http://epaperbeta.timesofindia.com/Article.aspx?eid=31816&articlexml=Polibelly-Modi-Should-Now-Sing-Ishwar-Allah-Tero-30092014006018
Polibelly, my ET column
Polibelly, my ET column
Sep 30 2014
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The Economic Times
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Mahatma Gandhi is the
nation's moral compass. When an RSS volunteer-turned-Sangh Parivar
politician like Prime Minister Narendra Modi appropriates Gandhi at a
global stage in New York's Madison Square, the compass itself gets
recalibrated: the needle mindlessly swings from the Right to the Left.
Impossibly incompatible ideas like Gandhi's pluralistic tolerance and
celebration of religious diversity get mixed up with Savarkar's
monolithic Hindutva and aggressive assertion of the Hindu identity.
Gandhi's killer, Nathuram Godse, had opened an RSS shakha at Ratnagiri
where VD Savarkar was interned after writing out an abject apology to
the British to escape the cellular jail. Savarkar was a co-conspirator
in Godse's plot to kill Gandhi, though acquitted by the trial court and
mysteriously let off by the prosecution without an appeal.
Savarkar coined the term Hindutva, theorising that India belonged to only those who revere it as their pitru and punya bhumi (father and holy land), and thereby delegitimising Muslim and Christian citizens.
RSS' political outfits, Jan Sangh or BJP, never professed Gandhian pacifism or ahimsa.Sure, BJP had talked a lot about Gandhian Socialism when it was founded in 1980, without ever really defining what it meant by the term. After BJP assumed power, leading a coalition in 1998 and then in 1999, it shockingly hung the portrait of Savarkar in Parliament's Central Hall. Then home minister, LK Advani, had even got the airport at Port Blair renamed after Savarkar.
Now, there is a complete U-turn by Modi, the biggest political symbol of Hindutva power. After becoming Prime Minister, Modi has never publicly spoken about Savarkar, the RSS founder Hedgewar or its brightest chief ever, Golwalkar. And he has also not stopped speaking about Gandhi. Is there is a shift in RSS and Sangh Parivar ideology? Is there a re-thinking of Hindutva, a refashioning of Hindu identity to accommodate all of this nation's diversity?
It does not seem so. The riots of Western Uttar Pradesh, the hate speeches of certain BJP leaders and their political outcome were still fresh to give traction to the Love Jihad campaign in that state, recently. No official Eid party was held in Lutyens Delhi after Modi became Prime Minister. Even the tokenism of the Muslim cap lies rejected. So, why appropriate Gandhi, who stands accused of fathering political tokenism, minority appeasement, deflating the Indian machismo and much else?
The answer lies in the transformation that Modi seeks. He is already a bigger Hindutva icon than Savarkar and all his disciples, including Advani, put together. Sure, he needed all of them in his journey atop Raisina Hill during which he paid a rich tribute to 15 RSS leaders, including Madhukarrao Bhagwat, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat's father, in his Gujarati book “Jyotipunj“.
But now Modi wants to shake off his partisan appeal, seeking wider acceptance. And who else but the global messiah of peaceful resistance can offer him the perch of international acceptance? Swatch Bharat, celebrating the centenary of Gandhi's return from South Africa and his 150th birth anniversary are all great markers of India's nationhood, no doubt.But to be seen sincere, Modi should also sing along, “Ishwar, Allah tero naam...“ And for Gandhi this new admirer is no good news. People who call him casteist now will soon call him worse names.
Savarkar coined the term Hindutva, theorising that India belonged to only those who revere it as their pitru and punya bhumi (father and holy land), and thereby delegitimising Muslim and Christian citizens.
RSS' political outfits, Jan Sangh or BJP, never professed Gandhian pacifism or ahimsa.Sure, BJP had talked a lot about Gandhian Socialism when it was founded in 1980, without ever really defining what it meant by the term. After BJP assumed power, leading a coalition in 1998 and then in 1999, it shockingly hung the portrait of Savarkar in Parliament's Central Hall. Then home minister, LK Advani, had even got the airport at Port Blair renamed after Savarkar.
Now, there is a complete U-turn by Modi, the biggest political symbol of Hindutva power. After becoming Prime Minister, Modi has never publicly spoken about Savarkar, the RSS founder Hedgewar or its brightest chief ever, Golwalkar. And he has also not stopped speaking about Gandhi. Is there is a shift in RSS and Sangh Parivar ideology? Is there a re-thinking of Hindutva, a refashioning of Hindu identity to accommodate all of this nation's diversity?
It does not seem so. The riots of Western Uttar Pradesh, the hate speeches of certain BJP leaders and their political outcome were still fresh to give traction to the Love Jihad campaign in that state, recently. No official Eid party was held in Lutyens Delhi after Modi became Prime Minister. Even the tokenism of the Muslim cap lies rejected. So, why appropriate Gandhi, who stands accused of fathering political tokenism, minority appeasement, deflating the Indian machismo and much else?
The answer lies in the transformation that Modi seeks. He is already a bigger Hindutva icon than Savarkar and all his disciples, including Advani, put together. Sure, he needed all of them in his journey atop Raisina Hill during which he paid a rich tribute to 15 RSS leaders, including Madhukarrao Bhagwat, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat's father, in his Gujarati book “Jyotipunj“.
But now Modi wants to shake off his partisan appeal, seeking wider acceptance. And who else but the global messiah of peaceful resistance can offer him the perch of international acceptance? Swatch Bharat, celebrating the centenary of Gandhi's return from South Africa and his 150th birth anniversary are all great markers of India's nationhood, no doubt.But to be seen sincere, Modi should also sing along, “Ishwar, Allah tero naam...“ And for Gandhi this new admirer is no good news. People who call him casteist now will soon call him worse names.
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