- The BJP successfully dismantling India’s secularism
By: Fasi Khan
Many political entities around the world use diverse methods for political maneuvering by playing with the popular sentimentalities of voters. It is experienced that such rhetoric has the capacity to create spillover effects which are often beyond the jurisdiction of the states.
A recent paradigm can be found in Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party where the fires of jingoism are burning on the political landscape. The rise of Hindu Majoritarianism is not a recent phenomenon but it has its roots in the period preceding the partition of the sub-continent. The seeds of hyper-nationalism were planted back in the rhetoric of the Congress party in 1937 to 1939 where Muslims could not trust their basic rights to be protected under a unified India which had a Hindu majority. This convinced the Muslims of the subcontinent to pursue a homeland of their own where their rights would be safeguarded.
The political project of ‘Hindutva’ is the reformation of India according to Hindu culture, values, and way of life. This notion is highly skeptical of secular policies advocated by the India National Congress, on which the Indian constitution is based upon. They consider people who are not Hindus as ‘invaders’ and should be dealt with accordingly. This has stirred the issue of looking at the minorities living in India as problematic.
They consider people who are not Hindus as ‘invaders’ and should be dealt with accordingly. This has stirred the issue of looking at the minorities living in India as problematic.
The early success of BJP came in 1989 when they capitalized on the anti-Muslim agenda by urging the people for an erection of a Hindu temple of Lord Ram at Ayodhya which was already the site of Babri Mosque build by the Mughal Emperor Babur some 460 years ago. After the brief success of BJP in Lokh Saba (lower house), the Babri mosque was finally demolished in 1992, leading to countrywide violent protests resulting in the death of thousands. After 27 years, since the Kar Sevaks demolished the Babri Mosque, the Supreme Court pronounced a 1,045 pages long verdict in favor of the Hindu parties, giving them the disputed land where Babri Mosque stood while the Muslim litigants will be provided with five acres of ‘separate’ and alternative land for replacing the mosque.
The Archeological Survey of India published a report in 2003 claiming a lack of archeological substantiation and consensus of a temple under the Babri Mosque but it was regarded as vague and contradictory. An archeology professor at J. Nehru University avouched that the underlying structure of the Babri Mosque resembles the structure of a mosque but such arguments have been rejected and somewhat suppressed.
In his book “The Hindu Way- an introduction to Hinduism”, Indian writer-politician Shashi Tharoor states “Hinduism, with its openness, its respect for variety, its acceptance of all other faiths, is one religion which has always been able to assert itself without threatening others. But this is not the Hindutva that destroyed the Babri Masjid, nor that spewed in hate-filled diatribes by communal politicians”. He further asserts that Hindutva is a virulent distortion of Hinduism which teaches incredible tolerance.
Additionally, to add to the already fraught relations between Hindus and Muslims within India, and with India’s Muslim majority neighbor Pakistan, BJP contributed to the occupation of Kashmir. The illegal annexation of Jammu & Kashmir by abrogating Article 370 and terminating of the special status of this region is an apparent example of how the BJP views and treats the minorities of India.
Article 370 catered the asymmetries of India’s diversity. It was meant to help the provisions of the Indian constitution to the state of Jammu & Kashmir, meaning if a provision of the Indian Constitution was being extended, the constituent assembly of Kashmir had the final say in accepting and embodying it in their state’s constitution to order to make both the constitutions comport and compatible with each other. It was designed to be an ironclad surety to the people of Kashmir for protecting their rights if the constituent assembly framed and proclaimed any extensions from the Indian constitutions. The repealing of this special status demonstrates India’s radical political muscle. Numerous scholars have pointed out the fact that states that have been through a colonial past are more colonial in nature.
Furthermore, endorsing Presidential candidates in the U.S to inviting far-right MPs of Europe to visit Kashmir for propaganda purposes is damaging India’s status. Their foreign policy has become an ideological tool as well. Thus, sliding into the Orwellian state. It so happens that Pakistan’s inauguration of the Kartarpur corridor coincides with India’s Supreme Court decision of Ayodhya dispute, ascertains that the Radcliffe line is not only a border between these two countries but a bifurcation of two different mentalities. The Hindutva radicals will continue with the obsession of imposing their beliefs about religion and culture and contributing to the construction of a more intolerant India by making it minorities vulnerable.
The writer is a political science student from Quetta. Tweets at @fasihatme
