India's
Tryst With Secular Democracy
By Ram Puniyani
16 August, 2006
Countercurrents.org
This
15th August, India completed 59 years of its independence. Today where
do we stand in our resolve to have a secular democratic India? It is
a tragedy that conditions have so shaped during last couple of decades
that one is forced to think about the very future of the democratic
foundation of the country.
Right from the 1960s, communal
violence began and was on at the low and medium pitch till the decade
of 1980s Communal violence is a superficial manifestation of the deeper
process of communal politics, the very anathema of democracy. Starting
with the decade of 80s, Meenakshipuram conversions of dalits to Islam
and the Shah Bano case fiasco, were used as pretexts by the Hindutva
politics to go on the high offensive and shift the social debate to
non issues like the Ramjanmbhoomi, Baba Budan giri and the Kamal Maula
Masjid (Bhoj Shala). Using the double level of communal propaganda,
through the section of media, and through the word of mouth, fear was
instilled amongst the Hindus that despite being in majority, they are
in danger due to the minorities, Muslim and Christians. Winning over
of the social space and common sense by the Sangh combine went on getting
strengthened after every episode of communal violence, it peaked with
post demolition riots and the Gujarat carnage. With the Mumbai blasts
of 11thJuly, the picture is close to complete and now the demonization
of Muslims has become excruciatingly painful. It has gone to target
the very precepts of Koran, the one?s related to Jihad and Kafir. Christians,
have been targeted for their work in the Adivasi areas, and the bogey
of conversions has been so firmly planted by now that truth and census
statistics dont matter any longer with the average understanding in
the social arena.
The RSS propaganda has not
been effectively countered by the democratic elements, many of them
themselves coming under the spell of the same. Case of Chunibhai Vaidya,
a renowned Gandhian, alleging the missionaries of conversion, is a case
in point. He is not alone, there are lots and lots of people seriously
committed to non violence and democracy who have partly or fully come
under the grip of RSS propaganda even without realizing he same. RSS
dictum is that your success is not just in coming to power, but to see
that your opponents start talking in your language. This has occurred
to the extent that many a gullible Muslims and Christians have started
talking the RSS language in a holier than thou fashion. It is quite
likely that some of them have surrendered to the ideology which aims
to suppress their community, out of opportunistic reasons, but all the
same such elements also do exist.
The index of degree of democracy
lies in the assessment as to how secure the minorities feel in the country.
If that be the litmus test, it is a stark fact that the minorities are
feeling insecure and intimidated all over. And the insecurity is going
up with every adverse event happening in the country and the World.
It is very interesting that while the LTTE's rampage is either bypassed
or justified, those insane acts of a terrorist violence, in which a
Muslim is involved, intensifies the anti Muslim mindset. While this
was there since decades, now there seems to be a qualitative transformation
in the same.
Harsh Mander, the indefatigable
fighter for human tights, points out that in the aftermath of Gujarat
carnage, now the Muslim community there, has been reduced to the status
of second class citizenship. Their boycott in the commercial activities,
bypassing them in the welfare programs, and keeping them isolated at
the social level, even in the villages, reminds one of the creation
of new ghettoes of untouchables , maharwadas (untouchables bastis in
village). They can neither get the housing in Hindu areas, nor is there
the possibility of social interaction with others in the Hindu Rashtra
of Gujarat. It seems, Golwalkar's, prescription that Muslims, ...may
stay in this country wholly subordinated to the Hindu nation claiming
nothing, deserving no privileges, far less any preferential treatment,
not even citizens rights. (We or Our nationhood defined, 1938, nagpur,
p.52), is being actualized there.
Post Mumbai blasts (July
11 2006) the police has been highly active. It has gone to the extent
of reversing the dictum that you are innocent till proved guilty. For
Muslims it is following that every Muslim is guilty till proved other
wise . Golwalkar could not have been happier. Whatever he was prescribing
has become a norm even for those who are not a direct part of RSS combine.
Cases after cases in Mumbai, the innocent or suspected Muslims are being
hauled to the coals, and are being intimidated and tortured by the police.
Nothing seems to be working in their favor. Many a delegations have
met the state leadership, Central leadership, but things continue to
be what they are? On the face of it the leaders/police officials say
that Muslims are not being targeted, but that?s purely at the level
of saying only.
The plight of Christians
living in the far areas is no better. Under the attack from Bajrang
dal and Vanvasi Kalyan Ahsram, the RSS progenies, the Christians in
general and missionaries in particular have been subjected to attacks.
Not a day passes when the news of such attack does not come forth. Pastor
Stains burning by the Dara Singh, who now is given the epithet of Hindu
Dharma Rakshak, was not a one isolated incident. In many a states the
state administration is behaving as if it has been trained in Golwalkars
thought rather than in the values of Indian constitution. The training
institutes for these officials are either sleeping or giving the training,
which violates the basic norms of democracy. In the BJP ruled states,
MP, Rajasthan, and in state ruled by BJP affiliate, Orissa, the plight
of minorities is pitiable. One wonders what is being done by Minorities
commission, and the central home ministry. At the time of Gujarat carnage
the chain of command from the Gujarat home minister to the central home
minister, were all RSS trained volunteers. But what of now With the
secular Congress in the saddle what is the state of affairs? Is it that
they have also been indoctrinated unconsciously into believing in the
dominant social common sense?
RSS has combined the methods
of German Nazis as far as the propaganda is concerned and has picked
up from Italy's fascism, from Mussolini, to infiltrate the state apparatus.
The result is an all round stifling of democratic space and the effort
to abolish the democratic and human rights of minorities. It is another
matter that the pot of communal nationalism which has been kept on the
low temperature till two decades ago now seems to be coming close to
the boiling point. Dr. Ambedker in his revised edition of the book Thoughts
on Pakistan wrote that formation of Pakistan will be an unmitigated
disaster for the dalits, as that may pave the way for Hindu rashtra
in India. Are we witnessing the trailer of that phenomenon? It is for
the nation to look back and remind itself of the resolve to nurture
democracy; to weed out communal nationalism, which is strangulating
the concept of India. Even at the times when BJP seems to be in the
weak and humiliated state, the politics and propaganda of RSS is thriving.
The time is overripe for us to take the resolve to protect the Indian
constitution in letter and spirit. The time is overripe for all those
committed to the values of freedom to sit up and see that India continues
with a resolve to give all its citizens their due, with the resolve
to promote the values of India's freedom movement, with a resolve to
strengthen the concept of Liberty, Equality and Fraternity!