India: Mahatma vs. Rama

By EDWARD W. DESMOND /NEW DELHI

In the nearly 44 years since India became independent, one vision of politics and society has reigned supreme. It interweaves two powerful strands: Congress Party leader Jawaharlal Nehru's legacy of a secular, socialist government; and the nonviolence and religious tolerance exemplified by Mahatma Gandhi, the ascetic Hindu champion. In elections concluded late last week, that tradition faces an unprecedented challenge from a movement that proudly proclaims itself to be the antithesis of what Nehru, and to some extent Gandhi, represented. It rejects the "foreign" influences of Islam, Christianity, capitalism and socialism, and aspires to restore Rama Rajya, a mythical golden age of Hindu civilization when the Hindu god Rama ruled. In less than two years, the movement's political arm, the Bharatiya Janata Party, led by L.K. Advani, 63, has moved from the margins to the center of Indian politics.

The rise of the Hindu nationalists, like the upsurge of Islamic politics in the Arab world, reflects widespread disillusionment with the leftist political order that dominated the freedom movements in the colonial world after World War II. In India, Advani and other B.J.P. politicians draw huge crowds to hear them rip into the Congress for the billions wasted on unproductive, state- owned industry, the alleged "pampering" of Muslims or the downplaying of Hindu tradition in favor of "pseudo secularism" -- their catchall term for Congress politicians who claim to be blind to religion but play to Muslim sentiments. Nehru, Gandhi and Congress still have a legion of defenders, but the tide is not with them. "The existing order is in a state of decomposition," writes Girilal Jain, a former editor of the Times of India. "Like the Soviets, we are facing the moment of truth. The Nehru model has exhausted its potential for good."

The B.J.P. has been waiting a long time for that turn of the wheel. The party traces its lineage to the 1920s, when a young doctor named Keshav Baliram Hedgewar founded the R.S.S., or National Volunteer Corps; its members today form the core of the B.J.P.. Hedgewar believed that divisions of caste, sect and language made Hindu society weak and an easy victim of foreign, especially Muslim, domination.

Hedgewar argued that the only way to restore Hindu vigor was to stir a sense of martial nationalism in Hindus. The R.S.S., which has grown quickly in recent years to nearly 100,000 members, emphasizes fighting arts and militant Hindu pride, choosing as its heroes figures like Shivaji, a 17th century Hindu king who successfully fought the Muslim Mogul emperors.

The B.J.P. has shaped Hedgewar's thoughts into a political juggernaut. Central to their political success is the promotion of Rama, the warrior god of the Hindu Ramayana epic, and a dilapidated 16th century mosque in the north Indian town of Ayodhya. The B.J.P. claims the site marks Rama's birthplace but that Mogul rulers destroyed a Hindu temple there and built a mosque in its place. There is no conclusive evidence of that claim, but as a point of Hindu self-esteem, the B.J.P. demands that the mosque be moved and a huge temple to Rama built on the spot. Muslims have resisted that demand, as have all of India's governments to date, providing the B.J.P. with an explosive platform. Last October, Rama's fanatical devotees stormed the heavily policed mosque, and at least 30 died. The incident sparked Hindu-Muslim riots that left more than 500 dead, the majority of them Muslims.

The B.J.P. uses the Ayodhya issue to stir Hindu anger, but Advani is always careful to stress that he does not advocate violence against Muslims or harsh treatment of any minorities if the B.J.P. comes to power. What the B.J.P. advocates officially seems mild -- an end to Muslim personal law in civil matters and restrictions on religious schools for all minorities. But in practice, B.J.P. workers are full of hatred for Muslims and regularly provoke violent confrontations. Says Qari Moinuddin, a Muslim politician in Jaipur: "They meet you on the street and say, 'Long Live Rama!' and if you don't respond, they will kill you, or at least break your head."

To broaden its appeal, the B.J.P. in recent months has de-emphasized religion. Instead, it has promoted the party as the disciplined, ultra- nationalist remedy for the mounting ailments afflicting India, in particular the secessionist movements in Punjab, Kashmir and Assam and mounting sectarian and political violence. Since Rajiv Gandhi's assassination last month, the B.J.P. has appropriated the Congress slogan of "Stability" and argued that Gandhi's party, without a Nehru scion at the top, has become too shaky to lead India. Said Advani last week: "The B.J.P. appears to the common voter as the only oasis of stability in a scenario where all other parties seem to be on the verge of disintegration." It is up to Indian voters to decide whether the B.J.P. is the new messiah or one of the culprits in the country's instability.