By Amulya Ganguli
More than a decade after the Gujarat riots when Atal Behari Vajpayee told Narendra Modi to follow the raj dharma of not discriminating between citizens, US president Barack Obama, too, tendered the same advice during his visit to India.
His reminder to the prime minister about the freedom of religions allowed by Article 25 of the Constitution can be construed as a gentle snub if only because Modi is on record saying that he regards the Constitution as a holy book.
As if to drive home the point of avoiding sectarianism, Obama even mentioned the names of three stalwarts belonging to three different minority communities – Shah Rukh Khan (Muslim), Mary Kom (Christian) and Milkha Singh (Sikh). Never before has an Indian leader been told in such specific terms by a foreigner about the pluralism of Indian society and of the need to honor all religions, which, in Mahatma Gandhi’s words, as quoted by Obama, were like different flowers in a garden.
It cannot be gainsaid that the background to the sage counsel, which was regarded as unwarranted by several former foreign secretaries, and was expected to be followed by a clarification by another, is the venomous campaign against the minorities by the Hindutva Gestapo.
Although Modi appears to have succeeded in reining in some of the hotheads like the two BJP M.P.s, Yogi Adityanath and Sakshi Maharaj, and ensuring that the Hindu Mahasabha will not to be able to carry out its plan of setting up statues of Nathuram Godse, the Mahatma’s assassin, there is little doubt that the saffron extremists have merely withdrawn from the battlefield for the time being and are waiting for an opportune moment to appear on the scene.
In any event, the basis of their anti-minority worldview remains unaltered. According to it, the Muslims and Christians – stigmatized by Guru Golwalkar of the RSS as “internal enemies” Nos, 1 and 2 – are unpatriotic aliens unless they embrace Hinduism. It was to facilitate the process of their return to what the Hindutva camp regards as their original faith that Yogi Adityanath and others engaged in the ghar wapsi programme of reconversion.
Although these have now been put on hold, the apprehension that they created in the minds of the minorities has remained and may have been enhanced by the occasional attacks on churches. The electoral ramifications of such fears are obvious. If the Aam Admi Party (AAP) runs the BJP close in the February 7 Delhi elections, one reason will be the consolidation
But, it isn’t so much the BJP’s electoral disadvantages of which Obama is concerned as his belief that the very foundation of Indo-American relations which the US wants to strengthen will be undermined by sectarian strife. Since it is known that the business of America is business, Washington will not like a situation where religious tension comes in the way of US business deals with India.
By emphasizing the need for the maintenance of communal harmony, Obama also made it clear that the mutual relations cannot be taken forward only via the “Barack and I” brand of personal chemistry between the president and the prime minister. Moreover, there has been a further reality check, for the US has now clarified that its relations with Pakistan, too, are “strong” and “vital to our strategic interests”.
For Modi, the imperatives are clear. He cannot put off any longer the need to emphasize that he is serious about his intention to put a moratorium on sectarian animosity for a decade as he had promised in his Independence Day address. Only behind-the-scene messages to the provocateurs to cool off will not do because they will not be reassuring enough to either the minorities or the world at large.
The reason why the prime minister took so long to send the messages is probably that his mentality is shaped by the same RSS-inspired catechism of hate which motivates the likes of Yogi Adityanath. It is only from 2007-08 that Modi apparently realized that his political ambition of playing a larger role at the national level will not be fulfilled by the kind of Hindu-Muslim and Hindu-Christian polarization – vide the burning of churches in Gujarat’s Dangs area – which helped the BJP to win successive terms in office in the state. Hence, his turn to economic growth.
However, growth alone and a temporary silencing of the hotheads will not be enough if the Modi government continues to fill the various autonomous institutions like the Indian Council of Historical Research (ICHR) and the censor board with camp followers who do not have a great reputation in their respective fields. The fallout will be that their antics will be regarded with amusement and contempt as when the saffron factotums presented “papers” at the recent science congress claiming that aeroplanes were designed in ancient India.
A country’s advancement is measured not only in terms of GDP figures, but also by its achievements in the social, cultural and scientific fields. In the social sector, the prime minister’s emphasis on cleanliness and women’s empowerment is laudable. But, if the ill-educated saffron office-bearers in the ICHR and elsewhere turn India into a laughing stock with their absurd words and deeds, then the Modi wave will begin to recede. (IPA Service)