Narayan Guru belongs to Saint tradition -not Sanatan

Is Narayan Guru Part of Sanatan Dharma? Ram Puniyani Recently (31st December 2024) while inaugurating the Conference as a part of Sivagiri pilgrimage, Pinarayi Vijayan supported the proposal of Swami Satchitanand’s to stop the practice of removing shirts, to keep the torso bare while entering temples. It is believed that this practice came into being to identify those wearing sacred thread, upper caste which alone were privileged to wear it. Some people doubt it, but it is unlikely that there was any other reason for keeping one’s torso uncovered. The one’s not having sacred thread was to be prohibited from entering the temple. Vijayan also said that there are efforts to propagate that Guru was part of Sanatan tradition. He was far away from it as Guru propagated, ‘one caste, one religion, one God’. This equality irrespective of caste and religion is far away from the core of Sanatan Dharma. Vijayan also pointed out that Guru’s life and work is very relevant today as violence is being orchestrated by instigating religious sentiments. Guru was not merely a religious leader, he was a great humanist. His critics are also criticizing Vijayan that during his tenure as Chief Minister Hindus are being troubled. They give the example of Sabrimala where the ruling party decided to support the Supreme Court ruling of entry of even menstrual age women to the sacred temple. BJP spokespersons are up against Vijayan for insulting Sanatan Dharma in this instance also. The debate around Sanatan seems to have come to the fore for the second time. First it came up when Dayanidhi Stalin spoke against Sanatan. BJP-RSS is stating that Santan can’t just be reduced to caste and Chaturvarnya. Incidentally in 2022, Kerala had submitted a float for republic day parade. It displayed Narayan Guru. The jury from the Defense ministry stated that the Kerala float should display Shankarachaya from Kaladi rather than Guru. This was a major reason for rejecting the float. As such Sanantan stands for eternal and has been used for Buddhism, Jainism and Hinduism. Hindu is a religion, which has no single prophet or no single holy book. Word Hindu does not find mention in its holy scriptures. It has two major streams, Brahmanism and Shramanism. Brahmanism is based on graded inequality and patriarchal values. Ambedkar renounced this Hinduism as he felt that Hinduism is dominated by Brahmanical values. The Shramanic traditions include Nath, Ajivikas, Tantra, Bhakti traditions which are away from the values of inequality. Today in popular parlance Sanatan Dharma and Hindu dharma are interchangeable. Some of the ideologues claim that Hinduism is not a religion but a way of life based on Dharma. As per them Dharma is not the same as religion. As such Sanatan Dharma stands for primarily Varna system, caste inequality and sticking to these traditions. Dharma is best understood as religiously ordained duties. What is being opposed by social reformers is rejection of a religion which is based on inequality. If we take the example of Ambedkar himself, he regarded Buddha, Kabir and Jotirao Phule as his Gurus. What matters to him is rejection of inequality of caste and gender. In medieval India the saints Kabir, Tukaram, Namdeo, Narsi Mehta and their likes harped on opposition to the caste system and some of them had to face attacks from upper caste rulers. As such Narayan Guru comes in as a great social reformer against the caste system and transcends religious divides. No wonder the present ruling Government, guided by Brahminical Hinduism, can't accept the float from Kerala which shows Narayan Guru. Narayan Guru was a deeply humane person. During the course of his growing up he went into a deeper engagement with spiritualism and the practice of Yoga. During the course of his philosophical journey in 1888, he visited Aruvippuram where he went in meditation. It is during his stay there, that he took a rock from the river, consecrated it and called it as an idol of Shiva. This place since then has been known as Aruvippuram Shiva Temple. This act later came to be known as Aruvipuram Pratishta. It created a lot of social commotion and opposition especially from amongst the upper caste Brahmins. They did not accept Guru's right to consecrate the idol. He replied to them "This is not a Brahmin Shiva but an Ezhava Shiva". This quote of his later became very famous and has been used against casteism. To fight against casteism he committed his life. His steps were a big practical means in challenging the deep set caste system. The revolutionary understanding of Guru was ‘one caste, one religion, one God’. He goes much beyond the caste and religious divides to proclaim, single humanity. Later on he went on to open the school, which was open even to low castes, quite on the line of what Joti rao Phule did in Maharashtra. Like the principles of Ambedkar’s Kalaram Temple movement he went on to built temples which were open to all the castes. The recent suggestion of Swami Satchitanand supported by Pinarayi Vijyan also argues that a bare torso may be medically bad as it may transmit diseases. There are many practices which need to change with time. One recalls that women did not have the right to cover their breasts. There was a breast tax if women covered the top. It was Tipu Sultan, when he annexed Kerala, when he abolished breast tax and women gained their dignity as they were permitted to cover their breasts. Temples are a part of our community life. Such changes in dress code have to accompany the changes in social patterns. The opposition to this is like putting the clock back. The politics in the name of religion at most of the places is against the social changes and change in political values. Kerala also shows many contrasts in diverse fields. It was here that on one hand the Acharya from Kaladi Shankar countered the Buddhists in debate. The Buddhists argued on materialist ground to focus on the issues of this world, while roughly speaking Shankar tried to argue the World is an illusion supporting the idealist philosophy. At present times in India, Kerala included, we need to follow the path of Saints like Narayan Guru and Kabir, whose humane values gave a direction of amity to the society. The conservative ‘status quo’ in most matters retards social progress.

Bhagwat: Modi being Disobeyed?

Hate transcending the boundaries: Whither dictates by Supreme Leaders Ram Puniyani After RSS was formed it went on creating many organizations steeped in its ideology of Hindutva or Hindu Nationalism, a concept based on Aryan race, Brahminical values and the land from Sindhu to Seas. It has given birth to many organizations which are more than 100. Many other organizations have sprouted which may not be a formal part of Sangh Parivar, as known popularly, but are having the same ideology. These include many others like association of Sadhus and sants outside the VHP, the cow vigilantes and those out to initiate violence at the drop of hat in the name of Hinduism. It seems that by now many such aggressive organizations are spouting things which go much beyond what limits RSS wants to put on its followers. For Cow vigilantes Modi had given a statement that murder in the name of cow is not acceptable, and just a few hours later a Muslim man was done to death on this issue. Apart from the phenomenon which is continuing. “Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday said that the significance of love, harmony, and brotherhood are central to the teachings of Lord Christ. He also urged people to strengthen these values.” Just a couple of days later the vigilante groups and even Bajrang Dal groups attacked a person in Ahmedabad who had dressed as Santa Clause and was distributing gifts. A video is going viral where two men dressed as Santa Claus being beaten up by hooligans at the Kankaria Carnival in Ahmedabad. This probably is the first year where people dressed as Santa Clause are being hauled up. Already we had seen that Carol Singers were beaten up and since BJP came to power Carol singing has been stopped in Rashtrapati Bhavan. Bajrang Dal has also issued warnings to Hindus for their attending Christmas parties. How come these acts at the time of Christmas are seeing a new low currently? Recently we also saw the claims on mosques that there was such a temple so it must be dug up a la Babri Masjid style. Seeing the spate of such made up claims, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat himself said that we should not keep looking for Shivling under every mosque. It is amazing that the claim is made, and dispute created in Kashi where a fountain looking structure is claimed to be a Shivling and demand for converting the mosque into a temple boosted. After the Sambhal claims, the violence followed. Probably shaken by this and the feeling that the Supreme Leader of the supra political outfit felt it will bring loss of face for ‘RSS Combine’ and so he gave a sane looking call, "The Ram Temple was about faith, and Hindus wanted it built. But raising disputes about new sites out of hate is unacceptable," he said. "Some people think they can become leaders of Hindus by creating new controversies. How is this allowed?" And lo and behold most of the fringe organizations of Hindutva politics are coming forward to oppose it. One knows that RSS is a strict disciplinarian organization, and its members do not violate the commands of its leader. So who are these Senas, Dharma Sansads springing up by a dozen and going against the appeal of Bhagwat? To cap it all, RSS's unofficial mouth piece Organizer itself came forward to articulate the fringe elements’ demands and wrote that “Temple restorations are a quest for our identity! (TOI Dec 27, 2024). It also claims that temple restorations are for our national identity and to seek civilizational justice. How come the hate is so pervasive that it is crossing the limits set by its own leaders? Is it that the leaders like Prime Minister Modi want the actions leading to hate to continue, as it strengthens their politics? If not then why are the perpetrators of violence are enjoying impunity? Why does the whole system from spreaders of hate speech, to those responsible for maintaining law and order and even to some extent even the judiciary have a soft corner for these criminal elements. Having enjoyed the impunity for destroying Babri Mosques and lynching in the name of cow/beef or on killings and torture on the charge of ‘love-jihad’, now they know they can get away with their illegal acts. They feel that law may be bent to ensure that they are exonerated. The phenomenon of Organiser opposing Bhagwat arouses curiosity. Is there a split within RSS on the issue? Bhagawat trying to talk peace and harmony and the managers of Organiser feeling that the path of Hate and violence should be pursued to its fullest depth. There is another aspect which needs to be understood. When such phenomenons are unleashed for political benefits, initially the leaders congratulate themselves for their success in the electoral arena. From top to bottom diverse elements spring up and as Mr. Bhagawat said some of them ape for higher political position and influence. They are the one’s continuing their earlier political roots of which were sown by their leaders. One recalls that previous top RSS leader K. Sudarshan, who later became RSS Chief, was on the stage when Babri mosque was being demolished. This has been a classical case of crime and no punishment. All the guilty of this dastardly crime of babri demolition were finally given ‘not guilty’ chit and the judge who did this for the communal politics, got a plum job after his retirement. As they say, ‘as you sow, so you reap’, the demolition of Babri process as a whole tells us that it was not just a spreading of fake narratives of temple destructions, and many myths against Muslims. The result is there for us to see, where even the Supreme authority of RSS is not being listened to. The anti Christian campaign is just a continuation of the decades old propaganda against Christians that they are converting by force, fraud and allurement. The likes of Bhagwat and Modi are witnessing right in front of their eyes that the Genie can be unleashed from the bottle, but to put it back is a task, which is close to impossible.

75 years of Indian Constitution

75 Years Down the line, whither Indian Constitution? Ram Puniyani The Indian Parliament spent two days discussing the Indian Constitution. While the opposition leaders argued that our Constitution has a large space for enhancement of the rights of weaker sections of society, for religious minorities among others, they are suffering terribly. Muslims have been reduced to second class citizenship. Ruling dispensation, the BJP leaders within the Parliament and its ideologues outside the parliament, argued that all the ills of society and violation of Constitutional values began with Nehru (Amendment to stop hate speech), via Indira Gandhi (Emergency), via Rajiv Gandhi (Shah Bano Bill) to Rahul Gandhi (tearing the bill) have been the violators of the values of Constitution. BJP leaders and Hindu nationalist ideologues are stating that the Indian Constitution has been based on Western values, a colonial imprint on our society; it is a break from India's civilization and culture. They also argue that the constitution and its application is the appeasement of Muslim minorities for vote bank purposes that has been done by the Congress Party. As we know the constitution was the outcome of the values which emerged during the freedom movement. It also kept in mind the long tradition of our civilization. The understanding of our civilization is very different for those who participated in the freedom movement, those who stand for its ideology and those who kept aloof from the anti colonial movement and bowed to the British rulers. While the freedom movement saw India as a plural nation with rich diversities, those who stood aloof saw the civilization as Hindu civilization. For them pluralism is a diversion and imposition by the educated, modern leaders. Even RSS combine forgets that what they call as Hindu civilization is undermining the contributions of Jainism, Buddhism, Christianity, Islam and Sikhism to our civilization. Even the interpretation of Lord Ram, their major icon, is so diverse for Kabir, who saw the Lord as Universal spirit, for Gandhi who saw Him as protector of all the people irrespective of their religion in his famous: Ishawar Allah Tero Naam (Allah and Iswar are same). Jawaharlal Nehru saw India, Bharat Mata, in ‘The Discovery of India’, as an “ancient palimpsest on which layer upon layer of thought and reverie had been inscribed, and yet no succeeding layer had completely hidden or erased what had been written previously.” With great pride he recalled the rule of Emperor Ashok, who in many edicts itched on stones talked of equal treatment for Vedic Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism and Ajivikas. This is the core difference between RSS combine and its ideologues that see India as exclusively Brahmanical Hindu, and those like Gandhi and Nehru as a country belonging to all the people. Indian Constituent Assembly mainly represented the stream which struggled against the British, the national stream, while RSS was a marginal stream sticking to ‘India as Brahmanical Hindu nation’. This started getting reflected immediately after the draft of the Indian Constitution. While Ambedkar and Nehru were cautious and stated the implementation of its basic structure should be ensured by those ruling the country. PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee in 1998, formed Venkatchaliah Commission to review the constitution. Dr. K.R. Narayanan, the then President of India aptly remarked “it is not that Constitution that has failed us; it is we who have failed the constitution! This is so true particularly after the rule of the Modi Government. It is during this period that though the Constitution has not been changed as such, though many from the RSS camp have expressed their wish to do so, without getting reprimanded from the top leadership. This was most blatantly stated to back up their slogan of 400 Par (More than 400 seats in Parliament), meaning that we want so many seats so that we can change the Constitution. The blatant rise of Hate speech, lately most clearly stated by sitting Judge of Allahabad High Court, Shekhar Kumar Yadav, when participating in the VHP's meeting stated “The country will run as per the wishes of its majority. Justice Yadav made the remarks while delivering an address on the “Constitutional Necessity of Uniform Civil Code”. “Only what benefits the welfare and happiness of the majority will be accepted,” Yadav said. Worse than his stating so, has been the statement of Yogi Aditynath, the UP CM, who supported Yadav’ utterances. Mercifully the Supreme Court has taken cognizance of Yadav's communal hate speech. Who will take cognizance of Yogi’s supporting him? Commenting on the current state of Affairs Justice Aspi Chinoy made a very apt comment, he said, "The BJP being the government at the Centre and having an absolute and overwhelming majority in Parliament, sees no need to alter the de jure status of India as a secular country and constitution. Being in control of the state and its diverse instrumentalities it has been able to achieve its goal of undermining India's secular constitution and introduce a hindutva based ethnocracy, even without amending and altering the de jure secular status," This sectarianism of ruling BJP goes back to the time when the draft of Constitution was released. Couple of days’ later the RSS mouthpiece (unofficial) Organiser stated on 30th November 1949. “The worst [thing] about the new Constitution of Bharat is that there is nothing Bharatiya about it… [T]here is no trace of ancient Bharatiya constitutional laws, institutions, nomenclature and phraseology in it”. Meaning that Manusmriti has been ignored by makers of the Indian Constitution! The father of Hindu Nationalist politics, V D Savarkar was quoted by Rahul Gandhi while participating in debate, "The worst thing about the Constitution of India is that there is nothing Indian about it. Manusmriti is that scripture which is most worshippable after Vedas for our Hindu nation and from which our ancient times have become the basis for our culture, customs, thought and practice.” Stating Manusmriti is the law today. The crux of the matter comes to the surface when we compare the chief of the drafting committee of Indian Constitution Ambedkar and one of the RSS Sarsanghchalk, K. Sudarshan. Ambedkar burnt the Manusmiriti and drafted the Indian Constitution. RSS Chief went on the label Indian Constitution as being based on Western Values and need to bring Indian Constitution based on Indian Holy book!

Worsening Spiral of Hate

Worsening Spiral of Hate speech: Demonization of Religious Minorities Ram Puniyani RSS-BJP and its affiliates take every opportunity to deepen the demonization of religious minorities. Though there are legal provisions for punishing these Hate speeches mostly they go unpunished. Last decade as the communal party is in power the phenomenon has seen a dangerous downslide, which is leading to negative social perceptions about the religious minorities. As reflected in the community whatsapp groups and social attitudes; hating these minorities has become a sort of normal discourse among large sections of society. The increasing intensity of spewing hate is the root due to which negative social perceptions are constructed which in turn lead to severe blow to the concepts of fraternity and communal amity, one of the three legs of the tripod of Indian Constitution. There are newer dog whistles, as such they are no more just dog whistles; these are more a call to action. They are built on the existing misconceptions and add on to the process of divisiveness. The perceptions like Mughal kings were outsiders and wrought injustices to Hindus, they were temple destroyers, they imposed Islam by force have rapidly been added on to slogans like, ‘Hum Do Hamare do, who Panch unke Pacchis’, (We [Hindus] are two, and they [Muslim] are twenty five), refugee camps housing Muslims were called ‘child production factories’. The new add on are ‘they can be recognized by their clothes, they are killers of our Holy mother- the Cow, they are luring our girls- women through love jihad. Now love jihad is followed by jihad series, the latest being land jihad and vote jihad. In the wake of the 2024 Lok Sabha Elections Modi came out with Hate speeches by the dozen. As per Human Rights Watch, Modi had made 110 hate speeches in those elections. The report says, “Modi made Islamophobic remarks intended to undermine the political opposition, which he said promoted Muslim rights, and to foster fear among the majority Hindu community through disinformation.” Another sample is equally horrifying. Referring to reservations to Muslims as “appeasement” by the Congress, he said, "This is a part of despicable attempts at Islamisation of India and pushing it towards divisions. When the UPA govt came to power, it made such attempts at that time too. BJP had carried out a massive agitation. So, be it Justice Verma committee report or the Sachar committee report, they were all attempts by Congress to loot the reservation of OBCs, SCs and STs” (The Times of India, 2024c). The assembly elections in Jharkhand and Maharashtra saw the peak of this phenomenon yet again. In Jharkhand Himant Biswa Sarma of BJP focused on propaganda of Muslim infiltrators in the state. BJP issued a very demeaning advertisement, which showed a large Muslim family invading the Hindu household and taking it over. One knows Jharkhand has no international border, so who are these Muslims taking over a Hindu household. For a change Election commission got it pulled down but its source and already circulated video may be available at places. Another hate provoking propaganda was that Muslims marry Adivasis women and take over the Adivasi land. No data is needed to support this kite flying so far it serves the purpose of divisive politics. The slogan given was that the Muslim infiltrators were taking away your Roti, Beti, Mati (Livelihood, daughter, land) This statement was from the Prime Minister of the country! The core slogan this time was from Yogi Aditya Nath. Batenge to Katenge… (If we are divided we will be butchered). He meant Hindu unity. Backing him up the father organization of BJP, RSSs’ Dattatray Hosabale made it clear that, “The important point is that when Hindus are united, it will be beneficial for all. Unity of Hindus is the Sangh’s lifetime pledge..,”. Modifying a bit on Adityanath’s ‘Batenge to Katenge’ Mr. Modi Came up with ‘Ek hain to safe hain’ (If Hindus are united they will be safe) putting forward that the Hindu unity is foundation for keeping them safe from apparently the minorities, because of whom ‘Hindu Khatre mein hai’ (Hindu in Danger). Maharashtra Chief Minister not only focused on land jihad and vote jihad, he went on to call the Bharat Jodo Yatra as the one which had participation of Urban Naxals and ultra left, apart from the other slogans. The impact of this is shown not only on the polarization and thereby the voting pattern but also on social perceptions, as reflected in the thousands of whatsapp groups and drawing room chats of Hindu Households. Christophe Jaffrelot, the outstanding scholar focusing on Hindu Nationalism’s rise in particular, quotes from a study conducted by CSDS from March 28 to April 2024 by scholars. The study tried to elicit the opinions of Hindus about how they see Muslims. In an immaculate study they solicited answers to questions like are Muslims not as trustworthy as anyone else, are they being appeased etc. The study shows the empirical presence of negative perceptions in society overall. Scholars should also be able to help us how these negative sentiments are worsening over the years and decades. To cap it all, BJP and Modi are trying to say, as reflected in Modi’s speech, that they will not indulge in communal rhetoric. In interviews with journalists, when asked about anti-Muslim speeches during the campaign, Modi responded: “The day I start talking about Hindu-Muslim [in politics], I will be unfit for public life. “I will not do Hindu-Muslim”. That is my resolve.” The gross difference between what one says and what one's actions is so apparent here! It is these perceptions among Hindus that leads to an atmosphere of hate in the country. The spiral of Hate is worsening by the day; it leads to ghettoisation on one hand and pushing the Muslims community towards ‘second class citizenship’ on the other. How to combat this divisiveness? There is a need to inculcate among the people the alternative narrative which was the base of India’s freedom movement, the narrative which talks of the syncretic traditions of India, the narrative which led to unity of people of all religions to participate in freedom movement, the values of which are enshrined in our Constitution.

Was Bharat Jodo Yatra Subversive?

Was ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ Subversive? Ram Puniyani As assembly elections in Maharashtra are progressing; the mindset of BJP was expressed in a clear way by the Maharashtra Deputy CM, previous CM and a top BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis. In an interview to TOI, and in several speeches, he blames the downward performance of BJP in 2024 Elections to the Bharat Jodo Yatra. As per him the BJP failed to counter the narrative set by the Yatra. This led to the decline of BJP MP Seats from (2019) 23 to 9 (2024). In this context he approached various organizations (30) affiliated to RSS to set the counter narrative. He also revealed an open secret that when in trouble he consults his parent organization RSS to brighten the electoral prospects of BJP. Just to recall the first yatra, was called the ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’, which started on September 7, 2022, from the south in Kanyakumari, Tamil Nadu This was concluded in January 2023, in the north in Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir. It covered 4,080 kms, across 12 states. The second one called Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra travelled from east to west. This started on January14 from Thoubal in Manipur, which covered 6,713 kms through 15 states before culminating in Mumbai on March 16. As per Fadnavis now Rahul Gandhi is surrounded by Urban Naxals and Ultra left elements and he is less of a congressman more of ultra left ideologue! Right wing Hindu Nationalists true to their Guru M.S. Golwalkar’s formulation (Bunch of Thoughts page 133,) Muslims, Christians and Communists are the internal threats to Hindu Nation, Fadnavis and his ilk will label anything against the agenda of Hindu Rashtra (Nation) as either pampering Muslims or Christians or Urban Naxals or Ultra left today. Urban Naxal word has been coined for all the human rights activists. Ultra left is the word for mostly those working for the rights of all deprived sections of society. Why was Bharat Jodo Yatra (BJY) conceived and taken out? Clearly the then 8-9 years old Modi Government’s rule had stifled the voices being raised for protection of values inherent in the Indian Constitution. It was the culmination of the social discomfort due to Government policies which were being directed against citizenship rights of Muslims, against the worsening plight of average people. It was conceived to unite India on the lines of what Mahatma Gandhi did while leading the anti-colonial movement. What was the agenda of the BJY? As clear from the title; its aim was to instill a sense of oneness amongst Indians, irrespective of their caste, color, religion and gender? It was airing the demands for most disadvantaged sections of social groups’ rights through various slogans, including the one demanding caste census. The response to this yatra was magical; making people from most strata of life join it or see its spectacle from the sidelines. They perceived that long years of divisive politics and implementation of policies which favored the rich and affluent are harming the unity of the country and the plight of average people. They perceived that this event will restore the situation in a better direction. This yatra stood in stark contrast to the Yatra taken out by Fadnavis’ peer Lal Krishna Advani. That yatra (Advani) was on the emotive issue, around a make believe notion of Hindu temple having been destroyed centuries ago by a Muslim king. Advanis’ yatra saw the bloodshed all the way on its route. And later when its fall out, Babri demolition took place much more violence was witnessed and Hate against Muslims got further entrenched in the society. That Yatra, which Fadnavis welcomed with glee, led to the upswing and strength of the communal party. This Yatra (BJY) was a total contrast. There was no emotive issue. It kept the Indian Constitution at the center and united the Indians on the identity of Indians. Fadanvis is more concerned about the red cover of the book (Constitution), because the contents of this book don’t matter to him. And he also forgot that this red cover edition of the Constitution was presented by the Supreme Leader Narendra Modi to Ram Nath Kovind. There was an apprehension during BJY whether the visible support to the Yatra will change the electoral equations. While not fully but in part, the Yatra has dented the then prevailing electoral dominance of communal parties. To its great credit the statement BJY is impacting Maharashtra election coming from Horse’s mouth (Fadnavis) is the big validation of its impact on electoral politics. So far the dominant discourse was that of prevalent Hindu Right wing nationalism. That has been partly combated by this BJY, while more needs to be done. Challenging the divisive communal discourse, which has been leading to Hate, fear and ghettoisation of minorities is partly challenged but a lot more needs to be done in this direction. What Mahatma had begun in a very powerful way was to give the message of unity of people cutting across religions. That’s what BJY tried and has to take it further. Another important fallout of the Yatra was laying the foundations of social platforms like Bharat Jodo Abhiyan and Eddulu Karnata. These have the potential to boost the values of the Indian Constitution. These groups working for ‘rights’ of diverse deprived and ‘less equal’ sections of society, have been coming together as collectives where they can assist each other in preserving the values of Indian Constitution. These groups are diverse, dedicated and firm on equal rights for all. The concept of rights for all is very troublesome for the Right Wings. In their agenda between ‘rights and duties’ there is a neat division. For them the affluent have all the rights and the deprived have all the duties. This is akin to the feudal kingdom systems where Kings Landlords, priests were endowed with all the rights and lower sections, including women, had all the duties. So was the distribution of and wealth. Thanks to Fadnavis we now know clearly that BJP suffered a setback due to BJA. Thanks to Fadnavis we know more clearly the deeper relations between RSS, Its progeny (which are not in electoral politics) and BJP which is their front on electoral chess Board. It was known but coming from the BJP leader himself, there should be no doubt about it now!

Abusing Hindu Festivals to spark Hate and Violence

Abusing Hindu Festivals to spark Violence and Hate Ram Puniyani Communal violence has been the bane of Indian society with increasing intensity. While in pre colonial era it was an occasional ethnic strife, from the period of British rule, it started to become a regularly occurring phenomenon. The communal historiography, looking at history through the prism of religion of the ruler, introduced by the British was the solid base of emergence of the narratives which formed the ground for emergence of the communal streams, Muslim and Hindu both. These streams devised their own mechanisms to create a ‘social common sense’ and mechanisms to instigate violence in the communities, based on religion. While this phenomenon has seen an exponential rise during the last three decades, scholars, journalists, activist- researchers have made serious efforts to understand the newer mechanism to communalize the majority community and also the newer ways of initiating the violence. A dogged journalist, Kunal Purohit in his remarkable path breaking book, ‘H-Pop’ brings to our notice how popular culture is being shaped by pop songs which are spreading Hatred against the heroes of National movement like Gandhi, Nehru in particular, and against the Muslims. He warns us the Hindutva pop stars are adding intense hatred particularly in the North Indian scenario. On the back of this book comes another important book, ‘Weaponization of Hindu Festivals’ by Irfan Engineer and Neha Dabhade (Pharos Media). Both these activists’- researchers are part of Center for Study of Society and Secularism, which was founded by legendary Asghar Ali Engineer. This center has constantly been monitoring and studying the nature and intensity of communal violence. In the wake of violence being orchestrated around Hindu festivals, particularly Ram Navami, the author duo has focused on the mechanism as to how festival celebrations have been made intimidatory and aggressive to the Muslim community, mostly leading to violence and polarization. As far Hindu festivals and their celebrations are concerned, from centuries they have assumed a sort of culturally integrating factor. The major example of this is that most Hindu festivals were celebrated not only in Mughal Courts but also were jointly celebrated with Muslims. I do recall the Ram Navami procession in my childhood was such a time to be joyous and go round the city in a procession in festive mood. This book is based on the in-depth inquiry into the violence instigated by the religious processions as a part of celebrations of festivals, Ram Navami in particular in years 2022-2023. It seriously analyses the incidents following the inquiry by the teams in which they participated. The violence covered in the book relates to Howrah and Hoogly (2023), Sambahji Nagar (2023),Vadodara (2023), Biharsharif and Sasaram 2023, Khargone (2022), Himmat Nagar and Khambat (2022) and Lohardagga (2022). This book is relevant as its observations can be of great help in preventing the violence by ensuring that the pattern which is coming into being should be prevented for maintaining peace among communities. Irfan Engineer in the introduction points out, “Even a small Group of Hindu nationalists masquerading as ‘religious procession’ could insist on passing through minority inhabited area and provoke some youth using political and abusive slogans and playing violent songs and music, hoping that a reaction, a stone would be thrown at them. The state would do the rest by arresting a large number of members of a minority and demolishing their homes and properties within days without any judicial procedure.” (Page 24) What needs to be understood for prevention is that most of the time these processions, which are well armed; deliberately decide to pass through Muslim majority areas, with loud music and provocative and abusive slogans. It has become a pattern that someone will climb over the mosque and replace the green flag with saffron flag and the crowds down below dance and give a big applause. Such a phenomenon has seen a boost particularly after the 2014 with the BJP government coming to power at center. The Khargone incident is very revealing in this regard. A minster of the MP Government said stones were thrown on the procession, which have come from Muslim Households, so these Households are to be turned into stones. Now these hooligans and organizers of such programs feel that ‘it is their government’ as the popular phrase says, “Sainya Bhaye Kotwal to dar Kahe ka” (If your husband is Chief police officer, why be afraid of anything). In addition to Ram Navami other local religious Yatras (processions), Ganga Aarti, (Prayer for river Ganges),Satsangs (religious meeting) , and other religious programs are being started with similar goals. The example of Kanwad Yatras (holy pilgrimage to collect Ganges water and to be put on Lord Shiva) is another example where the participants become aggressive. To add salt to the injury UP and Uttarakhand Government issued the order that all stalls and eateries on the path of Yatra should write the name of owner on the boards so that the Kanwadiyas (the participants in the pilgrimage) can avoid those owned by Muslims. Fortunately the Supreme Court has put a stay on this order. Such violence is intensifying the prevailing fears amongst Muslim community. It is deepening the polarization and is increasing the atmosphere of fear. The festivals, times to enjoy and celebrate, are being used to instill fear and violence. The book is very relevant as it calls upon the state to take measures by anticipating the moves of communal organizations planning such processions. Carrying arms and use of loud music with songs abusive to minority communities have to be stopped by administration. This is very much within the law, as we have laws to punish those spreading Hatred, the use of DJs can be prohibited. State has a crucial role to play in preventing this ghastly rise of denigrating religious festivals. A proper inquiry and suitable punishment to culprits is a must in addition to compensating the victims. And finally we have to start community programs for unity and amity, through cultural programs and popularization of films and videos promoting harmony. In the foreword, Tushar Gandhi, the great grandson of Mahatma Gandhi emphasizes that we need to reach the messages of Mahatma Gandhi time and over again to bring sanity to our society. This is so pertinent and crucial in present times. --

Promoting Love or instilling Hate and Fear

Promoting Love or instilling Hate and Fear Ram Puniyani India’s anti colonial struggle was accompanied by various diverse social phenomenons. One major of this was the ‘Hindu-Muslim’ Unity, and the emergence of the overall identity of Indians amongst people of all religions. The national, anti-colonial stream promoted this and the best embodiment of this was Mahatma Gandhi, who took three bullets on his bare chest for striving for this. He wrote, “The union that we want is not a patched up thing but a union of hearts based upon a definite recognition of the indubitable proposition that Swaraj (self rule) for India must be an impossible dream without an indissoluble union between the Hindus and Muslims of India. It must not be a mere truce. It cannot be based upon mutual fear. It must be a partnership between equals, each respecting the religion of the other.” In contrast to this the streams basing their nationalism under the mask of religion not only kept aloof from anti colonial struggle but also sowed the seeds and nurtured the plants of Hate and divisiveness. Golwalkar, the second Sarsanghchalak of RSS, wrote, “German race pride has now become the topic of the day. To keep up the purity of the Race and its culture, Germany shocked the world by her purging the country of the Semitic Races—the Jews. Race pride at its highest has been manifested here. Germany has also shown how well-nigh impossible it is for Races and cultures, having differences going to the root, to be assimilated into one united whole, a good lesson for us in Hindusthan to learn and profit by.” - We, or Our Nationhood Defined (Bharat Publications, Nagpur, 1939). This set the tone for RSS to propagate hate against Muslims and Christians in India. This Hate was the marginal tendency for decades but has emerged as the dominating ‘social common sense’ leading to series of anti-Muslim violence, their intimidation, lynching and what not leading to the phenomenon of ghettoisation, and relegating them to secondary position in society. The process is still on and different RSS-BJP leaders have used all their ‘innovation’ to create more hatred, they have kept adding on to the catchy slogans to demonize the Muslims. ‘They can be identified by their clothes’, ‘Shamshan-Kabristhan’, series of Jihads ‘Vote jihad’ being probably the latest among them. There is a long list of these. To cap it all two of their top leaders have peaked this phenomenon in recent times. One of them is Giriraj Singh who is amongst those leading the pack of Hate promoters. Recently he stated, "If a Muslim/Ghuspetiya (infiltrator) slaps you once, everyone should come together and slap him 100 times....Keep a sword, spear and trident in the house, worship it and if someone comes, protect yourself from him..." One is incidentally reminded of the father of the nation who went on to say that if someone slaps you on one Cheek put forward the other cheek. The two ideologies of Gandhi’s Indian nationalism, amity and love are being totally countered by the ideology of Hindu Nationalism by provoking violence, and hate. The downslide of amity and rise of Hate have run parallel with the divisive politics of sectarian nationalism, particularly after demolition of Babri mosque, followed by series of divisive campaigns. With BJP coming to power at center, the various wings of RSS and foot soldiers of divisive nationalism have felt that now they can enjoy impunity to the fullest extent. Around this time another divisive leader Yogi Adityanath, the introducer of bulldozer (in)justice has also thrown up a phrase ‘Batenge to Katenge’, i.e. Hindus should remain united else they will be slaughtered. This slogan has various dimensions, and the peak organization of Hindu nationalism has approved it. “The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh on Saturday (October 26, 2024) backed Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s controversial remark — ‘*batenge to katenge*’, claiming that Hindus ‘will be slaughtered if divided’ — with RSS general secretary Dattatreya Hosabale saying that the slogan, calling for unity among Hindus, is the lifetime pledge of the Sangh.” This has multiple dimensions. One is that RSS strategists feel that the decline of BJP fortunes in last Lok Sabha elections was due to shift of dalit votes to the INDIA coalition which stood solidly with the concept of social justice and demanding the caste based census. The threat that if dalit-OBC go to INDIA coalition Hindus will be slaughtered! By whom? As per this slogan it will be by the Muslims. On the contrary they have been left in the lurch during the last 75 years. RSS combine may even prop up the non applicable example of plight of Hindus in Bangladesh after the uprising (2024). Pakistan is always an evergreen (pun intended) example of the worsening plight of Hindus there. We must unite as Indians were the central plank of the freedom movement. Indian was the core theme of our unity during anti colonial struggle and it gets reflected in our Constitution. Gandhi, the greatest Hindu of 20th Century, never called for unity as Hindus. Neither the likes of Maulana Azad, Khan Abdul Gaffar Khan called for unity as Muslims. For BJP, which is not concerned about the welfare of ‘person standing last in line’, all its ideology, actions and utterances are contrary to what united India. It ridicules Rahul Gandhi’s (RG) call for ‘Mohabbat ki dukan’ (Shop of love) and questions as to why Rahul Gandhi does not meet RSS. Counter question is, why RSS wants to meet RG? RSS knows its politics is based on Hate (Muslims, Christians and those opposed to Hindu Nationalism), while RG is trying to put life back into the Indian National ethos of love and amity as underlined in our Constitution. Why should RG be interested in ideologues against whose ideology he is trying to raise his voice? If RSS wants to RG to meet RSS, it has to drastically change its ideology of division and adopt the values of Indian Constitution, the core of which is unity as Indians and fraternity between people irrespective of their religion. It is precisely for this reason that Nehru, Gandhi’s disciple, never gave importance to RSS, it is for this reason that Indira Gandhi refused to concede RSS Chief Balasaheb Deoras's request to meet her. RSS as per its character wants to derive its legitimacy even from those who oppose its politics .