The Bharatiya Janata Party has come to the point. Faced with the anti-Muslim ardour of Varun Gandhi, the party had hemmed and hawed. From mumbling about doctored tapes, it had swung to a downright dissociation from Mr Gandhi’s speech. But once the Election Commission asked the party not to allow Mr Gandhi to contest the elections, the BJP has come out in full support of its youthful nominee. The cynic is free to conclude that Mr Gandhi had spoken the BJP’s mind. The EC has set an example by stating that a nominee making speeches directed against a particular community should not be allowed to contest elections. Its position on the matter indicates that Mr Gandhi’s speech goes beyond the violation of the model code of conduct; it is a violation of laws that make the creation of enmity between groups and incitement to violence criminal. Garnering support on the basis of religious division is impermissible too. But even more than these, the EC is, in effect, reasserting a fundamental principle of Indian democracy — secularism — when the largest democratic exercise is about to take place.

No amount of bickering over technicalities can take away from the value of the EC’s direction. Whether or not the EC has the right to ask a party to withdraw its nominee before the election process has begun is not the point. The BJP has claimed that the EC is being undemocratic: in its refusal to comply with the EC’s request, the party has demonstrated its repudiation of democratic norms. Bringing up the history of Congressmen allowed to contest elections after being accused of involvement in the riots against another minority community following Indira Gandhi’s death is irrelevant too. The democratic consciousness is ever evolving, and the EC’s stand at this point of time is a marker of that. To ignore it does not redound to the BJP’s credit. Tensions in the EC between the outgoing chief election commissioner and the commissioner slated to take over have also been brought up to explain the BJP’s decision. That Navin Chawla, the commissioner accused by the BJP of being pro-Congress, could not be ousted is being seen as the background of the BJP’s defiance. This is apart from its anxiety to have a contrapuntal Gandhi in its ranks. But N. Gopalaswami is still the CEC; this argument is meaningless. Besides, the EC’s decision regarding Mr Gandhi is ultimately of far greater import than petty politicking.