by Harish Gupta, National Editor, Lokmat Group
Till
May last, the utterances of characters like Ashok Singhal or Pravin
Togadia of Vishwa Hindu Parishad were
generally dismissed as the wild ranting of those belonging to the ‘saffron
brotherhood’s’ lunatic fringe. Once the BJP under Narendra Modi came to power,
it was argued, the crazy Hindu supremacists would take the back seat, if at
all, and Modi would galvanize his BJP party into a unique instrument to deliver
quality governance. It is a fact that, in Modi’s campaign speeches, echoes of
Veer Savarkar’s Hindutva lines did ring once in a while. But the common man
chose to ignore them as, with Congress collapsing with incredible
determination, he thought it would be either BJP or anarchy.
So
far, Modi has undoubtedly focused on governance, which, in other words, means
everything an elected government should do, fixing bugs in every sphere from
national security and foreign relations to the economy, education and health.
His zest and stamina are unquestionable. And so is his single-mindedness. But
that’s all the more the reason why it is regrettable that the Saffron
Brotherhood’s Hindutva agenda has started creeping out like white ants from
under the woodwork in less than six months of Modi rule. The familiar cry of the
Hindutva lobby got a new twist last week at the inauguration of the World Hindu
Congress when Singhal, VHP’s chief patron, described Modi’s landslide victory
in May as the return to power “of a Hindu swabhimani after 800 years”. The
remark can be seen by many as a clever ploy to trap Prime Minister Modi is a
bind, as the mention of “eight hundred years” is a calculated reversion to
Rajput monarch Prithviraj’s defeat by a Ghuri’s army of invaders towards the
end of the 12th century.
Swabhimani
in English means “self-respecting”. So it was a dig at all prime ministers of
the past, BJP’s very own Atal Bihari Vajpayee included. The comment derived
more poignancy by the presence of RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat at the function. At
one level, it could be the Hindutva brigade’s way of dispelling public notion
that Modi was indeed his own man and his engagement with government work would
prevail over his RSS world view for a long time to come. At another level,
though, it was a way of reminding Modi of what the Sangh thinks to be his true
calling—that of working towards a “Hindu rashtra”, not an efficient secular
state.
Modi’s failure to live up to his poll
promises will make
the world turn away from the showman of
Hindutva
RSS
may be the cranky end of the saffron spectrum, but, in just six months of BJP
sweeping to power, the ‘spectrum’ is turning saffron all the way. The knell of
a governance-only agenda of the government was sounded on the Vijaya Dasami Day
in October, which is also RSS’ foundation day, when the state-owned Doordarshan
went out of its way to air Bhagwat’s 70-minute-long speech. It was not the tone
of the speech, which was not half as combative as Bhagwat’s speeches generally
are, but what surprised even Modi’s new fans was the special treatment for
Bhagwat in a government-owned media. And the entire media missed Bhagwat’s
crucial sermon to saffron family when he said “Humko Hamara Nayak Mil Gaya
Hai.” (We have got our leader). Obviously, the RSS is elated that it has got a
leader like Modi.
But
to jump to the Hindutva road in less than six months and saying that Hindutva
is the “identity of the nation” is a sign of desperation on the part of the
saffron family. The opponents say it’s a dead ringer of 19th century
ultra-nationalist Savarkar’s famous quote that “everyone who regards and claims
this Bharatvarsha from the Indus to the sea as his Fatherland and Holy Land is a Hindu”. Though subsequent Partition of
India made a mockery of Savarkar’s geography, his lasting contribution to the
RSS thought process is his following comment on those need to be excluded from
Hindu identity. “Just as by the first commitment of Hindutva, the possession of
a common Holy Land, the Indian Mohammedans, Jews, Christians, Parsees, etc. are
excluded from claiming themselves Hindu…”.
I
am referring to the Savarkarite creed to show that there is an inner
consistency in the BJP and its fraternity as far as who all it’d like to
exclude from an India
The
Sangh’s obsessive passion for Hindutva has begun to colour BJP’s public policy.
Irrespective of the media diatribes against Smriti Irani, she continues to be
the most-appreciated HRD minister of the Modi government by RSS ideologues like
Batra & others. Since she goes out of her way to keep the RSS happy without
even realizing the consequences of her actions, she often puts the government
in dog house. She could have handled the German language issue with finesse if
she had realized that her Prime Minister is a Brisbane
The
sudden bustle about political Hindutva may prove costly to Modi, who is all set
to steer through this session on Parliament a slew of contentious amendments—on
labour laws, land act, FDI limit in insurance and to enable a pan-India Goods
and Services Tax. Let alone getting cheeky on Hindutva, it was not the moment
for Modi in the very first year of his rule to ignore the anniversary day of
Indira Gandhi’s assassination, or to allow an NGO that promotes toilets to
exhibit in Delhi on November 19, her birthday, a gigantic cake designed like an
Indian latrine. Opposition parties are already trying to unite and torpedo
Modi’s reforms. It’s a real fear that compelled Modi to admit at the G20 summit
that the “reform process may be resisted”. The more the Parivar goes
belligerent, the more the Opposition re-group and scuttle the reform process.
Modi needs to draw a leaf out of late P V Narasimha Rao who took major
decisions silently.
It’s
good for Modi if he succeeds on reforms, for the world will then realize that
he is the boss after all, and not someone wearing black cap and khaki shorts.
But Modi’s failure to live up to his poll promises will make the world turn
away from the showman of Hindutva.
(The author is National Editor,
Lokmat group)
