The following news was reported in the Times of India and the Indian Express

January

In Maharashtra, the Sambhaji Brigade, a group of rightist religious activists loosely aligned with the locally powerful Shiv Sena movement, vandalize the Bandharakar Institute, a manuscript collection seen as a sign of Brahmin cultural hegemony. The vandals are especially angry about the Institute’s role in supporting the research of Professor Jim Laine, whose recent book includes a remark questioning the parentage of Shivaji, the great Maratha warrior who is the primary symbol of anti-Brahmin, pro-Maratha identity in Maharashtra. The same activists also assault Skrikant Bahulkar, a widely respected Sanskritist whose name appears in the acknowledgements of the book. The son of Shiv Sena leader Bal Thackeray (India’s evilest politician/ideologue?) later apologizes to Dr. Bahulkar, but anti-Brahmin demonstrations continue.   

February

In the early part of the months, the major political question is whether India and Pakistan will play a set of Cricket matches in Pakistan! Concerns for security are allayed and the matches are scheduled for March and April, some before and some after the upcoming parliamentary elections.

The papers also widely debate the omnipresent ‘India Shining’ ad campaign, an expensive and somewhat ominous effort by the ruling BJP party to encourage all Indians (though especially the upper and middle classes who read the papers and watch tv) to adopt a “feel good” attitude toward India as a nation state. Low budget advertisements with vague blandishments about growth grace the English language dailies, punctuated by the smiling face of A. Vajpayee, the BJP headman.

Meanwhile, a public and intra-party debate rages over Sonia Gandhi’s leadership of the Congress. Gandhi, who is originally from Italy, is the widow of Rajiv Gandhi, Nehru’s grandson and former prime minister. She maintains control of the party despite the fact that the BJP, whose NDA coalition includes a strong nationalist Hindutva ‘Hinduness’ wing that is easily swayed by transparent xenophobia and religious pandering, vows to make her foreign birth a campaign issue.

Feb. 21 – Under protection of the courts, terrified witnesses come forward to testify about atrocities committed by police forces in the 2002 Gujarat riots.

Feb. 25 – Under pressure from press and party members, BJP leadership rescinds its invitation of party membership to Uttar Pradesh strongman DP Yadav, who is currently under investigation and/or prosecution for numerous crimes, including murder. Hundreds of less high-profile crooks and mobster are contesting or already holding seats in state or national legislators. 

March

The Indian Cricket team’s tour of Pakistan dominates both the sports page and front page, getting about equal billing with the upcoming elections. The Indian cricket team is victorious in the series of five one-day matches, sparking exultation throughout the country. Cricket news is reported in front-page headlines that elsewhere would be reserved for news of war. Excitement and self-satisfaction grow to epic proportions when India also wins the first of three five-day test matches – it is the first test victory ever in Pakistan, a cause for much jubilation. Interestingly, cricket and politics provide the bulk of all bookmaking action in India, with bookies even offering double bets on cricket and elections. The press is generally fascinated by rumors of match fixing, which in the past has been widespread.

As the elections gear up, the party affiliation dance goes into full swing. Both the BJP and Congress parties court Bollywood stars, some of who will actually contest elections and some who join parties for PR and general sheen effect. Meanwhile, legislators jump furiously from one major party to the other, even in some cases jumping back to the party that they abandoned in the last election. Though Congress and BJP seek to contest as many seats as possible, they also seek to create or shore up alliances in states and seat sharing arrangements (the math of which is difficult to fathom) where they are not sufficiently strong to win a majority. The BJP holds on to its NDA alliances from the current government, while the Congress employs more of an ad-hoc, state-by-state approach: in Maharashtra they pair with the NCP, a party that split from the Congress over the foreign origin of Sonia Gandhi; in Bihar the partnership is with low-caste party of Laloo Yadav, the criminal turned politician (and I believ a relative of the aforementioned DP Yadav – big families here). Neither party manages to secure a partnership with the BSP, a powerful dalit-based party led by the notorious Mayawati, that controls many seats in the North, especially in Uttar Pradesh, the state with the most Lok Sahba seats.

While the electoral maneuvering can be dizzying, opinion polls generally confirm the obvious  – that the Congress lacks leadership, vision and strategy, while a BJP purged for the moment of its more extreme rightest elements is ascendant. The rise of the BJP is cause for dismay, since neither its Hindutva base nor its neo-liberal recreation bode particularly well for the vast majority of Indians. Still, it is hard to feel sorry for or bad about Congress’ decline, since the party seems bloated, unresponsive, incapable of even competent let alone progressive leadership and generally interested mostly in its own self-perpetuation.

To promote ‘India Shining’ and the successes of the NDA government, LK Advani, Vajpayee’s infamous second in command, embarks on his third country-wide yathra (pilgrimage/tour), which is inescapably linked to his first cross country journey that helped fuel the original Ayodhya conflicts in 1991. This time the temple and other Hindutva issues are on the back burner, but Advani remains a creepy and frightening force in Indian politics. At least the press exhibits fear about the possibility of Advani as a potential heir apparent for Vajpayee (both are in their 70’s), and note that his yathras, which are unavoidably illiberal and communalist, may do as much harm as good for the party; their obsequious adulation for Vajpayee - of the ‘next Nehru’ variety - is a bit harder to take.

Notable Stories:

March 21 - The controversy over Jim Laine’s Shivaji book continue to percolate, with Vajpayee warning foreign authors not to test Indian national pride.

March 31 – Miss India surrenders her crown after it becomes known that she told a potential landlord that she was married in an effort to secure an apartment.