160 d omestic politicsThere is a general agreement that the right- wing parties, especially the
Jan Sangh and its successor, the BJP, have been pro- Israeli because they
are anti- Muslim. In the words of one scholar, “The Jan Sangh, ever suspi-
cious of the Muslim Arab states, saw in the latter’s adversary, Israel, a
potential ally of India.”^81 This anti- Muslim and pro- Israeli convergence
was tested in 1998 when the BJP- led National Demo cratic Alliance (NDA)
came to power. Bilateral relations with Israel fl ourished signifi cantly
from 1998 to 2004, when Atal Behari Vajpayee served as prime minister.
For the critics, especially from the left, closer ties with Israel were merely
an extension of the anti- Muslim policies of the BJP. They argued that the
BJP and Israel shared a common hatred for Muslims. In the words of
Communist Party of India- Marxist (CPI- M) General Secretary Prakash
Karat:
The chauvinist positions and military attacks by Sharon and his righ-
twing government fi nd a positive response amongst the BJP and its
RSS mentors in India. The war against the Palestinians is seen
through the prism of the Hindutva war against Muslim minorities in
India. Some of the barbarism which is taking place in Gujarat fi nds
a parallel in the Israeli atrocities in the West Bank. That is why the
Vajpayee government has remained silent throughout except for a
muted expression of concern for Yasser Arafat during the siege. There
is no indignation or revulsion at the savagery of the Israeli onslaught.
The nexus with the Israeli regime established by the BJP rulers
needs to be exposed and thwarted.^82The communist parties could not discover any other logic for Indo- Israel
ties, even though normalization was achieved by an INC government and
despite the fact that even the communist- ruled state of West Bengal was
engaged in building strong economic ties with Israel.
Presenting Indo- Israeli ties though an anti- Muslim prism, however,
was not confi ned to the communist parties. Writing on the controversial
de mo li tion of the Babri Masjid by Hindu militants in December 1992,
one academic observed, “in some circles, there is a growing suspicion of
a nexus developing between Israel, BJP and its allies ranged against Mus-
lims of India with the U.S. appearing as an innocent spectator, which
could have implications for the unity and integrity of India.”^83 Making a
similar argument, the French Indologist Christophe Jaff relot argued that
the emerging “alliance” between India and the United States is “based on