Shiban Khaibri
At the outset, unity among Indians , say Bharatvasis and not as religion based identified groups and communities , as one cohesive strong nation, should have been our pride and a legacy to pass on to coming generations but as sheer bad luck would have it, post partition (independence from the British) , this country got such a political leadership which right from the start showed whole hearted tendencies towards minority appeasement and as much indifferent attitude towards the historic and traditional majority community – the Hindus- of this country. It started from total faulty and erroneous implementation of the partition process which the main Indian leaders, then, perhaps did not visualise or asses as to its repercussions on social, political and economic fronts in the years to come . As of now ,that casual approach, based perhaps on a de-facto state policy , has started showing its offshoots in many forms including demographic changes. It is one thing to shut one’s eyes to see the reality , quite another to keep it under a haze or under a mist . Unfortunately , we are seeing hostile polarisation getting spread across the country especially during elections , where almost all political parties in the opposition are going to put anything at stake to consolidate and keep in increased consolidation process, its traditional vote Bank , that of Muslim community of this country. It was seen in more brazen form in the general elections of 2024 to the Lok Sabha. The figures speak for themselves as BJP led NDA got absolutely negligible number of Muslim votes as compared to the Congress led UPA getting more than 92%, the electoral choice of the people, though, being unquestionable under our democratic set up. In this scenario , if after decades in a row ,some efforts to also consolidate Hindu community and discourage caste(ism) and divisions therein , is seen as any ”threat” to secularism, it sounds ludicrous, misplaced and wholly preposterous.
The term , “secularism” in Indian context is adulteration in what the term strictly believes that ” religion should not be involved in the organization of society in or education” . Its rustic interpretation is “an order where life is based on principles from this world , even without the belief in God “. What is followed or believed in the term in Indian context , its peculiar way of adherence and implementation , should have been any other word / phrase but not secularism. Moreover , in whatever form or shape , this Secularism cannot be the sole monopoly of Hindus only as that again violates all that, whatever inference in Indian context is drawn from the term.
We were taught in our school days , “United we stand and divided we fall” which was appealing to everyone since the truism is in English language but if its “abstract” equivalent in Hindi / Urdu is made like “Bato Gay to Kato Gay” , why it should offend many in this country? Why should the mere phrase create political tremors? One more slogan , viz “Ek rahogay tou safe raho gay” or if you remain united , you shall remain safe. Who again feels “unsafe” with this phrase also is interestingly intriguing .While both the slogans are universal in nature and absolutely true , neither of them is appealing to or against any particular community. Still, war of words has generated which, sincerely speaking, is absolutely unwarranted. On the other hand, consolidation of and passionate appeals, diktats, opinions etc for Muslims of this country made by leaders of various hues to vote exclusively for this coalition or that coalition of parties is ”justified” on many grounds , but when some slight move is initiated for Hindus also, though much belatedly , pooh poohing over it is sheer injustice, hypocrisy and brazen chicanery. When Sanatan Dharam which is the oldest religion of this world, is mocked, ridiculed , denigrated and abused like recently being termed as dengue , leprosy, a disease, HIV, Covid, Malaria etc , all self styled secularists chose to remain silent. When scriptures very close to Sanatan belief were openly violated and even burnt, the Secular club remained silent. After lot of persuasion, especially in TV debates, some representatives of ”secular” parties at best came with the cautiously calculated sentence, “We respect all religions”. Beating about and around the bush, this.
When historic consecrating ceremony or “Pran prathishta” in Ram Mandir was called as “Naach Nagma” , when “Sadhus in gherva spread hate” was recently said, when “Mathadeesh is mafia ” was again recently said and so on and so forth only buttresses the fear that Sanatan bashing is perhaps destined to hit crescendo but why ? Perhaps , in vain attempt to placate the vote bank and confirming of being ”secularists” as that is the way the term is expressed. This all augers not well at all for this country , election campaigning fever, like any alibi, being no justification on any ground. The cry of “Jaatigat Janganna” or caste based census strongly peddled by Congress leaders , particularly by Rahul Gandhi, even after the culmination of the general elections has, willy nilly , given enough space to speculations, complexities and ambiguities .The move , ostensibly is feared to divide and keep in perpetual divisive mode , Hindus of this county and the move is aggressively pursued by the Congress leadership primarily to gain access to power by ”barging” into the popular vote share from the OBC, Dalits and Aadivasis that voted for the BJP in 2024 general elections , the consolidated Muslim votes being already in its bag. Just from a cursory view of the general elections, it can be fairly well ascertained. Ostensibly, political analysis of peddling the totally false narrative of “constitution in danger” and “changes in the Reservation Policy” at the hands of the BJP had a larger impact on the electorate that cost the BJP gaining absolute majority on its own. However, all such campaign and narratives still did not prevent the BJP led NDA from coming to power for the third consecutive term in a row which has led to sort of intensification of the “paramount need” of caste based politics by the Congress and other parties..
In this connection, we can recall the stand of the towering political personality of this country- Late Smt. Indira Gandhi — who eagerly and very passionately advocated for a unified casteless society by saying, “In fact I do not believe in caste(ism) and feel the word “Jaatiwad” should be removed from this country , let us all treat ourselves as one , let us treat ourselves as great citizens of this great country”. Late Rajiv Gandhi , who took over as the PM of the country after Indira Ji , openly endorsed this view by further declaring and stressing upon, “Will your destiny be declared by your birth instead of by your merit” ? This slogan of the Congress Party was published in almost all leading news papers in 1985. Earlier, Mr. Nehru too had the same views. How is today’s Congress grown ”wiser’ than it was under Nehru, Indira Ji and Rajiv Ji is beyond comprehension or is it that, since it perceives that the chances of returning to power seeming bleak , 99 scored in the General elections notwithstanding , that it has chosen to pursue the mode of caste based census to gain sympathy and much needed vote from the fragmented society on castes.? If this country has to move forward , if it has to sustain its ongoing economic growth which even most of the developed countries are envying about, it has to be a unified, cohesive and castles society aspiring for partaking of the fruits of development and growth , strengthening social harmony and togetherness . Any move to get it fragmented and divided under the camouflage of “which section gets how much” is sought to generate unrest between the “created groups and castes and sub-castes”. A casteless society should be the vision where equality and open opportunities , however, must be guiding factor of any government. The stand of the Congress Party to break the “arbitrary ceiling of the supreme court”, on reservation as Rahul Gandhi of that Party puts it , by conducting nationwide caste survey being “central to its vision” is fraught with the possibilities of defeating the very purpose and the aim that the party is feigning to envisage. Overall economic progress and prosperity coupled with social welfare measures and constitutionally guaranteed reservations of the identified sections of our society are concomitants of good governance. Fragmentation and identification of people based on castes under the garb of “who gets how much ” against what is “due ” to which caste was going to loosen the social bonds and widen the antagonism inter-se, weakening the social and national fibre.
The political landscape, as seen during recent electioneering in the state of Haryana , the rhetoric of charges and counter charges, promises, Sankalps, undertakings, freebies, largesse, guarantees and the like made without assessing ground realities and financial situation , sources of revenue etc most of which perhaps had to see the same fate as those of filling up 70000 posts in government departments in Himachal Pradesh that had remained vacant for more than two years out of 5 lakh promised in all.. Instead of filling any, the posts were recently abolished by the Congress government there. In Telangana and Karnataka too, promises made during election fervour are nowhere in sight to see the light of the day. Jatigat janganna is, therefore, nothing but a plank to offer as a lollypop to people instead of a concrete cogent and viable economic policy to create jobs and employment. In the light of what we see in Maharashtra elections , 180 plus Muslim NGOs uniting Muslims to block Modi / BJP and in the context of 17 demands put forth by All India Ulamma Board including 10 percent reservation, 92 blast accused to be set free, , paying Rs.1 crore to the Waqf, banning the RSS etc and the “due consideration” by the MVA parties, can any move even remotely to consolidate Hindu votes be called unjustified and a ”threat” to secularism?
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