BJP on the Defensive

Until recently, whenever terror struck India, the first thing that came to mind was another Muslim group, another Jihadist organization, SIMI or or even Al Qaeda. This all changed a few back when the police arrested one Sadhvi Pragya Singh along with a Army Lt Col and a self styled guru, Swami Amritanand in connection with the bombing of a predominately Muslim town of Malegaon.

With the Lok Sabha elections approaching next year, BJP a predominately Hindu party which is also the opposition party in India had been on the offensive accusing the ruling UPA of being soft on terror. The UPA did not help its cause either as the bungled response by the Union Home Minister to the quick spate of terror attacks across the country played right into the hands of the BJP.

But the arrest of Pragya Singh and others has put the BJP on the defensive. It cannot use the us against them, Muslims responsible for terror, Pakistan hand in terrorist strikes, as its poll plank. The involvement of Hindus in the Malegoan blasts seems to have caught the BJP off guard and in two minds. It can neither distance itself from the Sadhvi as that would mean that you are abandoning a fellow Hindu, nor can it embrace her and her accomplices as that would mean that you tacitly support terror. Until a few months ago, I was leaning towards BJP gaining power in the Center. Now I am not so sure. If the issue of Hindu terrorists continues to dominate the headlines for the next few months, then the upcoming Lok sabha elections will be pretty interesting to watch.