Its growth agenda hit, why the BJP must mark a clear distance from the fringe

An attack a day; if it’s Shiv Sena today, it’s some other group tomorrow. It’s not clear whether the activities of the Hindutva/nationalist fringe follow an invisible script or a series of random acts with a vague pattern give the goings on the nature of a script. Whatever the case, the trend is hurting the image of the country and that of the Narendra Modi government.

The seriousness of the matter can be gauged from the fact that President Pranab Mukherjee has highlighted the trend of growing intolerance and impatience to dissent twice already in his messages to the country in a short period. Finance Minister Arun Jaitely has denounced Shiv Sena’s recent attacks calling these acts of vandalism. He said today that people indulging in such acts needed to criticised strongly. A day ago, BJP president Amit Shah, at the instance of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, reportedly hauled up some party leaders for going too far with their communal agenda.

The sense of urgency is understandable. The fringe through its routine antics has started overshadowing every other important subject in the country – just have a look at the newspaper headlines and the prime time television debates and you get the picture. For a party that stormed into power on the agenda of good governance and growth, and on the wings of the aspiration of a generation of youth, the intolerant groups are proving to be a huge distraction from core matters.

Other BJP leaders maybe loathe to accept this in public, but they cannot be oblivious to the fact these groups have managed to nullify to some extent all the good work done and the sincere intention shown by the BJP-led government in the last one-and-a half year. The image of the government has taken a hit. Worse, the groups are offering a rallying point to the political opposition which still remains divided and scattered after the general election of 2014.

Thanks to these groups, the winter session of Parliament promises to be as turbulent as the monsoon sitting. The opposition is expected to demand answers on all their activities, ranging from the Dadri lynching to ink attacks to killing of rationalists to what not. The central government has little to do with local developments, but it will still face the music in both Houses. The opposition is trying to win the perception game against the government and the fringe is offering it ample ammunition. If the several bills critical to the economy of the country remains pending this time too and the government ends up with a red face, the blame lies squarely on the fringe.

The problem, perhaps, begins with the divergent reading of the massive mandate of 2014 by different sections of what is considered as Right in the country. For the BJP it was a vote for Modi’s dynamism and his call for a break from the lethargic chalta hai approach of the past. For others it was a vote for the furtherance of the Hindutva agenda. The latter are not linked to the party in a direct way but they have been its biggest supporters, providing it assistance at the ground level. They are somehow under the impression that they are stakeholders in the government too and be sympathetic all their acts of excess.

The BJP needs to clear that misconception quickly. However, so far it appears a bit confused as to how to go about it. Warnings off and on have not worked. What makes matters worse for it is junior ministers and parliamentarians have been offering direct or indirect moral support to the fringe groups by their utterances. Even party spokespersons are seen to be siding with organisations like Sanatan Sanstha in television programmes. If the party has given a thought to the problem, it’s not visible yet.

But it cannot afford to delay action any further. It cannot allow intolerant outfits with myopic agenda to hijack its attention from bigger goals it has set its eyes upon. It has to draw a line separating the party and the government from the fringe groups, more importantly from the thought process of such groups.