A spokesperson of the Congress has bravely said that the government will not be a silent spectator to regional chauvinism. What else has it been since the time Bihari candidates for the competitive examination for railway recruitment were assaulted at the Kalyan station?
The most distressing aspect of the current situation in Maharashtra that cuts at the roots of national unity and thereby the integrity of the country is the deafening silence of the prime minister, the Congress chief and the leaders of the opposition in both the Houses of Parliament. No leader has the courage of conviction to speak out on issues of national unity if it would mean losing a few thousand votes.
The impression given by the publicity in the press is that all Maharashtrians are chauvinists and support the junior and the senior Thackerays. This is not supported by election results of the past. This is the land which produced intellectual giants from Dynaneshwar to Vinobha Bhave who preached the unity of not just Indians but humanity itself.
The silent majority of Maharashtrians who are the inheritors of the legacy left behind by Dynaneshwar, Tukaram, Namdeo, Eknath, Samarth Ramadas, Shivaji, Gokhale, Ranade, Phule, Ambedkar, Prabodhankar Thackeray and Vinobha Bhave, to mention a few, are just looking for a beacon — some leader who can unite them against the divisive forces assaulting them day after day. Did Shivaji not employ people from different parts of the country including Muslims in his army?
For the Bharatiya Janata Party this is a defining moment. Today people are caught between the devil and the deep sea. The choice at elections is choosing the lesser of the evils. If only a national party emerges that can cut across all artificial divisions of society based on caste, religion, creed, language and region, they will flock to it in large numbers.
The BJP should really become a Bharatiya and not Hindu Janata Party by announcing the severance of its links with all the parties and outfits that seek to divide people on various grounds. If by taking such a bold stand it fails to capture government it should not matter. It will be a moral victory in the murky world of politics and it will reap dividends in the future.
People are no longer interested in democratic processes. A large majority of the people want peace and the observance of law and order to pursue their avocations. Old timers still remember how the country accepted Indira Gandhi’s emergency not because of her leadership but because it ensured a certain order in society. The writing on the wall is clear after the defence forces openly defied government and rejected its revision of pay scales.
A Seshan, via email