UNHAPPINESS brings out the worst in man. This is true about political parties also. The BJP was so sure of victory that some of its leaders turned hysterical when the Congress-led alliance trounced the ruling combine at the hustings.

The epitome of Bharatiya womanhood and former Union Minister, Mrs Sushma Swaraj, threatened to shave her head, wear white, sleep on the floor and eat only roasted gram and thus live like a widow if another woman, Mrs Sonia Gandhi, was sworn in as Prime Minister.

Sanyasin Uma Bharati, who is considered to have fulfilled Greek philosopher Aristotle?s dream of a ?philosopher king? in Madhya Pradesh, was no less frenzied when she sent her resignation letter in protest against the possibility of the Congress President making it to the highest political post in the country. Neither of them could ever imagine that Mrs Sonia Gandhi would spurn the offer and entrust the job to a Rajya Sabha member from Assam.

In the process, Mrs Swaraj, who was the toast of Delhi?s elite, exposed her worldview to public ridicule. Centuries after Hindu reformers like Rammohan Roy (1772-1833) campaigned for widow remarriage, the former Minister for Information and Broadcasting believes that the ideal course of action for a widow is to renounce all the good things of life.

Gustave Le Bon, whose La Psychologie des foules, inspired Sigmund Freud, undertook an exploratory expedition into the Kathmandu Valley in 1885. He summarises what he learnt about the Hindu widow: ?The Hindu widow remains in mourning for the rest of her life. She is no longer treated as a human being. Her sight brings misfortune and she sullies all that she touches. She is scorned and neglected. Life is but a burden to her. Nothing remains to her than to give herself over to impure customs or drag herself through a miserable and lonely life". (Widow Burning in India: Ashes of Immortality by Catherine Weinberger-Thomas, Oxford)

Mrs Swaraj?s mindset is the same as that of the Nineteenth Century Hindus whom Gustave Le Bon met and who forced their widows to give up all the pleasures of life. Fortunately for the two, who represent the female form of the BJP, Mrs Sonia Gandhi saved them from the rigours of ?widowhood? by not accepting the post of Prime Minister.

What is more disgusting than their behaviour was the conduct of the former Prime Minister, Mr A.B. Vajpayee, and his eternal deputy, Mr L.K. Advani, who did not have the grace to congratulate Mrs Gandhi, let alone rebuke Mrs Swaraj. Those considered suave among the BJP leaders like Mr Arun Jaitley and Mr Arun Shourie were no less petulant.

For want of a better issue, the BJP has hit upon the idea of boycotting the ?tainted? ministers. Had not some of its allies like the Shiv Sena and the Janata Dal protested, it would have persisted with its programme of disrupting discussions on the Railway Budget and the national Budget. In all this, the party has proved that it is a bad loser.

Nobody would have found anything wrong in the BJP?s campaign against ?tainted? ministers had its own record been clean. What?s worse, it makes a distinction between its own ?tainted? leaders and those in the Manmohan Singh Ministry. ?While they are accused of criminal acts, our leaders are accused of only political ?wrongs?, the party?s spokesmen say in a chorus. Is this claim true?

Among the BJP?s new Rajya Sabha members from Chhattisgarh is a person called Dilip Singh Judeo, who was a member of the Vajpayee Ministry. He was caught accepting bribe. The whole world saw him reverentially touching wads of currency notes before handing them over to his trusted aide. Mr Judeo is an important person as he has been "bringing back to the Hindu fold" Christians and Muslims who had strayed out of the religion. So no matter what he did, he had to be safely accommodated.

Perhaps, bribe-taking may not be an offence in the statute of the BJP. What about mass murders? Public memory being proverbially short, the only thing most people remember about what happened at Ayodhya on December 6, 1992, is the destruction of Babri Masjid. A lot more happened in the temple town on that cursed day.

For over 70 hours after the demolition, the karsevaks went berserk. They destroyed dozens of Muslim establishments in the vicinity of the masjid. Worse, 23 Muslims were killed in the most inhuman manner. These Muslims were all sympathetic to the temple cause because a ?magnificent? temple there would have brought more pilgrims to the town and they also would have benefited from it. In any case, they had never taken part in any protest against the temple cause.

Yet, 23 of them were killed and their houses burnt. The government launched two prosecutions. First, for the conspiracy to demolish the mosque. For this, several leaders, including three former Cabinet ministers ? Mr L.K. Advani, Mr Murli Manohar Joshi and Ms Uma Bharati ? were accused. Secondly, for the arson, rioting and murder that followed. The leaders were accused of involvement in the demolition.

However, they were not charged for incitement to murder and rioting, though the same mob of karsevaks, listening to the same speeches, led by the same leaders, committed both the crimes. A formal ruling by the special judge in the demolition case has been delayed for years because the culprits-turned-ministers avoided appearing in court. In the rioting and arson case, 35 karsevaks were accused and rounded up. Since no evidence was found, they were released and the case was closed. So much for justice!

The former CBI chief, Mr P.C. Sharma, who let Mr Advani off the hook, was rewarded with the membership of the National Human Rights Commission. And for playing possum, the Samajwadi Party leader and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister, Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav, was amply compensated. In the countrywide violence that followed the demolition, over 1,000 people were killed as conservatively estimated by Encyclopaedia Britannica. A majority of them were Muslims.

It all began with the provocative speeches of Mr Advani and company. Uma Bharati?s ?Ek thakka dedo, Babri Masjid thor do? (Give one more push and destroy the masjid) still resonates in my ears. But the BJP says inciting people to destroy a mosque and then to kill innocent Muslims is not a criminal act. How else would it defend Mr Narendra Modi, who is guilty of the pogrom against Muslims in Gujarat? While, the BJP leaders are all honourable men, the party has a problem with Mr Laloo Prasad Yadav.

What is the complaint against Mr Yadav? That he is involved in the fodder scam. When did the scam begin? It began before he came to power. Who detected it? The Deputy Commissioner of Chaibasa. Who was the Chief Minister at that time? Mr Laloo Prasad Yadav. Should he not get credit for busting the racket? No, he was a party to it. Was not a raid conducted at his house? Yes. How much money was unearthed? Rs 3 lakh. How much money was unearthed when a raid was conducted on the house of Mr Sukh Ram, with whose support the BJP formed a government in Himachal Pradesh? Rs 3 crore.

What happened to Mr Yadav? He had to resign. Did he not go to jail? Yes, he was sent to jail several times. Was there a complaint that he had a nice time in the jail? Yes. Then what happened? He was sent to a jail in Jharkhand, which was ruled by the BJP. Why? So that he did not get benefit from any laxity in the enforcement of rules.

How was the case against Mr Yadav investigated? A CBI officer of the rank of Joint Director was given extension after extension so that he could virtually hound him. Did the smart officer, who had all the backing of the Central Government, succeed in unearthing all the thousands of crores of rupees he is alleged to have amassed? No, not a penny other than the Rs 3 lakh mentioned.

So all along, no mercy was shown to Mr Yadav whereas Mr Advani and friends have not spent even a day in jail so far for all the mayhem they caused. It is not the first time that the former DPM has escaped criminal charges. He was accused in the hawala case. But the case never reached the stage where he could be cross-examined under oath. The judges found insufficient evidence. Charges against all the 40-odd politicians were dismissed, though some of them like Mr Sharad Yadav admitted that they had received money from the Jains and the entry against their names in the diary was indeed correct.

Even the charges against the Jain brothers, from whose premises Rs 58 lakh was seized, were dismissed. Only two Kashmiri Muslims in the hawala case were found guilty. Each served seven years in jail.

These are all facts which the BJP wants to gloss over as it campaigns against the ?tainted? ministers. Two thousand years ago, a peripatetic preacher in Galilee asked, ?Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother?s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye??

Courtesy: Indian Currents

The writer can be reached at bharataputra@hotmail.com

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