Parochial politics

A strongpoint for the Congress party, which inherits the legacy of the Freedom movement, is that it has an open-minded approach to all issues of national importance. The obverse is true of the BJP that runs the nation — and for the past 13 years at a stretch. Its obsessions are Hindu and Hindi-centric, with no regard to the fact that this is a secular nation with a federal character where the parts are as important as the whole. A recent instance at Surajkund, Faridabad, where the National Women’s Commission held a loosely-termed ‘capacity-building workshop’ in which women ministers and legislators from various states attended, is only one e…