God-men and sadhvis are best left out of the political dispensation. India is a secular country and one that is so religiously and racially diverse that secularism has to be consciously sustained and nurtured because it hangs by a fragile thread. The political tirade by Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti a BJP MP and junior minister in the NDA Government, asking the people of Delhi to vote for Ramzaadon (children of Ram) and not for haramzaadon (illegitimate children, meaning non Hindus) has very dangerous connotations because it could easily ignite a communal flame. As can be expected there was pandemonium in both houses of parliament. The issue managed to bring the Opposition together even as they demanded the Sadhvi’s resignation. The Lok Sabha later agreed to accept her apology but the Rajya Sabha members could not be pacified. The House had to be adjourned as the Opposition kept us a sustained attack and demanded that action be taken against Niranjan.
While Prime Minister Narendra Modi is increasingly seen to be the wise statesman, winning friends across the globe, his colleagues and comrades in the BJP and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) seem hell bent on embarrassing him and the Government. They are now trying to dominate the political discourse including that of bringing changes in the educational curriculum and imposing Sanskrit as a third language. This attempt to curb intellectual liberty and to regiment the thinking of every Indian citizen along the Hindutva trajectory is fraught with grave consequences. India’s greatness lies in its ability to carry along people of all faiths, languages, cultures and races. This mutual respect borne out of an understanding that every person is entitled to his/her religious beliefs must be deeply entrenched into our consciousness and cannot be sacrificed at the altar of opportunistic politics.
It is time for the BJP leadership and for Prime Minister Modi to rein in his party men and women and to get them to focus like him, on development. There is much to be done and parliament’s time cannot be wasted in discussing the silly rants of politicians who don’t have a larger concept of the idea of India