Government's must move against forces threatening secular space

Khaleej Times, 2 July 2008

Editorial

Challenge to India's secular traditions

INDIA'S vibrant democracy allows enough room for a diverse range of opinions, and political parties and individuals have for years been exercising this freedom to express their views, however, distasteful and unorthodox they may appear to be.

But in a multi-cultural and multi-religious society like India's, responsible groups and individuals have to exercise self-restraint and avoid making comments that could lead to serious law and order problems.

Provocative statements that could trigger off violence and hate crimes are usually made by extremist groups who do not accept the basic norms of a civilised society and are reluctant to swear allegiance to the Constitution. Political parties, especially those that have been in power, either on their own, or as part of an alliance, are not expected to indulge in such reprehensible behaviour.

The Shiv Sena, an unabashedly fascist organisation, which thanks to its alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party, emerged as a key partner in the National Democratic Alliance-government that ruled India for six years till 2004, has never been known for its moderate views.

Bal Thackeray, the mercurial founder of the outfit, has been spouting venom on Muslims and other religious and regional minorities for years and with disdain. Worse, both he and his party were indicted by the Justice B N Srikrishna Commission for its role in the communal violence that rocked Mumbai in 1993, when it led attacks on Muslims. The Congress-led dispensation, which has been in power in Maharashtra for almost 10 years, has been fighting shy of taking action against the saffron outfit for reasons best known to it.

Nervous, non-BJP governments, both in New Delhi and in Mumbai, have always treated Thackeray and his party with kid gloves, issuing anodyne statements, but failing to punish him. So it comes as no surprise, that even a fortnight after the Sena mouthpiece, Saamna, gave calls for the setting up of 'Hindu suicide squads' to counter 'Islamic terrorism' no action has been initiated against the party or its leader, by the Congress-led governments at the centre and in Maharashtra.

It is easy to dismiss such provocative statements as rhetoric and empty sloganeering by a paper tiger, as some in India choose to do. But the harsh reality is that in times of communal flare-up, lumpen elements merrily go about targeting innocent people, echoing such dangerous sentiments as espoused by the Sena and other right-wing outfits.

Thackeray's estranged nephew, Raj, who floated the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena, made incendiary remarks earlier this year against north Indians, which led to attacks on migrants in different parts of Maharashtra. The state government has failed to take action against him too.

With elections round the corner in India, many politicians will increasingly put on public display their bigotry and target minorities and migrants, in a bid to woo the majority vote. Governments, however, will have to shed their pusillanimity and take on the elements that threaten India's fabled traditions of religious tolerance and pluralism.