As the 2019 general election approaches, the ghosts of 1992 are back on India’s streets. There seems to be a well organized clamor for the construction of Ram Temple in Ayodhya, in clear defiance of the Supreme Court. And so, for the many who do not know what the original Ram Temple movement is and the many who may have forgotten the mayhem, eminent activist and journalist Teesta Setalvad presents a ready reckoner on what the Ram Temple movement really is about and why has it been so conveniently resurrected, twenty six years later in 2018.

First published on December 6, 2018

Courtesy: https://cjp.org.in/

The post What is the Ram Temple Really about? appeared first on SabrangIndia.

On Wednesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the formation of the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust for construction of the proposed Ram temple in Ayodhya. The move came after the Cabinet cleared a detailed scheme for construction of the temple and development of its surrounding complex.

“My government has, on directions of the supreme court, prepared a detailed plan for the purpose of constructing a temple at the site of Lord Ram’s birth and other related matters. A proposal to create the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teertha Kshetra Trust has been cleared,” said Modi amidst enthusiastic bench thumping by BJP MPs. The cabinet has also transferred the 67-acre land to the trust.

92-year-old K Parasaran, who represented ‘Ram Lala’ or the deity during the court proceedings will lead the trust that will have 9 permanent members and six others who will be nominated. The permanent members, other than Parasaran are:

Jagatguru Shankaracharya Jyothish Peethadheswar Swami Vasudevanand, Prayagraj (previously known as Allahabad)
 

• Jagatguru Madhavarcharya Swami Vishwa Prasannatheerth, Udupi

• Yugpurush Parmanand, Haridwar

• Swami Govinddev Giri, Pune

• Mahant Dhirendra Das, Nirmohi Akhara, Ayodhya

• Vimlendu Mohan Pratap Mishra – a descendant of Ayodhya royal family

• Dr Anil Mishra, Ayodhya

• Kameshwar Chaupal, Patna

It is noteworthy that five out of the nine permanent members are religious ‘gurus’ and heads of important ‘maths’, while one is a lawyer, one a homeopathic doctor, one a descendant of the erstwhile royal family and only one is a Dalit. Chaupal, who belongs to a Scheduled Caste, had laid the foundation stone of the temple during a ‘sheelanyas’ or foundation ceremony organized by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad in 1989. It is interesting that a government that has always tried to project itself as committed to gender justice has failed to appoint even one woman as a permanent member!

Now, on to the nominated members who are all required to be practicing Hindus. Who will be the other six nominated members? Here’s the list:

Ayodhya District Magistrate will be the ex-officio trustee. In case the DM is not Hindu, Additional Magistrate will sit on the board
 

• One serving members of the Indian Administrative Services (IAS) of a rank no less than that of joint secretary to be nominated by the central government

• One serving IAS member to be nominated by the state government

• Temple trust will select two prominent persons by majority resolution

• The board will also appoint an ex-officio chairman

Meanwhile, a 5-acre plot for construction of a mosque has been allotted to the Sunni Central Waqf Board. The sit is located at Dhannipur village located 18 kilometers from the district head quarters along the Ayodhya Lucknow highway.  

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Image Courtesy: PTI

Tension has been ripe since earlier this week when the highly communally provocative trailer of a film about the Babri Masjid dispute by UP Shia Waqf Board Chief Syed Waseem Rizvi was released. Then on Friday, Sakshi Maharaj made controversial statements about demolishing the Jama Masjid. On Saturday, Varanasi woke up to rumours that even the Gyan Vapi Mosque that was allegedly built at the site of the Kashi Vishwanath temple, will be brought down. All this poses a threat to the fragile communal harmony in the region.

Simmering Tension in Varanasi
The holy city of Varanasi, which is also the constituency of the Prime Minister, is particularly on the edge. “Muslim neighbourhoods are tense. People have started stocking food and other provisions. The feeling is that anything can happen tomorrow and they want to be prepared,” says Muniza Khan, CJP’s UP Program Coordinator. “The women are particularly worried and are ensuring that their children do not step out of their homes tomorrow. Even people who operate shops and small businesses plan to keep their shutters down and stay at home on Sunday,” she adds.

Local sources also tell us that several short rallies are being carried out across the city to urge youth to travel to Ayodhya to show support for the construction of the Ram Mandir. Many provocative slogans such as “Jo Shree Ram ke kaam na aye, vyarth uski jawaani hai,” are being chanted at these rallies to galvanise young men to become a part of the pro-Mandir movement.

Meanwhile Surendra Singh Baieria has threatened to “Break the Constitution” if required on November 25 at Ayodhya!

Even Christians have not been left in peace with members of the Akhil BHaratiya Vidyarthi Parishad painting a warning graffiti on the walls of a 64 year old Christian institution Matradham Ashram in the Chandmari area of Varanasi.

But a few important Hindu spiritual leaders have stated that the government or politicians should not be allowed to interfere in the dispute or draw political milage by exploiting people’s emotions.

Muslim groups appeal for Peace
But Muslim groups, senior clerics and social workers have taken the initiative to ensure that the minority community does not react violently to any provocation and that mob violence does not break out between Hindus and Muslims.

Clerics at the Gyan Vapi Mosque have urged people not to react to communal provocation. Mufti Batin Nomani, the Khatib and Imam of the Gyanvapi Mosque told us, “We are urging people to not pay attention to rumours and keep their emotions in check. We are asking them to maintain peace and harmony and not react violently to any form of provocation or violence.” Similar efforts are on across the state.

Frenemies try to outdo each other’s Hindutva
Meanwhile, over 5,000 Shiv Sianiks have already arrived on two special trains that were pressed into service just for this purpose. Section 144 was imposed in Ayodhya soon after the arrival of Uddhav Thackeray who is actively advocating temple construction. 
Meanwhile the Shiv Sena is organising maha artis in 288 assemblies in Maharashtra is a possible snub to the BJP with whom they share power in the state. This is plain posturing aimed at showing how they are more committed to Hindutva and building the Ram Mandir, than the BJP, with whom their relationship has always been bumpy. This should ring alarm bells given how similar maha artis were a precursor to the 1992-93 Bombay Riots.

The post Mass Mobilisation in Ayodhya, Tension in Varanasi, Muslim clerics appeal for calm appeared first on SabrangIndia.

 
Meet the Maker

 
Syed Waseem Rizvi, who claims to be the writer and producer of the film, is actually the Chief of the UP Shia Waqf Board. It is alleged that Waseem Rizvi, handpicked by the saffron regime, is a clear tool in their hands. Interestingly, Rizvi claims that the film is shot in Ayodhya. Question is, who gave permission for the shoot? To top it all controversial RSS leader, Indresh Kumar is featured as a ‘Hindu leader’!

Desperate in the face of rising opposition, a sinister game plan is afoot to use the UP Shia Waqf Board chief, Syed Waseem Rizvi as the chief generator of Shia-Sunni conflict using the Ram Mandir and Ayodhya. The trailer and poster of the film, ‘Ramjanmabhoomi’ scripted by Rizvi was ‘released’ last Monday, and has already generated its share of intra-community tensions. Almost all senior Sunni and Shia leaders of India have officially condemned this trailer and have asked the govt to stop this hate film. They have also petitioned the govt demanding that a criminal case be filed against Waseem Rizvi.

We at cjp.org.in delved deep into this controversial, even hate-filled trailer that has already generated tensions. A criminal case has already been filed against it in Mumbai. (फिल्म ‘राम जन्मभूमि’ के ट्रेलर के खिलाफ केस दर्ज, धार्मिक भावनाएं आहत करने का आरोप) (ट्रेलर रिलीज के एक दिन बाद ही विवादों में घिरी ‘राम जन्मभूमि’)

What does an analysis of the trailer reveal?
This trailer is about actual incidents of 1990 when kar sevaks were shot at by the UP police when they attempted to break the law in force. However, the narrative has been twisted a la the narrative of the VHP-RSS (sangh) that only depicts ‘peaceful Hindutva kar sevaks’. Worse, these scenes are interjected by fabrications and falsehoods, the absolutely false propaganda of ‘Muslims provocating the Hindutva people.’ Thereafter a series of incidents of violence depict violence by Muslims against Hindus. There is also a snide reference to the police who are conspiring with Netaji (1990 chief minister, Mulayam Singh).

This trailer is a complete short film in itself, there is nothing more left to understand. 
Sign boards of the Shia Waqf Board are strategically placed within it. The Shia Waqf Board chief Waseem Rizvi is also ‘acting’ in the trailer. Controversial RSS leader Indresh Kumar who was charge sheeted in the Ajmer Blast case also has a guest appearance as a part of a television news show within the film. 

There is a titillating and caricatured ‘villain’ in the short film, Jaffar Khan who is not only shown as a terrorist but a Shariya Board member who drinks alcohol and commits Halala (having a relationship with his own daughter in law). There are scenes of Muslim men shown lynching ‘innocent Hindutva kar sevaks.’ The setting is also sinister: popular ‘Muslim’ icons and flags often depicted during festivities are shown as the backdrop for the aggression of violent ‘Muslim mobs.’ 

Hate and Incitement in Waseem Rizvi’s Film
The most controversial scene planted within the film is clearly aimed at dividing Muslims along the Shia vs Sunni sectarian divide. Waseem Rizvi is sitting across the table and uses objectionable words derogatory to the Khalifa and founder of the Umaiyyad dynasty, respected by many Sunni Muslims.
 
(Note: We are not using the words here as they are both inciteful and provocative. This anti Sunni statement by a Shia character in the film who is the Chairman of UP Shia Waqf board in real life is undoubtedly depicted with intent to instigate Shia vs Sunni conflict in India).

What readers must note that this has been part of a not so hidden strategy of the BJP-led Sangh Parivar. Recall September 14, 2017 when BJP leader Subramanian Swamy called for uniting Hindus, creating division among Muslims. 
 
Media fans the flames:
Rabid mainstream channels like Times Now are fanning the controversy while websites with a clear Hindutva bent are actively promoting it.
Examples of pro-Hindutva websites promoting this film

1. Swarajyamag: Watch: Ram Janmabhoomi, A Film By Shia Waqf Board Chief Who Supports Ram Temple, Targeting Social Evils In Islam
2. Brajesh Mishra tweet https://twitter.com/brajeshlive/status/1064020215376166912
3. http://www.5dariyanews.com/news/252810-Ram-Janambhoomis-trailer-based-on-the-radical-conspiracy-of-Babari-on-Ram-temple-construction-has-been-launched-in-Lucknow
 
Who and what is Cinecraft Productions?
 
One, this film is produced by Cinecraft Productions which has only two videos on their Youtube channel. The first is this trailer and the second is their showreel, which is of an extremely unprofessional poor quality. Significantly, the showreel shows that Cinecraft Products has also made films for the government of Uttar Pradesh. Only two videos can be found on youtube by Cinecraft both posted on November 18, 2018 this also includes videos made for the Govt of Uttar Pradesh on Asha Bahu before the Ramjanmabhoomi film was made.

Description of the movie Ram Janmbhumi on youtube channel

Hindi Movie “Ram Janmbhumi” ( राम जन्मभूमि ) written & produced by Waseem Rizvi (Chairman of Shia Waqf chief, Uttar Pradesh) The movie deals with issue of Ram Janmbhumi & Halala. Produced under the banner of Cinecraft Productions and Directed by Sanoj Mishra film Ram Janmbhumi stars Actor Manoj Joshi, Govind Namdeo, Najnin Patni, Rajveer Singh, Disha Sachdeva and Aditya in important role. The film poster is quite intriguing as there is a saffron flag on the top of the dome of Babari Masjid.the poster will sure make the headlines inthe media in coming days. The movie is all set to hit in screen in the end of December 2018.

Who is Indresh Kumar?
RSS leader Indresh Kumar, apart from being charge sheeted in the Ajmer blasts case is an active pro-Israel and pro-US leader. Reports have shown that he and 75 others have participated in the Haifa centenary celebrations in Israel. Today, Indresh is a national executive member and the Sahprachar Pramukh in the RSS. His name cropped first when Malegaon blasts prime accused Colonel Shrikant Purohit mentioned him during interrogation.

Both Waseem Rizvi and Indresh Kumar appear to enjoy a special relationship. Since June July this year on social media, Waseem Rizvi, Shia Waqf Board, has been openly supportive of Indresh Kumar’s stand saying, “Muslims should stop eating beef. Killing of cows should stop. Meat of cows is ‘haram’ in Islam as well. You can’t stop mob lynching, security can’t be deployed everywhere. So a law should be made awarding strict punishment to those killing cows.” There is more. “I think Indresh Ji’s statement has a point. Religious sentiments should not be hurt. If law is made to stop killing of cows, lynching will stop. You can’t kill someone who is given the status of mother by a community,” Rizvi added.

Related Articles:
1. Catch News
2. ANI report
3. Haribhoomi.com
4. Navbharat Times
5. Siasat.com
6. Newkerala.com

Trigger Warning: This trailer is full of communally sensitive and potentially offensive content
 

Film Trailer:

ref: Ayodhya firing incident 1990
 

 
Detailed Breakdown of the Trailer
 
The Trailer starts with Super Text in hindi – Ayodhya 2 Novemeber 1990

–Shot of Ayodhya Saryu ghat
–Cut to a Muslim Villian Shouting Slogans (as if Muslims are provocating violence)
–Cut to Hindus shouting Jai Shree Ram (as a reaction to Muslim provocation)
Super text: Chali thi goliyan
–Cut to Police firing indiscriminately and killing the kar sevaks.
Super text: Beh raha tha khoon
Montage of several dead Kar Sevaks
–Cut to speech by a Hindutva leader in a hall with a ram mandir banner and a shia waqf board banner in the background.
 
The Shia waqf board banner says “ek kadam ekta ki ore”. (note: Waseem Rizvi had published a brochure with similar title एक रास्ता एकता की ओर शीर्षक वाले इस पांच सूत्रीय प्रस्ताव  https://navbharattimes.indiatimes.com/india/shia-wakf-board-explanation-proposal-mosque-in-ayodhya-and-mosque-in-lucknow/articleshow/61726438.cms)

The speech blames politicians for appeasing Muslims “kuchh rajnitik partiyan keval musalmano ke vote bank ki rajniti karne ke liye poore desh ka mahaul kharab kar rahi hain”

Cut to the same ‘Muslim villain’ saying “masjid musalmano ki hai” montage of the Muslim villain checking automatic rifles. “aur inshallah wahan babri masjid qayam hokar rahegi”
Cut to Muslim mob wearing skull caps carrying a green flag with star and crescent “lynching and hacking two saffron clad kar sevaks.”
–Top angle view shows brutally hacked kar sevaks, and camera zooms in to show a donation box in the dead kar sevak’s hand which has hindi text “Shree Ram mandir nirman me apna sahyog den”
–Cut to the Muslim villain eating sweet (laddus) the board in the background has text “all india shariyah board”

Waseem Rizvi is stiing across the table and tells the villain uses the provocative words that we have decided not to use
(note: this is extremely provocative dialogue against the founder of Umaiyyad dynasty who is respected by many Sunni muslims.
This anti Sunni statement by a Shia character who is chairman of UP Shia Waqf board is undoubtedly an intentional scene to instigate Shia vs Sunni conflict in India.)

–Cut to Men in skull caps firing at policemen and Waseem Rizvi is also with the police, and they shoot down the attackers.

–Cut to a hindu family watching television (some urdu news channel) and on TV news the RSS leader Indresh Kumars saying “is desh ke andar neta jo virodh kar rahe hain, uphas kar rahe hain, unko sharm aani chahiye”
–Montage of muslim family also watching news and sadhus listening to RSS leader’s statement on radio.

—Cut to: a mob chasing a girl who is running away to save herself
—Cut to: the daughter in law of the Villain Muslim telling her husband “aap bhi usi bheed ka ek hissa hain jo haath me talwaar lekar insaaniyat ka khoon karne par aamada hai. Aur wo bhi islam ke naam par.
And Arif Khan slaps his wife gives talaaq to the girl “main aarif khan isi waqt talaq deta hoon, talaq talaq talaq”

Voiceover of the girl “hum ek aise mazhab me paida huye jahan ghar ki bahu ke saath Halala ke naam par ghar ke sasur hum-bistar hua karte hain”
Visual of the villain Muslim (father in law) sitting with alcohol bottle on table with two glasses, he drops a pill in a glass, then a scene of having sex with the daughter in law.

Cut to : Hindutva leader giving speech “Babar ne jo kalank kiya hai us kalank ko dhwast karna hai.
(Note : right after Halala, dialogue against Babar and kalank is justifying typical anti Muslim propaganda by the Sangh). 
Cut to : Muslim villain “agar aisa hua to hindustan me Islam khatre me pad jayega”
Cut to : riot scenes burning vehicles, bicycles, carts etc.

Cut to : Hindutva leader “Hindu sahishnu tha, Hindu sahishnu hai, Hindu Sahishnu rahega” scene of saffrpon clad mob carrying saffron flags marching…
(Note : all dialgoes by the Hindutva characters in the trailer projects them as peaceful Sahishnu tolerant people)
Cut to : Muslim Villain “taiyyar ho jaiye, ek aur jung ke liye”
Cut to : Muslim mob attacking hindus
Many dead bodies of kar sevaks and sadhus being dumped by the police.
And a policeman burns the bodies.
Cut to police man stading against burning fire and smoke and speaks on his walky talky “Netaji aapne jo kaam kaha tha wo ho gaya hai”
(Note : Mulayam Singh is called Netaji by people, and he was the UP CM in 1990)

Cut to : scenes of policemen killing peaceful kar sevaks.

There is flame on the screen and the domes of Babri masjid in the background.
Trailer ends with super text “Coming Soon”
End plate of video is Ram Janmbhoomi film poster.

 

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The post Present, Past & the Future: Episode 3 – ‘Ayodhya Issue: Endgame Begins?’ appeared first on SabrangIndia.

As many as 14 appeals have been filed against the Allahabad High Court judgement that divided the 2.77 acre land equally among the Sunni Waqf Board, the Nimrohi Akhada and the deity Ram Lala.

The post Ayodhya case: SC declines plea for early trial appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Image courtesy The Wire

Today, on the 25th anniversary of the planned demolition of Babri Masjid, if we see the way the Padmavati controversy has raged over the last month, we will realise how little we have progressed from the events which took place on this day, 25 years ago. Even today, historians are the last people to be consulted on matters of history. Even though historians such as Irfan Habib write articles confirming the lack of historical evidence that confirms the existence of Padmavati, television debates have hardly paid any heed to historians. Compare this to the number of times the Karni Sena was allowed to air their hurt sentiments on the issue.

It is the same sentiment of historical hurt that drives popular support for the Hindu right. Yogi Adityanath, the current Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, has again given the clarion call for the “Ram mandir” which must be built on the same site. The now redundant L K Advani (probably due to affinity with the supposed poet and former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee) had said with poetic flourish: “We will remake from the same stones which now lie crumbled at the site”. The Ayodhya dispute, however, is still an incomplete project for the Hindu rightwing. If there is one temple for which the aspiration of rebuilding has been satisfied, is the Somanatha temple in Gujarat. Looking back at Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s speech at the Somnath temple on 31 October, 2001, let us try to understand what the vision of the Hindu right, on the matter of rebuilding temples, is:

Today is a day of great joy. Today, it is exactly fifty years since the idol of Lord Somanatha was sanctified here at the temple… Somnath is the symbol if our sanatan sanskriti (timeless culture), our shaswat dharma (eternal religion, way of life), the symbol of the successive shifts and changes in our history. History had also witnessed that moment when conquering invaders razed Somnath to the ground.

Somnath Temple

Two opinions on time emerge here: one, that Somnath, and by extension the envisioned Ram temple, is a part of sanatan sanskriti, a timeless culture that cannot be measured by history. (By implication, if the Ram temple is indeed rebuilt – though that seems unlikely, as the matter is sub judice — the Hindu right will find other spots for political mobilisation, as the matter of reclaiming our timeless culture cannot be bound by one moment in the present time). The other opinion, however, is that “history” has been a witness to “conquering invaders”. Suddenly, the timeless historical time is fixed to a specific moment in time. We know exactly when our timeless culture had to bear the brunt of time that could be measured. This begins in medieval India with the favourite adversary of the Hindu Right: the Muslim invaders. Vajpayee, interestingly, takes the refuge of “history” as facts or objective truth the moment he introduces the origin of hurt: it is a fact that we are hurt now, just as it is a fact that our temples were destroyed by outsiders. The former may be true, but the latter is clearly Vajpayee’s clever subterfuge to pass belief as history, as fact.

Scratch the surface and it will soon be revealed that the “history” Vajpayee talks about is the history written by the British. These include books such as the influential History of India as Told by Its Own Historians, first published in 1849 and edited by Henry Miers Elliot with John Dowson. The book contains translations of medieval Persian chronicles. In his reading, Elliot is hardly objective. Notice the similarity in tone between Elliot and Vajpayee:

The few glimpses that we have, even among the short extracts in this single volume, of Hindus slain for disputing with Muhammedans, of general prohibitions against processions, worship, and ablutions, of other intolerant measures, of idols mutilated, of temples razed, of forcible conversions and marriages, of proscriptions and confiscations, of murders and massacres, and of the sensuality and drunkenness of the tyrants who enjoined them, show us that this picture is not overcharged.

Image courtesy Archive.org

It will hardly be surprising to know that Elliot should be such a darling for the Hindu Right. As Romila Thapar says in her speech, delivered at the launch of the website Indian Cultural Forum, it is ironic if one sees how much our self declared nationalist parties owe their views on history to the Britsh.
The British imperialists were clear that the Indian subcontinent would see them as outsiders. But, they wanted to say to their Hindu subjects, the Muslims too were outsiders who ruled your land. Listen to us. Better to have us as outsiders who rule over you than Muslims. Elliot and Dowson go on to write that, with the advent of British rule, “a more stirring and eventful era of India’s History commences…when the full light of European truth and discernment begins to shed its beams upon the obscurity of the past”.

This is not to say that there were no temple desecrations in medieval India, or that there was some kind of eternal Ganga jamuna tehzeeb in Northern India. Instead, one must ask, if temples were indeed desecrated or destroyed, why, and by whom; for what purpose. This is exactly what Richard M Eaton’s essay, “Temple Desecration and Indp-Muslim States” does. Romila Thapar’s book on the Somnath temple is another project written with the same intent.

Eaton says that it was S K Banerji, who suggested the presence of a Ram temple at the site where Babri Masjid stood. There is, however, no historical evidence that proves the presence of a temple, let alone the claim that Mir Baqi, Babur’s officer, destroyed a non-existent temple and built a mosque in its place. Eaton says, “The erstwhile mosque’s inscription records only that Babur had ordered the construction of the mosque, which was built by Mir Baqi and was described as ‘the place of descent of celestial beings’ (mahbit-i-qudsiyan)”. This “commonplace rhetorical flourish in Persian” can hardly be a reference to Lord Ram, as Banerji, in his 1936 essay, “Babur and the Hindus”, (and published in Journal of the United Provinces Historical Society) concluded.

It is strange that the walls on which this inscription was written – the only supposed evidence for the Hindu Right’s claim – have been razed down. It will be nice if Mr Advani, now out of bounds of his own party’s power centre, realises his mistakes and rebuilds the mosque from the rubble they have created.

Featured image courtesy The Wire

Souradeep Roy is part of the editorial collective of the Indian Writers’ Forum

Courtesy: Indian Cultural Forum
 

The post What Our Self-Declared Nationalists (Read the Hindu Right) Owe to British Historians for their Claims on Babri Masjid or Ram Temple appeared first on SabrangIndia.

The electoral arena in the 90s has taken a qualitative turn for the worse. The earlier electoral equation, Congress vs. the Janata Dal/Janata Party and its allies, has been replaced by a triangle with first the BJP and now the BJP and its allies as the base of the triangle. Of the two other arms of the triangle, one is the Congress and other is the declining Third Front.

Progressive groups and individuals are faced with a serious dilemma as far as voting in various constituencies and campaigning is concerned. Barring the Left parties — whose secular and democratic credentials are strong — and the other earlier constituents of Third Front — though they had earlier stood on secular and democratic ground, many of them now seem to be wavering — both the major combatants in the electoral battle field are tainted with communalism of different varieties. It is in this context that the stance of the Left in singling out the BJP as THE communal force, to be isolated and dumped on a priority basis, has come for criticism from certain friends and groups from the liberal, progressive and left spectrum. Bringing to our attention the gory deeds of Congress in subtly tolerating communalism, these radical elements are advocating equi–distance from the BJP and the Congress. I would like to examine the pitfalls of this equi–distance thesis in this article. Congress and Communalism: Right since its inception, the main thrust of the Indian National Congress has been to struggle for a democratic, secular India at the formal level. At the same time, there has always been a weakness to accommodate and tolerate communal elements, more so Hindu communal elements. Some of the major leaders of the Congress had strong streaks of Hindu nationalism. The important ones in this category include Lala Lajpat Rai, Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya and Dr. Munje (one of the founders of RSS). Many leaders of the Hindu Mahasabha were also the members of the Congress. Dr. K. B. Hedgewar, the first Sarsanghchalak (supremo) of the RSS founded in 1927 was formally in the Congress till 1934. In the pre-Independence era, the Congress acted merely as a platform, the dominant part of it being secular and democratic as represented by the leadership of Mahatma Gandhi and Pandit Nehru. 

Undoubtedly, Hindu communal elements within the Congress put pressure from within to supplement the agenda of the Hindu Mahasabha and RSS, to act as the opposite and parallel of Muslim communalism represented mainly by the Muslim League. With Partition, formation of Pakistan and the migration of theMuslim elite from different parts of the country to Pakistan, Muslim communalism in a way got deflated.But it did survive in the Indian polity, assuming strident postures at crucial times like the Shah Bano case etc, to provide much needed prop to Hindu communalism. 

The Congress underwent major transformation in the mid–sixties. Though it continued to pay lip service to secular rhetoric, apart from appeasing the fundamentalist sections of Muslim community, it did little to ameliorate the conditions of minorities. Also, the state apparatus started getting infiltrated by the Hindu communal elements — RSS trainees — who at the grass root level started giving a Hindu slant to the policies of a formally secular state. It is due to these factors that Muslims started getting discriminated against in jobs and social opportunities. They also became victims of anti–Muslim violence led by Hindu communal organisations, supported and abetted by a  ommunally infected State. The Congress was not principled enough to oppose and curtail this as a section of its leadership was either ‘soft communal’ or had no qualms in compromising with and promoting Hindu  communalism. 

During these years the principal project of the Congress was to build a strong Indian State. In this process it started suppressing ethnic and regional aspirations and imposed the Indian identity and laws on many
ethnic groups and regions by force. The Congress pursued the policy of relentless centralisation and intervened in state affairs at every minor pretext. This led to situations of insurgency in the Northeast, Kashmir and Punjab. In Punjab and Kashmir, the worsening situation was allowed to take a communal turn. The anti–Sikh pogrom led by the Congress in 1984 can be said to belong to this category of repression of ethnic aspirations of Sikhs. 

But as Aijaz Ahmed pointed out some years ago, Congress communalism is a pragmatic one that has been used by it time and again to ‘solve’ some other problem, for example, suppressing  thno–regional aspirations (Economic and Political Weekly, June 1,1996, Pg. 1329). They have to be contrasted with the systematic and sustained anti–Muslim violence whose ideological roots lie in the very concept of Hindu Rashtra. 

Hindu Communal Politics: The basic premise of the RSS is to work towards the goal of Hindu Rashtra and as its political arm, the BJP, is committed to help in the realisation of that goal. Since 1986, the BJP has pursued the aggressive agenda of Hindu Rashtra through the Ramjanambhoomi campaign leading to the demolition of Babri Mosque, post–demolition communal violence etc. Most of the inquiry commission reports on communal violence (Jagmohan Reddy, Justice Madon, Vithayathil, Srikrishna and Venugopal) have proved without any shadow of doubt that the various constituents of the sangh parivar have been the major actors in anti–Muslim communal violence. More recently, the National Human Rights Commission, National Minorities Commission and independent human rights groups have highlighted the role of most of the progenies of the RSS in anti–Christian violence. Lately, after realising that it cannot grab power at the Centre on its own on a communal, the BJP has ‘cleverly’ been talking of the need for a ‘National Agenda of Governance’ and a ‘National Democratic Alliance’ to woo the regional parties whose narrow regional interests and tubular vision does not permit them to see the core communal project of BJP. This temporary democratic posture of the BJP is merely for the sake of gradually increasing its vote bank/social base to be able to come to power at Centre on its own so that the agenda of Hindu Rashtra ‘in toto’ can be imposed on society. Till then the decent looking agenda will remain sprinkled with hidden agendas.

In the long term this elite, middle class party will freeze society in the existent social dynamics, taking away the rights of exploited, oppressed and those on lower rungs of hierarchy to struggle for social, economic and gender justice. The communalism of BJP is a cover for a gradually evolving fascism, with the aim of foisting Brahminical Hindu politics on the country. In the words of Aijaz Ahmed, the sangh parivar’s and the BJP’s is a programmatic communalism. 

Equi–distance and comparisons: It is not to say that the other parties are desirable, ideal and capable of sustaining the secular democratic programme. We have seen that the Congress could impose Emergency with ease and pass various anti–democratic legislation time and again. It has often compromised with and aided Hindu communalism. The other parties have also shown manifest inadequacies as far as perusal of democratic principles is concerned.

But all said and done, none of them is driven by the engine of RSS, a fascist organisation wedded to the concept of Hindu Rashtra — a Brahminical–Hinduism based nationalism akin to race based nationalism or Muslim nationalism. This is what makes the BJP a different cup of tea – nay, poison. Historical Precedents: As I have argued elsewhere(Fascism of Sangh Parivar, EKTA, Mumbai, 1999), the sangh parivar is a fascist variant with a number of similarities to European fascism which got strengthened, post–Mandal, in reaction to Dalit, OBC assertion in 1990s. 

In Germany, Hitler rapidly increased his social and electoral base by projecting the fear of a strong workers movement. The triangle there was: communists, Hitler’s National Socialists (fascists) and the Centrists – Social Democrats, akin to the Congress in India. In spite of seeing the methods and dangerous potential of Hitler, communists, who were a substantial force, in a way followed the electoral policy of
equi–distance from Social Democrats (whom they called social fascists) and the National Socialists (Hitler’s party). Though Hitler did not have majority he was able to come to power through negotiations as the opponents had shifting and divided aims and were unable to focus on the real essentials of power while Nazis had unwavering aims and had a firm grasp on ‘real politics’.

The Imminent Dangers: In view of what I have argued above, the BJP should totally be out of reckoning as far as electoral choice is concerned. Just because there is a vacuum of parties with decent secular and democratic credentials does not mean that one lands up supporting a party whose fascist potential is there without any shadow of doubt? What if the Congress, which time and again has used communalism to fulfil its political ambition, benefits from it? Surely, it is an evil whose magnitude is ‘n’ times lower than thedangers of BJP being in power. 

The equi—distance position stance holds no water. The BJP cannot be equated with any other party; it has to be an ‘untouchable’ for us — Historical revenge of the untouchables!

Archived from Communalism Combat, July 1999, Year 6  No. 51, Debate

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