by Amula Ganguli
(The Times of India, 10 October 2008)
Rajnath Singh's preference for gunning down Kashmiris waving Pakistani flags indicates a specific mindset. It is a mentality fanatically intolerant of dissent, which is typical of fascists, communists and theocrats. The BJP chief's objective is clear. He wants to whip up Hindu sentiments for political reasons with elections around the corner. But his insular background is not irrelevant in this respect. Singh not only belongs to the cow belt, but also to a clan - the Thakurs - whose claim to fame, as routinely portrayed in Hindi films, is boorishness of behaviour towards a targeted group, the lower castes.
Such a tunnel vision cannot but be reflected in ignorance of the overall national scene. Separatism is not new in India. It has lingered for years in the north-east with the state reacting with a mixture of brutality and
conciliation, which sometimes culminated in a settlement, as in Mizoram and Tripura. But in Assam, the ULFA is in favour of a sovereign status. Secessionism also haunted Punjab through the eighties and, 20 years ago, similar feelings were voiced in Tamil Nadu when C N Annadurai told Parliament "we want a separate country for southern India". Then, of course, there are the Naxalites, who can be said to have seceded mentally though not in territorial terms. But no one has ever suggested gunning them down.
If the BJP stands apart from the others in this matter, the reason is that its tradition is totally at variance with the sober norms which guided the independence movement. While the latter was based on the unity of all castes and communities, the BJP's forbears, viz the RSS and the Hindu Mahasabha, had no time for such intermingling. Their focus was solely on consolidating the Hindus, who had become effete in their view, against the "rapacious" Muslims, their putative oppressors in the centuries before the British. So, just as the Indian communists are still fighting the dead Soviet Union's lost battles against American imperialism, the RSS-led saffron brotherhood is still fighting medieval battles against the Muslim "invaders".
It was the BJP's unexpected assumption of power at the Centre which compelled it to curb its rabid anti-minority instincts. But it has been constantly pushed by the RSS, the VHP and the Bajrang Dal to revive its pro-Hindu agenda. These outfits believe that the BJP lost in 2004 because it had deviated from its original programme. It is possible that the RSS is also beginning to lose its patience, judging from the attacks on Christians. Islamic terrorism, too, is a handy weapon in saffron hands to mobilise anti-minority feelings. To be politically correct, the BJP says that not all Muslims are terrorists, but all terrorists are Muslims. However, Kalyan Singh completed the unstated portion of this observation when he said that it is only in Muslim homes that the terrorists find shelter.
Incidentally, the Hindutva group never mentions that the ULFA and LTTE terrorists are Hindus and that the latter were the inventors of suicide bombings before the jihadis.
Rajnath Singh, who replaced L K Advani as the president with the blessings of the RSS after the opposition leader's Jinnah misadventure, evidently subscribes to the hawkish line of the paterfamilias. He also has prime ministerial ambitions. His advocacy of bombing terrorist camps in Pakistan and Bangladesh and the latest remark are all intended to refurbish his credentials in the eyes of the RSS as the right man for the right job. That his views have a large measure of support in the BJP and among saffron mediapersons, not to mention the VHP and the Bajrang Dal, is undeniable.
They would heartily endorse his suggestion for "nationalising" the Amarnath route, thereby excluding the local Muslims who have acted as hosts and guides of the pilgrims for a century and a half, and also for settling the ousted Pandits in an exclusive area in Kashmir. The idea is not unlike the construction of Israeli-style settlements in the West Bank complete with watchtowers and sharpshooters, ever prepared to gun down "terrorists".
The writer is a Delhi-based political commentator.
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