Secularism in India is almost dead. One has to be delusional or ideologically blind to not see the writing on the wall. For all practical purposes, it exists only in theory and in the pages of the constitution. Secularism, as an idea, was the defining principle of modern India in which every religion, irrespective of the numbers of the followers, was accorded equality before the law and equal respect and the state was not supposed to either adhere to or project one religion, but it was to be religion-neutral. That does not mean that those who were holding high constitutional positions were debarred from pursuing their religion. But they were expected to keep it private, and their faith was not to show any bias or ill will against other religions. The state was not discriminatory; law enforcing agencies were expected to treat every citizen, irrespective of the religion they pursued in their lives equally but in the last few years that line has blurred.
The state has not only become discriminatory, but it has also visibly aligned with the Hindu religion. Spewing venom against other religions has become the new normal in India, demonisation of minority communities has turned into an art form. The media, which was the bastion standing tall against the rising tide of communalism, has crumbled royally and there seems no shame in becoming so. No wonder when sub-inspector Manoj Kumar Tomar kicked Muslims while they were offering namaz on the road adjacent to the mosque, he became an instant hero on social media and thousands stood by him. The only solace is that the state still has some shame that it immediately took cognisance of the matter and suspended him and initiated an inquiry against Tomar. Like Tomar, Chetan Sharma who killed three Muslims in a train was also hailed as a hero by such individuals. A few years back when one Sambhulal Regar, who hacked and burnt a Muslim migrant worker, was to be produced in court in Udaipur, the police could not do so for two hours as thousands of Hindus surrounded the court in his support and hoisted the saffron flag atop the court.
There is no doubt that in the past India has witnessed horrible communal riots between Hindus and Muslims in which hundreds of men and women were killed but these were a local phenomenon; away from that area, Hindus and Muslims lived with each other in harmony, without any bitterness or hatred. Today communal riots have become fewer but hatred between the communities has acquired monstrous proportions. Today, the minority, especially Muslims are living in fear and the perception is growing every day that government and law enforcing agencies are discriminatory and equality for all before the law has vanished. In fact, Muslim intellectuals and their leaders admit in private that they have been made second class citizens already and don’t see any hope in the near future. Their anger is not against Hindus at large; they blame the present dispensation and followers of Hindutva ideology. They make a clear distinction between the Hindu religion and Hindutva. In their opinion Hindu religion is peaceful and tolerant but Hindutva as an ideology is the reason for the intolerance around. Their scepticism is not misplaced either.
Hindutva is not Hindu religion as a section of society has misunderstood. These two are two vastly different entities. Hindu religion is a way of life; it is all inclusive and it celebrates unity in diversity; it is neither rigid nor aggressive. Hindutva is an ideology which uses Hindu religion for its political ambition. It is hegemonic in nature and excludes other religions. It thrives on hatred against Muslims. Sardar Patel, the great freedom fighter who was the deputy prime minister and home minister when Gandhi was killed by Nathuram Godse, a Hindutvavadi, has written explicitly about this in his letter to RSS chief M S Golwalkar, dated September 11, 1948. He says, “There can be no doubt that the RSS did service to the Hindu society ... but the objectionable part arose when they, burning with revenge, began attacking Mussalmans. Organising Hindus and helping them is one thing but going in for revenge for its sufferings on innocent and helpless men, women and children is quite another thing.”
In the same letter Patel went to the extent of blaming the RSS, indirectly, for Gandhi’s death. He wrote, “All their speeches were full of communal poison. It was not necessary to spread poison and enthuse the Hindus and organise for their protection. As a final result of the poison, the country had to suffer the sacrifice of the valuable life of Gandhiji … the opposition turned more severe, when the RSS men expressed joy and distributed sweets after Gandhi's death.” Those who are familiar with Golwalkar, know what he has written in his book, We or Our Nationhood Defined: “The foreign races in Hindusthan must either adopt the Hindu culture and language, must learn to respect and hold in reverence Hindu religion, must entertain no idea but those of the glorification of the Hindu nation and must lose their separate existence to merge the Hindu race, or may stay in the country wholly subordinated to the Hindu Nation, claiming nothing, deserving no privileges, far less any preferential treatment, not even citizens’ rights.”
This clearly establishes that in the RSS ideological scheme of things Muslims have no place. They are treated as foreigners, outsiders and should live in India like second-class citizens. Golwalkar went to the extent of calling Muslims ‘internal enemies’ and saying that they should be dealt with accordingly. However, RSS in later years had distanced itself from Golwalkar’s Muslim thesis and withdrew those chapters from his book Bunch of Thoughts which are considered to be anti-Muslim and anti-Christian. But that thought process is continuing unhindered. Since, now they are in the government, there is no stopping them, rather hatred against the Muslims has got legitimacy. Friendly media has played a huge role in this. Earlier, communalism was a bad word, it was an abuse and secularism was a defining creed, but now the tables have turned and secularism is a cuss word; in the last ten years secularism has been discredited to no end. And it is no longer fashionable even among the liberal elite to call themselves secular. Hate-mongering has the state’s patronage. Those who call for genocide of the Muslims are called patriots, and law enforcing agencies take no action unless prodded by the courts.
In this context, I don’t blame Tomar, Chetan and Regar for what they did. They are the victims of the ideological echo system that they inhabit. They are the patients who need treatment. The problem lies with the creators of the ideological universe in which hate-mongering has become a noble profession, part of the nation-building process. Unless that process is delegitimised, unless the bubble of the false consciousness is burst, such incidents will keep happening. My worry is that if this process is not stopped soon, the country is headed for a ‘historical accident’ which will prove to be disastrous for it. India, as a nation, has thrived in diversity, pluralism is its DNA. The attempt to turn the civilisational stream in the opposite direction is flawed with dangerous tendencies. If it must survive, it has no other option but to go back to its roots, in which hate has no place and hate-mongering has no civilisational sanction.
The writer is Editor, SatyaHindi.com, and author of Hindu Rashtra. He tweets at @ashutosh83B
