Indira
Gandhi’s death anniversary
Religious bigotry
in the Indian subcontinent
Indira Gandhi was martyred on this day 37 years ago. She made supreme sacrifice to preserve the unity
and integrity of India. The Indian National Congress and the Indira Gandhi Memorial
Trust had instituted two awards in her honour -Indira Gandhi Award for National Integration and Indira Gandhi Prize for Peace,
Disarmament and Development- respectively. These
awards are given annually, since 1985, to distinguished personalities and institutions for promoting national integration and understanding and
fellowship amongst religious groups, and international peace and development.
President V.V. Giri conferred her the Bharat Ratna for steering India to a decisive victory, unparalleled in Indian history, in the 14-day-long 1971 war with Pakistan, liberating Bangladesh,
demolishing the two-nation theory that partitioned India.
Today, India is
surrounded by hostile neighbouring countries, mainly due to religious bigotry
promoted by the extreme right-wing elements in India and her neighbourhood.
Situation in Jammu
& Kashmir
The abrogation
of Article 370 that conferred special status to the Muslim majority state of
J&K and the Article 35A that protected its linguistic and cultural
identity, have provided a fodder to the militants and terrorists, sponsored and
encouraged by the Pakistan Army and the ISS. However, what we find in India, according to
Professor Ashutosh Varshney, is Jim Crow Hindu Nationalism. The Hindu
nationalism of Atal Bihari Vajpayee is different from the present-day
aggressive Hindu nationalism, which is overtly anti-Muslim. The Laws such as
anti-conversation and love jihad are being made to turn Muslims into second
class citizen in a secular India, instilling fear, and resulting in deepening communal
divide. The “Hindu nationalists do not know Jim Crow history, but their
politics is threatening to create a Jim Crow India. What race was to the American South, ethinicised
religion is to Hindu nationalists.”
The abrogation
of Article 370 has not achieved its objective of wiping terrorism from
J&K. The strong-arm tactics of the
state machinery of suppressing the political dissent and human rights is
backfiring, and the militancy is on the rise again. The terrorists are now
targeting the religious minorities -Hindus and Sikhs-both local and those from
outside. The attacks on non-local migrant workers that killed some 11 civilians
recently is a new phenomenon, the message being that the people from mainstream
India are not welcome in the state. The result is hundreds of migrant workers
in the state, fearing threat to their lives, have left for their home states. The
Centre must immediately restore the Statehood to J&K and reach out to the
people, who feel humiliated and totally isolated, and open dialogue with the
mainstream political parties in the state, and retreat the situation before it goes out of hand.
The recent
attacks on Hindus in Bangladesh are an indication that the Bangladesh extreme right-wing
elements are out to create communal discard among Hindus and Muslims and destabilise
the county. Out of 160 million population there, some 16 million make Hindus. The
Hindus are terribly scared in a country which is fast becoming a Hindu phobic,
with the followers of Bangladesh Nationalist Party of Begum Khaleda Zia and the
Jamaat-e-Islami joining hands to foment communal violence. The Bangladeshi Muslims
have conveniently forgotten India’s humongous role and the risk Indira Gandhi
took in liberating their country from Pakistan, 50 years ago. The forces that
opposed to Bangladesh’s independence are propagating the ‘toxic narratives to
instigate violence, hatred and bigotry.’ Bangladesh which was a secular state,
as per 1972 constitution, was converted into an Islamic state under the rule of
Ziaur Rahman. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina of Awami League is trying to amend
the constitution to restore Bangladesh as a secular state. She acted swiftly against
the perpetrators of communal violence during the recent Durga festival; got some
450 suspects arrested, with more than 70 cases filed with the police. This
year, she donated 30 million takas to the Hindu Kalyan Trust to have smooth
celebration of Durga festival.
In contrast, at
home, Narendra Modi remains silent when violent attacks take place against the
Muslims. What is happening in Bangladesh, in a way, is the consequence of the
passing of discriminatory Citizenship (Amendment) Act in 2019. When Amit Shah declares the Bangladeshi
Muslim immigrants illegal and threatens to throw them out, it
is a provocation to retaliation against Hindus in Bangladesh. As P. Chidambaram,
former Home Minister of India, says: “both groups of Muslims- descendants of
Indian citizens and migrants- reside in India. They are from time-to-time victims
of religious prejudice. Yet the Modi government refuses to protect them or
condemn the violence against them. If any country raises questions, the Modi
government warns them against interference in the internal affairs of India.” The Muslims constitute 213 million people in
India.
Sheikh Hasina,
while promising strict action against the perpetrators of communal violence in her
country, also said that Bangladesh’s big neighbour must be sensitive to
situation, alluding violence against minorities in India. The impact of the CAA
had a widespread effect in Bangladesh, and at least 12 people were killed in
protests against Narendra Modi’s visit to Dhaka earlier this year
How today’s India
is different
India, today, is
totally different from Nehru’s time. India no longer commands the moral
authority that Nehru had commanded in the community of nations. Nor does India nurture
the Nehruvian and Gandhian values and ideals that stood the test of time and
its model of governing a multi religious and cultural society that inspired many
a nation cutting across the communities and regimes. Pranab Mukherjee in his autobiography
The Presidential Years said King Tribhuvan Bir Bikram Shah had offered
to Nehru to make Nepal a Province of India, but Nehru rejected the offer saying
that Nepal was an independent nation and must remain so. Similarly, at the
height of cold war in mid 1950s, both the US and the Soviet Union asked Nehru
to take the permanent seat in the UN Security Council, replacing the Communist
China, but Nehru the moralist felt making the Asian giant part of the
mainstream international community was more important for word peace and security
than India grabbing the opportunity, rather unnaturally and unethically. And when
China committed aggression on India in 1962, to discredit Nehru and tarnish his
international image and standing as the champion of world peace, and when Nehru
appealed to the Heads of governments and states to assist India to repel the aggressor,
more than 80 countries, including the US, the UK, the Soviet Union and Pakistan,
had pledged military aid to India, and the Pope condemning the aggression,
forcing China to unilaterally retreat from the Indian territories, Bertrand Russell
calling it Unarmed Victory.
In contrast, today,
the expansionist China forcefully encroached into Indian territories in Ladakh,
Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Arunachal Pradesh; unwilling to withdraw, and
refusing to honour the bilateral agreements, with thirteen rounds of talks with
Chinese military officials, since May 2020, failing to yield any result. Narendra
Modi is not even willing to raise the issue with Xi Jinping, demonstrating how
afraid India of China. However, India-China trade ties continue as usual. In
fact, in spite of the border tension, the trade with China has peaked and India’s
trade deficit being the highest ever; China benefiting from absence of
aggressive posture on the Indian side. The policy of mendicancy never pays.
It is important that
India regained its past glory. Only a
truly democratic India, adhering to the secular and constitutional values, alone
can exercise moral authority and reduce the hostility in her neighbourhood. The
bullying by a vocal minority, with the tacit backing of the regime. reading
insult to religion in everything, from literature to cinema to commercials,
must be stopped immediately. The majority community is constantly fed the lie
that their beliefs are being mocked in the name of secularism, that anyone can
take liberties with their religion, and that Hinduism is in danger. The way
religion is used to suit political ends is an insult to anyone who calls himself
a Hindu. In the land of Buddha and Gandhi, weaponising religion to propel into
power is dangerous. It is high time to ask how someone sold the majority
community the idea that a religion that withstood the onslaught of Buddhism,
Islam and Christianity, is in danger of losing its identity? Are we blind to
the havoc created by civil strife and religious fundamentalism in our neighbourhood-Pakistan
and Afghanistan? Why are we hell bent on becoming mirror image of failed states?
Comments
Post a Comment