BJP’s unexpected stunning victory in Assam has, no doubt, proved to be a morale booster for the saffron party which, after the Modi government’s assumption of office in 2014, had suffered humiliating defeat in Bihar, Delhi and Uttarakhand elections. But the worrying aspect of the development is that it would lengthen the list of negative trends that the country and its polity have been witnessing during the two years of the Modi-led BJP government.

Among the disturbing trends is the threat the BJP and its ideological mentor RSS’s actions are posing to plural India’s diversity and attempts to re-write India’s history from saffron angle. For instance, names of some of the country’s topmost leaders of the freedom movement, the most important being of Jawahar Lal Nehru, no longer find mention or have been disposed of in one sentence, in the curriculum of the educational institutions in some of the BJP-ruled states.

Besides, provocative and divisive utterances of some saffron-robed MPs, MLAs, ministers and Sadhvis and sadhus have been communally polarizing the nation and rightwing vigilante groups like Gau Raksha Dal killing persons suspected of keeping beef in their refrigerators and traders transporting buffalos in trucks for sale. After criticism and court strictures, the hinduatva protagonists tried to divert attention by asking the people to chant “Bharat Mata Ki Jai”. It amounted to questioning the loyalty to the country even of the staunchest patriots. who do not normally greet people by chanting Bharat Mata Ki Jai.

Undaunted by the adverse reactions to the RSS/BJP pushing of their saffron agenda, the duo are likely to continue pushing Hindu Rashtra agenda which may further polarize the country and lead to all secular parties and some regional parties joining hands to oppose BJP.

BJP has also adopted a double faced approach on anti-terrorism issue. During his foreign visits, prime minister Modi has been rightly terming terrorism as the enemy of humanity. Visiting Saudi Arabia in April he emphasised the need to “delink” religion from terrorism saying that terrorism has no caste, colour, creed or religion. But his government has adopted double standards in dealing with terrorism. While it has rightly been taking strong action against terrorists who mostly happened to be Muslims, it has been trying to dilute cases against radical Hindus allegedly involved in terror actions like Malgaon 2008, Samjhauta, Ajmer and Mecca blasts.

Public Prosecutor in the Malegaon case Rohini Salian had in early 2016 told the media that “she was told by an officer of the National Investigation Agency who would not discuss the case over phone, that she needed to 'go soft'. It was a message he was passing on, Salian said. This was soon after the BJP came to power in a landslide 2014 general election.” Four people were killed and 79 injured in September, 2008 in the Malegaon blast, a predominantly Muslim town 200 miles east of Mumbai, during the month of Ramzan. Investigations linked the blasts to Hindu terror suspects and 12 people were arrested, including Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur and Colonel Prasad Shrikant Purohit.

The Maharashtra government’s Anti-Terrorist Squad headed by its chief Hemant Karkare had filed the charge sheet. But in another charge sheet, the Modi government’s National Investigation Agency “diluted” the probe against Hindu radicals. Consequently Pragya has reportedly been absolved of the charge.

It may not be irrelevant to recall the comments the Supreme Court had made on May 9, 21013 in the coal block allocations case. It had slammed the CBI for being 'a caged parrot that speaks its master's voice”. The name of the CBI now needs to be replaced with Modi government’s NIA!

In the background of the above developments, Punjab’s former DGP Julio Ribeiro who played a key role in curbing terrorism in Punjab in the eighties has commented: “The developments in the Malegaon blasts case have shown that Hindutva forces are succeeding in widening the Hindu-Muslim divide. When Karkare came out with his list of culprits it was easy for us Indians to proclaim that India was different from Pakistan. But that pride has to be discarded now. This emperor, too, has no clothes. We are slowly but relentlessly moving towards being bracketed with the Pakistan in our attitude toward the law, terrorism, and the minorities. I doubt if we will ever get to sit on the high table if the law is not enforced equitably and fairly”.

Coming back to the question whether the Congress will be able to regain its lost political ground which has been further eroded by the party’s demoralizing performance in the five elections, the scenario does not look inspiring for the main opposition party. The party found itself in the dump in four of the five assembly elections with the exception of tiny Pnduchurry in which it and its alliance partner DMK won. The party’s political stock has fallen to the lowest level in Assam where it had been in power for 15 years.

Introspection induces realism. It is time that India’s grand old party undertakes the exercise by first identifying the factors which led to its steep downslide. It was party’s scam-tainted image acquired during UPA-II rule that largely contributed to the party’s humiliating debacle.

The second and an important factor was the failure of Rahul Gandhi to provide effective and inspiring leadership. Although he had shown some signs of political maturity after his last year’s sabbatical, he has not been able to inspire the party cadres. Chronic factionalism also played a crucial role in party’s hopeless electoral performance. In view of Rahul’s poor performance, it is time that Priyanka Gandhi starts playing an active role in Congress. In fact, disappointed by Rahul’s functioning, some party men have already started demanding that Priyanka Gandhi should replace Rahul Gandhi as the Congress second face in public life after Sonia. (IPA Service)