PM Narendra Modi has to be firm with hard core Hindutva in 2025
By Sushil Kutty
2024 was a happening year. Happenstance, 2025 also will be. There was a new government at the Centre in 2024 — with the same old Prime Minister and a brand new Leader of the Opposition! In year 2025, there will be a new government in Delhi and the same old Chief Minister, maybe?
None of this ensures that 2025 won’t be very different from 2024. There are carryovers and spillovers. Like the turmoil over the Places of Worship Act, 1991 and the fracas over the Waqf Board Amendment Bill, 2024. Both of which are invasive and have been roiling society and country since 2014.
A lethargic central government allowed the issues to drag on despite their potential to create trouble afresh. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has a parsimonious record in decision-making. It goes back to 2002 when Gujarat broke out in flames. Quick action is not one of Modi’s strengths.
Now, in 2025, the Modi government faces a decisive moment. The contentious Waqf Board Amendment Bill, 2024, the Modi-led NDA government has set aside for a yet to be decided date in the next Budget Session of Parliament. The Waqf Board Amendment Bill, 2024 will likely go the way of the Uniform Civil Code, now renamed the ‘Secular Civil Code’.
That leaves the Places of Worship Act, 1991, which, whether he likes it or not, will test both Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his government, begging the question, what’s the government’s stand on the Places of Worship act, 1991?
Prime Minister Modi must have a stand. It can’t be otherwise. But Modi is hampered by his own mind-set, which is against taking a stand, any stand. Modi has always baulked at speaking his mind. His way is to live on borrowed time. But, maybe, not this time, he won’t be able to.
Finally, like it or not, Modi is at his tether’s end. No more extensions. No more excuses. Modi has to step out of the recesses of indecision. The indecisiveness he applies everywhere every time is no longer tenable, Modi has to bare his soul for whatever it is worth. The three-judge bench of the Supreme Court, hearing a batch of petitions on the Places of Worship Act, will not be denied.
The top court has drawn a line between inaction and action — denying yet another opportunity to lapse into procrastination: the apex court gave four weeks to the Modi government to say its piece on the issue and be done with it. Thereafter, another four weeks for the government’s decision to sink in and the next hearing has been set for February 17.
What will be the Centre’s stand? AIMIM Chief Asaduddin Owaisi has joined the battle with a petition of his own asking for stricter application of the Places of Worship Act, 1991. Owaisi’s AIMIM is said to be the “BJP’s B-team” and Owaisi wants stricter implementation of the Places of Worship Act.
Which is in line with RSS Chief Mohan Bhagwat’s thinking on the topic. Bhagwat is Modi’s ‘Boss’ and the BJP’s “conscience-keeper”, who also wants no more digging looking for mandirs under mosques. Bhagwat says “social harmony” is a must for “Viksit Bharat”, which is what Prime Minister Modi also wants — “Viksit Bharat.”
Owaisi wants hospitals and schools, colleges and universities (no police outposts in Muslim areas) — all of which also translate to “Viksit Bharat.” The Supreme Court is waiting for the central government to take a stand before it makes its own stand clear.
For the time being, the three-judge bench of CJI Sanjiv Khanna has put a stop on registering fresh suits challenging ownership and titles of places of worship. Also no more surveys and “effective” orders. CJI Sanjiv Khanna is not of the same bent as Justice DY Chandrachud was.
To put it in context, CJI Khanna is “secular” and on February 17, 2025, we will get an inkling on whether the two other justices, P V Sanjay Kumar and K V Viswanathan, are also of a “secular” bent of mind or not. The operative part of SC’s order was “we want the Union of India’s position to be brought on record.”
The bench brought everything else to a standstill — from Gyanvapi in Varanasi to the ShahiIdgah in Mathura; from Shahi Jama Masjid in Sambhal to the Ajmer Sharif Dargah in Rajasthan, where “small-small courts” have been bypassing the Places of Worship Act, 1991 in a “race with the Supreme Court.”
The ball is in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s court. There’s a caveat: Modi cannot shift to secularism and look the Hindu gift-horse in the mouth. The BJP’s Hindu vote-bank is his mainstay and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath is the latest rage among Hindu voters in the Hindu-heartland!
Why did PM Modi on January 2 send a ‘Chadar’ to the Ajmer Sharif Dargah! Is Modi unaware that Ajmer Sharif Dargah is also “disputed” with a Hindu outfit claiming it’s a Shiva temple? If he does, why the ‘Chadar’, unless he wants the Places of Worship Act, 1991 to stay? Unless he agrees with RSS Chief Mohan Bhagwat and wants “social harmony” for a “Viksit Bharat” — will the Modi government vote for the continuance of the Places of Worship Act, 1991?
Will Modi survive the Hindu backlash? On December 20, the Ajmer Sharif Dargah Committee filed a 5-page application in a Munsif Court in Ajmer. The next hearing is scheduled for January 24. Offering the ‘Chadar’ is regarded as a “powerful form of worship and fulfills vows.” Has Prime Minister Narendra Modi made up his government’s stand on the Places of Worship Act, 1991? (IPA Service)