INDIA INTOLERANT!
-Fr.
Cedric Prakash sj*
In the run-up to the General Elections
of 2004, the ruling BJP and their allies in the NDA, coined a slogan ‘India
Shining’. That ‘India Shining’ campaign was basically a massive cover up for a whole
range of misdeeds which included growing intolerance and attacks on the
minorities culminating in the Gujarat Carnage of 2002; a slogan which proved to
be its nemesis at the hustings!
Ten years later, in 2014 the BJP-led NDA
were given the reins of power once again. About 31% of those who voted felt
that they needed a Government with ‘a difference’ and they hoped that the
“achche din” promised during the election campaign would soon become a reality
for India’s teeming millions. Sadly but
not unexpectedly, the dreams of a better tomorrow have vanished into thin
air. As the country continues to be
plagued with a whole range of problems, what one experiences with a sickening
regularity is the growing intolerance from certain sections of society. India
has always had its moment of intolerance. In the past however, they seemed to
be contained - with the ruling powers demonstrating some political will to
address them. Not so today. There seems to be a tacit approval from the
government, a legitimisation, of the terrible intolerance.
Let’s then look at some of the many acts
of intolerance right from mid-2014: Nathuram Godse, who assassinated Mahatma Gandhi, the father of
the nation overnight becomes a hero and a patriot; Mohan Bhagwat, the RSS Chief
calls for the establishment of a ‘Hindu Rashtra’ (nation); a Union Minister,
Niranjan Jyoti turns abusive saying that in India, one is either ‘ramzadon’
(those born of Ram) or ‘haramzadon’ (illegitimately born); the HRD Minister
through a circular states that Christmas Day (December 25th) should
be a working day for schools (and then denies it); the Government however
continues to insist that it is not a holiday for Government employees.
On September 14, 2014, a BJP
Parliamentarian Sakshi Maharaj made a strong allegation that, “the Madrasas of the Muslims were teaching
terror”. On January 5, 2015, addressing a gathering in Meerut, he boldly
proclaimed, “the concept of four wives
and 40 children will not work in India and the time has come when a Hindu woman
must produce at least four children in order to protect Hindu religion.”
The same news report goes on to add, ‘Sakshi Maharaj went further to add that
those involved in conversion must be punished with death though ‘ghar wapsi’
(reconversion) is not equivalent to conversion. “Wait for some time,” he thundered, “a law will be passed in Parliament
in which anyone indulging in cow slaughter and conversion will be punished with
the death sentence”.
So the Dadri lynching of 28th
September 2015 - when Mohammad Akhlaq was killed because of a rumour that ‘he
ate beef’ – should not be seen as a spontaneous act of violence by a mob but a
well thought of barbaric act by people who know that they can do things with
impunity, because they are vested with immunity.
The Shiv Sena (a key ally of the BJP) in
Mumbai takes law and order in their own hands! They prevent Ghulam Ali, the
Pakistani musician from performing there; storm the Board of Control for
Cricket in India office protesting plans for a bi-lateral series with Pakistan
and they attack and ink the face of Sudheendra Kulkarni (a protégé of L. K
Advani) for organising the book launch of former Pakistani Foreign Minister Khurshid
Kasuri. The list is indeed endless!
As a formality, the President of the BJP
Amit Shah summons besides Sakshi Maharaj, the Haryana Chief Minister Manohar
Lal Khattar, the UP State Legislator Sangeet Som and the Union Minister Sanjeev
Balyan and gently informs them that they should not make inflammatory remarks. Besides, the BJP will
not ditch its Hindutva ally the Shiv Sena. A time-tested strategy is ‘to run with the hare and hunt with the hound’. So while the Shiv Sena in its extremism will reap
the ‘moolah’ from the hardliners, the BJP with its cosmetic posturing will seem
like a ‘liberal face’ and continue to woo the average citizen who is not
interested in understanding the depth of dirt from which these groups
operationalise.
Everyone is aware that practically nothing
will happen to the perpetrators of these heinous crimes. The Gujarat Carnage of
2002 provided the criminals with an official approval from the Government of
the day. This model of intolerance is
now being mainstreamed all over the country.
Of course, some from the ruling dispensation are concerned when some of
the topmost intellectuals of the country have the courage to return the
prestigious national awards which they have received in the past. This is
something which was not expected. On the one hand, they request the
intellectuals “not to spoil the name of India” and at the same time some of
them will also denigrate these intellectuals by casting aspersions on their
credibility by calling them “pseudo-intellectuals” and “traitors”.
Those who rule us must ask themselves
one question: who are the ones responsible for spoiling the name of the country;
for trying to destroy the precious heritage of multi-culturalism, pluralism and
diversity of our land? On October 19th, President Pranab Mukherjee
while expressing his concerns over the recent happenings pointedly said that “Indian civilisation has survived for 5000
years because of its tolerance; humanism and pluralism should not be abandoned
under any circumstance”.
‘Panchjanya’ the mouth-piece of the RSS
in a recent issue has an article stating that “the Vedas order the killing of ‘sinners’ who slaughter cows.” And
no case is made out on this article of hate. Few however have the courage to
listen to one of the greatest historian on ancient and medieval India Dr. D.N.
Jha who in his celebrated work ‘The Myth of the Holy Cow’ concludes that “the cow was neither unslayable nor sacred in
the Vedic period”.
Thanks to those who rule us today, India
has perhaps deservedly earned itself a new sobriquet, “India Intolerant”. It’s not too late however for civil society to come
together and to tell those who are bent on destroying what we treasure the most
that they will never succeed in their campaign of intolerance. We need to learn
from history and not allow the pain, the sufferings and the violence to go full
cycle before we say “enough is enough”! We
need to pray with Rabindranath Tagore “into
that heaven of freedom my Father, let my country awake”. Above all, the
time to act is now!
20th
October, 2015
(* Fr. Cedric Prakash SJ is
the Director of PRASHANT, the Ahmedabad-based
Jesuit Centre for Human Rights, Justice and Peace.)
Address: ‘PRASHANT’,
Hill Nagar, Near Saffron Hotel, Drive-in Road, Ahmedabad - 380052
Phone:
(079) 27455913, 66522333 Fax: (079) 27489018
Email: sjprashant@gmail.com www.humanrightsindia.in
Email: sjprashant@gmail.com www.humanrightsindia.in
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