Elections 2024: Democratic Ethos and Plight of Minorities

Elections 2024: Democratic Ethos and Plight of Minorities Ram Puniyani The recent order requiring eateries in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand to display name plates — which has been stayed by the Supreme Court — has drawn chilling comparisons to apartheid-era South Africa and Nazi Germany, where Jews were forced to identify their businesses, precursing brutal persecution. In the 2024 general elections, the decline of the electoral clout of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its failure to reach the majority mark sparked hope that the democratic decline in values of pluralism and diversity may see a recovery. During the elections, himself having realised that Ram Temple magic is no longer effective, Narendra Modi resorted to divisive language all through. He blamed the INDIA bloc for doing mujra (a bowing salutation, in Muslim tradition) for the minorities, whom they want to please. It was also said that the INDIA bloc will change the Constitution to take away reservations of SC/ST/OBC and give it to the Muslims. To add further punch to his rhetoric, the prime minister frightened the Hindu majority by saying that Hindu women’s mangalsutra (chain indicating the marital status of some Hindu communities) will also be taken away and given to Muslims, among other such derogatory issues. As the matters stood, this hate speech failed to benefit the BJP, and it slid down from 303 seats to 240 in the Lok Sabha. This gave hope that now minorities will be targeted less often and an atmosphere of amity may get promoted. The developments of the past few weeks in the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), led by the BJP, have dashed this hope. The statements and actions of the saffron party leaders and the government in the BJP-ruled states show that they will pursue their old tactics as far as possible. Hemant Biswa Sarma, the Assam chief minister, notorious for such outpouring, stated that Assam will soon become a Muslim majority state. As per him, the percentage of Muslims in 1951 was 12% (later he revised this figure to 14%) and now Muslims are 40% of the state population. His figures are totally fake, intended to stir up fear and alarm among Hindus. The percentage of Muslim population in 1951 was 24.68% as per census figures and as per 2011 census figures Muslims in Assam are 34.22%. Old habits die hard for many. A classic case is here to be witnessed. In West Bengal, where the BJP bit the dust coming down from existing 18 MP seats to 12 this time, party leader Suvendu Adhikari, put the blame of BJP’s decline on Muslims, and proclaimed: “We do not need to talk about Sabka Saath and Sabka Vikas (everybody’s development, taking along everybody). We will decide who supports us, and we will support them. Stop this talk of Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas.” Many from the BJP stable disowned his statement, but Adhikari’s words and tenor reveals the real political goals of this party. To cap it all in Muzaffarnagar, the deputy inspector general of police (DIG) issued instructions that on the route of the Kanwar Yatra (a Holy procession devoted to Lord Shiva) all the eateries, stalls and hotels should display the names of owner and workers right in front. Notably, the Supreme Court on Monday (July 21) stayed these directions issued by the Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand governments, that directed eateries in Kanwar Yatra route to display names. A bench of Justices Hrishikesh Roy and S.V.N. Bhatti passed an interim order prohibiting the enforcement of the government directives. As per the directive that was issued by the Uttar Pradesh local administration, "All the food outlets, eateries and food joints across the state will have to put up a “nameplate,” displaying the names of owners/proprietors and staff members." "This has been done to maintain the 'purity of faith' for Hindu devotees who undertake the Kanwar Yatra, in the month of Shravan (a holy month as per the Hindu calendar),” the administration had claimed, justifying the move. Uttarakhand had joined Uttar Pradesh in announcing the rule, and multiple other BJP-governed states were set to follow suit, signalling a broader adoption of this policy. In the face of criticism, the state administration added that this has to be done voluntarily. This is a very interesting order, where does the volition exist for those who are supposed to follow it? The honourable prime minister, the supreme leader has maintained a stoic silence on this order, indicating that this is the policy of the party. This move has been criticised by the BJP’s NDA allies like Janata Dal United (JD(U)), Lok Janshakti Party (Ramvilas Pasvan) (LJP (Ramvilas Pasvan)), among others. This is a case where we come to know that in the coalition, the allies of the BJP don’t matter to the prime minister, and the BJP will rule the roost. However, this is probably the most divisive step taken by the BJP. Already Muslims employees of Hindu establishments on the route have been laid off. The whole notion of purity and pollution should not be applicable in present times. The Kanwar Yatra from Haridwar to the local Shiva temples is a fairly old phenomenon. It became more prominent during the last few decades, from 1980s onwards, quite in tune with the rise of politics in the name of religion, beginning with the Ram Temple movement. Now lakhs and lakhs of people participate in it. Let’s imagine the implications of such a directive. Most commentators recalled the apartheid regimes of South Africa and Nazi Germany. In Nazi Germany, the Jews were on the receiving end of fascist politics. They were asked to display the 'Star of David' in front of their establishments and wear the same on their body. Their persecution became easy as already their establishments could be easily identified. On the Kanwar route the step seems to be an anticipatory one and it is likely that the BJP in other states, on other pretext may find this an easy way to identify Muslims. At present, it seems that sectarian politics has deep roots in the body politic of the nation. Electorally defeating this party and its opportunist allies is a mere first step to restore pluralism in the country. The targeting of Muslim community is also running parallel to decline in their political representation. The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh-BJP (RSS-BJP) ideologues are arguing that they tried to de-communalise Muslim politics. It is a hoax as the present episode shows. Still they are totally silent on why the BJP does not have a single Muslim MP in Lok Sabha, not a single Muslim minister in the Cabinet at any level. They argue that now the BJP is trying to link with the Pasmanda Muslims. Do they realise who is the biggest victim of the BJP's politics? Just in the case of the present Kanwar Yatra episode, one can tell that the Pasmanda Muslims would have been the biggest losers with the present move of the BJP, if the apex court didn't stay the directions. One feels the INDIA coalition should vociferously oppose such a move of the BJP as it is imperative that the inclusive values have to be brought to forefront to confront such regressive policies aiming at further splitting the society and taking one more step towards a Hindu nation.

Why Babadom Flourishes

Why Babadom Flourishes: Insecurity is the Core Ram Puniyani In Hathras in Uttar Pradesh in a stampede nearly 121 people died. Most of these were women, mostly dalit and poor. It was at the Satsang (Holy Discourse), organized for Bhole Baba, short for Narayan Sakar Hari. He was earlier in the police force. It is alleged that he had charges of rape against him. Later he took voluntary retirement 28 years ago and turned to preaching. There is an incident when he claimed that he can bring back the life back of a girl who had died of cancer. The girl could not be revived and her stinking body made the neighbors complain to the police. With this background also he clicked later; as a successful Baba (God man) with increasing number of followers, wealth and Ashrams. In the current episode while many subordinates have been named and are to be charged Bhole Baba is not in the list of those who are guilty. The reason for the stampede was the propagation that the earth where Baba treads is a cure for most of the diseases. As he was leaving satsang people rushed to collect the earth where he had put his feet, a stampede took place and people died in the process. The popularity of the Baba can be gauzed from the fact that there was permission for 80000 people but 2.5 Lakh people turned up. As such baba phenomenon is neither unique nor exclusive to India. Though of course their following has gone up in recent times. While some babas come to be known for specific reasons there a big breed of them scattered all over the country. The notorious one’s like Asaram Bapu and Gurmeet Ram Rahim Insan are cooling their heels in jails for charges like rape and murder. The other successful Babas like Baba Ramdev have been reprimanded by the Supreme Court for his confident undermining of Modern medicine, Sri Sri Ravishanker was involved in damaging ecology of river Yamuna, Jaggi Vasudev’s Ashrams have various criminal charges as well. What is common among these Baba’s is their astounding self confidence, wealth and promotion of blind faith. In India while strict correlations are difficult it can be safely said that their prowess and impact has risen during the last few decades. It will not be easy to correlate their increasing prowess with the rise of politics in the name of religion. It is true that in other countries also such Charismatic’s (US) and holy Preachers in some Muslim countries do exist, but the impact of such people is phenomenal in India. These preachers do wear the garb of religion. They do not belong to the formal clergy, which is part of institutional religion. Most of them are self made and their intelligence in mind reading and taking advantage of the weaknesses of followers is phenomenal. The other side of this is why do people throng to them? Baba’s salesmanship is very intelligent but the followers have their own weaknesses which land them up in the lap of these frauds. Mostly people with severe problems, not easily solvable, look for soothing words, somebody who gives them confidence which tells them that their problems will be solved by the earth where Baba treads, or by subjugating themselves to the Baba, or by following some advice which Baba gives etc. The followers throng to these Babas mainly due to their own insecurity in the society. There are many other aspects of success of Babas, their nexus with the political class being one such. Just as an example Gurumeet Ram Rahim has been mostly on parole, especially when elections are due. One recalls Manoharlal Khattar took his whole Cabinet to Gurmeet to take his blessings. The insecurity aspect of followers is the key to understanding their psychology. More the insecurity, more the submission to Baba, the common sense or rational thinking is given a total go bye by the followers. Insecurity aspect can be properly understood when we see the global scenario. In the countries where economic and social insecurity is less, religions are seeing a decline in their active followership. Key finding from Global Research by PEW shows that, “The United States is far from alone in this way. Western Europeans are generally less religious than Americans, having started along a similar path a few decades earlier. And the same secularizing trends are found in other economically advanced countries, as indicated by recent census data from Australia and New Zealand. Center for Political Studies Michigan’s Inglehart in “Giving up on God,” (pages 110-111) tells us “From about 2007 to 2019, the overwhelming majority of the countries we studied—43 out of 49 became less religious. The decline in belief was not confined to high-income countries and appeared across most of the world. Growing numbers of people no longer find religion a necessary source of support and meaning in their lives. Even the United States—long cited as proof that an economically advanced society can be strongly religious—has now joined other wealthy countries in moving away from religion.” The challenge of combating this is not easy. Contrary to the Values of Constitution, Article 51 A (h) under the Fundamental Duties, “[It shall be the duty of every citizen of India] to develop scientific temper, humanism and the spirit of inquiry and reform”, Babas flagrantly violate this clause, and those protecting or promoting them do the same? In India at social level there are active groups who oppose the Babas scattered all around by practically exposing them, especially their tricks of taking out ash from hand or walking on fire. Maharashtra has seen Andhshraddha Nirmulan Samiti (Committee for eradication of Blind Faith) associated with Dr. Narendra Dabholkar. He was brutally murdered by activists of conservative groups probably like Sanatan Sanstha. Similarly the murders of Com Govind Pansare, Gauri Lankesh and Prof. Kalburgi were also done by similar forces. After the murder of Dr. Dabholkar, Maharashtra Assembly passed a law against blind faith and magic remedies. We need to have similar laws all over the country and promote scientific temper. At the core can we march towards social and economic security for one and all? The present system where the poor are becoming poorer and rich are becoming richer needs to be substituted by Mahatma Gandhi’s vision where the social policies are planned keeping the last person in the line; in mind That alone can bring in a sense of security in society.

Rahul Gandhi's Hinduism versus RSS-BJP's Hindutva

Rahul Gandhi’s Hinduism versus BJP-RSS’s Hindutva Ram Puniyani After the mandate of recent Lok sabha elections (2024), the parliament has become a real ground where the voice of opposition also has a space. In the debate following the President’s Address, Rahul Gandhi, the Leader of opposition responded by outlining the various problems facing the country. One part of his speech, which probably has been expunged from the proceedings related to the nature of Hinduism. As per him Hinduism is based on truth and non violence. “India is a country of non-violence, and not of fear. All our great men have spoken about non-violence and overcoming fear.” Gesturing towards the benches of BJP MPs, Gandhi added: “Those who call themselves Hindus speak all day about violence, hate and untruth.” Since then many protests by Sadhus have taken place against Rahul’s statement. In Ahmedabad Congress office was attacked. RSS Combine is spreading that Rahul has called all Hindus violent etc. On the other side Rahul has elaborated that what he means by Hinduism is based on truth, non violence and love. RSS ideologues are taking a sweep that Nehru to Rahul Gandhi’s ideology is out of touch with reality. As per them they have restricted only to minority questions to preserve their vote bank. As such from the INDIA block many have stood with Rahul’s elaboration of the humanistic view of Hinduism. There is some overlap between the use of the word Hinduism and Hindutva currently. As Uddhav Thackeray said that his views on Hindutva are the same as Rahul elaborated (about Hinduism). RSS ideologues also criticize Nehru for starting his work of Sampradayikata Virodhi Abhiyan (Campaign against communalism) as being directed against RSS! They also take Nehru on for opposing President Rajendra Prasad’s inaugurating the Somanth temple. They claim that RSS hindutva derives from Dayanand Sarswati, Swami Vivekanand, Bankim Chandra Chatterjee and Shyama Prasad Mukerjee. As such RSS ideology does not have much to do with ideologies of Dayanand Sarswati and Swami Vivekanand, except using their names to cover their ideology. As Hinduism is not a prophet based religion many interpretations of the same have been used. The very word Hindu is missing in the Holy Hindu scriptures, Vedas, Upnishad, Gita or Manu smriti. The word was coined by those coming from West of Sindhu, for whom the word S was used in a restricted manner and for S they used to pronounce H. Sindhu became Hindu and the word initially denoted the area spread from Sindhu river to sea. The earlier religious tendencies prevalent here were Vedic religion (which also can be labeled as Brahmanism), Ajivikas, Tantra, Nath, Shaiva, Buddhism and Jainism in the main. Later the word Hindu became a conglomerate of different tendencies (barring Buddhism and Jainism) prevailing here. Except Brahmanism the other tendencies were called Shramans. The main difference between Brahmanism and Shramanism was the presence of caste and gender hierarchy in Brahmanism. The construction of the term Hinduism has been well explained by historian D. N. Jha in his Presidential address of Indian History Congress 2006. He points out “Of Course the Word (Hindu, added) was in use in pre colonial India, but it was not before late eighteen or early 19th Century that it was appropriated by British scholars.” Since then it has found wider use. From here on the term was used for all in the subcontinent except for those who were Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, Muslims and Christians. As there were no rigid boundaries, the Brahmanical stream projected Vedas and Manusmriti as sacred scriptures. The major understandings of Hinduism also varied. For Ambedkar Hinduism is dominated by Brahmanism, caste system. That’s what led him to burn Manusmiriti. Mahatma Gandhi had on other hand called himself a Sanatani Hindu and wrote in Young India on 6th October 1921 “Hinduism tells everyone to worship God according to his own faith or Dharma, and so it lives at peace with all the religions.” A unique concept for interfaith relations and pluralism! Now Rahul Gandhi while talking about Hinduism harps on truth, love and non violence as being the core of Hinduism. The word Hinduta was coined by Chandranath Basu in 1892 and linked it with the idealism of attaining spiritual heights. At the political level of this word Hindutva was introduced and defined by Savarkar in his book ‘Essentials of Hindutva’. (1923) His Hindutva is based on Aryan race, this Holy land (from Sindhu to Seas) and Culture (Brahmanical). Savarkar was very critical of Buddhism’s non violence and attributed India’s weakness to non violence propagated by Buddhism. This is a totally warped up understanding of our History. There was no country in the modern sense, and even if we grant Kingdoms equal to country we need to remember Emperor Asoka adopted Buddhism and his empire was the largest in Ancient India. He defined Hindu as one who regarded this land as his fatherland and Holy land. RSS takes off from Savarkar and regards Islam and Christianity as foreign religions and upholds the ancient Holy Scriptures (Manu Smriti e.g.). RSS has made violence as part of its creed and its head office has an exhibition of various armaments, which are worshipped on the Dussera day. RSS shakhas have spread Hate by demonizing Muslim kings like Khilji, Babar, Aurangzeb and glorified Hindu Kings like Rana Pratap, Shivaji and Prithviraj Chauhan. It had also been critical of the national movement as people of all religions participated in it. It claims to represent the Hindus, as it takes up the emotive issues like temple destructions, Cow beef, and forcible conversions. The Hate spread by RSS was pointed out by none other than Sardar Vallabh bhai Patel after banning RSS in 1948, “All their speeches were full of communal poison, as a final result of the poison, the country had to suffer the sacrifice of the invaluable life of Gandhiji.” While leaders like Mahatma Gandhi to Rahul Gandhi have expanded and enhanced the humane aspect of Hinduism, the Savarkar-RSS have treaded the path of hate and consequent violence. While Ambedkar stands to oppose the Brahmanical domination of Hindu practice, Mahatma Gandhi and Rahul are giving an inclusive and non violent meaning to Hinduism.

Rahul Gandhi's Humane Hindusim versus versus RSS-BJP's Aggressive Hindutva

Rahul Gandhi’s Hinduism versus BJP-RSS’s Hindutva Ram Puniyani After the mandate of recent Lok sabha elections (2024), the parliament has become a real ground where the voice of opposition also has a space. In the debate following the President’s Address, Rahul Gandhi, the Leader of opposition responded by outlining the various problems facing the country. One part of his speech, which probably has been expunged from the proceedings related to the nature of Hinduism. As per him Hinduism is based on truth and non violence. “India is a country of non-violence, and not of fear. All our great men have spoken about non-violence and overcoming fear.” Gesturing towards the benches of BJP MPs, Gandhi added: “Those who call themselves Hindus speak all day about violence, hate and untruth.” Since then many protests by Sadhus have taken place against Rahul’s statement. In Ahmedabad Congress office was attacked. RSS Combine is spreading that Rahul has called all Hindus violent etc. On the other side Rahul has elaborated that what he means by Hinduism is based on truth, non violence and love. RSS ideologues are taking a sweep that Nehru to Rahul Gandhi’s ideology is out of touch with reality. As per them they have restricted only to minority questions to preserve their vote bank. As such from the INDIA block many have stood with Rahul’s elaboration of the humanistic view of Hinduism. There is some overlap between the use of the word Hinduism and Hindutva currently. As Uddhav Thackeray said that his views on Hindutva are the same as Rahul elaborated (about Hinduism). RSS ideologues also criticize Nehru for starting his work of Sampradayikata Virodhi Abhiyan (Campaign against communalism) as being directed against RSS! They also take Nehru on for opposing President Rajendra Prasad’s inaugurating the Somanth temple. They claim that RSS hindutva derives from Dayanand Sarswati, Swami Vivekanand, Bankim Chandra Chatterjee and Shyama Prasad Mukerjee. As such RSS ideology does not have much to do with ideologies of Dayanand Sarswati and Swami Vivekanand, except using their names to cover their ideology. As Hinduism is not a prophet based religion many interpretations of the same have been used. The very word Hindu is missing in the Holy Hindu scriptures, Vedas, Upnishad, Gita or Manu smriti. The word was coined by those coming from West of Sindhu, for whom the word S was used in a restricted manner and for S they used to pronounce H. Sindhu became Hindu and the word initially denoted the area spread from Sindhu river to sea. The earlier religious tendencies prevalent here were Vedic religion (which also can be labeled as Brahmanism), Ajivikas, Tantra, Nath, Shaiva, Buddhism and Jainism in the main. Later the word Hindu became a conglomerate of different tendencies (barring Buddhism and Jainism) prevailing here. Except Brahmanism the other tendencies were called Shramans. The main difference between Brahmanism and Shramanism was the presence of caste and gender hierarchy in Brahmanism. The construction of the term Hinduism has been well explained by historian D. N. Jha in his Presidential address of Indian History Congress 2006. He points out “Of Course the Word (Hindu, added) was in use in pre colonial India, but it was not before late eighteen or early 19th Century that it was appropriated by British scholars.” Since then it has found wider use. From here on the term was used for all in the subcontinent except for those who were Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, Muslims and Christians. As there were no rigid boundaries, the Brahmanical stream projected Vedas and Manusmriti as sacred scriptures. The major understandings of Hinduism also varied. For Ambedkar Hinduism is dominated by Brahmanism, caste system. That’s what led him to burn Manusmiriti. Mahatma Gandhi had on other hand called himself a Sanatani Hindu and wrote in Young India on 6th October 1921 “Hinduism tells everyone to worship God according to his own faith or Dharma, and so it lives at peace with all the religions.” A unique concept for interfaith relations and pluralism! Now Rahul Gandhi while talking about Hinduism harps on truth, love and non violence as being the core of Hinduism. The word Hinduta was coined by Chandranath Basu in 1892 and linked it with the idealism of attaining spiritual heights. At the political level of this word Hindutva was introduced and defined by Savarkar in his book ‘Essentials of Hindutva’. (1923) His Hindutva is based on Aryan race, this Holy land (from Sindhu to Seas) and Culture (Brahmanical). Savarkar was very critical of Buddhism’s non violence and attributed India’s weakness to non violence propagated by Buddhism. This is a totally warped up understanding of our History. There was no country in the modern sense, and even if we grant Kingdoms equal to country we need to remember Emperor Asoka adopted Buddhism and his empire was the largest in Ancient India. He defined Hindu as one who regarded this land as his fatherland and Holy land. RSS takes off from Savarkar and regards Islam and Christianity as foreign religions and upholds the ancient Holy Scriptures (Manu Smriti e.g.). RSS has made violence as part of its creed and its head office has an exhibition of various armaments, which are worshipped on the Dussera day. RSS shakhas have spread Hate by demonizing Muslim kings like Khilji, Babar, Aurangzeb and glorified Hindu Kings like Rana Pratap, Shivaji and Prithviraj Chauhan. It had also been critical of the national movement as people of all religions participated in it. It claims to represent the Hindus, as it takes up the emotive issues like temple destructions, Cow beef, and forcible conversions. The Hate spread by RSS was pointed out by none other than Sardar Vallabh bhai Patel after banning RSS in 1948, “All their speeches were full of communal poison, as a final result of the poison, the country had to suffer the sacrifice of the invaluable life of Gandhiji.” While leaders like Mahatma Gandhi to Rahul Gandhi have expanded and enhanced the humane aspect of Hinduism, the Savarkar-RSS have treaded the path of hate and consequent violence. While Ambedkar stands to oppose the Brahmanical domination of Hindu practice, Mahatma Gandhi to Rahul are giving an inclusive and non violent meaning to Hinduism.

Video: The connection between Italian Fascism & Hindutva - Marzia Casolari

 

Declared versus Undeclared: Emergency

Emergency: Declared versus Undeclared Ram Puniyani Om Birla, the speaker of Lok Sabha is mired in many controversies. When he started his 2nd term as Lok Sabha (Parliament) Speaker he read out a resolution against Emergency which was imposed in 1975 by Indira Gandhi. The background of that emergency was the rising Sampoorna Kranti (Total Revolution) Movement, led by Jaya Prakash Narayan (JP). The movement of students of Gujarat which began to protest against the rise in mess bill, was soon joined by the students of Bihar. This spiraled into students requesting JP to lead the movement at national level. JP gave the call of gheraoing (encircling) the assemblies and parliament. On 15th June 1975 in a huge rally in Ramlila Maidan, Delhi, he gave the call to military and police to defy the orders of the Government. Mrs. Gandhi’s election was challenged and on flimsy grounds she was disqualified by the High Court. The Supreme Court gave a stay on this on 24 June. Seeing the growing turmoil in the country, Mrs. Gandhi imposed the emergency using the article 352 of the Constitution on 25th June 1975. This lasted for 21 months, and she herself lifted it. Mrs. Gandhi had regretted the excesses during this period in a speech in Yavatmal on 24th January in 1978. Even Rahul Gandhi offered apologies for the excesses during Emergency. While the opposition leaders were arrested Lalu Pradsad Yadav who was in jail all through emergency, in a recent article along with a journalist (The Sangh Silence on Emergency, (I.E. June 29, 2024) wrote that though the opposition was arrested it was treated with dignity by Indira Gandhi. For many years BJP has been observing the 25 June as the dark period of Indian democracy. The first major change occurred around that time was that Jaya Prakash Narayan, who was one of the tall leaders of the freedom movement, accepted RSS to be the part of the agitation launched by him. RSS’s Nanaji Deshmukh, who has recently been awarded Bharat Ratna by the BJP regime, became the central organizer of the movement. It gave respectability to the RSS as it was under eclipse due to its trained ex-Pracharak Godse having killed the Father of the Nation. As some people pointed out to JP that RSS is a fascist organization, JP in his naivety or whatever went on to say, if RSS is fascist I too am a fascist! JP’s call to the army and police not to obey the orders was very unnerving and this precipitated the intensification of agitations, gherao of Parliament and Assemblies. RSS had played an important role in the Sampoorna Kranti movement, which gave it credibility in people’s eyes. After the imposition of Emergency, when many of its members were arrested, it started bowing to the ruling regime. Many of its members signed Mafinamas (Mercy petitions) and got released. BJP’s effort is to project itself as the Hero of resistance of Emergency. Prabhash Joshi, the eminent journalist brought out the real truth in his article in Tehelka Magazine, “"Balasaheb Deoras, then RSS chief, wrote a letter to Indira Gandhi pledging to help implement the notorious 20-point programme of Sanjay Gandhi. This is the real character of the RSS...You can decipher a line of action, a pattern. Even during the Emergency, many among the RSS and Jana Sangh who came out of the jails gave mafinamas. They were the first to apologize. Only their leaders remained in jail: Atal Behari Vajpayee [most of time in hospital], LK Advani, even Arun Jaitley. But the RSS did not fight the Emergency. So why is the BJP trying to appropriate that memory?" Deoras’s letters were also published in a book, ‘Hindu Sangthan aur Sattavadi Rajniti’, authored by him and published by Jagruti Prakashan Noida. Same was confirmed by T V Rajeshewar who was Deputy Chief of IB. Press censorship and excesses on the issue of vasectomy and demolition of slums were painful parts of this period. On the contrary, since last ten years we have been witnessing the arrest of public intellectuals, participants in peaceful struggles, arrest of journalists, the mainstream media bowing to the regime, the opponents of Government policies being called anti-Nationals, the suspension of 146 members of parliament among others. The violations which took place during this period are aided by the foot soldiers of the patriarch of the ruling party, the RSS. The situation for the last one decade has been worse than the declared emergency. This is what prompted the critic of 1975 Emergency, Nayantara Sahgal to call the last one decade as undeclared emergency, “Well, we have an undeclared Emergency; there is no doubt about that. We have seen a huge, massive attack on the freedom of expression. We have seen innocent, helpless Indians killed because they did not fit into the RSS’s view of India. … So we have a horrendous situation, a nightmare which is worse than the Emergency… It is an absolutely nightmarish situation which has no equal. “ And to cap it all the leader of BJP, Mr. Lal Krishna Advani also called last one decade as undeclared Emergency, “Today there is an undeclared emergency in the country. Even senior BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) leader Lal Krishna Advani hinted the same after the government formed but after pressure from RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh), he became silent…” While we look back to the period of Emergency 1975, we need to introspect and ward off the periods like undeclared Emergency which the country has been witnessing from the last decade. Filing mercy petitions to the rulers is the norm with the Hindu right wing. Savarakar wrote five mercy petitions when he was in Andamans, Atal Bihari Vajpayee wrote on similar lines to get released during his arrest in 1942 uprising stating that he had nothing to do with the ‘Quit India’ movement and during emergency Balasaheb Deoras wrote to Indira Gandhi twice to patch up, and then requested Vinoba Bhave to ask Indira Gandhi to lift the ban on RSS. Also many BJP leaders like the late Arun Jaitley compared the Emergency period to Hitler’s regime. The crucial difference between the two is the encouragement of foot soldiers by the fascist regime. It was brown shirts in Germany, in India there are many vigilante groups which flourished during last one decade.

India: Citizen’s Statement and Appeal for Action Against Rising Hate Speeches and Violent Crimes Against Minorities (July 1, 2024)

 Issued on this the July 1, 2024.

We, the people of India, condemn the alarming increase in Hate Crimes against minorities, which have worryingly increased post the results of the recently concluded general election!

Although the clear verdict by the Indian electorate was against polarisation and the divisive campaign of hate, the ruling NDA refuses to learn its lessons. BJP leaders have loudly blamed the minority community for their defeat, such targeting of minority communities has been openly indulged in by BJP leaders right from the PM to state leadership and has fueled hate against the minority communities and encouraged violent crimes targeting them. This is a worrying trend and we strongly condemn it.

We appeal to the Leader of the Opposition to immediately raise this issue in Parliament, and issue a public statement condemning the increasing violent attacks and reassuring the minorities about their safety and security.

The Constituents of the INDIA Bloc and its leaders must also immediately speak out & mobilise their cadres and the citizens to defend the minorities by raising the issue in Parliament, in State Assemblies and on the streets of India. We must all unitedly defeat this divisive conspiracy.

Even though the electorate resoundingly rejected the rabid hate campaign indulged in by the Prime Minister himself, he continues to make provocative and unsubstantiated allegations against the minorities thus fuelling hate crimes. His party’s devious design is to polarise the citizenry along religious lines. We stand united to defeat their nefarious conspiracy to divide our nation irrevocably along communal and caste lines.

We appeal to the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of India to take Suo Moto notice of the increasing spate of hate speeches resulting in violent hate crimes against minority communities, and post haste pass orders instructing the Central & State Governments, as well as the police, to carry out their constitutional duties to protect the Minorities, who are citizens of India and equally enjoy rights guaranteed by our Constitution. The Supreme Court must expressly order the police to act urgently and provide protection to minority communities and prosecute hate mongers and those indulging in hate crimes. The SC must remind the police that they serve the constitution and not political bosses.

We also appeal to the Modi Government to stand by its constitutional commitments and publicly issue a statement condemning hate crimes and to immediately instruct all the State governments to implement measures to protect the Minorities. The NDA Government must not forget that it swore by the Constitution before taking office, thus it is it’s bounden duty to provide protection to all citizens of India without prejudice or partiality.

As citizens of India, we assure our sisters and brothers of the Minorities that we stand with them in this hour of peril. The majority of the people of our nation stand with the minorities and thus they need not feel isolated or abandoned in anyway. We are honour bound to protect them and to provide them with security and well-being. We will always remain committed to the principles of fraternity, inclusiveness and national unity as guaranteed by our Constitution. This we swear.

Released by

We the people of India
Dr GG Parikh, Medha Patkar, Tushar Gandhi, Farher Frezier, Dr Sunilam, Teesta Setalvad, Shabnam Hashmi, Justice Kolse Patil retd, Irfan Engineer, Dolphy D’Souza, Feroz Mithiborewala and Guddi