It was a pleasant surprise to see former Prime Minister V P Singh on the front pages of the Manu-stream Media. Though, they would never have otherwise given him space today, since this was an advertisement provided by the Tamil Nadu government, the ‘Bania-Brahmin’ media is prepared to oblige for cash. That is their commitment.
I was therefore, amazed to see the front page of Dainik Jagran, one of the most communal and hate mongering dailies in north India –a newspaper known to abuse VP Singh, Mulayam Singh, Lalu Yadav, Ram Vilas Paswan and Sharad Yadav in the aftermath of the government’s decision to implement Mandal Commission Report in 1990. Unfortunately, Mulayam Singh Yadav compromised and even sent the owner of Jagran, Narendra Mohan to Rajya Sabha years later but look at the editorial stance of the paper! It is obviously communal and anti-social justice even today.
So, to have VP Singh on the front pages of such a newspaper must have given a rude shock to those who were happy with his not being around. Newspapers were even happy to ignore the passing away of V P Singh, in Delhi, on November 27, 2008 as they were too consumed reporting the Mumbai terrorist attack. They completely ignored his death; the advertisement yesterday, on November 27, must therefore have shocked them but paid for it, and hence they obliged.
The Manu-stream media or casteist Brahmanical leaders of both the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress have made it a point to ignore VP Singh for the simple reason that it was he who brought the issue of social justice to the mainstream of Indian public discourse, until then still dominated by the caste elite. Even those who enjoyed the fruits of power after benefitting from his policies are guilty of this though Lalu Yadav and Ram Vilas Paswan remained closely associated with him till the end. It was however, Karunanidhi with his party, the DMK that responded sharply and promptly then. A massive rally organised by the DMK in support of implementation of the Mandal Commission report was the astute answer, even while leaders from north India were still calculating the pros and cons of V.P. Singh’s politics.
More than 35 years have passed since the VP relinquished power but he remains absolutely essential for the politics of social justice and secularism.
Unfortunately, the social justice parties in north India, started ignoring VP to get the votes of the savarnas. That is why, to please the Brahmins and Banias in particular, the Samajwadi party and Mulayam Singh Yadav went out of their way to get them plum posts. Even journalists from dominant castes who often enjoyed close proximity with the Samajwadi Party.
Can you imagine, a person who was twice the chief minister (CM) of Uttar Pradesh, a finance minister of the country, President of the Uttar Pradesh Congress, Defence Minister as well as the Prime Minister of India, even today does have a memorial in his name, anywhere in the country. We have a big memorial for Sanjay Gandhi without him being any minister but we don’t have anything for a man who altered the political discourse so fundamentally.
While both the Congress and BJP can be faulted for this crass exclusion, a particular pain and disappointment comes from other parties including the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD). For the last 35 years, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar have been governed largely by the Janata-Samajwadi parivar ruling but they have been unconcerned.
I am not familiar with Tamil Nadu politics. I am not sure why Lalu Yadav, Tejasvi or Nitish were not invited for the unveiling of the statue of VP Singh. It is obvious that the Congress party might not have liked the idea. Congress’s Brahmanical seculars-liberals have no time for remembering the person as most of them hate VP for the Mandal ‘sin’.
The problem with the Congress party is that it refuses to learn any lessons. I have said many times that had Rajiv Gandhi supported VP Singh when BJP withdrew its support, we would have been living a different story today. However, how can we forget that, at the time, Rajiv Gandhi, in an unwise political step, criticised the implementation of the Mandal Commission report on the floor of the house. Implementation of the Mandal was an opportunity which the Congress lost.
After decades, Rahul is finally speaking of the Caste Census. It is to be hoped that state leaderships reiterate this.
It is unfortunate, though, that Rahul Gandhi and other Congress leaders found no time to speak a few good things about VP Singh. Frankly speaking Congress acted much like the BJP at the time when VP Singh was forced to quit. We know how Brahmanical leaders of the Congress party right from Kalpnath Rai to Ratnakar Pandey and KK Tiwari were let loose to abuse V.P. Singh. The media, too, was misused shamelessly (a pattern that BJP is diligently following now) to target VP Singh. So much so, that M J Akbar, a favourite of Rajiv Gandhi was even commissioned to write a manufactured story about VP Singh’s bank account in St Kitts. Today, we find the BJP using the same tactics. Congress needs to learn serious lessons. In the VP Congress relationship, it is the Congress party which played the major villain and not VP Singh who remained loyal to the Congress ideology and rarely spoke against Gandhis personally.
Whatever be the political repercussions, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister’s one action has made the entire event historical. M K Stalin has proved that he is far more mature than his contemporaries whether in the Congress Party or among the social justice forces.
Tamil Nadu has always given due respect and acknowledged the role played by VP Singh. The Dravidian government has put VP in the company of Dr Ambedkar, Thanthi Periyar, Anna Durrai, Karunanidhi and this is a significant honour. The forces of social justice in Uttar Pradesh refused initially to acknowledge VP’s contribution because he was not one among them. Stalin’s action has made other leaders who enjoyed power in north India, look small.
Though VP Singh was prime minister for barely 11 months, his actions actually shook the power structure. It was he, as a prime minister or man in power, who respected and acknowledged Baba Saheb’s contribution to our country and not only awarded him the Bharat Ratna along with Nelson Mandela but also installed Baba Saheb’s portrait inside the Parliament which was ironically not present there until then.
Should not India’s parliament have the portrait of VP Singh on its hallowed portals? Let the social justice government make a big monument and Smarak of VP Singh in their state as a fitting tribute to the man who was once termed as ‘Raja nahi faqeer hai, desh ki taqdeer hai’.
VP Singh certainly deserves better from all of us who believe in social justice and secularism.
Related:
Stalin unveils statue of ex-PM, VP Singh, bats for national caste census to implement reservation