BJP banking on Ram Navami history for Hazaribagh win

The float by Panch Mandir Committee
that had an electoral subtext

Published here
Hazaribagh, April 10

Mounted on the back of the truck were three male plaster of Paris figures. Sitting in the middle, one resembling Narendra Modi. To his right sat a silver-haired man and pinned on to the left breast pocket of his jacket, a metal lotus - the election symbol of the BJP. To Modi's left sat a younger man clutching a file titled, "Hazaribagh ka vikas." The song from an accompanying second truck metions defeating Pakistan. This is followed by the sound of automatic gunfire and shouts of "Jai Shri Ram!"

On the night of April 9, as Hazaribagh wound itself like a coil to celebrate the second of its three-night Ram Navami celebrations - bigger than Ayodhya's even, as the mahant of the city's most important akhara told me - the Sangh Parivar was hoping that the renewed spirit of Hindu unity would carry the BJP's candidate over the line.

The BJP candidate in Hazaribagh is Jayant Sinha, son of the constituency's outgoing MP and former Union Minister Yashwant Sinha. Even Jayant would admit that his campaign was off to a less-than-ideal start. "It was not a lack of momentum; more like an adjustment. It took us about a week to reassure workers that I was selected on my own merits and not because of my father," he said, insisting that his campaign will be a successful one and that there is no connection between it and the Ram Navami.

Not everyone agrees. "Politics and this festival have always had a relationship. It will continue to be so," said Tunu Gope, district President of the BJP. Gope's proposal to have a Narendra Modi rally on April 10, when the Ram Navami procession is at its peak and communal tension runs high, was the biggest giveaway that the BJP intended to use the festival as a battlecry to unite Hindus. It was scrapped, the ostensible reason being that a block of Hazaribagh district votes with Koderma on April 10. Hazaribagh constituency was supposed to vote on April 10 as per the initial schedule, but it was postponed to April 17 after reminders about the Ram Navami festival.

This youngster was selling pamphlets for the "NaMo number."
The BJP was the only visible political party at the procession.

 "I faxed Rajnathji and Modiji saying it would be a bad idea to have the rally on the 10th. People would be busy with the procession; no one would go for the rally. Tunu Gope said he planned to have Modiji attend the procession and perform with the lathi, but it would have been too chaotic," said Mahant Vijay Anand Das of the Bada Akhara, also a member of the VHP's state Margdarshak Mandal.

The Ram Navami alone should do the trick. "Yashwant Sinha and his son have no connect with the people. Our vote is for Narendra Modi.... How can devotees who come to the procession and take Shri Ram into their hearts not vote for the BJP?" asked Ganshyam Gope, former district president of the VHP, also father of BJP president Tunu. He should know: Ganshyam Gope's father Panchu Gope was one of the individuals who took the lead in celebrating the Ram Navami in a big way since 1925.

As the procession builds, even children come out
with bamboo lathis to show off their skills

Three generations of the Gope family's involvement in the Ram Navami is good illustration of how the festival became communalised over the years. "He was not a member of any organisation. Many political parties invited him, but he never went," said Ganshyam Gope of his father. In fact, Panchu Gope apparently died in the shock of being misunderstood for being communal. "He used to involve the Muslims in the celebration, too. However, in 1973, the police detained him as a precautionary measure after fights broke out. After release, he was never the same again and died in July the same year," said Ganshyam Gope.

That it should be during Ghanshyam Gope's - president of the 200-odd member Shanti Samiti, which meets to keep peace ahead of each festival - watch that 1989 happened is an irony.

The riot of April 16, 1989 officially claimed 19 lives. There have been no further riots, but it seems to have changed the political terrain of Hazaribagh - and even adjoining areas - forever. The BJP, which had garnered only 7.08 per cent of votes in the 1984 general election, won in the elections of November 1989 by collecting 43.98 per cent. It has never fallen below the second position in the constituency since, winning four of six times.

The year was a turning point for the BJP across the country: marked by the Ram Shila Puja and the communal riots connected to it, it has been estimated that 47 of the 88 seats that the party won in 1989 had experienced riots.

It gets interesting as the procession reaches the entrance to the Masjid Road,
off the Main Road.  Floats pause briefly before the barricades, with
people - poorly trained  and overly enthusiastic - perform with lathis and "swords."

Ganshyam Gope laid the blame at the door of the district administration. The riot happened over the dispute as to whether the procession should pass through Jama Masjid road, a narrow 200 metre stretch off the Main Road. "The previous year, someone had thrown a glass tumbler at Goddess Durga's idol as it passed through the Masjid Road, so the administration suggested that we move it to Malviya Marg. There was no need to do that. It was peaceful already. Later, when there was no problem, we moved it back to the Masjid road," recalled Ganshyam Gope, who blames "goonda" elements on both sides for the communal tension.

On the Masjid Road, they remember 1989 differently. "After 1987, it was decided that the procession would take the parallel, broader Malviya Road. After all, there were only four Hindu houses on this street, after all. We also agreed to move the Muharram procession route from Panchmandir road to Jama Masjid Road," said Ghulam Moinuddin Ahmad, Secretary of the Jama Masjid, also a member of the Shanti Samiti.

According to Ghulam Ahmad, the Hindus did not take out the 1988 Ram Navami procession in protest of this decision. He blames the riot on the man who won the 1989 elections. "Yadunath Pandey came from Ranchi in 1989. He really stoked tensions," he said. A few days before the Ram Navami, the permission to pass through Masjid Road was given.

The procession passed through peacefully at about two in the afternoon on the third day. "Soon after, police were called away elsewhere for an emergency," said Ahmad. In an interview, Lalu Prasad had blamed Rajiv Gandhi for this, pointing out that Rajiv and Sonia Gandhi had gone to the Vaishali festival from Patna, with the former driving. Police personnel were rushed to provide security along the route.

By about 4 PM that evening, a bomb went off in Hazaribagh. No security personnel were around to control the people. "Kani Bazaar was finished," recalled Ahmad. Why hasn't another riot happened since? "The police went into the Muslim areas and acted with a firm hand. The goondas among them understood they will be punished if they repeat it," said Ganshyam Gope.

One of the many Rapid Action Force personnel on the Masjid Road.
Left background, the mosque.

The result of the riot was that the procession, taken out by 135 akharas of the district, got even larger. "It was decided that the procession would not enter the Masjid Road on the second night, so we came to be celebrating for a third day," said Mahant Vijay Das. The procession reaches the barricaded entrance to the Masjid Road in the wee hours of the third day. "I give the district administration the Azan and Namaz schedules for the day. Accordingly, the barricades are opened and closed five times through the day to let the procession through," said Ahmad. The charged mass of people take at least 12 hours to pass through the 200 metre lane.

The narrative of 1989 and its aftermath is important: it repeated in a chilling manner on April 8 in Giridih district's Tetaria Selaidih village within Birni police station limits. "The Ram Navami procession there does not pass through the Jama Masjid Road, but this time people insisted on taking it. We held some 10-12 Peace Committee meetings, at the end of which, permission was denied. However, as the procession passed through, some people tried to break through the barricades and go into the Masjid Road," said Kranti Kumar Garhdeshi, Giridih's Superintendent of Police. Police were forced to fire into the air in the ensuing melee and seven policemen and 5-6 villagers received minor injuries.

Former Hazaribagh MP Yadunath Pandey was one of the BJP leaders who tried to reach the area. "Some outsiders came here today, but we denied them permission as the Model Code of Conduct is on," said SP Garhdeshi.