DR. S. AUSAF SAIED VASFI analyses Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s breaking of much-criticised silence on the politics of hatred and attacks targeted at subjugation of minorities.
February 17, 2015, will go as a remarkable day in Indian politics, more so because what the Prime Minister told the nation while addressing a Christian conference celebrating the beatification of two Indian Christians is unusual. Normal administrative care of minorities like Muslims or Christians has never been his forte. It appears as if mutual tolerance was not in his DNA. Development, economic advancement and business have been his strong points.
WHAT MODI SAID
What the fourth state has attributed to him is that his government “will ensure there is complete freedom of faith and that everyone has the undeniable right to retain or adopt the religion of his or her choice… will not allow any religious group belonging to the majority or the minority, to incite hatred against others…. Mine will be a government that gives equal respect to all religions.”
The Prime Minister further said, “We cannot accept violence against any religion on any pretext and I strongly condemn such violence. My government will act strongly in this regard.”
Mr. Narendra Modi has never ever been so direct and unambiguous. His dispensation, we feel, can now be sued in case of its dereliction of duty.
What his Finance Minister said on the eve is equally worth noting: “These (attacks on churches) should be recorded as unacceptable aberrations in a society as liberal as India…. Those mischief-makers should have no space in India and certainly would not be spared.”
You are bound to ask what is new or novel in what has now been averred as a national commitment. The Prime Minister has termed almost in terms of the Constitution, its Fundamental Rights coupled with specific privileges for the minorities. What is extraordinary about this? Each and every administration, including dictatorships, is expected to say so, particularly under pressure of circumstances.
GOLWALKAR’S GRAVAMEN
The chief characteristic or speciality lies in the fact that his political elders, mentors, predecessors and party personnel had never crossed the so-called laxman rekha. The gravamen of the writing of the late lamented Mr. Golwalkar: “Christians and Muslims can at the most, be described as the ‘guests’ who have overstayed in the host country.” This is the possibly most charitable approach from the pen of Shri Guruji in his now unavailable works We, Our Nationhood Defined and A Bunch of Thoughts. From this theorem comes the corollary of ghar wapsi or the minorities’ reconversion to the religion, Hinduism.
Before appreciating the admirable transformation of Mr. Modi, let us try to find out who is responsible for the change:
1) Is it the outcome of healthy churning of his conscience?
2) Is it the result of the healthier influence of his revered mother or the first lady?
3) Was it the Barack Obama’s polite dressing-down, which is extraordinary on the part of an official guest? And finally,
4) Was it the stunning result of the Delhi Assembly elections, in which the Congress failed to open its account and the BJP had to rest content with only three seats?
The broom of Mr. Kejriwal was stiff rather stiffer, nay the stiffest. That is why it swept the cleanest possible. The AAP’s planks were honesty, probity, transparency and full stop to the rampant loot, thuggery and swindlings at the highest possible levels. The down to earth panacea touched the heart of the Daridra Narayana.
The problem confronted by the various minorities, including Muslims are crisis of identity, crisis of education, crisis of trust, lack of tolerance, lack of security, lack of jobs and threat to their personal laws, mother tongue, limbs, lives and livelihood.
Add to the sorry state of affairs the unfortunate fact that the multifarious problems confronted by Muslims are not dealt with on merits. They are dealt with in the possible reaction of the majority community. It is like this: yes, Muslims’ demand for retention of their personal law is justified. But what about the majority community’s bellicose reaction? This was and has been the way of dealing with Muslim issues. That is one of the reasons why substantial improvements or alleviation of grievances have not taken place in the policy devised for the largest minority of the country.
The major community has serious complaints with regard to no punitive action against the communal provocateurs, non-implementation of the reports and similar other issues. The uncalled for arrests of the educated youth is the latest crime committed during the Congress regime. Otherwise, what the court verdicts say by freeing the Muslim accused in such cases? It looks as if there was not a single statesman who could understand the basics of this vice invented by the Congress. It was this ill-advised policy pursued with zeal with the law and order authorities that undid the Congress. Otherwise, the percentage of defeat would have been lesser in the elections. Now Muslims love to keep distance as far as the Congress Party is concerned. Without any rhyme or reason scores of Muslim houses have been destroyed by miscreants tolerated, if not goaded, by the Congress. Neither proper compensation has been given to the victims of the police nor the co-conspirators of the crime been punished even after the court verdicts.
DISTURBING QUESTION
However there is a disturbing question: The national policies become effective only after the Bills become Acts. Until and unless the Acts are passed by the Parliament, no thought of the Prime Minister, howsoever grandiose can alter any situation in the country. It is these Acts which in fact govern the country, her Legislature, Executive and Judiciary. We are confident the Prime Minister knows much more on the subject than us. In a similar fashion, the late Mrs. Indira Gandhi got the word “secular” included in the Preamble of the Statute in 1976. Speech is no substitute for the Act passed by the Parliament.
If the Prime Minister is really serious – and we feel he is – he will have to persuade his elders, mentors and the boisterous youth who have only recently donned the Saffron dress.