Demolition : A Continuum

IF ever any confirmation were needed, it has come in a stunning manner during the course of this turbulent decade.  And, that is the following: the demolition of the Babri Masjid was not an  individual isolated act of a frenzied communal mob but is a part of a  well-thought out   theoretical and ideological project that seeks to convert  the secular democratic republic of modern India into a fascistic  "Hindu Rashtra".

These years, particularly from 1998, when the BJP-led coalition came to control the reins of State power in the country, have  chillingly demonstrated the unfolding of this sinister agenda.  Their diabolic character is revealed by the manipulation of legal procedures subverting the law of the land preventing action against L K Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi and others in the case of criminal conspiracy to demolish the Masjid.  The recent Supreme  Court ruling to try the case afresh in the Rae Bariely courts throws back the process of justice by a decade. 

In the pursuit of this objective, the communal forces have adopted a two pronged strategy. On the one hand, they seek to generate a sort of a monolithic unity amongst the vast diversity within the community of Indians embracing Hindu religion, and, on the other, they generate  hate against enemies outside of the Hindu faith, i e the Muslims and the Christians. The entire propaganda machinery is based on the Nazi methodology of `superiority' of the Aryans and hatred of Jews. 

In fact, the ideological foundations for a Hindu Rashtra, were laid in the 20s by V D Savarkar. It was later adopted and an organisational structure provided for this by the RSS after its foundation in 1925 and particularly, in the period of the late thirties when the British inspired communal divide was exploited to the full.

This objective was articulated by none less than the former long serving RSS supremo M S Golwalkar way back in 1939 in a book titled, "We or our nationhood defined". His chilling fascist articulation of the RSS agenda continues to be the inspiration for the saffron brigade today.

Eminent intellectuals and patriots have described these later years of the decade as "forebodings of fascism", "pre-fascist upheaval" etc. This is all too visible in every sphere of our public life --   Rabid communal polarisation; fascist intolerance against everything and everybody that challenges the RSS variety of "Hindu Rashtra"; large-scale penetration of all institutions of democratic society by RSS people; contempt for the republican Constitution; unscrupulous maneouvres, manipulations and sordid bargaining  sans all principles and norms; heaping unprecedented economic burdens on the people; and rampant unmitigated corruption. 

The international experience of  fascism as generalised by Georgi Dimitrov, the indomitable anti-fascist fighter,  is being fully confirmed.  Dimitrov had said: "Fascism puts the people at the mercy of the most corrupt and venal elements but comes before them with the demand for `an honest and incorruptible government' speculating on the profound disillusionment of the masses…fascism adapts its demagogy to the peculiarities of each country.  And the mass of petty bourgeois and even a section of the workers, reduced to despair by want, unemployment and insecurity of their existence fall victim to the social and chauvinist demagogy of fascism". Recollect the RSS/BJP's continuous drone of claiming to be a "party with a difference".  The litany of corruption, scandals and  scams under this government  has put everybody but the  Saffron Brigade to shame.  Yet, the government continues to  brazen out shamelessly. 

Dimitrov had also said that: "It is in the interests of the most reactionary circles of the bourgeoisie that fascism intercepts the disappointed masses who desert the old bourgeois parties." Its years in office have clearly established that this government's policies are both pro-imperialist and in the interests of the most  reactionary sections of  Indian monopoly capital. In fact, this Vajpayee government has been the most pro-US government that independent India has ever had. Its economic policies have, on the one hand, mortgaged our country's economic sovereignty and, on the other, impoverished the vast mass of the Indian people. In the foreign policy sphere, India has been reduced virtually as an appendage to US strategic  interests in the region.

Further, these years have also shown the single-minded assault being mounted on India's education system.  The RSS's objective of seeking to impose a uniformity on  the  rich diversity amongst the people belonging  to the Hindu faith into a monolithic  "Hindu" by venomously spreading deeper the communal hatred against the minorities can be  seen in the changes that they are bringing about in the syllabus for our school students. The education system is, thus, being restructured to strengthen communal prejudices which the Saffron Brigade hopes will ease its journey towards achieving its fascist objective.

Likewise, these years have seen the relentless pursuit of rewriting Indian history.   Distorting facts and historical evidence is absolutely necessary for the Saffron Brigade in order to establish their so-called claim to be the  irrefutable masters of this land called India. For such a "Hindu Rashtra", it is necessary to establish that Hindus, and  Hindus alone, were the  original inhabitants of India.  This, in turn, requires proof that Hindus did not come here from anywhere else. For, if they had, then their claim on this land would be no different from all others belonging to different religious affiliations who came to settle in this land.

For Golwalkar then and the RSS today, the term Hindu is synonymous with Aryan.    The high priests of Hindu society are still called the Aryawarta.

Rejecting with fascist contempt, all historical evidence to the contrary, the recent efforts to rewrite Indian history are singularly  motivated to prove that India and India alone is the land of origin of the Aryans.  They would have us believe that it is from here that the Aryans travelled around the world.  The Saffron Brigade would have us believe that Hitler, who imposed fascism in Germany in the name of the  superiority of the Aryan race, was actually a migrant from India!

The recent years have shown that there is no  stone that the RSS would leave unturned  in its pursuit of its fascist objective.  The mainstay of its activities, however, remains the whipping up of communal  passions and the consequent riots that are engineered.  Every single judicial commission of enquiry that was instituted to probe communal riots in India since independence has singled out the RSS as the main perpetrator.  Since assuming power, its activities on this score have grown sharply.

The State-sponsored communal  carnage in Gujarat remains, however, the worst inhuman and savage act that they have  committed so far.  What has happened in Gujarat recently is tantamount to ethnic cleansing.  The RSS and its affiliates are so brazen that leave alone showing remorse, they actually hail the incendiary killings in Gujarat  as the "glory of the Hindus".

Another point that was made repeatedly in these columns has also been confirmed.  And, this is the fact that the BJP is nothing else but the  political arm of the RSS.  But for the compulsions of keeping the coalition of the NDA in order to remain in power, the fascist agenda would have  unfolded even more rapidly under Mr. Vajpayee's leadership.  While mounting such heinous atrocities, the saffron  brigade continues to seek to absolve itself under the guise of upholding  "national sentiments".  From the demolition of the Babri Masjid (which was justified by the present Prime Minister himself on the floor of the Parliament by saying that the construction of the Ram temple at Ayodhya was a reflection of the "national sentiment", thus echoing Golwalkar who asserts that only a "Hindu" is "national") to the production of nuclear weapons, everything is, according to them, the reflection of "national sentiment" which has not seen such glory  (sic) ever before.

The RSS variety of nationalistic jingoism is sought to replace true Indian nationalism that unites people of all faiths, religions, castes and languages.

These years have actually confirmed, once again,  what Dimitrov had said: "Fascism acts in the interests of extreme imperialists but presents itself to the masses in the guise of a wronged nation and appeals to (so called) outraged `national' sentiments."

Thus, if India, as we know of it today, has to be saved from this fascist onslaught,  then this communal juggernaut has to be stopped  in  its tracks.  This requires the unity of all Left, secular and democratic forces who cherish India, i e, Bharat.  Given the fact that some regional political parties who succumb to both political opportunism and the enticement to share the spoils of office continue to prop up this Vajpayee government and the RSS fascistic project, only a popular people's movement to defeat these forces politically can save the  situation.

It is this popular movement that has to be strengthened urgently. This special issue of People’s Democracy, we hope, will contribute  to this struggle.