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BJP National Executive which was scheduled to hold its meeting in Jaipur had to change the venue to New Delhi (1-2 June 2008) because of the recent Gurjar protests. I just went through the text of Rajnath Singh’s speech on the occasion and it is a message to the party to start preparing for the 2009 parliamentary elections.
Fresh from its impressive victory in Karnataka, Rajnath Singh starts off by congratulation party cadres on the achievement and exudes confidence that the trend will be repeated in other South Indian states.
The blossoming of the ‘Lotus’ in Karnataka is a message of the blossoming of lotus in South India, the long term impact of which will be visible in the years to come. [Rajnath Singh, New Delhi, 1st June 2008]
I am not sure how to read this statement but in the latest by-elections in Telangana that came just after Karnataka polls, BJP was relegated to an also-ran behind TRS, Congress and TDP. There is no chance of BJP doing remotely well on its own in Kerala, Tamil Nadu or Andhra Pradesh in the near future. I understand that Rajnath’s message is for the party cadres but this is just false hope.
Our winning streak over the last two years in Punjab, Uttarakhand, Gujarat, Himachal and now in Karnataka will not halt. I am confident that in November 2008, with the support of the people, we will hoist the flag of victory in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Delhi and Chhattisgarh. Thereafter, in the elections that will take place in March-April 2009, the NDA will form the government at the centre and the people of the country will hand over the reins of the country to our beloved leader Shri Lal Krishna Advaniji by giving the responsibility of Prime Ministership to him. [Rajnath Singh, New Delhi, 1st June 2008]
The only trend that is hard to beat in India is anti-incumbency vote. Congress paid the cost in Punjab, Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh. Gujarat bucked the trend because of good governance (and a credible alternative) as did Sheila Dikshit in Delhi in the last assembly elections. Similarly BJP will find it difficult to defend Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chattisgarh. Sans Uma Bharti who led the party to victory in the last elections and was then unceremoniously removed has formed her own regional party now. While she doesn’t have the organization strength to win seats, she definitely can play spoilt-sport for BJP. Combined with anti-incumbency factor, it will be an uphill climb for BJP in Madhya Pradesh. Vasundhara Raje, the chief-minister of Rajasthan, faces a messy Gurjar issue which is turning into a lose-lose situation for her. Chhattisgarh has seen some of the worst Naxal violence in recent years and the response of the state government has been to set up private militias called Selva Judum! CM Raman Singh is not exactly known for his government’s performance and winning the elections in November will not be easy.
Then their is the curious case of projecting LK Advani as the Prime Ministerial candidate for NDA. I am not sure if the existing allies of BJP and those who have left NDA would be open to the idea of Advani leading the government. Then, let’s face it, it is his age. He will be 81 years in 2009 and with an increasingly younger electorate in India, he seems to be an odd choice. However, Rajnath’s pronouncement will at least lay to rest the constant bickering among the second generation BJP leaders for the PM candidature.
Other major issues that Rajnath covers in his speech are price rise, food crisis, farmer’s package, sixth pay commission, terrorism, Bangladeshi infiltrators, foreign policy, anti-national demands by Congress allies, Sri Ram Setu, judicial criticism of the Congress government and the use of word “dharmanirpeksh”.
It is interesting that he gives more consideration (492 words to 381) to Bangladeshi infiltrators than to foreign policy. Nuclear deal is mentioned in passing and (surprise) bemoans the state of relationship between India and Russia.
One no longer sees the same warmth as earlier with Russia which has been one of our oldest and most intimate allies. [Rajnath Singh, New Delhi, 1st June 2008]
There is no mention of continuing with the foreign policy initiatives of the Vajpayee government and undo the damage UPA government has done nor any insight on resolving the nuclear deal issue. BJP has come to realize that more people in India oppose nuclear deal than support it and the majority of Indians don’t care about it anyway. So instead of taking a non-partisan approach on the issue while looking at future, BJP is content to playing politics with it.
Talking about politics, he mentions as an afterthought the navigational uses of Ram Setu project only after underlying its religious importance. And there is no mention of Ram Mandir at all. Clearly, BJP has resigned itself to being a peripheral player in Uttar Pradesh politics for years to come. More importantly, this signature issue of BJP does not resonates with its base (and certainly not the electorate) as much as it used to do in the past. The word Hindutva is not mentioned in the speech once!
He also laments the lack of adequate tools for governmental agencies to fight terrorism. No one disputes the fact that terrorism in India needs to be dealt with severely but with NDA coming up with laws that have been used as threats to Indian citizens (POTA meN band kar duuNgaa) than actually threatening terrorists, and with UPA scrapping them altogether instead of developing proper checks and balances, the terrorists continue killing Indians with impunity.
Rajnath in his speech also raises a new issue which is about the usage of word “dharmanirakpeksh” as a translation for secularism. He instead favors using “panthnirakpeksh” which is the actual Hindi translation in the Constitution. But before he makes this point he belabors the fact that the words secular and socialist were included in the Indian constitution in the 1970s which he says should not have been done. Now, you can either protest against the inclusion of the word secular in the Indian constitution or you can fight for its proper usage but you can’t do both.
Then he goes off into a rant on why the Indian state can never be ”dharmanirakpeksh” (neutral to dharma) because dharma does not have any religious connotations and why we actually meant sects when we used the word secularism.
Friends, there is a big difference in being “Dharmanirpeksh” and “Panthnirpeksh”. Panth or sect symbolizes devotion towards any specific belief, specific way of prayer and specific form of God but Dharma symbolizes absolute and eternal values which can never change like laws of nature. For example one can say Dharma is like the earth or land while Panth is like different paths built over it. Our mind can chose any path, change from one path to another, we can hold different views about the various paths but how can we ever get separated from the earth?
“Dharmapran Nation” means a nation whose actual consciousness is imbibed in Dharma. India is a “Dharmapran” nation and this is evident from Amarnath in the extreme north to Sabarimala Temple in the extreme south, and in Haridwar, Nasik, Ujjain and Prayag where one can see Kumbh Melas in perpetual occurrence. [Rajnath Singh, New Delhi, 1st June 2008]
One could have easily mistaken Rajnath as a philosopher in front of an appreciative crowd after reading the first paragraph. However, the politician in him gives away in the second paragraph. Amarnath, Sabarimala, Haridwar, Nasik, Ujjain and Kumbh mela symbolizes dharma to which the state can’t remain neutral! Where have I heard this before? Clergymen in Saudi Arabia or embattled politicians in Pakistan taking the easy route in difficult circumstances? Folks, if there was any pronouncement for a Hinduization of polity in India then this is it.
Then he credits (gasp) Indira Gandhi for being the only person who understood not only secularism but also its essence when the word was translated as “panthnirakpeksh”.
Probably by understanding these very sentiments, even in the Constitution the word Panthnirpeksh was written. The use of the term Dharmanirpeksh instead ofPanthnirpeksh is not only incorrect, unconstitutional, not only against all the national symbols of India but also against the very basis of the real and perpetual ethos of our great nation. The level of pervasion and confusion created in both politics and among the public by the inappropriate use of the word is unimaginable. This also hurts our identity and traditions. India has always been a Panthnirpeksh or sect neutral country. Here from Shaivism, Vaishnavism, Shakht to Jainism, Buddhism and Sikhism many sects have flourished. [Rajnath Singh, New Delhi, 1st June 2008]
Note how he uses Shaivism and Vaishnavism and then appends Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism as other panths (sects). Conspicuous by their absence in this grand scheme of things are Islam and Christianity. Damn those intruders!
In his concluding remarks Rajnath throws in Uniform Civil Code and Article 370 for good measure as passing remarks suggesting yet again that BJP intends to exploit these issues for political purposes without even trying to resolve them. With its penchant for two worded phrases, it was no surprise that he came up with another one, cultural nationalism. Whatever happened to integral humanism?
A lot of people had hopes that BJP will charter a new course in Indian politics and Vajpayee did offer an alternative while making significant achievements at home and abroad. BJP, stung after its defeat in 2004 elections, seems to be going back to its original divisive politics and discarding the moderation of Vajpayee era. In all fairness, Advani did try to ditch his baggage with his Jinnah remarks but the RSS was all over him. Now, he has resigned himself to the fact that the only way he can be PM candidate is by being in the good books of Sangh Parivar. Rajnath with no mass base of his own is happy doing the bidding of RSS. It is hard to imagine that he would have given so much importance to the “dharmanirpeksh” issue otherwise. Will the umbilical cord be ever cut?
The full text of Rajnath’s speech can be read at BJP website.
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‘Then he credits (gasp) Indira Gandhi for being the only person who understood not only secularism but also its essence when the word was translated as “panthnirakpeksh”.’
i don’t find anything surprising with that.. the parivar has always held her in higher esteem than some of its in-house leaders. and vajpayee and advani an several other luminaries have openly expressed their admiration for her.. modi follows her methods. and for many other potential chief/prime ministers from the parivar, indira gandhi would be always be an almost spiritul role model.
Islam is not Dharma so its natural to exclude it from any Dharmic reference. The Dharmic spirituality transcends One God , Last Prophet kind of limitations on Universal Divine. Followers of Islam should not object if Islam is excluded from any Dharmic discourse because IsIam is the very antithesis of Dharma, 2 very different way of perceving the Truth. One is Infinte while other is limited and conditioned .
The unexpected victory in Karnataka, made the leaders of BJPso eleted that they were floating on the ninth cloud! The Gujjar agitation cut off Rajasthan! So the venue of the nataional executive had to be hurriedly shifted to New Delhi.
True to their tradition, the President, Rajnath Singh,exuded confidence of winning Rajasthan, MP, Chattisgarh and Delhi in November,2008 and in April, 2009 the centre!
People inside the venue and outsde were worrying about the mismanagement of Gujjar agitation in Rajasthan,Scam of over Rs. 100 crores and resignation of a Minister in MP, naxal threat in Chattisgarh and want of a leader to be named as CM of Delhi.
To please the remote controls, he religiously mentioned, their “stock-in trad” items : uniform civil code,abolition of special status to J& K state.and Ram sethu1
Then verbal canons were shot at UPA govt. over its mismanagement of the economy, being soft towards terrorism, vote bank politics, etc.
Then he took pains to sell theBJP version of :secularism’ in the constitution!
In the concluding address by the PM in waiting he pushed aside all these things and sang a new tune!
This estblishes that the party is suffering from internal contradictions.
Rajnath was thinking in terms of BJP workersonly. Advani harped on NDA!
People have got fed up with double speak and cavalier way of governance.
(Note:- I am sorry for writing an article here but still less to bring out all the points. I am taking some paragraphs from articles of reputed secular authors, some of them Muslims)
Mohib, I do agree that there is a gap between the BJP and a certain percentage of minorities. However, It will not help at all to build a case against BJP always amongst the minorities. RSS bashing has been the most common amongst many Muslim bloggers but some of their most notable works done for Muslims have almost been ignored.
Please look at Sangh’s role in the Bihar famine of 1966, floods in Bharatpur district of Rajasthan in May 1977, the Andhra Pradesh cyclone in November 1977, the Yamuna floods near Delhi in 1978, the Morvi Dam disaster in August 1979, the Assam riots in February 1983, the Bhopal Gas tragedy in December 1984, the Gujarat drought in 1987-88, the Kerala train tragedy near Quilon in July 1988, the Uttar Kashi earthquake in UP in October 1991, the Latur earthquake in Maharashtra in 1993, the plague epidemic in Surat in 1994, the mid-air collision disaster of Saudi Arab and Kazak aircraft at Charkhi-Dadri in Haryana, in November 1996, the fire tragedy in HPCL’s refinery at Vishakhapatnam in September 1997 and the Champa train accident in Madhya Pradesh in 1997. In each of these, the Sangh was the first to come with succor and victims in many of these cases were only Muslims.
In Militant hit Kashmir RSS adopted 100 Muslim children and have taken their full responsibility of their education and upbringing In Islamic values. Please see this article from a Saudi Muslim author about RSS role to help Muslim victims.
http://www.hvk.org/articles/1296/0030.html
Inaugurating one famine relief centre at Nawda, near Gaya, during the Bihar famine, Jayaprakash Narayan said on February 6, 1967: “None, not even the prime minister of the country can equal the selfless service of the swayamsevaks of RSS.”
In the midst of the Andhra cyclone relief work, Indira Gandhi chided the Congressmen that ‘I see only RSS men work in the affected area.’ And The Hindu of Chennai reporting on the work there of the RSS cadres wrote “The real heroes of the relief operations are these young men and women from different parts of the country who have gone there as a matter of conscientious duty, responding promptly to the call of their leaders for selfless service in an area that is quite remote from their homes.” And on March 22, 1978, then Andhra chief minister Chenna Reddy said “What the RSS is doing today, the government will be doing tomorrow.”
During the Morvi disaster that occurred during Ramzan, the Sangh provided nearly 4,000 Muslims, lodged in relief camps, with necessary facilities to go through their religious rites without break even for a single day, with food being cooked for them in the early hours of the day and served to them before sunrise. No wonder Tughlak of Chennai wrote: ‘People in Morvi look upon swayamsevaks as Gods!’ And The Hindustan Times wrote ‘Apart from manning scores of relief camps and helping the residents move back to their houses, RSS volunteers have been removing and cremating dead corpses that nobody else would touch. Service to humanity and alleviation of the sufferings of uprooted countrymen is an Endeavour that admits of no ideological or partisan considerations.’
About the Kerala tragedy caused by 14 bogies of Island Express plunging into the Ashtamudi Lake, Matrubhoomi wrote ‘While all others were hesitant and stood closing their nostrils, the swayamsevaks of the RSS volunteered to remove the decomposed bodies submerged in the backwaters.’
You are forgetting that when the Machu reservoir embankments breached, thousands of people became homeless and most of them were Muslims in it. The Swayamsevaks took care to organize food and relief to the victims and not to forget this calamity happened during Ramadan and Swayamsevaks took every care in the food keeping in mind the Roza norms and made every effort to provide prayer facilities for the victims and not to forget the Gujarat earthquake where several Muslims and Hindus became homeless. R.S.S again worked for relief without any discrimination. Does this quality of Rashtriya Swayamsevaks make it a communal organization?
RSS workers were in 1992 at Babri masjid site asking people to go back and not touch the mosque. The real reasons still need to be investigated and foreign hands such as Pakistan or even congress party on that fateful day need to be investigated thoroughly. There were mischief mongers who gave a final hulla boo on that day and these were nowhere associated with any hindutva organisation. I know you will come down with 2002 riots now. I will strongly reason that the hindutva voices should revisit themselves and if it is portraying aggression to its opponents then an effort should be made to remove that image. The younger generation should have a forgiving attitude about the past history and need to know that 90% of Indian Muslims have Hindu blood flowing in their veins. The younger generation is restless and each bomb blast and hindu carnage seems to them the continuation of the Muslim atrocities done on them through ages. I know the older generations like my father or even middle generations like me have shared lots of fun and joy with Muslims. Many of them have adopted titles such as syeds or their surnames to show their close proximity to Prophets Clan but a genetic study even amongst 75% pakistanis will remove their misconceptions.
The younger people need to mix to remove inhibitions. A tit for tat approach or blood for blood is not the culture and dharma of this nation. RSS should stand for what it has always been for ‘’Ready for selfless service.’’
Also, I will like to add that BJP or RSS had no role to play in Gujurat riots. It is mere propanganda based on movies and documentaries floated out by Congress and Communists. There are fringe hindutva groups who might have feelings against a section of minorities but by and large BJP has been a mainstream political party and RSS has been involved in social service.
Cases such as CD case or tehelka exposures are generally done at time of elections to simulate people. The political power play in this nation has steeped below a certain level which should never have been the case. So if a BJP goverment is short of ony 2 or 3 Mlas then every effort is made to destabilise it whether its in goa or Jharkhand or in centre.
The BJP goverment wherever they have been have safeguarded minority rights and have worked for development of all. If you take a sneak peak at godhra riots then the very perperators of that act were getting support from many journalists like you have kashif on this site defending just about any culprit. The secularists were busy trying to show that this was a mere accident and people were rejoicing that this is the way we will scare hindus.
People were ignoring how young people were getting restless but for the secularists it was an accident. For Muslim modertes it was a time to look into Quran to express that Islam is Peace and divinity is one. For Muslim fundamentalists it was a time for rejoice. Still I will maintain that the goverment should have taken steps to tame these restless young people. The situation was belatedly controlled and fairly enough Modi is still blamed for its handling. However Modi in real life is no Hindu or religious. He is an administrator, a firm man who likes to deliver and believes in econmoic growth for all.There is definitely no place in his scheme of things such as Hindus or Muslims. He is there for Gujurat. Politicians should learn from him in the development aspect and programs he has in place and should defintely not play exclusive politics for anyone. However as i said he will be blamed for his handling of the riots and at some time he should make efforts to reach to Muslims. He has done some but again media has its bias in projections.
If you have a look right from pre independance to this day Hindu leaders have been stabbed, killed and sabotaged and even to this day such things happen. Even now Hindus in their own country are refugees and they are attacked just because they call themselves hIndus. Their beliefs is ridiculed because people believe that the divine is only one. Just divide that one by zero and you get infinity. To range bound God itself is illogical because if he is everywhere then he has to be infinite.
Things should be looked holistically and propaganda shold not be considered truth. But as the story goes you will have your biases and probably we ours.
“RSS workers were in 1992 at Babri masjid site asking people to go back and not touch the mosque. The real reasons still need to be investigated and foreign hands such as Pakistan or even congress party on that fateful day need to be investigated thoroughly.”
Mahesh, if this is the case, then the onus of proving it is on RSS, no point making conspiracy theories. ur article lost credibility when u did that. i’m personally familiar with the work done by RSS, surely dedicated ppl can do wonders – and most important of that wonders is inspiring ppl.
i agree we all need to change our attitudes, myself included. first of all, we need to agree on some basic minimum common values, like the human values, freedom, equality etc. then we have some kind of working model for all indians (why all humans).
1. “The real reasons still need to be investigated and foreign hands such as Pakistan or even congress party on that fateful day need to be investigated thoroughly.”
Shades of Ghulam Mohammed!
2. “90% of Indian Muslims have Hindu blood flowing in their veins.”
I’ve been curious abt this for a long time, the Hinduness of blood. Is it more likely that each IM has their blood in a 90:10 ratio, 90% Hindu and 10% Muslim
How much of that blood is brahmin, how much kshatriya etc. are queries I have never been able to resolve to my satisfaction. I await further instruction.
3. “BJP or RSS had no role to play in Gujurat riots. It is mere propanganda based on movies and documentaries floated out by Congress and Communists.”
Are you for real, sir? The fringe hindutva elements you talk about are not nearly as separate from these two as you would like to believe.
4. “right from pre independance to this day Hindu leaders have been stabbed, killed and sabotaged and even to this day such things happen.Even now Hindus in their own country are refugees and they are attacked just because they call themselves hIndus.”
Assiduously cultivated, a minority victim complex can be built up even within a majority community. Easier with Hindus because of the various internal divisions. The victim complex helps because all violence indulged in from that state can be portrayed as defensive or retaliatory.
I’m sorry about the Kashmiri Pandits, they have been ‘used’ by all parties including I think the BJP. But what is this about “Hindus in their own country”? I dont see this written about Guj Muslims post 2002 riots, as an example. Whose country were they in?
Ive noted IMs occasionally giving the Ghulam Mohds a pass. But if you turn this around, why arent more of us calling out this kind of writing?
5. “…you will have your biases and probably we ours.”
Whew! Thanks for this. At least you leave some provision of considering your biases.
rgds,
Jai
PS: I do have some respect for the relief and rehab activities of the RSS (but please note LeT was also active the same way after earthquake in PoK). I dont think they were the only guys around as Mahesh seems to be claiming. The split personality of the RSS is kinda puzzling.
Triple,
I agree that the onus should be on RSS and no conspiracy theories need to be floated. I agree. Maybe my reasoning started because of this unabated RSS bashing.
Jai,
Ghulam Mohammed may also have a point but wholly and largely my point is that people who are just about blaming RSS for nothing should be informed.
The dual personality of RSS. Hmmm. RSS stands for India and Indians and not For Muslims or even Hindus. And that is the whole reason of the organisation.
You develop a particular community based on a strong identity but this community then starts looking at everything from their perspective.
And defintely the ills for hindu society need to be removed. This does not at all means hindu unity. RSS has never given cries of Unity on hinduism but they have worked amounts amongst all sections of hindu society and even elsewhere. For them their is no place for identity politics.
As for Let doing social service. Do they have members from all sections of people. Do they espouse violence openly? Are they into social service always? Are they into nation building or working for removal of ills from society? It is good that many Indians like you Jai always give these ideas of equating Let with RSS and these ideas then strongly find their basis amongst many muslims. For RSS they don’t care as long as they have their objectives clear but for me personally I care allthough I do am opposed to Islamic fundamentalism the way I have seen it. But then why do I come to this site and others. It is not because of any RSS motive. Their stature is far larger. Maybe many amongst them will feel that no explanation please. Just work. But then I have to give the true side of story. If it is all about RSS opposed to Muslims then they should know the entirety and what I have given is tip of the iceberg. Just go to any shakha and their is no Muslim bashing as it is imagined. Infact many Muslims find reverence.
Mahesh_T:
I don’t know how real your experiences with the RSS are. I acknowledge that there are good elements in it, as in any organization. However, you will not have much credibility if you try to deny things that everybody knows about the RSS. About the organizations that are part of the “family” – like the VHP and BD, amongst others. Most Indians have had some direct or indirect experience with the organizations. Hence, it is not really sensible to try and pull wool over people’s eyes. It will not work.
I don’t believe the RSS is quite the equivalent of the LeT. There is simply no comparison. Even the VHP/BD do not quite compare. But to suggest that the RSS is all about milk and honey is also inaccurate and would reduce the credibility of any other comments you make.
Girish,
I understand what you are saying? But is your bias media based or you have actually been to any shakha?
However I am not from RSS but have seen them closely. They are not against Muslims but they defintely want that votes should not be asked based on Muslims or Christians and thats a period for them. They dont explain allegations against them or involve in PR and thats where they are beaten down in a pseudo secular nation .
Here an Afzal makes a statement and becomes a hero. People lose sleep because of atrocities on minority. Gujarat lingers on and on and people say that we wont move forward until this and that. The county is abused, misused blatantly. Communists swear allegiance to china and still have the guts to make statements because they are percieved secular. (The statements made by them about minorities notwithstanding). Nandigram is in Bins. But its the RSS who talks about protection of an ancient culture and its adherents that have to be blamed.
Jai, its not a majority complex. Can you introspect and see where the energy of this nation is going. Making People happy based on their identities and do you see this situation slowing down. There are many police officers in North east both from BSF and police who have been reposted just because they questioned illegal immigrants. And again immediately anyone raising this question becomes communal. The BSF officer who went to meet the BDR officially peacefully was killed and why India remained Mum?
Kashmiri pandits! Hmm well they were always a political ammunition. Peace be to them as their civilisation is allready lost and has no hope left as whatever will be left will be removed from a jahaliyat world.
Well even I dont believe that the RSS and LeT are equivalent*, my remark was specific to the relief and rescue activities. I had some friends who were at some point associated with RSS. Per them, there is no specific targeting of other communities there. Yet the narrow vision of “India-born” and “external” cultures they get there seems to help them do stuff like this below:
– a peaceful convention of Xtians praying to a local saint, regular annual feature, once had RSS teams marching across their path lathi and all. They marched around and right back, recrossing the procession. They sure werent paying their respects or sadbhaavna, they seemed to be declaring ‘turf rights’ like some local dada.
There *is* considerable distance from being the local bully to bombing and killing people. I consider RSS to be the base camp or primary school on this pyramid though. Maybe Tablighe is comparable. I believe those who are dis-satisfied with this level (anger, show of strength, otherness not amounting to serious hate) graduate on to higher levels to be had in the BD and VHP. Luckily my friends ‘flunked’ even primary school
The Bajrang and VHP types are evil in my book. There may be some there who havent indulged in violence themselves but at least propagated hate speech and incited violence. That’s bad enough. And the difference when it comes to violence is moot? Only methods vary. Mob riots are acts of terror regardless of the composition of the mob.
Thx,
Jai
Jai,
People have to get matured and time is the best teacher.
As for your friends failing you can also see some of the Phd’s and many IIT/IIM grads who have worked selflessly in RSS. Again you have seen one side of picture.
BJP understands that in a democratic country they have to work for minorities as a large group sitting and hating them is not good. I guess its anyone’s bet why they focussed their energies to woo others and not Muslims during elections but in all goverment formations they have made positive efforts to reach out to all segments. Also if the BJP and Muslims do come together then I feel all the hype and bola of the pseudo secular parties will be down the drain. They should come and work for their development rather than lettng them exploited as Muslims. Politicians, Their clergy and many more will be happy to play around and mess with issues and naturally those ones will find opposition within RSS. This way the gap between RSS and Muslims increases. I can give an example such as Haj subsidy. RSS feels its not essential. The Muslims feel its not essential but who will bell the cat. Let this money be diverted to social weaker sections. Let Muslims shed a partisan identity and mix out amongst a broader Indian one. Allah is just another way to say God and India has full place for it.
Mahesh,
1. “BJP understands that in a democratic country they have to work for minorities as a large group sitting and hating them is not good.”
I hope you agree that doing something for somebody because you *have to*, to *avoid their hate* is not the same as doing even the same thing for people that you consider to be *one of yourselves*. You, Mahesh_T, as any other human being will doubtless have the ability to distinguish between these two actions even if identical externally and you will discriminate accordingly between the doers.
2. “Let Muslims shed a partisan identity…”
The Indian identity consists of multiple sub-identities of which the Muslim is a broad component, itself not as monolithic as we may think.
There are some very nuanced points of agreement too, too complex to get across here. I dont think we will be able to cover any more ground here. Thanks for the discussion anyway.
rgds,
Jai
The central point is Sri Rajnathji’s speech at the National Executive meet of BJP.He was trying to revive the Hidutva agenda of BJP.
It may be recalled that dissatisfied with the extemism of Savarkar of All India Hindu Mahasabha, SP Mukherjee founded the Bharathiya Jan Sangh to So Muslims also were enrolled as member, so as to emerge as a national alternative to thr Congress!
Howeer. RSS thecntral controlling forcewas fine tunining Hindutva revivalism! IN 2003, the RSS wanted BJP to mbe close to Israel and welcomed Ariel Sharon, the Israeli PM. From that day terrorism struck many points in Indiua!
Those interested in India’s future are sure to look down upon those who admix “religion” and “politics” in the two prominent communities.
The jehadis and sangh parivar’s “exclusivism” will not carry either to any forward position but foolishly attempt to go back into the womb of anciet times!”These organisations have outlived their respective utiloities.They are the loadstones on th neck of the twocommunities.
Time has come for India to”awake. arise and rest not tillthe goal is achieved!”
WE ae obliged to make history and not get lost in our ancient history!
Further, despite the sangh parivar’s cultural policing, Indian youth are accepting and celebrating so many days, to cite a few, New Year’s day, Valentine day, Mother’s day, Fater’s day. etc.
With so much fanfare BJP established its own first govt. in Bangalore!Hardly within a month the developments there due to BJP members makes BJP hang its head inshame!
By now, people here and abroad have come to be convinced that political parties are political entities only, they are utilising the religion for heir political mileage only.
So try to build a new secular all India party rather than try to revive a dying horse!
Hello,
First of all let me congratulate the creators of this website for the quality, general thoughtfulness and balance of the post that at least I have read.
I do however want to bring to your notice the importance of making the distinction between ‘Panthnirpeksh’ and ‘Dharmanirpeksh’ from my philosophical perspective as a Hindu, where Dharma means righteous conduct without reference to any religious tenets. To say that it should not be material whether India is referred to as neutral to righteous conduct, is as unpalatable to my thinking as looking upon the nation as a deity that one should bow to is unpalatable to an Indian Muslim in the context of the ‘Vande Mataram’ debate, I read discussed in another article on this site. I fully agree that recital of Vande Mataram should be voluntary and not turned into a certificate of patriotism by any party. I would hope that you would at least consider that making the distinction between ‘Panthnirpeksh’ and ‘Dharmanirpeksh’ is not just a matter of semantics.
Hopefully it is possible to have a civil conversation where people can understand each other as I whole-heartedly agree that political parties are utilizing religion for their political mileage only and Indians of all persuasions need an alternative.
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