Wrapping up a three-day visit to
India in January, US President Barack Obama observed, “India will succeed so
long as it is not splintered along the lines of religious faith.”
He added that it was of utmost
importance that Indians understood that every person had “the right to practise
their faith how they choose or to practise no faith at all and to do so free
from persecution.”
Obama’s warning comes to mind as the
peculiar drama of meat bans plays itself out across the country.
There can be little doubt that this
is being seen as part of the anti-Muslim project of the extremist elements of
the Sangh Parivar.
Ideology
This is yet another manifestation of
the belief among many in the Parivar that Narendra Modi’s election triumph
victory was a victory for their pernicious ideology and not a consequence of
the failure of the UPA II in delivering economic growth to the country.
From the time the Modi government
took office, there has been a sharp uptick in communal violence accompanied by
a cacophony of declarations from Right-wing groups, promoting projects like
ghar wapsi and banning beef.
Modi himself has distanced himself
from such views, or, has chosen to keep silent.
He has sought to position himself as
a development- oriented prime minister and has, in his speeches, focused on
social issues.
Earlier this year, speaking at an
event organised by New Delhi’s Christian community, Modi emphatically declared,
“We cannot accept violence against any religion”.
In blunt terms, the mandate that
Modi has got was for economic growth and good governance.
At a time when people are awaiting a
transformation of the economy and its direct impact on their personal lives
they are bemused by the spectacle of our municipal and state governments
getting involved in banning meat and policing abattoirs to prevent the eating
of beef.
At one level it is being used as a
tool of political mobilisation, at another it is to distract the electorate
from the inability of the governments, state and local, to come to grips with
their substantive challenges.
Modi himself should be aware that
his government in New Delhi, too, is facing the test of credibility with regard
to its tall electoral promises and its performance.
People do not expect miracles to
happen overnight and will not, like media commentators, switch to an attack
mode overnight.
However, they do expect that the
government gets down to work on the real issues of the day instead of chasing
the will o’ the wisp.
Diversity
In a diverse country like India,
sectarian peace is something that must be prized.
One way to maintain it is to allow
communities to live with their customs and traditions and define their own pace
of change.
This is the premise of Indian
secularism which has ensured that India’s 170 million Muslim population has
been remarkably peaceable despite the pulls of extremism in the other parts of
the Islamic world.
But now Sangh Parivar hotheads appear
determined to push the Muslim community to the margins.
Given the numbers, that is simply
not a viable project and will instead result in a rendering of the country’s
social and political fabric.
Hindu faith
Actually, animal sacrifice is not
alien to the Hindu faith as anyone who has travelled to Nepal during dussehra
knows and visit any Puja pandal during the season you will find a great deal of
excellent non-vegetarian fare.
There are groups who tend to be
vegetarians.
But by no means can they be seen as
representatives of the Hindu faith.
Moreover, at what point does the
state decide that you can eat this and that, or wear this or that.
Could the Mumbai municipality decide
that men and women must cover their heads? How different is it from khaps which
ban jeans and cellphones for women?
The time has come for the BJP to be
more forthright in keeping its atavistic Parivar elements in line.
The agenda is development and its
mandate is for economic growth and good governance. If the BJP does not understand this,
it will pay the price for it the next time elections come around.
Unfortunately, that will be a messy
process, and the country would have lost another five years that it cannot
afford to lose.
Mail Today September 13, 2015
No comments:
Post a Comment