How strong was Shah’s ‘strong’ reprimand?

Perhaps the truth lies somewhere in between, but we shall not know unless articulations of a communal nature, intended to scare the minorities and vitiate the atmosphere, cease and a modicum of social balance is restored in the system. The BJP has assiduously put it out — through news reports citing unnamed party sources — that on Sunday party chief Amit Shah “strongly reprimanded” certain party leaders who frequently make communally charged statements in public. Some reports have said this was done at the instance of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The usual suspects include five-time party MP from UP Sakshi Maharaj, UP MLA Sangeet Som (an accused in the Muzaffarnagar riots of 2013), Union minister Sanjeev Balyan and Haryana CM Manohar Lal Khattar. Apparently, minister of state for culture Mahesh Sharma should have been part of the line-up but he wasn’t in New Delhi. While the “reprimand” was in circulation, Sakshi Maharaj and Mr Som told sections of the media that they were astonished by the reports as their meeting with the party chief was a routine interaction and there could be no question of them being pulled up as they had not done anything against party policies.

It is not, therefore, clear what kind of ping-pong game is in play. If it is assumed that the party president only calmly explained to them that their actions were bringing the party a bad name, especially in the context of the Bihar state election and the country’s image abroad, that may be for now read as chastisement enough provided the controversy-makers fall in line.

If they do not, then we may infer that the intended warning has fallen on deaf ears, and the only way forward will be to take action. It is far from clear if the BJP is ready for that. If it is not, it will be in no position to take the rod to its associates and allies, such as the Shiv Sena and members of Hindutva outfits who routinely engage in flagrant communal acts, not excluding murder, as we saw in the case of litterateur Kalburgi and the rationalists Narendra Dabholkar and Govind Pansare.

After preventing a concert of Pakistani singer Ghulam Ali in Mumbai recently, and then engaging in shameful behaviour prior to the release of a book by former Pakistan external affairs minister Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri last week, the Sena on Monday stopped a scheduled meeting of BCCI president Shashank Manohar and his Pakistani counterpart, Shaharyar Khan, in Mumbai, and the talks has been shelved for now. Clearly these are sorry times. It is time the Union government was seen to be acting.