The Tehelka expose on the 2002 Gujarat riots has handed Narendra Modi and the BJP a double-edged sword. Modi can use it to stoke the communal fire once again.
NEW DELHI: The Tehelka expose on the 2002 Gujarat riots has handed Narendra Modi and the BJP a double-edged sword. Modi can use it to stoke the communal fire once again without a single drop of blood being shed. But whether he tries to make it work to his advantage in the upcoming State elections or not, the stark reminder of his role in the horrific violence has probably shut the door on his national ambitions.
There were mixed reactions from BJP leaders as the stunning confessions from perpetrators of the riots went on air on Thursday evening.
While they exulted at the prospect of riding to victory in Gujarat on a wave of communal polarisation, there was a nagging concern that the party may have lost a prospective candidate for Prime Minister in the future. It will be difficult for Modi to gain national acceptability after Tehelka’s fresh reminder of the communal taint to his name.
There was an additional, and perhaps more disturbing, concern.
A top BJP leader who did not want to be identified acknowledged that the revelations may hit the party badly vis-a-vis the next general elections, which political circles believe will be advanced to some time in 2008. The expose, he admitted, had revived the threat of the Muslim veto in areas with significant minority populations such as UP, Bihar and Karnataka where the BJP has big electoral stakes.
It is also likely to damage relations within the already fragile grouping the BJP heads, the National Democratic Alliance. The “secular’’ component of the NDA, the JD(U) and the BJD, have been giving the BJP a hard time for its anti-Muslim politics.
For the moment, however, the BJP is looking at the Tehelka revelations through the Gujarat prism. And its leaders see a rosy picture. For one, the “hit’’ is likely to force the party to close ranks behind Modi as it answers the charge of a pre-meditated pogrom day after day in television interviews, at rallies, in newspaper articles and other talk platforms.
Secondly, the expose has probably finished off the threat from the rebels.
Many of those named in the Tehelka operation, like Gordhan Zadaphiya, Babu Bajrangi and others had turned dissidents against Modi’s authoritarian ways and were threatening to take away votes from the BJP by joining hands with the Congress. After today, they have become the villains of the violence and Congress will not touch them with a barge pole.
Thirdly, the resurrection of the 2002 carnage has provided Modi with a readymade agenda. As one BJP leader pointed out, Modi has steered clear of talking about the riots, fearing that the same issue won’t work a second time. His plank in these elections was development and Gujarat’s fast economic growth.
Now he’s been handed a tool to recreate the communal polarisation that swept him to victory in 2002. “He will definitely take advantage of this,’’ said a top BJP source.
For the record, BJP spokesman Prakash Javdekar said, “This is a political stunt enacted on the eve of elections to defame Modi. Collusive sting cannot be equated with investigative journalism. Tehelka will now be known as CIA (Congress Investigative Agency).’’
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