Kashmir Times
Editorial: Combating Hindutva challenge
Secular forces should make it a battle of ideologies and not a clash of personalities
Tragically, the Congress leaders have virtually fallen in the sangh parivar’s trap of converting the ongoing elections in some states and the for the coming 2014 polls for the Lok Sabha as a clash between personalities or simply as a battle between the two political parties. Having failed so far in their nefarious designs of destroying the secular democratic foundations of the Indian state for establishing a monolithic, communal and fascist Hindu rashtra, the saffron brigade the has been playing all kinds of tricks to befool the people about its real designs. The next poll is not that of a clash of personalities or simply a matter of change of government but a clash between the two idelogies-secular democracy versus theocratic communal fascism. The Congress and other secular forcers in the country must look at the next poll battle in its right perspective and ensure that the division in their ranks should in no way help the communal fassict forces to capture the most important pillar of democracy, its legislature.
Shockingly, the parivar fascists have not only found their place in bureaucracy and other wings of the services, apart from the legislatures in large numbers but have also penetrated into the armed forces and even judiciary, the watchdog of democracy. The systematic process of such penetration into various democratic and secular institutions apart from the country’s social and political life started right after independence and more than any one it is the Congress and other secular parties which would be blamed for this kind of situation. RSS’s role in the communal holocaust in the wake of India’s partition was too well known to allow it to continue its activities in secular India. RSS, Hindu Mahasabha and some other parties which openly believed in the concept of a theocratic state and thus opposed to secularism should have no legal right to exist in a secular country.
RSS not only stands for India as a Hindu nation but also considers the minorities like Muslims, Christians and Parsis as aliens who, according to erstwhile RSS chief M.S.Golwalkar cannot be treated as citizens of India and as such should either stay as second class citizens, denied of all rights, or should be driven out. The demand for banning such organizations after independence was unfortunately not heeded by the Congress which assumed power. It was only after the assassination of Gandhiji on January 30 in 1948 that ban was imposed on RSS and a number of its leaders and activists as also V.D.Savarkar were arrested for their alleged involvement in the conspiracy to kill the father of the nation. However, succumbing to the pressure of communal forces and as a matter of political convenience the ban on RSS was removed.
The involvement of RSS and its various offsprings in the large number of communal riots since independence is an established fact. Still nothing was done by the proclaimed secular state to outlaw such organizations working for destroying the secular fabric of the country. On the contrary the RSS and its political outfit like the Jana Sangh (now BJP) could increasingly penetrate into the country’s social, political and administrative life only due to the compromising attitude of the secular parties. While the Congress adopted a soft Hindutva policy keeping in view the majority vote bank it were the parties with clear commitment for secularism and socialism which provided a kind of respectability to the RSS and its political wing.
It is a tragedy that the Congress and other secular parties have failed to understand the grave danger that the emergence of Hindutva forces and their terrorism have been posing not only to the secular character of the country but also to the very survival of India as a state. If the onward march of the Hidutva fascism is not checked there is every danger of India soon turning into a theocratic Hindu nation. This will destroy the very idea of India, its pluralistic character and the very cherished value of our freedom struggle. It’s time for secular parties to join hands and unite on a single plank of defeating the BJP and its outfits and frustrating their nefarious designs. The Congress in particular must shed its complacency, abandon its soft Hindutva approach, and launch an ideological battle against the fascist communal forces. At the same time there is need to weed out such elements from various vital organs of the state.
News Updated at : Saturday, November 16, 2013
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