The manner in which Jawaharal Nehru University Students’ Union President Kanhaiya Kumar was roughed up in Patiala House Court premises, while being brought to be produced in the Court room, in the presence of observers from Supreme Court who were there to ensure the security of Kanhaiya and everybody else targeted by the RSS-BJP, has brought back memories of the 1992 Babri Masjid demolition incident. The people associated with Sangh Parivar who are quick to accuse others not believing in their ideology of being anti-national at the slightest pretext or sometimes even without any concrete evidence themselves are guilty of having scant regard for the Constitution of this country or any respect for law and order. At present the biggest threat to this nation is from Sangh Parivar itself which hurtles it speedily towards anarchy. The people believing in Hindutva ideology feel that under the present dispensation they are free to beat up anybody or even kill without attracting any punishment as the police is under one of their own, Rajnath Singh, the Home Minister, who was quick to point out that JNU incidents were instigated by Hafeez Saeed without providing any proof for this claim.
Today there is raging debate in this country. People believing in Hindutva ideology claim themselves to be patriots and think everybody else who disagrees with them is anti-national. The dubious actions of RSS associated people make us question their categorisation. Is it enough to be called a patriot if you can hold a picture of mother India, raise ‘vande-mataram’ slogan, wave Indian tricolour, hurl abuses at Pakistan and beat up anybody disagreeing with any of these things? The Delhi BJP MLA O.P. Sharma said that if he had a gun he would have shot the anti-national people. If we think that the violence perpetrated by terrorists or naxalites is wrong how is the violence of the right wing justified? It is amazing that police and judiciary continue to be mute spectators of all their acts of vandalism.
The policies made in this country make the rich more rich and increases their distance from poor continuously. Half the children born in this country are malnourished. One fourth of children are victims of child labour. Of the one thousand children born, 47 die at child birth. 14 more die before they reach the age of 5 years. When one lakh children are born, 200 mothers die during child birth. Since the country has adopted the economic policies of liberalisation, privatisation and globalisation about 3 lakh farmers have committed suicide as they were not able to repay their loans. Should the people who make policies for this country, which are responsible for the above mentioned deaths and extreme levels of poverty in this country, not be called anti-national?
Some private corporations are in debt to the extent of a total of Rs. 1.14 lakh crores to the Banks of this country which have conveniently decided to call these unpaid loans as Non Performing Assets. In a country where poor live in a shocking state described above will it not be considered anti-national to simply write off the loans of private corporations in this manner? Should people who indulge in corruption and pocket public money for private gains not be called anti-national? BJP has always talked about bringing back the black money stashed in foreign banks but nobody likes to talk about the black money in our economy which helps corrupt and criminal enter our legislatures. Are people using this black money not anti-national? Is to seek foreign capital to set up industrial units which will be free to exploit our labor not anti-national? Is to give rights over natural resources to national-multinational corporations to make profit and deny our own citizens access to them not anti-national? For example, Pepsi and Coca Cola are exploiting our underground water resources and taking away the profits to US. Should helping them set up units in India not be called anti-national? Is helping students cheat in examinations and thereby jeopardizing their future not anti-national?
On the other hand is it not patriotic to help the empowerment in any way of marginalised sections of this country? Is the act of enabling a child to attend school who is otherwise unable to do so for some reason not an act of patriotism? Is to help a needy person access medical help for treatment not a patriotic act? Will it not be patriotism to organise socio-economic weaker categories of people to fight for their basic rights so that they may improve their living conditions? Is it not patriotism to help any victim seek justice from the system? Will it not be considered a patriotic act to raise voice against injustice so that some people are not harmed and demand the right policies so that people are benefited? Is it not patriotic to raise voice against misuse of public money by the government so that the resources may be equitably distributed? For example, will it not be wise to demand reduction in defense budget and simultaneously work on resolving bilateral problems with neighbors whom we consider enemy so that the saved resources could be spent on education, health care, employment generation, etc., which will benefit citizens of our country as well as fellow deprived citizens of our enemy country, which too will reduce its defense budget in response. Is this not patriotism? If fact, this kind of patriotism is in the interest of our nation as well as our neighbours,who presently see us as a threat.
If we examine carefully the idea of nation is as divisive as the ideas of religion and caste, all of which are artificial categories created by human beings. The concept of nation should meet the fate as it has in Europe, where there are no armies on the borders and one can cross from one country into another without requiring a passport or a visa. We hope that one day we will be able to cross from one country into another just like we cross over from a district to another, in South Asia as well. In such a concept of nation the right wing people will not have an opportunity to practice their ideology because there will be no takers for it. The RSS ideology exists only so long as there is an enemy, either real or imagined. This is the biggest contradiction of the Hindutva ideology. This implies that the existence of RSS is dependent on the existence of their enemy. That is why targeting an enemy is the focus in all RSS activities. This is the reason wise people do not fall in their trap.
By Sandeep Pandey
Vice-President, Socialist Party (India)
A-893, Indira Nagar, Lucknow-226016
Ph: 0522 2347365, M: 9415022772 (Arundhati Dhuru)
e-mail: ashaashram@yahoo.com
