Reassessing Hindutva

In most crimes, the guilty can be divided into two categories. There are those who commit the evil deed and there are those who choose not to see it. Those who still refuse to acknowledge the full magnitude of the calculated and inhuman attacks on Muslims in Gujarat probably do not want to destroy their comfortable illusions.

We believe that we are a mature, secular nation where all citizens are treated equally, as opposed to neighbouring Pakistan, where Islam is the state religion and a Hindu cannot aspire to anything but second class status. We believe that Hinduism is an ancient, tolerant and enlightened religion which has none of the belligerence or proselytising zeal of Semitic religions. We believe that, especially after September 11, the US-centric world order must recognise our moral superiority and rationality, as compared to countries like Pakistan which are rife with fundamentalism and bigotry and are breeding grounds for Al-Qaeda type militancy.

We believe that Gujarat, the home state of the apostle of non-violence and the only state where prohibition is still in force, is a shining example for the rest of the country. The latest CII-World Bank report has ranked it first among the states in terms of potential for investment, despite last year’s shattering earthquake. Only 5 per cent of India’s population lives in Gujarat but it contributes 11 per cent of the national income, leads in terms of industrial investment, has a 30 per cent share in the share market and one of the highest per capita incomes in the country.

If the perceived images and the reality are sharply at variance, it is because we do not want to look closely at the reflection in the mirror. The RSS shattered the myth of India’s secular credentials by claiming publicly what many Hindus feel privately, that the only true children of India are Hindus and all others are here on sufferance. Even liberal Hindus sometimes unconsciously slip in remarks about “how could they have the guts to do this in our country”.

Hinduism’s image of tolerance and broad-mindedness is today tainted thanks to the VHP’s vicious agenda of hatred which it pursues with a missionary zeal, copied from the very movements it decries. The prime minister berates advocates of hardline Hindutva, as opposed to the Hindutva of Vivekananda, but is the VHP’s Ram mandir programme any form of Hinduism at all?

The VHP’s successful recruitment drive for Ram sewaks in Gujarat is a lesson not in religion, but crass commercialism. Potential recruits are asked to fill out forms, pay fees, complete a mandatory number of coupon books for donations or else chant “Jai Shri Ram” and “Jai, Jai Ram” a stipulated number of times, before they are entitled to be dubbed Ram sewaks. The VHP has succeeded in recruiting over three lakh youths as Ram sewaks. The fact that some 75,000 trishuls (which incidentally are the symbol of Shiva, not Ram) and several thousand swords have been distributed to the Ram sewaks speaks of the irreligious message of hate which is propagated.

Many of the unemployed lumpen enlisted have been lured because of the clout which comes from being associated, however indirectly, with the state’s ruling party. An additional incentive in these days of rising unemployment and a downswing in business is that the VHP permits the sewaks to keep 75 per cent of their collections for the local office and transfer just 25 per cent to the head office. Many companies entering Gujarat discover to their horror that local VHP members demand protection money.

Today there are some 5,000 VHP committees in Gujarat, which is perhaps twice the number of the BJP’s grassroot level committees in the state. If Prime Minister Vajpayee has a problem getting rid of Narendra Modi, the Gujarat chief minister in turn cannot really bring in line VHP leaders like General Secretary Praveen Togadia who has his men in key positions, including in Modi’s own cabinet. By now the tail has begun to wag the dog in Gujarat.

With a section of the international media describing the VHP as the Hindu equivalent of the Taliban, it is doubtful whether India scores any brownie points over Pakistan for our supposedly more progressive and less fundamentalist outlook. In fact, the VHP itself has encouraged comparisons by describing Ayodhya as India’s Mecca. As someone quipped, Pakistan has reason to bestow the Nishan-e-Pakistan on Modi for having shown India in such a poor light internationally. Though they act as if they own the copyright for nationalism, their actions are distinctly anti-national.

The myth of Gujarat being one of the most progressive states in India falls apart if you analyse its development holistically. While the state ranks high in terms of income generation and investment, its planning has been extremely short-sighted in terms of pollution control, health, literacy and knowledge-based industries. If prohibition continues on the statute books, it has nothing to do with Gandhian ethics but with the fact that the powerful mafia interests in the illicit liquor trade will not allow this lucrative business to be shut down. After the violence this year, it is doubtful whether CII-World Bank reports will continue to be as optimistic.

The reference to Vajpayee’s ‘‘moment of reckoning’’ in Sonia Gandhi’s parliamentary speech was pertinent. He owes the nation some answers. The continued silence of some NDA allies is as extraordinary as the unflappability of the ruling party. In 1979 George Fernandes and many in the Janata Party had walked out of the Morarji Desai government on the issue of Jan Sangh ministers disassociating themselves from the RSS. At that time the RSS issue was a pretext for a power struggle since there was nothing in the behaviour of Jan Sangh ministers to give offence. But today when there is concrete evidence of the dangers posed to the country by the BJP’s sister organisations, Fernandes and other NDA allies do not want to rock the boat.

For decades the BJP’s best defence against the charge that it had a communal agenda because of its symbiotic relationship with the RSS was the fact that sectarian riots had not taken place in any BJP ruled state. Now that record stands shattered and suspicions about the BJP’s secular credentials are further strengthened with its continuing defence of Modi. Retaining Modi and polarising the state along communal lines is seen in some quarters as the only way to ensure political victory in Gujarat. With its Machiavellian attempt to ensure short-term electoral gains in Gujarat, the BJP has in the bargain lost the confidence of the rest of the country. While Vajpayee expresses concern as to how he can show his face to the world after the carnage in Gujarat, he should be even more concerned as to how he can show his face to the nation in the light of his government’s continuing silence.

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