Oh the hypocrisy!

BJP- a party that has taken its birth from an almost extremist Hindu nationalist organisation like RSS and that has been professing more or less Fascist concepts of Rama Janmabhoomi and Hindutva- is now trying to field Muslims in the next polls. What could be a better example of double-standards in politics?

BJP leader Mangal Pandey has ennobled the decision to field Muslim candidates by stating that Bihar's development would not be complete if the Muslims remained untouched. So, does that mean BJP has suddenly become a saintly ‘secular’ party? No, it means they have properly analysed the consequences of not fielding Muslim candidates in at least those constituencies that have high Muslim population (ranging from 18% to 48% in some districts).  

 An ideology, a principle should be the backbone of any political party. If a party abandons its ideologies to get into power, then the whole process of democratic selection of a political party is rendered meaningless. BJP has been doing only this for the past few years. It has renamed and implemented most of the UPA policies which they had themselves criticised while in Opposition. Some examples of this being the implementation of Land Swapping programme with Bangladesh, the Nirmal Bharat Abhiyaan being renamed and implemented as Swachch Bharat Abhiyaan etc.

This fielding of Muslim candidates and painting a secular image for themselves, is BJP’s next iteration of their mockery of Indian public.

Old Ways, New Hopes!

          In a democratic political system, it shouldn’t matter who becomes the CM but nothing goes according to theory when it becomes practical. Every foundation of a theory is altered and contradicted when it is applied. And when theories are applied to places and issues like Kashmir, the application becomes more complicated.

The issue of Kashmir is more multi-faceted than it appears to be. A sense of identity, separate from that of Indian and not really Pakistani has crept into the minds of Kashmiri Muslims. Kashmir, even with considerable Sikh and Pundit population, is identified with Kashmiri Muslims.

A demographic reorganisation is one of the greater fears of many Kashmiri Muslims and a Hindu being elected to the highest position in the state is the indication of an imminent manifestation of their fears. On top of this, J&K has always aroused interests internationally and it takes no time for even the smallest issue to get global attention. 

Hence, no party has ever dared to make a Hindu CM of the state. Though, in the past, parties had Hindu majority Muslims were allowed to be on the top spot.

This has in a way sacrificed the rights of other communities living in J&K as well as the spirit of democracy has also been compromised. But if this is necessary to maintain peace in a war ridden region, then these are compromises and sacrifices worth making for. Perhaps, through such a democracy if a better Kashmir can be built, we might be able to build a better democracy in such a Kashmir.