People's Democracy

EDITORIAL

 It is official now

BJP's Modification of India

THE recently concluded national executive committee meeting of the BJP has confirmed what we have been stating repeatedly in these columns.  The Gujarat experiment is now officially declared as the future road map of the party.  In the process, the BJP has not only endorsed but justified the State sponsored pogrom in Gujarat. 

The resolution adopted at this meeting states that Hindutva has been "endorsed by the people of Gujarat" and it was confident that this would now "find wide scale acceptability all over the country".  Thus, the strategy is clear.  First foment communal tensions and polarisation, organise riots and then hold elections is the formula to be adopted  by the BJP.

In justifying this brazen communal agenda for the transformation of a secular democratic republic into a fascistic "Hindu Rashtra", the BJP leadership, as is its wont, spoke in forked tongues of perfidy and subterfuge.  The prime minister declared that there is no need of converting India into a "Hindu Rashtra" as it has been one for thousands of years!  The deputy prime minister returned to his pet theme of equating `Hindutva' with `Hinduism' and, therefore, with cultural nationalism.  V D Savarkar had coined the word "Hindutva" way back in 1923.  It was essentially a political slogan which had nothing to do with the Hindu religion. He, in fact, explicitly states that "Hindutva is not identical with what is vaguely indicated by the term Hinduism. By an `ism' it is generally meant a theory or a code more or less based on spiritual or religious dogma or system.  But when we attempt to investigate into the essential significance of Hindutva we do not primarily -- and certainly not mainly -- concern ourselves with any particular theocratic or religious dogma or creed."

Hindutva, therefore, is nothing but pseudo-Hinduism. Consequently, the "nationalism" derived from such an understanding can be nothing else but pseudo-nationalism.  This is clearly manifested in the resolution adopted at the meeting which contains the BJP's self-declared commitment to eliminate terrorism despite evidence on the ground that terrorist acts are, in fact, increasing under its rule. 

What is in store for India, therefore, is the unfolding of the classic fascist agenda in order to consolidate its position in power.  The BJP -- in fact, all tentacles of the RSS -- seek to orchestrate a unity amongst the diversity of those within the Hindu fold by whipping up hatred against those outside this fold, i e, Muslims, Christians etc.

India, thus, returns to a debate that, many thought, was settled at the time of our independence. The vision of a fascistically intolerant "Hindu Rashtra" was rejected, at that time, by a majority of the Indian people. The issue is now sought to be resurrected by the RSS.  The BJP national council resolution is the recipe for the fascist metamorphosis of the Indian republic. It was defeated once before.  For the sake of India, i e, Bharat, it needs to be defeated resoundingly once again.