Pressure to Curb People s Movements

Ajit Roy THE recent round of elections in the four northern states and the territory of Delhi is being deservedly subjected to critical analyses in the country and abroad. There is almost universal agreement that the outcome as a whole is a severe setback for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its brand of semi-fascism. There is also a large measure of agreement that the party and the cause it is identified with still have a lot of mass appeal, that they both may be 'down', but are not yet 'out'. The indifferent response to the party's call for bandhs in different states in protest against the jailing (although really in five-star comfort in a posh bungalow) of its top leaders in connection with the criminal proceedings for the violent demolition of the historical Babri masjid a year ago has reinforced the above broad conclusion.