New Delhi: “Jobs, business, food, education and health….” Few would have guessed this was Praveen Togadia speaking.
“Material prosperity” was the buzzword at the World Hindu Congress today, a day after cow worship, Ayodhya and Muhammad Ghori drove up the decibels.
Surprisingly, the change in tempo owed to a man known for the shrillest anti-minority rhetoric.
Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader Togadia used to be one of Narendra Modi’s closest associates when they together spread the Sangh’s word in Gujarat, with Modi riding pillion on the Ahmedabad-based cancer surgeon’s motorbike.
But they fell out bitterly, and seemingly irretrievably, after Modi became Gujarat chief minister. The BJP politician attempted a makeover of sorts sometime after the 2002 violence but the VHP official continued to be a hawk.
As Modi ascended the national stage, the VHP was forced to rein Togadia in and demote him from general secretary to “international working president”, a designation that meant nothing.
But now Togadia seems to be using the Hindu Congress, a largely VHP-sponsored three-day event that began here, to re-launch himself minus the Hindutva fire and brimstone.
At his media interaction he virtually echoed Modi by stressing that the global community would not take India seriously until it became “economically powerful”.
“The key words are ‘material prosperity’. Until and unless India’s Hindus become prosperous and self-reliant, our national foundation will be shaky,” he said.
“So far, the VHP has always talked about security issues and temples. Our emphasis at this congress is material prosperity. To achieve that, the ingredients are jobs, business, food, education and health.”
Material themes dominated as Togadia and the other organisers spoke of the need to “evolve linkages” with the diaspora from “economically powerful” countries. Even when a comment caused “shock”, the differences were all about economic philosophy.
One of the guests, economist and columnist Surjit S. Bhalla, who heads the Delhi-based Oxus Research and Investments, confessed to being “disappointed and even shocked” at a remark by junior commerce and corporate affairs minister Nirmala Sitharaman.
“I see very little difference between the Left and the Hindutva groups when it comes to economic policies. This whole nationalism… is under heavy protection walls,” Bhalla said.
“I talked about removing barriers to growth. But Congress and BJP governments… all they do is blame foreigners. The reality is that in a globalised world, there is no point raving and ranting against foreigners.”
Bhalla described the controversy over German being dropped as a third-language option at Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan schools as “another growth barrier”.
At a Q&A, Nirmala had been asked whether the government would do something about the “discriminatory” pricing structure governing imported and domestically manufactured products (ceramics in the questioner’s case), which aggrieved importers and gave them negligible profit.
She replied that the government was only committed to protecting indigenous interests, drawing applause from an audience primarily of small and medium local entrepreneurs.
Bhalla, a votary of economic reforms and a minimalist state, had in the run-up to the Lok Sabha polls hoped that Modi would spur India to new heights of growth. He, however, has always been impatient with Hindutva.
But when the Hindu Congress organisers invited him shortly after the change of guard in Delhi, he accepted it.
“These guys are important players but one need not be sympathetic to their viewpoint,” Bhalla said.
Before the Modi government presented its first budget, the World Hindu Economic Forum, the Hindu Congress’s economic chapter, had unveiled an agenda that appeared rooted in the Sangh’s swadeshi beliefs.
Forum convener Gautam Sen, a former professor at the London School of Economics, had drafted the document.
It said the forum would create a “web-driven network of Hindu business personalities”, lobby for India’s small and medium-sized enterprises, and mentor young businesspersons and offer them technical, legal and other help through a portal.
At the Hindu Congress, Sen and economist Bibek Debroy of Delhi’s Centre for Policy Research reaffirmed that it was “glorious” for a Hindu to be “rich” as long as the wealth was channelled into the “right purposes”. Debroy echoed Modi’s pet line on “maximum governance, minimum government”.
When some delegates asked how the government proposed to cut red tape, though, nothing definite was on offer.
-The Telegraph, Calcutta
“Material prosperity” was the buzzword at the World Hindu Congress today, a day after cow worship, Ayodhya and Muhammad Ghori drove up the decibels.
Surprisingly, the change in tempo owed to a man known for the shrillest anti-minority rhetoric.
Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader Togadia used to be one of Narendra Modi’s closest associates when they together spread the Sangh’s word in Gujarat, with Modi riding pillion on the Ahmedabad-based cancer surgeon’s motorbike.
But they fell out bitterly, and seemingly irretrievably, after Modi became Gujarat chief minister. The BJP politician attempted a makeover of sorts sometime after the 2002 violence but the VHP official continued to be a hawk.
As Modi ascended the national stage, the VHP was forced to rein Togadia in and demote him from general secretary to “international working president”, a designation that meant nothing.
But now Togadia seems to be using the Hindu Congress, a largely VHP-sponsored three-day event that began here, to re-launch himself minus the Hindutva fire and brimstone.
At his media interaction he virtually echoed Modi by stressing that the global community would not take India seriously until it became “economically powerful”.
“The key words are ‘material prosperity’. Until and unless India’s Hindus become prosperous and self-reliant, our national foundation will be shaky,” he said.
“So far, the VHP has always talked about security issues and temples. Our emphasis at this congress is material prosperity. To achieve that, the ingredients are jobs, business, food, education and health.”
Material themes dominated as Togadia and the other organisers spoke of the need to “evolve linkages” with the diaspora from “economically powerful” countries. Even when a comment caused “shock”, the differences were all about economic philosophy.
One of the guests, economist and columnist Surjit S. Bhalla, who heads the Delhi-based Oxus Research and Investments, confessed to being “disappointed and even shocked” at a remark by junior commerce and corporate affairs minister Nirmala Sitharaman.
“I see very little difference between the Left and the Hindutva groups when it comes to economic policies. This whole nationalism… is under heavy protection walls,” Bhalla said.
“I talked about removing barriers to growth. But Congress and BJP governments… all they do is blame foreigners. The reality is that in a globalised world, there is no point raving and ranting against foreigners.”
Bhalla described the controversy over German being dropped as a third-language option at Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan schools as “another growth barrier”.
At a Q&A, Nirmala had been asked whether the government would do something about the “discriminatory” pricing structure governing imported and domestically manufactured products (ceramics in the questioner’s case), which aggrieved importers and gave them negligible profit.
She replied that the government was only committed to protecting indigenous interests, drawing applause from an audience primarily of small and medium local entrepreneurs.
Bhalla, a votary of economic reforms and a minimalist state, had in the run-up to the Lok Sabha polls hoped that Modi would spur India to new heights of growth. He, however, has always been impatient with Hindutva.
But when the Hindu Congress organisers invited him shortly after the change of guard in Delhi, he accepted it.
“These guys are important players but one need not be sympathetic to their viewpoint,” Bhalla said.
Before the Modi government presented its first budget, the World Hindu Economic Forum, the Hindu Congress’s economic chapter, had unveiled an agenda that appeared rooted in the Sangh’s swadeshi beliefs.
Forum convener Gautam Sen, a former professor at the London School of Economics, had drafted the document.
It said the forum would create a “web-driven network of Hindu business personalities”, lobby for India’s small and medium-sized enterprises, and mentor young businesspersons and offer them technical, legal and other help through a portal.
At the Hindu Congress, Sen and economist Bibek Debroy of Delhi’s Centre for Policy Research reaffirmed that it was “glorious” for a Hindu to be “rich” as long as the wealth was channelled into the “right purposes”. Debroy echoed Modi’s pet line on “maximum governance, minimum government”.
When some delegates asked how the government proposed to cut red tape, though, nothing definite was on offer.
-The Telegraph, Calcutta
