IF DEMOCRACY IS TO BE SAVED, BJP IS TO BE HELPED

FACTORS OF POLITICAL FACTOTUMISM MUST BE DEFEATED

Subhas Chandra Pattanayak

India is in the battlefield to save her democracy. It can be saved only if Election 2009 rejects political factotumism.

All the political parties except the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the left parties are parties of political factotums.

The non-BJP and non-Left parties have no internal democracy. They of course have their respective party constitutions and on provisions thereof, committees like working committee or political affairs committee etc. But these are only contrived to show that they honor democracy and therewith to hoodwink the election commission and the gullible peoples of this country. In reality, individuals own them. The factotums claiming to be members of any of these parties call their masters or owners as high command; but the media has developed the habit of describing the owner of such a party as supremo. A supremo or the high command appoints any of his or her faithful factotums to any post in the party at any point of time and the person so appointed feels no shame in celebrating the said appointment. K.P.Singhdeo’s proud assertion, after being “appointed” President of Orissa Pradesh Congress Committee, that he is a Sainik of Sonia provides us with an instant instance.

There are only two political ideologies in the world: Capitalism and Socialism. In India, BJP has its real creed in Capitalism (in Indian language, Punjivad), the Left parties in Socialism (Samajvad). Political Science recognizes these two isms as isms of democracy (Ganatantra). Hence we can say, Punjivad and Samajvad, notwithstanding difference in application, are applied form of Ganatantravad (Democratism). But the Congress and its descendants like Trinamul Congress, Rastravadi Congress etc and individual outfits like the Biju Janata Dal of Orissa do not belong to any of these two ideologies. Their common character suggests that they have developed Factotumism, which in Indian language can best be called Golamvad.

Election 2009 has called upon the citizens of India to choose any of the two isms: Democratism and Factotumism. To say if they support Ganatantravad or they support Golamvad.

If India is to be saved, Ganatantravad is to b supported and Golamvad is to be discarded.

In other words, in the present context, if India is to be saved, BJP is to be supported. This is unavoidable for a democrat, as the other practitioners of democracy, the Left Parties, have established that they are too confused to be relied upon.

The allegation of communalism raised against the BJP is not relevant; because every political party in India is communal.

Communalism is display of personal religious preference in public. Any display of religious symbols or manners in public that may not match with the religious practice of everybody in the society is communalism. Why a Manmohan Singh displays his turban in the public? Just to project himself as a Sikh. This is communalism. Why a Navin Patnaik starts electioneering from the citadel of Sri Jagannath? Just to display that he is loyal to the Almighty of Sri Mandira in whom the peoples of Orissa find the unending stream to quench all their religious thirst. Is he not communal? Who of the Communists have opposed public worship of Durga or Kali in Kolkata? Are they secular? Or conversely, are they not communal?

So communalism is not the crux of concern at the moment.

The crux of concern is whether India shall stay a democracy.

India cannot survive as a democracy if political parties afflicted with supremo-syndrome occupy power. The factors and practitioners of factotumism must be kept away from power to ensure that democracy is put in hands of parties that practice democracy in their own organization.

In view of this, Communists having forfeited their credibility by shameless hobnobbing with agents of imperialism, Manmohan Singh yesterday and Navin Patnaik today, the only available practitioner of democracy in India is BJP.

And hence, if democracy is to be saved, in Election 2009, BJP is to be helped and helped by all the progressive people so that post-elections, it may morally distance itself from Arun Shouries and Pramod Mahajans and discard the plutocratic tenets that the Congress party under Sonia Gandhi with Manmohan Singh as the Prime Minister has crippled the country with.