THE BJP national executive held on March 19-20 in New Delhi has set the course for heightening the confrontation with the secular-democratic forces in the country. This is the message conveyed by the speech of Amit Shah, BJP president, and the political resolution adopted by the session. The BJP will push ahead with its version of aggressive nationalism which is actually Hindu nationalism. The resolution states that the refusal to chant “Bharat Mata ki Jai” is tantamount to disrespect to the constitution itself. By a sleight of hand, the term `Bharat’ used in the constitution is conflated with `Bharat Mata’. The BJP has declared that this is not just a slogan but “the reiteration of our constitutional obligation as citizens to uphold its primacy”. Thus, shouting “Bharat Mata ki Jai” has become a constitutional obligation according to the BJP. The Hindutva brigade led by the RSS who played no role in the freedom struggle have no claim over nationalism, except its Hindu communal variant. There are a number of slogans which were raised by the anti-imperailist nationalist forces including Jai Hind and Inquilab Zindabad. Neither the RSS and BJP’s call to make “Bharat Mata ki Jai” mandatory, nor Asaduddin Owaisi’s response reflect the true nature of nationalism. Amit Shah in his speech declared that the BJP will take on the “anti-national” elements and echoed the RSS demand that firm action be taken against “anti-national” activities in the universities. The BJP has, thus, taken forward the demand of the RSS chief Bhagwat, who earlier this month had said that “Now, the time has come when we have to tell the new generation to chant `Bharat Mata ki Jai’”. The BJP has decided to take its campaign against so-called anti-nationals forward hoping to polarise the country by remaking nationalism as Hindu nationalism. The regressive nationalism of the BJP is an illustration of what Jawaharlal Nehru had warned about, that majority communalism can easily masquerade as nationalism. The political resolution specifically targets the Left as supporting anti-national elements. This has been done mainly to counter the strong opposition building up against the “anti-national” economic policies of the Modi government. The recent budget has heaped burdens on the people by steeply raising indirect taxes and the imposition of cesses. It has continued with the trend of the earlier two budgets in cutting public expenditure in education, health and other social services. The shrill “anti-national” rhetoric is meant to divert the attention of the people from the anti-people and anti-national aspects of the Modi government’s policies, both domestic and foreign. The other impetus for the heightened Hindu nationalist posture is to create and deepen communal polarisation. This is being done keeping in mind the forthcoming assembly elections in five states and more importantly, for the BJP, the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections which is due early next year. After “Bharat Mata ki Jai” the next slogan is to make the cow the `Rashtra Mata’. Already the anti-cow slaughter campaign has targeted the Muslims. The chilling reminder of how this translates into communal poison is the latest incident in Latehar district in Jharkhand. Two Muslims, one of them a twelve year-old boy, who were herding a group of oxen to a cattle fair, were beaten and lynched to death. After Dadri and the incidents in Himachal Pradesh and Jammu, the Jharkhand killings show how communal bigotry is spreading around the country. The BJP government has worked out a division of labour with the Prime Minister Narendra Modi talking about Vikas, Vikas and Vikas as the main issue for the government, in his speech to the national executive. While Amit Shah and other ministers propagate the Hindu nationalist agenda and the barely disguised communal campaign against “anti-national” elements. That such a division of labour is coordinated by the RSS became manifest when just a week before the BJP national executive, the RSS held its annual Akhil Bharatiya Pratinidhi Sabha in Nagaur, Rajasthan. The RSS meeting was attended by all the various wings and front organisations including the BJP. Amit Shah attended the meeting and presented a detailed report of the activities of the BJP in the past one year. He told the meeting that there was no question of compromising the core ideology of the Sangh Parivar in any action of the central government or the BJP. He assured that government actions will be dictated by the ideology and principles for which the BJP was established (by the RSS). The RSS-BJP offensive using Hindu nationalism must be squarely met and countered. But this spurious ultra nationalism has put some of the bourgeois secular parties and forces on the defensive. It is shocking that the Maharashtra assembly suspended an MIM legislator for refusing the demand that he raise the slogan of “Bharat Mata ki Jai”. It is highly deplorable that the Congress and the NCP legislators voted for the MIM legislator’s suspension along with the BJP and the Shiv Sena. Similarly, in the Madhya Pradesh assembly, the resolution to censure Owaisi for his refusal to raise the slogan was moved by a Congress legislator. This resolution was backed by the BJP and unanimously adopted. In Uttar Pradesh, neither the Samajwadi Party nor the BSP have come out against the BJP’s campaign to brand anti-Hindutva forces as anti-national. The secular, non-Left parties should realise that they cannot politically counter the BJP by evading such issues. The coming days will see a big ideological struggle against the Hindutva onslaught and to defend secular democratic values. This requires the unity and broad mobilisation of all the Left, democratic and secular forces. (March 23, 2016)