MOST INDIANS WOULD BE CONSIDERED ANTI-NATIONAL
Lately, a number of people have been described as anti-national by the Hindutva lobby. The most shocking is their definition of anybody who worships ‘demons’ from Hindu mythology is also an anti-national. The mythological figures belong to a distant past when the concept of nation state was not there. Nation is a modern concept and it is defined by our Constitution, which, in the wildest of imaginations, has no place for mythology. Only an insane person would confuse the two things. It is a pity that even the government institutions like police are falling in this trap of Hindutva campaign. It appears that the Hindtuva lobby is assuming that India has become a Hindu Rashtra merely because BJP has come to power at the centre. Now deceased Vishwa Hindu Parishad President Ashok Singhal had described Narendra Modi’s government as the first Hindu government after the Mughal and British rules. But this is the illusory world of Hindutva brigade. It is only by considering India a Hindu Rashtra that one can go to the ludicrous extent of calling people worshipping demons as anti-national. This is similar to application of blasphemy law on people who denigrate Prophet Mohammed or Quran in a Islamic state. Does this mean that we’re headed towards being a theocratic state? This should be a cause of concern for people who value democracy, secularism and freedom of speech.
The Hindutva lobby represents a very narrow world view which is not shared by a large segment of Indian population including dalits, tribals, minorities, section of other backward castes, atheists and secularists. Together these groups would easily constitute more than half of the population. The BJP has come to power with less than half the number of votes. Hence they may have a majority in Lok Sabha but they certainly do not enjoy the majority support.
If there are people who worship Durga in this country there are people who worship Mahishasur. If there are people in this country who worship Ram, there are people who worship Ravan. If there are places associated with Gods, there are places associated with demons. When Smriti Irani says that she is hurt by the pamphlet brought out by dalit, tribal, OBC students of Jawaharlal Nehru University on the occasion of ‘Mahishasur Martyrdom day’ which is offending towards Goddess Durga, does she even conceive that there might be people in this country who’re offended by acts of Goddess Durga? In any case, how does she think that by virtue of being a Durga devotee she is a more righteous citizen than her less privileged fellow citizens whose only fault is that they chose to worship somebody who is opposed to her deity. This country is known for its diversity. The Sangh Parivar is bent upon destroying this diversity and wants the dominance of upper caste point of view to prevail. Ordinarily, people believing in different thoughts have learned to co-exist in this country. When two religious communities have events on same days, the local District Magistrate makes influential people from two communities sit down and works out a mutually agreeable plan so that both communities may observe their events peacefully. The BJP government is conveying that only what is agreeable to upper caste point of view will be allowed in this country. Rest everybody would be categorised as anti-national and their only place will be in jails. Hence the Hindutva mindset poses a threat to the diverse thoughts of this country as well as its democracy.
But there is an interesting twist to the whole debate. The upper caste notion of a demon is someone possessing muscle power and also who indulges in worldly pleasures. Demon represents evil. In our democracy when people have a choice between a simple, honest, straightforward candidate who is a paragon of virtues and a criminal, mafia, domineering candidate who uses ill gotten wealth to win the election, people have shown their preference for the latter because the common people believe that their representative should be materially and muscularly strong. These candidates are akin to demons as they have various criminal cases pending against them and have acquired wealth illegally. Does this not mean that we are a demon worshiping people? If this is true, then by the definition of Hindutva brigade most people of this country should fall in the category of being anti-national. Except for some bright spots like the Anna Hazare led anti-corruption movement most of the educated people in this country most of the times end up supporting corruption. People also don’t have problems with criminals, especially, if they belong to their own caste or religion. Shouldn’t all these people be considered anti-national? If Hindutva lobby had its way there would be more people inside the jails than outside of it.
When Narendra Modi ran for the post of PM he did not inform people that the Hindutva brigade will have a free run in the BJP rule. He won the election on a secular agenda, promise of achche din, which everybody thought would be good governance. The people did not bargain for imposition of Hindtuva agenda on the country. Hence Narendra Modi must seek a fresh mandate if he wants to unleash the Hindutva forces in society. The BJP government has allowed to build an atmosphere of fear in society for anybody who doesn’t agree with the Hindutva ideology. The people of India have been cheated in democracy by a group which simply doesn’t believe in democracy.
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
