Some Lives Are More Precious

The release of three ‘dreaded     terrorists’ in exchange for hostages of the Indian Airlines plane on the eve of the much-hyped millennium is hardly surprising given the track record of the BJP government at the centre. It is in tune with what the coalition government has termed as ‘national interest’ as perceived by the government and its social base. To put it crudely, in a direct conflict between the Indian state and the class that the BJP overwhelmingly represents, it would have been surprising if the BJP-led government had acted otherwise. The state had to give in to protect the class as represented by the hostages in this specific case.

It is also in tune with the class politics of the BJP that soon after the release of the hostages, the prime minister, other ministers and spokespersons of the BJP began to reassert their resolve to fight ‘terrorism’ in Kashmir because now the sacrifice had to be made by the poor soldiers of the Indian army and the state police who are employed by the state precisely to defend the nation of the rich from others, within and without. That is, underpinning the extortion to sacrifice, as reflected recently in Kargil, to the overwhelming working-class soldiers of the army and the abject surrender to the hijackers at Kandahar are of a piece of the class politics of the BJP.