(First published in News4Masses.com)
Until three years ago, when a
self-confessed Hindu nationalist Mr. Narendra Modi became the Prime Minister of
this country, the favorite insult of right wingers on social media was
pseudo-seculars. Anyone who questioned their viewpoint or supported anything
done by the then government were labeled as pseudo-seculars and accused of
minority appeasement. Then it all changed, and the term pseudo-secular is
hardly found in the mentions and comments. It appears that the term
‘anti-national’ has replaced pseudo-secular.
When a ‘hostile’ government was in
power, these people could hardly use the term anti-national because most of
their campaigns went against the state and the nation as it existed then. There was no hesitance to go after the
government, judiciary, police or even armed forces. They wanted everyone to be anti-government,
and it is not so easy to distinguish between anti-national and anti-government.
When Mr. Modi assumed the power, the whole narrative had to be changed, and the
acts and deeds of the state supported at any cost!
If we follow the current pattern, we
see an eagerness among the right wingers to label everyone voicing a different
view as anti-national and ask them to go to Pakistan or at least to leave
India. On the face of it, such labelling, or commands to leave the country, is
blatantly wrong. The nation is not anyone’s family property that one can keep
asking other citizens to go away. Then, why do they keep doing that?
To understand this phenomenon, we
need to go back and look at the nature of the right wing in India. The
continuing support to the type of policies being followed by Modi government
clearly indicates that the so called right wing in India has nothing to do with
rightist economic policies. This Govt does not subscribe to the liberal
principles of ownership of one’s assets, or even one’s body and privacy. Look
at its stand in the demonetization or Aadhaar issue and it becomes quite
obvious. At times, Modi Govt’s policies are more leftist than the communists!
What we term as right wing in India
is less of economic right, and more of religious right. It was no accident or
slip of tongue that Mr. Modi chose to describe himself as a ‘Hindu nationalist’
during the electioneering. The allegiance is not to an India envisaged by the
Constitution, but a Hindu Rashtra envisaged by the parent body, RSS. That is
why the term ‘Bhakts’ is more accurate to describe the supporters of this
government than the term ‘right wing,’ which has some universally accepted
characteristics grounded mainly in economics.
The primary binding factor for the
Bhakts is the religion. However, in India religion alone cannot divide people
into a clean Us vs They. There are a
large number of Hindus who do not subscribe to the RSS’s Hindutva. It is not
easy to make every Hindu to follow the ideals of Sangh in the short or medium
term. Bhakts and Sangh believe that the minds of these people were corrupted by
the liberal or colonial education system and brainwashing by the evangelists
and Islamists. The political power.
However, helps them to make a clean division between nationals and
anti-nationals. Never mind how much they had opposed the previous governments,
but now with a RSS backed government in power only anti-nationals can question
its policies or acts. It is not surprise that the Sangh draws inspiration form
the practices of religions to make the division!
Religions usually demand strict and
unquestioning adherence to its precepts. Religions create a lot of rules for
the followers to obey. Any violation of these rules are termed sins, which are
supposed to bring heavy consequences in this life or the forthcoming lives. The
strategies may differ from religion to religion. One religion may demand
confessions, another may demand penance, or confer rewards and punishments in
the form of the fruits of one’s acts and deeds. All of them, however, demands
complete obedience.
The obedience sought by the
religious forces is absolute. Stories of Abraham who readied himself to murder his
young son on the command of his God, and Ekalavya who cut his thumb on the
command of his Guru Dronacharya are the examples that readily comes to mind,
while we can find any number of such examples from the religious myths. The instrument of precepts, sins, and
punishments is the effective tool that religious use to command absolute
subservience from the followers.
Now that the political power has
been captured, Bhakts would love to ensure similar unquestioning, absolute
obedience to their government from all Indians. It is, therefore, their duty to
keep reminding anyone who raises voice of dissent that it is a mortal sin to do
so. Every voice against their regime is anti-national and fit to be punishment
with a one way ticket to the ‘antithesis of their nation.’ Pakistan that came
into existence as a Muslim nation is symbolic as an antithesis of the Hindu Rashtra.
If the sins continue, then they will not hesitate to use more persuasive
methods like physical attacks and lynching.
Religions have perfected the art of
creating a number of hard to avoid sins so that the followers remain guilty and
apologetic all the time. The neo-nationalist Bhakts are also importing this
strategy of sins, to make citizens defensive all the time, by creating too many
anti-national acts! They will shout
anti-national at even small deviations in behavior so that the citizens will
not dare to do of voice anything which is even slightly inconvenient to the
government.
A citizen is not expected to support
anything and everything that the government, public servants, or armed forces
of the country do. It is the duty of a citizen to be on constant vigil and
ensure every wrong is called out and corrected. The demands like ‘go to
Pakistan’ or abuses like ‘anti-national’ are inevitable when you point out the
mistakes of a government that is founded on the religious nationalism.
It is not easy to go against an
organized religion or cult. It is also not easy to go against nationalist
government of any religious persuasion. But then, who said democracy and
liberty are easy to get or easy to maintain?!
P.S: When it really mattered, they did not take part in the
Quit India movement. Today, they keep shouting ‘Quit India’!
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