How BJP's regressive missteps help its critics build myth of 'Hindu Pakistan'
Every now and then, like little genies popping out of a bottle, emerge dark prognostications of India becoming a mirror image of Pakistan. The clichéd phrase bandied about is “Hindu Pakistan”.
The BJP-led NDA government is doing its bit to give this manufactured lie a life of its own.
Its reaction to the uproar over the movie Padmavati has been unconscionable. The Rajput votes in Rajasthan and the conservative Hindu votes elsewhere have made the BJP a party that places winning elections above doing the right thing. The makers of Padmavati have been forced to defer its release.
Instead of arresting BJP leader Suraj Pal Amu who placed a Rs 10-crore bounty on Deepika Padukone’s head, the government has, by simply issuing him a show-cause notice, emboldened the rabble who pass off as guardians of Indian cultural tradition.
BJP leaders argue: let’s win elections first, then we’ll take care of doing the right thing which is to protect free speech, not protect vandals from fringe groups.
That assessment is wrong. Once you place elections above principle, the habit becomes hard to break.
The reactions of Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath and Rajasthan chief minister Vasundhara Raje to Padmavati feed into a regressive narrative. Suitably garnished, it becomes fodder for those crying wolf over how the BJP is creating a Hindu version of Pakistan where dissent is crushed.
Yet websites, some with dodgy funding, abuse Prime Minister Narendra Modi daily. Politicians on the Left, in the Congress (which is much the same thing), in the Trinamool Congress, RJD and in AAP freely call the prime minister everything from a “demon” to a “fool”.
And that is as it should be. A liberal democracy thrives on combative politics.
So why the periodic clamour that India is spiralling down into the “Hindu Pakistan” abyss? The BJP government is partly to blame. Its messaging is amateurish, infrequent and unimpressive. In contrast, the Congress runs a slick operation. It has many distinguished rabbits it periodically pulls out of a well-endowed hat.
Counter Modi legally? There’s Kapil Sibal, available on call. Trash DeMo in print? P Chidambaram does it every week in his column. Rubbish GST in public? Bank on Manmohan Singh, who’s rediscovered his voice after 10 years of silence.
The BJP’s lack of tactical finesse shows up time and again. Its TV spokespersons are either too timid or too aggressive. The prime minister doesn’t hold press conferences which is counter-productive.
Modi is the government’s most effective public face. A monthly press conference, taking tough questions head-on, is necessary in a liberal democracy. By not communicating regularly with the broader media in a structured two-way conversation, Modi makes the Opposition’s case stronger, not weaker.
Hindu Pakistan?
The comparison between a terrorist state like Pakistan (which condones murders on the grounds of blasphemy, has Constitutionally delegitimised Ahmadis, targets Shias and has driven out most of its post-Partition Hindu population) and an India that protects its Muslim minority scarcely deserves serious attention.
But are Muslims in fact protected in India? In some ways, yes, in others, no.
Madrasas get government grants, Wakf boards enjoy huge land largesse, the devout receive Haj subsidies, personal laws remain untouched.
Muslims are used as vote fodder every five years and packed off to their ghettos once they’ve voted for the Congress, TMC, SP, RJD, AIMIM, IUML and other parties which claim to be secular.
And yet, despite this cosmetic protection, Muslims have over the past 70 years been rendered India’s poorest, most backward group - poorer and more backward than even Dalits. Their sense of alienation has deepened since the BJP government took office.
All this doesn’t add up to India becoming a “Hindu Pakistan”, but it does show up the BJP as a party that needs to up its game.
First, be socially liberal. India is a young country. It is also a deeply religious country. Don’t use religion to promote regressive ideologies. Films, art and literature are the essence of liberal democracies. Any attempt to throttle them - even if they “hurt” the sentiments of a particular community - may win the BJP majoritarian votes but will eventually lose it majoritarian respect.
Second, stay out of people’s lives. Aadhaar is a great idea but to link it to every aspect of a citizen’s life makes the BJP government look like Big Brother.
Third, be more relaxed about people’s eating habits. I’m vegetarian. That doesn’t mean I impose my views on even my family who (proud Hindus, all) are non-vegetarian.
Fourth, worship cows, but don’t allow a single case of cow vigilantism. It brings out the worst in Hindu extremists. It also allows half-baked commentators to conflate Hindu extremists with Pakistani terrorists and advance their fictitious “Hindu Pakistan” narrative.
That narrative allows congenitally Indiaphobic media like The New York Times to peddle silly innuendos about “Hindu nationalism”. Its recent disgrace of an article on saris and Hindu nationalism is just one example of how Asians writing for foreign media (in this case Asgar Qadri) ingratiate themselves with their Western bosses by upbraiding India at every opportunity. “Hindu Pakistan” trips off the tongues of ex-desi commentators with practised ease. It earns them brownie points and enhances their career prospects.
India has the most pro-Muslim laws of any country where Muslims are not a majority. Britain, which like India also has a strong liberal anti-Islamaphobic movement, does not however hesitate to expel hate-spewing Muslim clerics. India hasn’t dared to do so even with those Maulvis who call for the prime minister’s beheading.
It is this dichotomy that India must overcome. In practice, India protects Muslims with minority-favouring laws. In popular perception, especially among motivated foreign writers, India discriminates against Muslims.
Both are misleading. In practice, the government must empower minorities with non-discriminatory treatment and equal opportunities. Simultaneously, it must stop mollycoddling them with cosmetic sops like quotas, Haj subsidies, unchallenged Waqf land rights and funds for madrasas. Treat Muslims like first-class citizens, not a group at whom you throw secular crumbs.
Muslims must for their part regard themselves as Indians first. If you want to belong to the 21st century, you must leave behind the interpretations of those who lived in the 7th century.