The riots have burned Delhi while people are dying slow painful deaths. This is what we have come down to as a country, as a civilization under Modi’s Hindutva agenda and divisive rule.
It’s berserk… the state of this country! The capital is burning and the mainstream media is busy glorifying an event that is all pomp and show for two leaders too desperate to divert attention from their doings.
Scores killed, hundreds injured, a Mosque, homes, children being burnt, women beaten, open gunshots– people dying slow painful deaths in every corner of this city. This is what India has come down to as a country in an era where politics of polarization has attained normalcy.
Behold people this is the true Gujarat Model that Prime Minister Narendra Modi promised. Acche din, anyone?
The politics of polarization is reflected in recent Delhi riots thanks to Modi’s Hindutva agenda. The 36 hours that the US President Donald Trump was in India, the country has swiftly taken a communal turn. While Narendra Modi and Donald Trump sat comfortably in Hyderabad House discussing a modern, unified India, across the city rioters were leaving a trail of blood and dead bodies.
Back in 2002, similar politics of polarization took Gujarat by the storm and shocked all of India. Modi was the CM. He had held his silence then, and he is silent now. Visuals in 2020 are no different. Seems like it’s just the number that has jumbled in passing years the state of the country has stayed the same.
The Politics of Polarization
Back in 2014, India’s socio-political dynamics were very thrilling. As a nation we had just suffered Nirbhaya, the anti-corruption movement was at its peak – the youth was ‘woke’ outspoken and aware thanks to the rise of social media. As a young journalist, I had the privilege of watching 2014 elections from a newsroom.
Enter Narendra Modi, then Gujarat Chief Minister who rose to power with the help of the original poster boy of BJP’s Hindutva agenda, Lal Krishan Advani. Modi was the star campaigner for BJP, he was the chaiwallah with CEO approach who would usher the country and its people into a digital, prosperous age. What a lucrative bait?
He won with a massive mandate not once but twice in the past decade based on the validation and fantasy of populism. And with him came demonetization, global condemnation of India’s financial policies, sloppy economy and government’s divisive ways.
I fail to understand how a country of billions can be fooled twice. The country that now feels the angst, anger and distress over the current scenario had chosen him knowing well Modi is the poster child of Hindutva agenda, communal inclination and brand of politics. So maybe, Narendra Modi is not the chowkidar this country needs but it truly DESERVES!
The Politics of Hindutva
Let’s take a look at the ‘Hindutva’ philosophy that our dear PM is so fond of. Coming from an RSS background, Hindutva is in Modi’s blood and thought process. Hindutva that’s based on the philosophy of MS Golwalkar, RSS’ second chief. In his book, Bunch of Thoughts (It’s literally called that), Golwalkar has preached Hindu as the son and saviour of the land – the ideology has no Vedic roots but just the language. His book is still touted as the supreme ideology within Sangh Parivar. Another book that RSS takes very seriously is Veer Savarkar’s Hindutva: Who is a Hindu?
Advani, Modi, BJP all are just a byproduct of it including the current state of this country.
Hindu referred to people who lived beyond Indus in the regions of present-day India and Pakistan. Later the word was used by Aryans and Sanatan Dharma used the term to describe someone who believed in Hindu ideologies. It is to be noted that ancient texts such as Veda, Upanishad or Puranas don’t even utter word Hindu.
The word now is used to refer to people who believed in above mentioned ancient texts. However, the examples of byproducts of real Vedic teachings would be Krishna, Buddha, Mahavir, Ramkrishna Paramhansa, Swami Vivekanand and more.
So, if you look at it like this—when any media headlines say, ‘Modi has a Hindutva agenda.’ It’s an abuse to the ancient civilization that we are. A shame for the country which is looked upon for its ancient knowledge and teachings.
A civilization that birthed Ram, who acknowledge Ravana for the saint he was despite being an enemy. A nation on whose lands Moinuddin Chishti, Nizamuddin Auliya, Kabir, Mahavir, Bodhidharma, Guru Nanak and more found enlightenment under the same teachings that are (mis) used for divisive politics of polarization in India.
A Tryst With Destiny
A colleague recently pointed it out to me while reporting on Delhi’s state, “If you don’t call out bigotry, you’re a pseudo bigot.” It stayed with me giving me more angst. And in times like these I am reminded of what Jawaharlal Nehru said in his Tryst With Destiny speech, “A moment comes, which comes, but rarely in history, when we step out from the old to the new, when an age ends, and when the soul of a nation, long suppressed, finds utterance.”
So I can only hope that may we as a nation find utterance again, be united and step out from the old to the new free from the pseudo philosophies of nation’s chaiwallah cum chowkidar.
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