Kashmir Times
January 2, 2007
Editorial
Fascists strike in Orissa
Secular political parties must expose their designs
The persistence of trouble in Western Orissa after the shameful incidents that started on Christmas eve with the damage to churches and attacks on the Christian minority by Hindu fascists, that continued despite the curfew, is not only a cause for concern but is also an eye opener, revealing how deep the sectarian and communal divide is being deliberately allowed to flourish in this country. This is especially so in pockets where the Hindutava organizations have been able to spread hate soaked ideology based on prejudices and myths, and left un-countered by the secular forces on the scale that these should be opposed. Barring a handful of groups working on the ground against the hatred and violence perpetrated in the name of caste and religion, this evil of communalism and sectarianism, threatened more by majoritarian fascism, is allowed to persist. The secular parties in this country fail to go beyond the lip sympathy or the electoral battles in trying to defeat the fascist forces, and often miserably fail, allowing the fundamentalists to gradually infiltrate into positions of power - be in assemblies, civic bodies or other grassroots institutions. The malaise obviously exists because it is not being treated on a war footing in any part of the country.
The Orissa case merits special attention. Human rights activists and grassroots organisations working on harmonious relations between different communities and ethnicities have already warned that after Gujarat, Orissa may be the next laboratory for the propagators of Hindutava. In 1999, Australian misisionary Graham Staines and his two sons were brutally murdered by the Hindutava followers. And that may not be the only incident in the recent past. Western Orissa, dominated by upper caste Hindu landholders and traders, has been a deliberately chosen area for preaching of communal ideology and promulgation of Hindu militancy. Coupled with this, its tribal areas are bogged by aggressive Hinduisation through conversions in the last one decade. There are about 30 dominant Sangh Parivar organisations in Orissa that are targeting Christians, Adivasis, Muslims, Dalits and other marginalised sections, mostly by rhetoric based on propaganda but sometimes these tirades also assume violent forms. The followers of Hindutava, like fundamentalists from any groups or religions, do not hesitate in perverting and defaming history with concoted lies and injecting several myths that seek to brand the Muslims or Christians as 'other', 'foreigner' and 'terrorists', Dalits as 'filthy' and tribals as people who were once Hindus and need to be re-converted. So when on Christmas eve, the Hindutava forces chose to attack the Christian minorities in Western Orissa's Kandhamal district, it should have come as no surprise even as the scale of violence was shocking. However, shock and condemnation alone cannot amend things or reverse the trends that this pernicious ideology has unleashed, whether it is Orissa or anywhere else. The malaise is too deep to be treated superficially or simply leave it to electoral politics, that has only contributed in creating further polarization between communities and castes. In fact, electoral politics, as of Gujarat, has had larger ramifications, not only in that state but elsewhere in the country where the fabric of communal harmony is too fragile. This problems that has dangerous repercussions needs a consistent strategy and a grassroots networking to be countered.
The Hindutava ideology, or any other fascist propaganda, can be competed only if the secular forces are willing to beat the fascists at their own game. The Sangh Parivar has been working for decades, capitalizing and flourishing on the social insecurities and panic in a land of inequalities. It has woven a solidarity network on basis of myths propagated about glorious past of Hindus, essentially upper caste Hindus, and lies about the other castes and communities. Much of this is done in the name of social work, promotion of culture and often through perverting the school curriculum and books introduced in the large number of schools run by the Hindutava organizations. Though human rights groups have been working very successfully in certain pockets of the country to counter this trend, these groups do not have the kind of grassroots networking as the secular political parties do, and this is what has been left un-utilised. Cue can be taken from the past. After Mahatama Gandhi's assassination in January 1948, it was Congress led by Jawahar Lal Nehru who sought to use the political machinery of the party to counter the threat of communalism. Nehru mobilized Congress committees that were virtually converted into anti-communal fronts to make people aware about the dangers of the pernicious ideology of the RSS and its other sister organizations. Other secular fronts and individuals were also involved. Govind Sahai of the Congress took on the task of monitoring this awareness campaign and toured throughout the length and breadth of the country, distributing pamphlets and holding rallies to educate people and warn them against the devious designs of fascists. Amidst xenophobic tendencies of a growing number of groups, we need to adopt a similar strategy and follow it with the conviction and consistency that it demands.
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