Left... With Hindutva

After having cried itself hoarse about the importance of foreign direct investment, the BJP says it willoppose any move to up FDI in insurance and telecom. The `U' turn which is motivated by politics rather thaneconomics was articulated by none other than Atal Behari Vajpayee who had for the last five years positionedhimself as `The Great Indian Reformer.'

Very clearly, in its new avtar as the party in the opposition, the BJP suddenly finds foreign investmentsin the two sectors against "national interest." Those (journalists, economy pundits included) whoattributed the BJP with right wing capitalist values will be in for many more surprises. Ask any BJP leaderclaiming close links to the RSS--and their numbers are growing by the day--and they will tell you how theparty is opposed to any disinvestment, how Indian industry has to be insulated from foreign competition andwhy swadeshi is the only mantra that makes sense.

For those who had any doubts, the BJP is at its core a party dedicated to Hindutva and little else.

So why was there all this talk of economic `reforms' for the last five years? Again, if you talk to BJPleaders they will tell you that 'reforms' was a seven letter word which helped the party dish out favours andcultivate new friends while in power. It was also a tool that was used to justify fraudulent sell outs,procurements and self defeating counter guarantees.

Given a coating with the reforms brush one could get kudos from international monetary agencies for hugeborrowings and unwise expenditure. Agencies scrutinising government accounts like the CAG could be dismissedas being anti-reforms. Journalists questioning government decisions were again Leftists with anti-reformsorientation.

For five years the nation was led to believe that everything about business was good. And all businessmenwere nice guys who made honest profits while they contributed to the common weal. This was what was fed to themedia, this was what was reported and this was what everyone believed.

Suddenly the BJP has changed tack. After the electoral debacle it has decided to take a Left turn. This isa move that has the full backing of the RSS and other sangh parivar outfits which have all along questionedthe economic policies of the BJP. One is told that realpolitik demanded such a sharp shift. That theparty realises that such a move is necessary to help recover the ground it has lost after its electoralreverses.

So would the BJP have welcomed FDI in insurance and telecom if it had come back to power? It certainlywould have because only then could it have struck deals with multinational corporations and won brownie pointsin Washington or London.

The Congress too is known for various inconsistencies. But in the main it has been a centrist party, allfor economic reforms with a human face. The BJP on the other hand is `Right' while in power and `Left' when itis in the opposition. And in the days to come with the party increasingly dependent on the RSS to stay afloat,Hindutva more than reforms will come to the fore.