Hindutva's nuclear con-fusion

Confusion persists within the BJP. Why is it opposing the nuclear deal? Had it been in power, would it have done anything different?

Hardnews Bureau Delhi

The story starts with a political gossip, which seems not exactly untrue. It all began with a winter dinner last year. Three top leaders of three political parties who are vehemently opposed politically (the BJP, Samajwadi Party and CPM) got together at a friend's house. After a sumptuous meal, they discussed politics and found a common ground on the Indo-US nuclear deal. This is one issue on which the Manmohan Singh government can be pinned down in Parliament. All agreed — 'let us give it a try'.  Enthused by the prospect of stealing the limelight, the BJP politico reportedly took up the issue with two top BJP leaders — Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Lal Krishna Advani. Later, perhaps related to this uncanny trinity, in an NDA meeting held at Vajpayee's residence to chalk out the floor strategy, Advani, as leader of the opposition, gave 'the go ahead signal' to spearhead the move and informally formulate a  joint strategy to take on the UPA government.

Though BJP leaders, including Arun Jaitley, were quite skeptical, yet, Advani's contention was different — if the India-US debate exposes a chink in the armoury of the Left-UPA coalition, so be it. The underlying message was that the BJP was not opposed to the deal ideologically but the party made a tactical move to oppose it in order to expose the vulnerability of the Left-UPA government. Indeed, even when BJP leader Yashwant Sinha, along with CPM's Sitaram Yechury and Samajwadi Party's Amar Singh, among others in the opposition, launched a fierce attack against Manmohan Singh in the Rajya Sabha, the BJP's limited political objective was to create a rift.

That Manmohan Singh was aware that BJP is not opposed to the nuclear deal per se is evident, as he kept Brajesh Mishra (national security advisor in Vajpayee's time) posted with every development. As soon as the deal was sealed, Singh called up Mishra and sent his emissary with the text of the deal. "Mishra was kept in the loop because he initiated the deal as national security advisor during the BJP-led NDA rule,” said highly placed sources. Incidentally, Vajpayee and Mishra, who accompanied the BJP's delegation to the prime minister's residence on the deal, did not show the kind of vehement opposition as displayed by Sinha and Arun Shourie consequently.

There is no doubt that confusion still persists within the BJP on the issue. But the moot question remains — why is the BJP opposing the deal? Had the BJP been in power, would it have done anything different?

The answers to these questions lie in the Sangh Parivar's carefully cultivated image of an outfit which champions and protects national interests. In the six-years of the NDA regime, the nuclear test at Pokhran was one such achievement which fitted into the parivar's ideology of macho-nationalism at the international fora. With the Manmohan Singh government signing a nuclear deal with the US, there is lingering fear in the parivar that the deal, if it comes to fruition, will chip away their ideological mascot.

The essential features of the deal as propagated by the UPA clearly outline that the deal will make India strong and self-reliant in energy, open up avenues for foreign investments and end its isolation in the world. In essence, the Manmohan Singh government's aggressive nationalist discourse on the issue was so designed as to take away the ideological sheen of the saffron brotherhood. That China and Pakistan have been opposing the deal is another indicator that convinced the BJP's ideological support base that the deal is good for India. In plain political terms, the BJP has swallowed a hook as it can neither wholeheartedly oppose nor support the deal. Obviously, all top leaders admit, albeit privately, that they would not have done anything different had they been in power. "But we are in opposition and we have to play this role,” commented a senior leader involved in formulating the party's strategy.

With Left opposition to the deal, the BJP leadership has started qualifying their opposition with nationalist rhetoric. 'Vajpayee made the nuclear bomb but Manmohan Singh gave it to the US' is the new refrain that BJP leaders have coined. Apparently, the BJP leadership has been trying to bring home the message that the UPA government, with this deal, has bartered the country's nuclear capability. Ironically, the BJP's rhetoric is being bolstered by the Left leaders' formulation that Manmohan Singh is acting as a 'US stooge'. Once again, the BJP has been desperately trying to don the mantle of the only political party in whose hands national interests can be protected. This fits into the Sangh Parivar's ideological paradigm.

The entire issue has triggered a great deal of confusion within the Hindutva fold. Even some senior leaders are not in tune with the BJP's line and find fault with the rationale of opposing the deal. But the parivar's dilemma is not the fall-out of immediate politics. There is a lurking fear in the saffron fold that Vajpayee's legacy of making India a nuclear-weapon-state will be taken over by the Congress if the deal comes through. What appears to have perturbed saffron ideologues is that their project of 'robust nationalism' will be considerably compromised in the emerging political scenario. This is the precise reason for the BJP's 'calculated and limited opposition' to the Indo-US nuclear deal.

In the past three years, the BJP has been grappling with serious ideological crisis. After the fall of the NDA government, the RSS diagnosis said that ideological deviation was the cause for the party's poll debacle. It was in order to correct the distortion that the RSS forced its most powerful leader LK Advani to step down after his Jinnah remarks in Pakistan. But the course of ideological correction ran aground in UP elections. The comprehensive defeat of the Hindtuva forces in UP undoubtedly proved that RSS pracharaks are incapable of leading the political party and formulate a successful strategy.

It is in this context that top RSS leaders came calling on LK Advani recently and requested him to come out of his shell and lead from the front. For RSS leaders, it has become obvious that the Sangh Parivar runs the risk of being pushed to the margins if the present drift is allowed to continue. On the face of it, the BJP-RSS combine has been desperately trying to find its feet on the India-US nuclear deal. They are unwilling to be seen aligning with the 'anti-American' obsession of the Left. At the same time, they are not willing to give away the 'Vajpayee bomb legacy' to the Congress. While the BJP can draw comfort from the fact that the Left-UPA unity stands fractured, it is still uncertain if the BJP will gain in terms of political acceptability. By all indications, the political strategy worked out at a lavish dinner last year in winter, as the story goes in the grapevine, will continue to generate heat in this winter too. No wonder the prime minister is taking shelter in romantic poetry of the past: If winter is here can spring be far behind?