Prime Minister Narendra Modi has cautioned his party men to exercise caution while making public statements. Modi is also stated to have told BJP MPs and spokespersons that they need not open their mouths each time television journalists thrust the microphone at them. Indeed, there is merit in remaining silent especially in these trying times when fringe elements in the BJP, RSS and VHP all seem to be suffering from the attention seeking syndrome. Not a day passes without one or the other uttering some profanity. The other day a BJP youth wing leader Yogesh Varshney announced a reward of Rs 11 lakh for West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s head. Before that, the former BJP Tarun Vijay, known to be an intellectual, uttered something outrageous to demonstrate that Indians are not racist. Speaking to an international television following the attack on Nigerians in Noida Tarun Vijay said that Indians are not racist because people from North India who are fairer have lived in perfect harmony with their darker-skinned brethren from South India. That such comments can be attributed to a leading light of the BJP suggests an intellectual deficit that is perhaps correctly attributed to the Party. These are not the only comments. RSS workers have been speaking out of turn on several issues and have embarrassed the NDA Government. This is not the first time that Prime Minister Modi has had to tell his confreres to hold their tongues in order to hold their peace. They had to retract their statements several times in the past.
Then there are the gau-rakshaks of the same Hindutva predisposition that get physical and have even killed farmers who are seen taking cows to the slaughter house. Closer home an RSS worker who visited a local Club was offended by what was written in the menu there and gave a dressing down to the waiters and the manager of the Club. This has sent shockwaves among the visitors there. Such behavior reeks of a feudal, controlling mindset that seeks to make everyone conform to rigid Hindutva norms. Prime Minister Modi needs to keep a tight leash on such renegades if he desires a progressive India, otherwise such actions will unleash a series of backlashes in the North eastern region.