP’s emperor wore no clothes. If a member of the Muslim Personal Law Board said he would rather have more schools instead, an ex-MP was clear Mulayam’s motivation was political and eventually counter-productive.

The drama in Uttar Pradesh was ultimately an episode in a debate that has completely lost its way. It has been clear for a long time now that what passes for the secularism vs communalism argument in this country is really about competitive religiosity on all sides. As so-called bearers of the secular mantle actively court and pander to the narrowest and most irrational in the Muslim community, they help feed the frenzy of Hindutva’s rampaging armies. In the name of the people, this bogus war of caricatures goes on. If the chief minister’s agony over the order in UP is an indication, the people may be ready to call a halt. The story of Mulayam’s gimmick and its aftermath could become a brand new beginning.