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April 18, 2024
Society
6th of December,2019 was one of the bloodiest days of civil India in 2019 when we saw a number of cities flare up during the protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act. What became a common sight was children throwing stones at the Police, misled youngsters destroying public property and burning down buses. What was central to these rioting was skull caps and beards, a symbol associated with Muslims. We see on different platforms leaders of Aam Admi Party, Trinamool Congress, Congress Party, Samajwadi Party and others inciting the common man to rise against the government. Somewhere along these incitements, the true narrative is lost and the revenge for Triple Talaq, Ram Mandir and article 370 is heard.
Scores of people go on a rampant as Police becomes aggressive as a reaction and for a need to control the riots. False and maligned narratives is then spread through media which is leaves people berserk.
The opposition parties seem to be succeeding for a while before another wave of strong narrative in favour of CAA starts dominating the streets and this time no buses are burnt and public property is destroyed.
The public watches it all. The public is fool no more for they are not dependent on only the traditional media where the jackals howl to glorify the false victims while lamenting the true and honest. The public knows it all because social media has come to rescue it. And this time, the silent majority speaks, supports the police and allows them to crack down the rioters and meting them out a tough position. The tough words spoken by CM Yogi are applauded and shops of the rioters are sealed as many are booked and put in jails. Who won? Most importantly, who lost?
The Left fed a false narrative, became violent against those who spoke for the government, cried, played the victim game and then suddenly went silent and disappeared. At the end who won and who lost?
The paid activists of IT cell went home laughing for as long as Modi remains at the helm of affairs, their pockets will be full because the opposition parties will continue to feed them and this even more. Each word of theirs on social media endangered the life of the innocent protestor while hurting a naïve bystander or a security personnel who was doing his duty. Who won? And most importantly, who lost.
And now it has come to light how, PFI(Popular Front of India), a new face of SIMI along with many other outfits had received funding from foreign sources, including Turkey and Pakistan, and 25 of their members had already been arrested and the whole organization was being arrested. They played out their agenda leaving the Muslim community vulnerable. Who won? And most importantly, who lost?
Struggling Bollywood actors lend their names to the cause based on fallacious grounds and who themselves did not have any understanding of the Citizenship amendment act stole the limelight and made their names chanted by the media. They are cosy in their Mumbai Homes leaving the ordinary Muslims to face the brunt of the police and the general public. Who won? And most importantly who lost?
The poor Muslim community which continues to be ghettoed by its very own leaders only to be used for political gains is back into the limelight. Scores of innocent and naïve Muslims walk down the road of violence understanding little about the Act and basing their views on the false narrative fed to them by the leaders of the political party. They are used like toilet paper and left uncared as the anti CAA movement fails to general support of the general public. The activists have pocketed their daily wages and are gone. But Mother Rashida waits for her son who has been booked for rioting.
The opposition leaders have destroyed the muslim community in India. Now every one looks at them with suspicion. People fear going through muslim dominated areas as they fear they might be flamed down. Today the cause of the muslims have become insignificant and the rest of the country begins to look at them as the extra baggage the burden of which they have been carrying for so long. In short muslims are now being hated in the country. Things had changed after 911, 2002, and December 11. The ghost of ostracization is back and this will force the muslims to go deeper into their ghettos. Any chance of modernization of the muslim community is now destroyed. The opposition leaders had their last laugh and they have left the scene but the ordinary muslim continues to cry. Because of a select view, their entire religious community will be seen with suspicion.
The fear of losing their homes may have been false before, but those educated and wise among the muslim community know very well that after the anti-CAA riots, their fear may become real. And for this it is not the saffron brigade to be blamed but their own leaders in whom they had invested so much of their trust.
“But how can you hate communism?” I was asked once by an infant little mind who was besotted to the ideals of communism. I don’t blame him. The ideals of equality enshrined in the teachings of Karl Marx can entice every middle class and poor person. But in practice, let us understand why communism fails to execute its very own teachings. The fact is, the large mass of the people, by itself, cannot form a government. Therefore, there is going to be a political party which will be representative of the people. But then, how many political parties can we have. The answer is one. Therefore, when we essentially say that everything will be of the people, we are essentially saying everything will be of the that singular party that represents the people. So essentially, we have created a dictatorial regime by choice. And when you look at the present-day China, Xi Jinping has declared himself the president of People’s republic of China for life. Even the likes of Venezuela, one of the richest countries in the world in terms of oil, is suffering today because of its communist regime. Today, all communist regimes in the world have turned dictatorial in nature.
In India too, the trend is quite similar. People here have vehemently supported right wing parties and are inclined towards them. Fearing extinction, the left leaning people have started to supported anything that is against the right wing or the ideologies that support the right wing or are supported by the right wing. What has Hindutva got to do with left or right wing? Since BJP’s ideologies are shaped by Hindutva, the Left in India have decided to oppose anything and everything that is related to Hindutva. Even if that means supporting political parties with corrupt ideologies or for that matter Islamic ideologies. The left in India have gone one step further to support even those ideologies that are antinational and work in the favour of Pakistan and China. They pay more respect to Imran Khan and Xi Jinping than our very own prime minister. Even Hindutva symbols are not spared.
The Communist Party of India which was once against the Congress Party and for which the Congress party represented a symbol of corruption have not become one of the biggest allies of the Congress Party. Even in West Bengal, the CPI seems to have no problem with Mamta Bannerji, once CPI’s biggest rival in West Bengal. This is nothing but political opportunism.
There was once a need to lean towards communism. When Nehru decided to lay the foundation stone of the Non Aligned Movement, he was hailed for not siding with the communists USSR or the capitalists USA. But when a bigger threat in the form of Pakistan as a NATO member emerged, Nehru had no choice but to lean towards the USSR and offer it certain concessions. Lal Bahadur Shashtri promised a more liberal regime that would be good for the nation, but his sudden and mysterious death and the draconian rise of Indira Gandhi led to a more diabolical rise of the Left wings who seems to have captured all important positions within the government, the art and the intellectual segments of our country. The result was: India was reduced to become a beginning bowl in front of the world until the Narasimha Rao govt rescued the country by opening its doors in 1991 to LPG: Liberalization, Privatization and Globalization. Since then the country has progressed by leaps and bounds. Alas, Narasimha Rao never got his due respect from the Congress Party.
Today, the Left wing will support anything and everything that is against the right wing, Capitalism-leaning, BJP. Today, the most number of youths joining the ISIS has been seen from Kerala, a state ruled by the communist regime. Yet the state seems to be doing nothing about it.
Infiltration is a huge problem within the country. The CAA, NRC and NPR are work towards ensuring that the infiltrators are kept out and thrown out. Yet, the Left opposes these initiatives vehemently. More so, they spread lies to provoke the entire nation against these initiatives. The left wing’s poster girl, Arunadhati Roy has even gone one step ahead and asked people to submit false information the National Population’s Register (NPR) and she went even further suggesting that they use the 1978 convicted rapists’ name Ranga and Billa as their own names. Shouldn’t such speeches be taken as acts of sedition?
India responds to terrorist activities with Balakot Strikes and the surgical strikes, and the left oppose it. They even question the Supreme Court when it announces a judgement against a terrorist. JNU today has become a cradle of antinational activities. Najeeb, who went missing a few months ago, is said to have allegedly joined the ISIS.
The Communists were once a vital force to reckon with. There were genuine issues that they stood with. The left was a voice with whom the poor and the weaker sections of the society associated with. Today they are merely prepaid activists. Where ever there is money to be made through activism, you see the left protesting vehemently. The so-called peace-loving left is did not leave an opportunity to attack an instrument of the government, Arif Khan, the governor of Kerala. Today, Areef Habib, the attacker is being celebrated by both: the followers of the communist parties and the members of radical Islam.
Today the left in India are nothing but hypocrites. They accuse others of intolerance while they are most violent. They accuse others of lying while they are the ones who spread the falsest news. They accuse the government of not doing enough for the economy while they are the ones who hold the country to ransom.
This must stop. The once rational mindset of the left has gone berserk. They must get their acts together or risk complete uprooting from Indian politics. Their presence is necessary but not at the cost of national interest. It is high time the Left start walking on the path that Karl Marx had dictated and not on the path that is decided by the highest bidder.
Hindutva. A word that is not only frightens the minority community within the country, it is also the word the Indian educated class residing in the metropolitan cities fear.
For long the Hindutva brigands in the form of VHP, Hanuman Sena, XYZ Sena etc have resorted to violence in the name of Hindutva. If that has not bee enough, every now and then we used to see media running a story on one godman baba or the other and what mischiefs he resorted to. These Hindutva brigands were so powerful that even RSS at times kept its mouth shut. When rioting and communal violence was not enough, these brigands attacked young men and women, yes even women, in bars and clubs of Karnataka in the name of opposing western ethos which they claimed were inspired by Christianity. And then all hell broke on Valentine’s day when these Hindutva brigands attacked couples in parks and malls forcing them to seek forgiveness in front of the camera which would then go viral on the social media. Painful, isn’t it? When these wolves were free, they would rant on socially divisive lines and promote casteism and attack certain castes thus ensuring that the fear of the upper class prevailed among the different sections of the society. If that was not enough, in the name of Hindu family values, they would preach the wisdom of being conservative.
Aaah, by the time you would have read till the word conservative, your eyes would have popped out with tears. This is particularly true for the generation that grew up in the first decade of the twenty first century (2001-2010), when all are hopes were high to be as free as the western societies and yet were tied down by our own western ethos that were being promulgated by the Hindutva forces.
And like me, every Indian educated middle class grew up hating the BJP which either shared the same platform with these Hindutva brigands or said nothing against them. Most of the members of the educated class, particularly non-Brahminical class among the Hindus grew up hating the BJP and RSS and always clubbed them together. There was a time too when there were sane voices among the muslim community who spoke out against radicalism and embraced modernism, but their voices were soon hushed by the radicals within their community and once 2002 happened, it created an indelible mark in their heads that made them never feel accepted and they could never love the BJP or RSS or both.
I, myself, grew up hating Hindutva. I was one who championed the cause of modernization and saw myself siding with the values of the western society. I was progressing as the country progressed, at least economically, and we saw a transforming landscape within the country, at least economically.
Till 2014 will saw the Manmohan Singh govt stay in power. During this time the Hindutva brigands raised their fangs now and then, but it was nothing that caused huge disturbance in the society. But then, dangers far bigger than that created by Hindutva brigands came to the light. Rampant corruption, demoralization of our armed forces by the enemy. Indians losing their sense of respect abroad and withing the country. The western powers did not give a damn about India. The foreigners who travelled to India belittled us. The government was seething in corruption and there was no decision making at any level within the govt. People were shaken, visibly shaken. And then rose the poster boy of politics: Narendra Damodardas Modi. His rise raised hopes within the country. There were hurdles, mostly within the contours of the Bharatiya Janata Party. Veternal leader L. K Advani wanted to be the Prime ministerial candidate. But the larger part of BJP went with Narendra Modi, the son of a chai-wala who himself sold tea in the coaches of railways when he was young.
This dramatic rise of Narendra Modi sent tremors in the Congress camps and that of their allies. Even within the NDA, people were visibly shaken. But Modi stood unshaken. From his election days to the days he continued to run his government, there has been no day when the prime minister has been mocked, criticized and obstacles created in his governance.
Why am I writing so much about Modi and his governance? Don’t we already know it? Yes. You do. But it was to remind you that here is man who cuts through all the all the barriers to rise to become the prime minister. Do you think such a man could achieve such great heights playing petty politics on caste or communal lines? In Gujarat, he fought the elections only on the development agenda. So how come this Hindutva leader who had been in power for so long in Gujarat allowed muslims in the state to flourish?
To the educated middle class of India I would say, here is a man who has risen above the very fundamentals of the Hindutva brigands and has risen to unite India on all fronts, an India that transcends above all differences. You have to remember, he diluted article 377 that criminalized homosexuality. Modi is the man who diluted section 497 of the constitution that made adultery a crime. But why given him the credit when it was actually done by the supreme court? You may ask! Remember the Shah Bano case when the courts ruled in favour of Shah Bano. Who overturned the judgement of the Supreme Court. It was Rajiv Gandhi who passed a bill legitimizing triple talaq within the muslim community. Who took action against all the illicit babas who incited the Hindu population among the poor and were a potent force? It was against Narendra Modi and his government. Where is Praveen Togadia of VHP and why is he keeping silence? Why is Raj Thackerey not beating up workers of Bihar and UP in Mumbai? Who incited the Gujaratis against Biharis in Gujarat? It was certainly not BJP but the elements of the congress party in Gujarat. Why don’t we see any moral policing during valentine’s day and anyone being attacked in pubs and bars now?
Modi is fighting a war at multiple levels. He is fighting a war with Pakistan, China, international hypocrisy and the antinational elements within the country whose only wish is to see India rot so that these rotten elements can be controlled and suppressed. Even Mohan Bhagwat has kept silent and supported Modi without feeding the hungry mouths of the brigands.
The thing that needs to be understood here is that Congress has played the Hindutva card very well and it is not BJP but the grand old congress party which time and again fed the fangs of the Hindutva brigands like BJP and xyz sena to keep the Hindu society divided so that the educated lot of the Hindus would continue to support the congress party. The party has kept the fire of caste alive by ensuring that reservations continue to be a political issue and not a social issue. Why did the congress party not stop Raj Thackery when it went on a rampant creating fear among the UP and Bihar workers in Maharashtra? When 2002 happened, why did the congress party not send in the army in Gujarat to stamp down the communal riots? And now when Modi is in power, do you hear any of these brigands making noises. On the contrary Praveen Togadia used to criticise the Modi who has also been silenced. Religion was a political card of the Congress party and the BJP.
Today the Hindu community is fighting for its survival. Why should the burden of secularism fall only on Hindus? Muslims have their own laws; Christians are not obliged to pay respect to Hindu traditions and festivals. Muslims feel it is their right to be radical and support Pakistan in the name of free speech. The numbers of the Hindu society continue to dwindle and no one cares about.
The fact is, we Hindus have been fed so much of hate against our very own brethren that is difficult to think about Hinduism as a whole. The upper caste feel it is their right to dominate over the other castes. And ironically some of the members of the upper caste incite the Hindu masses against Narendra Modi in the name of caste. The backwards have been taught to rebel against the upper castes and suppress the Dalits. The Dalits feel closer home to muslims than to other castes of Hinduism because the latter has always been an enemy to them. As such, how can the Hindu society be united? Among the elitist Hindus, it bigoted and second class to celebrate Hindu festivals like Diwali and Durga Puja while it is fashionable to celebrate Christmas and Eid. As such, if the elitist Hindus are continuing to behave in this manner then won’t the poorer sections of the Hindu community rebel against the Hindu elitist?
Remember, you the educated society must speak up. If you don’t, then the insane, violent voices within the community will be get louder. They will motivate the masses, and if the masses follow them, then the sane voices will be drowned and the political class will have to follow communal forces. And once again, we will be sending Hinduism back to hell. Modi has skilfully managed to wade through the obstacles within RSS and BJP and has created a democratic system within the party that listens to its own voice and fights elections on national issues and national agenda. It is perhaps the only party where dynasts have no place, at least among the national leadership. And it is BJP that will force out the bigotry among the other political parties that are all run along the dynastic lines.
Only then will be able to bring renaissance to Hinduism and give rebirth to the values of Hinduism that once exited during the Vedic times. The values that promoted maternalism and not patriarchy, the values that promoted work culture and not caste, the values that promoted brotherhood, and not division. Let us create this kind of Hinduism where in Upper castes, lower castes and Dalits, all of us together call ourselves proud Hindus.
Every now and then a question that pops up in the minds of the 'would be getting married' people is 'Will our marriage be perfect?' Or maybe people get married with the hope that their marriage is going to be perfect. But if they were to ask the ones who are already married and if they were to answer honestly, the only truth that would come out is that there is no such thing as a perfect marriage. Marriage, like everything else, is a full time job. So basically, you have a job for which you go to office and then come home to another job. Marriage is responsibility. Marriage is discussion, meetings and a deal, a deal that suits both parties. And most importantly, like any other relationship, professional or personal, marriage requires many deals that are made over a period of time, often a life time. People get married thinking or believing that it is going to be all fun and pleasure. Alas, the pleasure ends the day the honeymoon ends, and it is and was never meant to be a prolonged honeymoon. Marriage is neither an insurance policy that you cash in when you are too old to be able to change your underpants. Marriage, to be honest, is a journey. And these journeys are going to have a lot of highs and lows, a lot of puddles and crashes. Like all journeys, you need to focus on the road ahead, ensuring that you are not distracted by that enticing thing passing by. Marriage is management, mostly human resource management. At the beginning you have to care for one, and soon the family grows. Only if people planned their marriages like they planned their career, things would be way smoother. But in it all, there is the heart which needs to be fed with love. And for that things need to be spiced up as well. Marriage is actually more than a job as there is no room for pretense and there is no appeasing the boss. Marriage is no charity either. It is the most selfish thing that one does for oneself. If you are not happy in a marriage how can you keep your partner happy? So what is marriage? It is more of a partnership and the company that you are investing your money and effort in is called family. So what is an ideal marriage? The definition to which varies for couple to couple. But what is more important here to understand is that before one gets married, it is important to have no flimsy idea of it and be ready to take up the responsibilities that lie ahead. Marriage is not to make your parents happy, your society happy. And if people became aware of what marriage is not, that is a job well begun, a step taken in the right direction in understanding what responsibilities lie ahead that come with marriage.
With the passing of CAB in both the houses of parliament and it being notified by president, BJP has fulfilled one of its most prominent ideological commitment of its electoral manifesto.
While it was expected that numerically fragile opposition will not be able to halt passing of CAB, more surprising was weak, jumbled up, incoherent arguments presented by opposition during the parliament debate. None of the opposition leader could cogently argue why a bill that seeks to provide comfort to beleaguered minorities from neighbouring countries could adversely impact the prospect of minorities in our country. The main opposition party conveniently and opportunistically put even Liyaqat-Nehru agreement on back burner. Pakistan never honoured it and Indian governments during Congress’ never pressed for it with urgency with Pakistan. This voluntary dereliction of duty put at peril lives of millions of non-Islamic populaces in three countries.
The idea of their helplessness can be gauged from the fact that non-Muslims in Pakistan did not even have a constitutionally valid marriage law. Their places of worship were desecrated and dishonoured. Their cremation grounds violated, captured and denied access to Hindus and Sikhs. They were degraded socially and called Kafirs. The hapless minorities had near zero representation in parliament, judiciary, army and other government bodies.
In the light of extreme human rights violation and following the principles of human justice, people at large have welcomed CAB (this includes many who are BJP agnostics). When the politics of derailing this legislation by Congress and its secular cabal failed, they are now resorting to misinformation campaign and befooling the gullible masses that in states they are in power, CAB will not be implemented. This threat has potential to disrupt federal character of Indian Union. More alarming is news emanating from West Bengal every day, a state sharing its border with Bangladesh where flare-up is gaining momentum every day. The nature of protests in this state seems to be fundamentalist in nature and has less to do with CAB. The state government and its hot headed theological warriors are saying in no uncertain terms that persecuted Bengali Hindus be denied Indian citizenship.
The protests by Islamists have now spread to other parts of country like UP, Bihar, Kerala, Telangana and even national capital territory of Delhi has not been spared. The intellectuals and activists are calling these acts of arsonists as peaceful protests. Opposition parties are stealthily supporting and adding fuel to the fire. Police is either a mute spectator (as in Bengal and Kerala) or if in action, it has been charged as brutal state machinery (as in Delhi).
While it will take time for the unilateral communal fire to subside, Indians should remember the nature of conflict manufactured by opposition and their cohorts. Minorities of one country are alarmed and agitated by the reprieve provided to minorities of another country. No one anticipated it.
This is the story of every Indian Hindu, I think, which I am trying to capture in my own words.
I am born in a Hindu. When I grew up, I saw my parents following the rituals of a Hindu. But no one told me I was a Hindu, just like no one told me, I was a homo sapien, a human being, a species which was supposed to be human. Being a Hindu was just understood as being a human being. The fact is, I was my caste first, and then a Hindu. I was a particular breed of Indian, whether northern, southern, eastern or western, before I was a Hindu. The case of my Muslim or my Christian friend was different. They realised earlier than me that they were Muslims or Christians. It is because they were a minority in this mammoth country of more than 1.5 billion people. They had to learn in fear. Already, they were ghettos in every city of their own choosing and creation which kept them safe from a Hindu. They had already learnt how to be a chameleon. They looked the same as Hindus, only internally, they had internalised their conditioning of the rules of being a minority as the majority that internalised their conditioning.
But as a Hindu, the fears of my minority friends was least of my concern as I could be superior than them because I was part of the 'majority.' But by virtue of that definition, every member of this majority would become superior to my minority friends. And so, how could I digest that? I would be equal to many, or should I say too many would be equal to me. So what was the fun of being a Hindu.
I had to be my caste. My caste is what separated me from the rest. My caste made me who I was, because that gave me a sense of community. Many villages were created on these very lines, and in other cases, parts of villages were cordoned off from the others based on caste.
Today I am an educated Hindu. And my likes have achieved distant goals in every field. I am educated, sophisticated and worldly wise. But my caste continues to linger on.
I am friends with people from foreign lands who eat and drink what my religion doesn't permit and live my life completely contradictory to mine. Yet, I love them, I am friends with them, I dine with and hell, I sleep with them. And yes, I will one of them too.
But I still find my fellow Hindus of my very own country threatening to me. Especially the ones from another caste. I still let the politicians divide my country based on caste. I continue to vote based on my caste and if I have to marry a Hindu, I will choose my caste before my religion. I have a problem with another Hindu who eats egg and if I don't. I have a problem with another Hindu who recites a different prayer than mine before a meal. And most definitely, I have a problem with another Hindu whose skin colour is different from mine.
I became a world citizen today, but becoming an Indian is still a distant dream from me, and worse still: I will never become a Hindu, because my caste come before my religion.
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