Now, Enron Bachao

FOR the nationalist hardliners in the BJP and the RSS the Maharashtra government's U-turn on Enron has been adifficult pill to swallow. When the Shiv Sena-BJP combine came to power earlier this year, the theme song was 'Enron hatao, desh bachao'. Today, much to the displeasure of the champions of swadeshi who have been campaigning against the Enron deal, the Manohar Joshi government sees the reopening of negotiations with the US multinational as an achievement. Ironically enough, 'Enron bachao' is the latest refrain in Mantralaya.

The revival of the deal is, as far as the Maharashtra government is concerned, cause for celebration. After all, the argument runs, Enron's price has been scaled down to more reasonable levels, saving the country Rs 900 crore. The renegotiation of other projects has cut costs by another Rs 2,000 crore. The general drift of recent statements issuing forth from the government and from Sena Bhavan is: the Sena has tamed the US multinational.

But for the saffron brotherhood, such posturing has come as an embarrassment. Says a BJP leader who graduated from the shakhas of the RSS to the airconditioned party offices in Bombay: "Ayodhya has become a symbol of our cultural nationalism and the fight against Enron symbolises economic nationalism. Look at what hashappened to this great symbol of evil." He adds that the state government's revised stand on Enron has provoked partymen to snipe that the BJP may rebuild the Babri Masjid if it comes to power.

Deputy Chief Minister Gopinath Munde, who led the initial charge against Enron, has been hard put to explain the turnabout. Not so long ago, he and other senior state BJP leaders saw themselves as crusaders against the multinational and the criminalisation of politics by former chief minister Sharad Pawar. It was Munde who headed the committee which recommended that the Enron deal negoti-ated by the former government be scrapped.

Munde now has to rechart his line. His first task is to bring around those BJP leaders who campaigned with him for the ouster of the US multinational. According to party sources, the deputy chief minister met militant party leaders from Ratnagiri last weekand asked them to lay down arms.

The Opposition has reacted with glee. Says Gurudas Kamat, Congress MP from Bombay North East: "The alliance will fare badly in the Konkan region. After all thenoise they made, I would like to see how Vinay Natu (the local BJP MLA) sells Enron to the villagers." Kamat insists that the reduction of the power tariff by Enron from Rs 2.40 per unit to Rs 1.90 per unit and the scaling down of the project by $300 million are but marginal victories. This shows that the earlier BJP-Sena propaganda was politically motivated, he asserts.

It is not the Congress alone which has been critical. The RSS, which sees swadeshi as its favourite calling card, is very riled but is taking pains to not show it openly. Says Vasantrao Tambe, the Sangh'sBombay unit general secretary: "We stand for self-reliance and against foreign intervention. But despite our opposition to Enron, our policy is not to come out on to the streets and protest."

There are others, of course, others who will do it for them. For one, there is the RSS-backed Swadeshi Jagaran Manch (SJM), which had a key role in whipping up the initial anti-Enron frenzy. According to SJM convenor Ravindra Mahajan, there is no question of compromise: "We are certainly going to take action. We will react to every government action. We have not foreclosed our options." Mahajan has reason to be peeved: a fortnight ago he sought an audience with Joshi, but in vain. A local daily quoted him as saying that he equated those bringing back Enron with traitors who have forsaken their right to take the name of warrior king Shivaji.

For those who were the BJP-Sena combine's comrades-in-arms till now, the renegotiation is a total sellout. For political rivals, it represents a chance to reclaim the moral high ground they were displaced from. The chorus of uncomfortable voices will inevitably rise in volume, climaxing when the renegotiated package ispresented in the winter session of the state assembly. Having committed itself to reviving the deal, the alliance has an unenviable task ahead of it.