The BJP’s Hindutva Confusion
The Bharatiya Janata Party has positioned itself as the only party that cares for Hindu causes. Any other party that tries to position itself closer to Hindus will have their Hindu credentials questioned by BJP. This can be seen anytime Rahul Gandhi visits a temple, Sashi Tahroor talks of Hindutva vs Hinduism or when self declared Marxist atheists of CPI-M are seen doing Hindu rituals. BJP also questions TMC’s Mamata Banerjee for all her anti-Hindu actions in West Bengal. And thus, BJP acts as a guardian to interests of the Hindu community. Hindus, too, in turn view BJP and the greater Sangh parivaar, mainly the VHP and RSS, in this regard, as protectors of Hindus and Hinduism or Hindutva.
However, despite all of this the BJP seems confused. It has been four years into the five year term of this BJP majority Government and the anti-Hindu laws remain in force. In fact, now they are implemented with more vigor and zeal. It is even more unbelievable that nobody seems to question BJP’s claim on Hindu voters, be it Congress or any opposition party or from any journalist or media house that lie day in and day out to corner when real issues exist that will resonate with voters, that will show BJP’s hypocrisy and incompetence.
Just take the Right to Education (RTE) law for example. It a much talked about topic. From its various shortcomings to its good points, why it is needed, what can be improved is talked about and discussed in news paper editorials and TV debates. However, one aspect that does not get highlighted is the religious discrimination by RTE against Hindus. As per RTE law a school under it needs to fulfill various extremely difficult to meet requirements, but schools run by minorities are exempt from all such requirements. The result is that in the country of Hindus, there are more missionary schools than Hindu schools because it is near impossible for Hindus to run and expand their schools. Even more baffling is the fact that BJP knows of the issue. In different interviews TV Mohandas Pai and ex-HRD Minister Smriti Irani have shown that they are aware of the issue. Yet, no action has been taken to remove this discrimination.
Or take the issue of temple control. India’s secular government by use of Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Act (HRCE) takes over temples and manages all their aspects. Such takeover of religious institution, too, is reserved only for Hindus. Misuse of temple funds and properties is infamous. BJP’s Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis is under fire for taking over more and more temples and misusing their funds. The anger in people is such that he is sometimes even called David Fernandez. Recently, the Maharashtra Government took away residential lands of Hindus next to a Hindu temple and gave it to the Muslim community to turned into a graveyard right next to the temple!
In fact, the Lingayat demand for being called a separate religion is, in principle, a result of these two problems. The community cannot manage its temples or run educational institutes as long as they are considered Hindu. Since, the Constitution of India is actively hostile towards Hindus, communities don’t want to be labeled as Hindu. Seeing this, when BJP criticizes Congress for trying to divide Hindu, we have to ask why don’t they prove their Hindutva by removing these discriminatory laws.
The BJP always accuses opposition of appeasement, yet the Appeasement Ministry started by Sonia Gandhi continues to run and today Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi has not only expanded UPA era appeasement policies but has introduced new and worse ways to do so. These policies are massively funded in the name of Sabka Saath Sabka Vikaas. What the BJP doesn’t answer is if these policies are for Sabka Vikaas, then why are they only available to minorities. Why not abolish the Appeasement Ministry and make these policies open for all communities? Why is the Appeasement Minister always a Muslim and never a Jain, Buddhist, Sikh, Parsi or Christian? After all these are also minority communities in India. But in secular India, Minority is just a euphemism for Muslims and Hindutvawadi BJP doesn’t seem above appeasement politics despite them saying otherwise.
Despite all of this, BJP is the same party that put Mahant of Gorakshnathpeeth, Yogi Aditynath on the Chief Minister’s post in the most populous state of India. And he has been steadily pursuing Hindutva issues. BJP’s Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh Shivraj Singh Chouhan too has been doing so. The BJP’s Chattisgarh government under Raman Singh has been cracking down on Naxals and in Jharkhand the government has been raiding evangelist NGOs. The Central Government has also started something like a crackdown on FCRA funding of NGOs.
But none of this advertised like it should be. Neither are these actions pursued with the intensity that they should be pursued with. The BJP tries to do these things almost secretly so that no media attention is attracted, making the pursuit very slow and infuriating their support base in the process. Why is the BJP so confused on how to pursue the core issue of its ideology? This remains a mystery. After all, the founder Dr. Shyama Prasad Mukherjee knew precisely how to do it. The ideologues of BJP like Deen Dayal Upadhyaya, Veer Savarkar, Guru Golwarkar were very clear on what the ideology is, they were almost prophetic on what the problem are and, very clearly, they gave the solutions.
One speculation is that BJP is scared of being called communal and other names. It seems extremely insecure and at the slightest negative coverage it will be seen on the defensive. Very rarely it will come out swinging at the media. Anytime it happens, BJP looks like a deer caught in the headlights. Another speculation is an irrational need for approval. For the last almost sixty years a particular ecosystem had an iron grip on the public discourse and narrative. This ecosystem decided what should be termed as good, what is bad and who is an intellectual, who should get awards and so on. And despite the fact that this ecosystem has always been against BJP and RSS, BJP seem very eager to please them and get some sort of pat on the back, almost like a child trying to get loved by the step-mother who hates the child. The media’s treatment of Narendra Modi is proof that that will never happen.
For some reason the BJP has not reconciled with the fact that the people of India don’t care for what the media says anymore. Narendra Modi’s victory is proof of that. They tried everything to ensure he loses, but we still made him the Prime Minister. Until BJP recognises this, it will remain confused on the Hindutva front.
