Verdict out on India's communal forces

It is rare that a minister involved in communal riots is arrested in India. But the Gujarat High Court has made it possible by cancelling the anticipatory bail given by a lower court to Maya Kodnani.

Kodnani, a member of the Narendra Modi Cabinet in the state of Gujarat, abetted and participated in the 2002 carnage and escaped justice for seven years.

She was brought to book after the Supreme Court sent out a team of its own to investigate communal killings that had not come to light.

Giving its observations on the Kodnani case, the high court said: "Communal harmony is the hallmark of democracy. If in the name of religion people are killed, that is absolutely a slur and a blot on a society governed by the rule of law."

These words are lost on the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government in the state. The court's stand, however, embodies the determination of a nation that has been trying to establish a pluralistic society since independence. The minorities will take heart from the judgment.

Many Muslims in Gujarat had hidden their worst fears behind statements such as: "We feel we may get justice." They are now more ready to speak out, something they had not done out of fear.

The court ruling has once again proved that communalist rhetoric, however loud, cannot drown out secular voices. Yet the BJP has found in Varun Gandhi a person who has no hesitation to make hate speeches or polarise society.

Varun may be the great-grandson of Jawaharlal Nehru, India's first prime minister but he is also the son of Maneka Gandhi, wife of late Sanjay Gandhi.

Sanjay's mother Indira had famously turned Maneka out of the house following unease on the domestic front. Sanjay, however, literally ran the government during the Emergency (1977-79) imposed by Indira when she was prime minister.

He too showed an anti-Muslim streak. He bulldozed the Turkman Gate habitation in Delhi and forcibly transferred the entire Muslim populace of the area to another place.

Now Varun has sought to stoke tensions with a speech. When it sparked controversy, Varun, a BJP Lok Sabha candidate from Uttar Pradesh, initially went on the defensive, disclaiming the words attributed to him.

Then the Election Commission stepped in, urging the state government to act on the objectionable speeches. Fearing arrest, Varun first applied for anticipatory bail.

But then the Hindu nationalistic brigade led by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) reportedly told him that he should court arrest because it would give him a halo of martyrdom.

Varun withdrew the bail application but the BJP and its extremist offshoot, the Bajrang Dal, used the opportunity to derive more political mileage - Varun's court appearance saw activists of the hardline group fighting a pitched battle with police.

Maneka also made political capital out of criticism voiced against her son.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati sought to bring an end to the drama by detaining Varun under National Security Act (NSA) which does not provide for a trial but only calls for an assessment by a screening committee headed by a high court judge to extend the period of detention.

It can be argued that NSA should not be utilised for matters relating to elections. The executive can be motivated by political considerations while invoking the NSA.

At the same time, there is the argument that politicians should not be allowed to spread communal agendas unhindered.

The BJP feels Varun's punishment is too much for a solitary indiscretion. But should those who try to challenge the basic structure of the constitution - pluralism - get away with a court case which is bound to stretch for months?

The BJP does not own up for what Varun has said because his utterances have been received with a sense of horror across the country.

At the same time, the party sees in Varun a younger Modi who defends the Hindutva line with the same gusto and conviction.

BJP leader L.K.Advani has said from election rostrums that he wants his party candidates to show restraint in their speeches. Yet the BJP is projecting Varun as a hero even though he is undermining the country's unity.

The dilemma that the BJP faces is that it does not want to dilute its basic agenda, a Hindu nation, but finds itself pitted against an electorate which has grown secular in temperament.

The party found to its horror after the last Lok Sabha election that the Congress, with pluralistic credentials, had won.

Another consideration for the BJP was that it would have to find allies from within the contesting secular parties to reach the magic figure of 272 in the 545-member Lok Sabha.

The National Democratic Alliance it leads has already lost the support of some of prominent regional parties.

Yet the BJP seems to be stuck with its basic philosophy of Hindutva. It should have learnt a lesson from Pakistan that politics and religion cannot be mixed in a democratic state.

Theocracy seems to have blinded both the Pakistani Taliban and the BJP in India.

Kuldip Nayar is a former Indian high commissioner to the UK and a former Rajya Sabha member.