That the BJP is making desperate attempts to realise its dream of crossing the magic number of 272 in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections came to light once again on February 25 when the party president Rajnath Singh offered to apologise for any “mistake” or “shortcoming” it might have committed in the past. Singh was reported to have said while addressing a gathering of Muslims in the national capital, “Please note that whenever, wherever if there has been any mistake and shortcoming on our part, I assure you that we will apologise to you by bowing our heads.” As political expediency would have it, the statement was later denied. The party spokesman Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi on March 1 said the BJP president “did not apologise”. So Rajnath’s statement can well be described as the party’s attempt at how not to apologise.
Even before the statement was denied, his offer was rejected outright by Muslim organisations, including Jamaat-e-Islami Hind, as ‘political gimmick’, ‘insincere’, ‘misleading’ and ‘salt-rubbing on the wounds of Muslims’. He talked of any “mistake” or “shortcoming” in the past. But the world knows for certain that the crimes the party leaders and activists have committed against humanity and the nation cannot be termed as mere “mistakes”. Is the demolition of over 450-year old historic Babri Masjid in the presence of top leaders of BJP including L.K. Advani a mere mistake? Are killing, maiming and burning alive of innocent citizens and subjecting women to worst sort of physical assault during communal flare-ups especially Gujarat 2002 mere mistakes? Is destruction of over 500 mosques and dargahs during this pogrom a mere mistake? All these are diabolically organised crimes against humanity. Rajnath Singh’s feigned obliviousness of these and such other crimes is simply a mockery of truth and justice.
The BJP has always blamed the Congress for ‘Muslim appeasement’ and now the party is practising the same tactics. This is not the first desperate attempt of the BJP to woo Muslims. Earlier, a controversy had erupted when the BJP distributed skullcaps and burqas allegedly among its cadre in some rallies just to create the impression that Muslims had been present in the rallies.
Indian citizens have grown democratically mature enough to see through the political trends in the country and decide which political party practices communal fascism and which can give a stable government to the nation. Even farmers and labourers are politically mature. They need no persuasion, no brainwashing. Only time will teach those who make such misleading statements.