Pluralism is the coexistence of many
faiths, cultures, traditions, beliefs, customs and practices among people in
such a way that they are constantly interacting with each other, understanding
and adopting from each other even while retaining some of their own
characteristic features. Thus pluralism is not just diversity which is
compartmentalized, indifferent to each other. And, neither is it just tolerance
because true pluralism assumes a respect and understanding of those with
different beliefs or practices.
This pluralism was tempered in India during
the Freedom Struggle as diverse communities in India united to fight off the
British colonial rulers. Before that, for thousands of years, peoples of
different religious faiths, ethnicity, language and customs had lived together
in the subcontinent, many arriving from more distant lands, freely
intermingling with each other. Although this past has often been depicted as
one of mutual antagonism or strife, but in truth this was only the political
and class or caste based strife and not something inherent to people’s
diversity. It was only when the idea that miserable conditions of life could be
changed for the better if British rulers were to be thrown out, that a new pan
Indian unity arose. Independence in 1947 was thus seen as the beginning of a
new era of economic and social progress based on pluralism and democracy. These
ideals are now under a mortal threat from within.
What is India’s pluralism?
India is one of the most diverse countries
in the world. This diversity spans across religions, cults and sects, ethnic
groups, and linguistic communities. If you add the countless variations of
customs, beliefs, traditions, practices within and across these diverse
formations, a mosaic of incredible range and complexity emerges.
Besides being the birthplace of Hinduism,
Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism, India has followers of all other major religions
including Islam, Christianity, Judaism and the only surviving followers of
Zoroastrianism. All these religious beliefs have had followers here for
centuries and they are indistinguishable in terms of genetics and several key
practices. While Christianity first came to India as early as in the 50 CE even
before it was adopted in Europe, Islam had arrived here by the 12th
century. Jews first settled here around 70 CE. Parsis fled Persia and came to
be assimilated here between 8th and 10th century CE.
The tribal communities of India make up as
much as 8 percent of the population. Coming in contact with various other
cultures and faiths, many have adopted religious practices and cultural traits
from different religions and sects, including Hinduism, Christianity and
Buddhism. Yet anthropological studies reveal that most tribal communities
continue to follow some of their original customs and practices, and uphold
their original spiritual beliefs despite having adopted features and customs of
bigger religions. This is true across the Central Indian belt as well as in the
North-East. In fact a whole spectrum or continuum of stages of admixture and
acculturation can be seen – some communities largely following their original
animistic beliefs (as in Arunachal Pradesh) while others largely enfolded in
one of the major religions, with a range of communities in between with various
degrees of admixture.The People of India survey carried out during 1985-1992
records that many communities in India have segments that adopted different
religions. Among the Khasis of Meghalaya there segments following a tribal
religion, Christianity and Islam, while among the Jats of North India, there
are Hindus, Sikhs and Muslims. Many communities declare that they have dual
religions mostly Hindu-Sikh, Hindu-Muslim, and Hindu-Buddhist. Thus, for
instance, Hinduism and Christianity are both professed by Karbi/Mikir,
Mizo-Hmar, Munda, Oraon, Riang of Assam andKharia, Munda, Santhal of Jharkhand.
Some communities even have segments belonging to three or four religions like
the Khasi of Meghalaya and the Nicobarese of Andaman and Nicobar islands.
Even within each religion in India there
are sub-divisions based on doctrinal differences and interpretations, or sects
and cults. Thus the Hindus may be broadly divided into Shaivites, Vaishnavites,
Shakta and Smarta besides an array of sects derived from the Bhakti movement
and others derived from assertion of caste identities. Many of these are
sub-divided even further, with differences in rituals and beliefs. Similarly,
while the Muslims reflect the Shia-Sunni division existing globally in Islam,
both sides are further divided into schools and sects. In addition there are 14
religious orders like the Chisti order, Suhrawardi order, Shattari order,
Naqsbandi order etc. India Christians have the usual Catholic and Protestant
(Anglican) division and further into various denominations. Similar divisions,
many based on caste identities that preceded their embrace of the new
religions, exist in Sikhism, Buddhism and Jainism.
Socio-religious movements for reforming
customs and practices of particular religions, or even conversion to other
religions have affected one-eighth of all the communities in India according to
POI data. Converted communities continue to follow a mix of religious practices.
The pre-conversion practices survive among the Christian communities (16.2 per
cent), Buddhists (10.8 per cent), Sikhs (8.5 per cent), Jains (4 per cent),
Muslims (2.9 per cent), Hindus (2.7 per cent) and ‘other religious’ groups (5.4
per cent) (Singh: 1992(2002), 1996). About two-thirds of the communities engage
sacred specialists from other communities to perform specific rituals showing
the widespread intermingling of faiths.
The PoI survey which studied 775 cultural
traits across India has identified 4635 communities based on occurrence of
common traits like men’s and women’s dresses, head gear, tattoos, birth and
death customs, marriage rites, food and so on. What is significant is that the
Survey also found 91 cultural regions all over India. These cultural regions
are not static units but are in a state of continuous flux. Communities identified
within a cultural region have adopted or adapted similar linguistic, religious
and other cultural traits including unique dress patterns, languages, forms of
worship, occupations, food habits and kinship patterns. They share common traits
irrespective of their religious pursuits although at an aggregate or broad
level, the religions are quite distinct and differentiated. Muslims have 584
communities, Christians have 339 communities, Sikhs –130, Jains – 100,
Buddhists - 93, Jews-7, Parsis-3 and tribals – 411, with Hindus themselves
living in 2968 different communities. These communities are not evenly spread
out. Thus the former unified Andhra Pradesh had 340 Hindu communities, the
largest in a cultural region, followed by Tamil Nadu (299), undivided M.P.
(285) and Orissa (259). Gujarat has largest number of Muslim communities (87)
followed by undivided U.P. (70) and J&K (59). Tamil Nadu has 65 Christian
communities followed by Andhra Pradesh (29) and Manipur (23). Besides the great
melting pot of North-East, ‘tribal religions’ were found to have large number
of communities in Odisha (58), Bihar/Jharkhand(46) and W.Bengal (41). In several
parts of India, followers of ‘tribal religions’ are often included under major locally
prevailing religions.
Despite the division into 4635 communities
cutting across religions, the survey found that different religious communities
have a very large overlap with others in terms of traits. This is the case with
many marriage symbols, food habits, dress, dance and musical forms. Clans
bearing names of animals, plants or inanimate objects cut across religions,
language, region etc. Thus, Hindus share 96.77% traits with Muslims, 91.19%
with Buddhists, 88.99% with Sikhs, and 77.46% with Jains. Muslims share 91.18%
traits with Buddhists, 89.95% with Sikhs. Jains share 81.34% traits with
Buddhists. The Scheduled Tribes share 96.61% traits with OBCs, 95.82% with
Muslims, 91.69% with Buddhists, 91.29% with Scheduled Castes, 88.20% with Sikhs.In
fact most of the markings of identification by different communities are mainly
non-religious.
The PoI survey found that 85% of
communities are strongly rooted in their local resources. Livelihoods, dwelling
patterns, food preparation and preferences, dresses, and various cultural
creations like songs and stories of different communities are directly linked
to their immediate landscape, climate,geography and occupations related to
locally available resources. The "rootedness in the eco-cultural zone” is
considered a defining feature of Indian communities rising above various other
identities. It contributes significantly to the definition of cultural regions
and the commonness of communities within it.
Recent genetic research has confirmed what
scientific historians had worked out earlier that most Indiansof modern times
have arisen from free intermingling of various people over several thousand
years. Four major groups have been identified that have largely intermingled:
North Indian, South Indian, Austro-Asian and Tibeto-Burman. In conventional
terms, this mixed ancestry is defined as intermingling of the Proto-Australoid,
Paleo-Mediterranean, Caucasian, Negroid, and Mongoloid ethnic roots. There is
no longer any cultural difference in these ethnicities although some physical
features may be identifiable.
India has 325 languages and 25 scripts in
use, deriving from various linguistic families - the Indo-Aryan, Tibeto-Burman,
Dravidian, Austro-Asiatic, Andamanese, Semitic, Indo-Iranian, Sino-Tibetan, and
Indo-European. Apart from these, there are thousands of dialects. This
linguistic diversity is a big contributor to the mosaic of Indian pluralism and
composite culture. The spoken tongues contribute to cultural identities. It has
also led to emergence of a syncretic language, Urdu, which has been assimilated
and in use in Northern India for a long time, contributing significantly to
cultural ethos. It is noteworthy that at least 65% of the communities are
bilingual while most tribal communities are tri-lingual.
This brief discussion of the dazzling
diversity of India shows that communities continuously engage and interact with
each other in their day to day life which usually involves work in the fields
or forests, and attendant domestic work including collection of fuel and water
or care of animals. Families cutting across religious, ethnic or linguistic
boundaries sharewok, resources, traits, and space in this process. Their lives
intermingle and overlap for long periods of time including joyous or sorrowful
occasions. This has led to a composite and shared heritage and cultural unity
which can be called India’s own brand of pluralism.
The Intermingling of Faiths
How exactly did the followers of various
religions interact and live with each other and what effect did their
respective faiths have on each other? This question is important because the
sense of unity and pluralism is often threatened by homogenizing and monolithic
ideologies like the current Hindutva, and also by fundamentalism espoused
reactively by minority communities.
The long and creative interaction between
Hindus and Muslims gave rise to a syncretic tradition which ranged from music,
art, literature and architecture to common folklore, dress patterns, food
habits, and even names and surnames. This composite and mutually influencing
cultural tradition of India reached its heights in the syncretic Sufi and
Bhakti movements of medieval India.
Over the course of time, several offshoots
emerged from the interaction between different faiths, who also continue to
reside here besides spreading out to other countries. These include the
Ahmediyas a sect that abides by the Koran and the Prophet, yet practicing the
Hindu custom of idol worship.
TheSufis propounded a universally appealing
message of equality, love and brotherhood. Theiropensympathy for the poor and
dispossessed attracted thousands of people, Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs alike. Throughout
India, one can find shrines of major and minor sufi saints, pirs and the like,
which are still thronged by thousands from all religions. Studies have revealed
that the Pir and Darvez in different periods played a positive role in bringing
about synthesis between the Hindu and Muslim cultures.
Simultaneously, from within Hinduism arose the
Bhakti Movement, which had a far-reaching impact on Indian society. For the
first time in centuries, the nirguna (formless) divinity was brought centre
stage doing away in one fell stroke the oppressive mediation of priests and
their hangers on. It also, significantly, showed a path out of the mire of
caste shackles appealing to the “lower” castes and assuring them of redemption
in an otherwise heartless world. A series of bhakti saints like the Nayanars
and Alvars in South India and Namdev, Kabir, Ramananda, Meerabai and several
others in North and West India, and Chaitanya in Eastern India were the icons
of this refreshing change in Hinduism. Nanak created Sikhism from similar
principles. All denounced rituals and the rigid hierarchies of prevalent
Hinduism. Indeed the leaders of several reform movements belonged to the lower
economic classes and Dalit castes.
Some of the Mughal rulers too adopted and
encouraged this syncretic tradition. It may have been useful for them to
maintain peace and harmony, especially when they were preoccupied with wars at
their far flung frontiers. Akbar insisted that Hinduepics like Mahabharat,
Ramayan, and other vedic literaturebe translated into Persian. Later, Dara Shikohtranslated theological texts like
Upanishads,Bhagwad Gita and Vashishtha Yoga into Persian.He wrote a book,
Majmaul-Bahrain ('The Meeting Place of Two Oceans'), a comparative study of
Hindu and Muslim mystic philosophy.
In eastern India, a less powerful Muslim
rule led to an unorthodox impact of Islam. There was a great deal of social
interaction between Hindus and Muslims along with borrowing of rituals. In
Assam, Muslim devotional songs'Jikir' are sung in the same tone and tune like the
Hindu devotionalsongs 'Nam'. A ritualof mock selling and buying of new born
infants, believed to increase survival chances, betweentheHindusandMuslimswas prevalent
with mock-buyers treated the as foster parents. In Kamrup some of the Hindu and
Muslim families enter into ceremonial friendships which compel them to help
each other during periods of crisis. The sacred complex of Hajo, about32 km
north-west of Guwahati, is a confluence of three religions: Hinduism, Islam and
Buddhism. The Hindu have a temple of Hoygrib which is believed to have been
constructed abovea Buddhiststupa.The Muslim mosque on the other hand is
considered to be 'Puamecca',i e, one fourth of Mecca. All the three
communities, the Hindus, the Muslims and the Buddhists,have respect for each
other's shrine and participate in all festivals.In Bengal the
syncretictraditionis evident in rural areas. In Kolkata, the dargah of Moula
Ali is frequented by Hindus and Muslims both.In Hooghly district the famous 'Saty
Pirer Mela' (fair of the true pir) is held. Both communities sing devotional
songs of Lalan Faqir which praise elements of Hinduism and Islam. In the Sundarbans,
the cult of Bonbibi, a mix of animism, pir traditions and the Shakti cult,is very
popular. In Bihar, the Shivangrishi Kundin Rajgir is also known as 'Makhdoon Kund'
among the Muslims. The main idgah lies in close proximity to the Laxmi Narayan temple.
Western India has a long standing and
extensive syncretictradition. The most famous location is the dargah of
KhwajaMuinuddin Hasan Chisti of Ajmer in Rajasthan, who not only promoted
harmony but also called for ending caste injustices and other social evils.
Many Hindus were appointed in management positions in the Dargah. Husaini
Brahmins considered Muinuddin Chisti as a titular divinity, honoured Mohammad as
one of the Hindu avtars, fasted like Muslims during the Ramjan. They wore brahminical
marks on forehead but accepted alms from the Muslims alone. In Ajaysen and
Khakri villages close to Ajmer, Muslims celebrate all the Hindu festivals and
the Hinduseat only 'halal' meat and bury their dead. In most Muslim homes,
Diwali is celebrated with 'a full-fledged Laxmi puja just as Id or Shabe-Barat.
People of both the faithequally visit temples and mosques. The Meo rever
saints, scriptures and customs of both religions and those who converted to
Islam even now celebrate Hindu festivals like Holi, Dassera and Diwali. In
Gujarat’sKathiawar and Kutch, the services of Saraswat Brahmins and quazis were
sought for the proper completion of marriage rituals. TheKhojashave a direct
syncretic borrowing from Hinduism. They observe Ekadasi, Diwali, Holi,etc. The
Bohra Muslims too have a numberof customs like the Hindus such as the Hindu law
of inheritance,the practiceof charging intereston loansandthecelebration Diwali
of as the new year day in their business lives. InMaharashtra, despitethewars
between HinduandMuslimrulersforcenturies, relationbetweenthe peoples of the both
faiths were cordial.Syncretic shrines are found in Mumbai, Pune, Aurangabad,
Savantvadi and Ahmednagar and many other smaller towns and villages. Shivaji's
grandfather venerated Muslimsaints and named his sons Shahji and Sharifji after
the name of his Muslim teacher Shah Sharief. Haji Malang, in the suburbs of
Mumbai comprises of four dargahs and temples of Santoshima, Maruti,Durga, Waghjai, Ganesha, etc.T he shrine is managed by a trust with the
Hindu Brahmin family of Ketkars as the chief hereditary trustee.There are
Hinduand Muslim prieststo oversee the HinduandMuslim dailyrituals. There has
been a drop in the number of Hindu devotees afterthe demolitionof the Babrimasjidin
1992.
In South India, Madurai has a long
tradition of association with Sikandar the warrior hero who had come to be
widely identified with the martial clan deity Skanda (Murukkan Subramanya) with
numerous shrines of his dotting rocky outcrops. Madurai also has adargahof an
Arabicpir, Hazrat Tahurullah Shah Qadri, only recently built by the brahmin
proprietor of a local bus company. The dargah pir Hazarat of Hamid Shah Awliyaat
Kanchipuram is another famous syncretic shrine. The Nathar walli dargah in
Trichi is regarded as an exceptionally potential repository of barakat. The
tradition of saivite myths, mostly of miracles performed by wandering saints,
are found extensively in the 'Tazrika' literature in south India. In Sabrimalain
Kerala, devotees to first pay their obeisance to the shrine of a Muslim saint
named 'Vavara' or Vavarswamy, located at Erumeli before proceeding to the main temple
of Ayyappa. The Mappilas worship Hindu saints in spite of being Muslims. Their
mosques resemble Jain temples. Their women, like the Hindus, tie 'tali' around
their necks after marriage. Most importantly, they follow the matrilineal
system, 'marumakkathayam', like the Nayars.
North Indiahas experienced deep Hindu-Muslimintermingling.
Delhi has the famous shrine of Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya. Not too far is another
dargah of Khwaja Naseeruddin Chisti, popularly known as Chirag
Delhi (because of a legend that Nasseruddin converted water to oil for lighting
lamps when the emperor Mohammad-bin-Tughlaq prohibited oil extractors (telis)
to supply oil to Nizamuddin Aulia). Both were popular Sufi saints and their
dargahs are visited by Muslims and Hindus. The dargah of Jalauddin Chisti also known as ‘Jangal Baba’
is located in a forest near Chirag Delhi. Near the Old Fort in central Delhi is
located a dargahof 'Matka Pir' which is
frequented by devotees irrespective of caste or creed. During the annual 'urs'
a chadaris taken out in a procession to the Bhairon temple nearby and is
broughtback after taking a circle around the temple. Similarly, during the
annualpujaof the DivyaBhairon temple, representatives of the dargah take
offerings to the temple. A syncretic festival called 'Phoolwalon Ki Sair' is
still marked in Delhi. In Kashmir, there is a long standing and rich tradition
of Sufism.
These examples of some of the important
emblems of a syncretic tradition from across the country illustrate that people
of India, whether Muslim or Hindu, have lived together for so long that they
have not only evolved a mixed way of life but also developed several syncretic
traditions that bind them together.
Caste, Class and Gender
A word of caution is needed at this point.
Many Western analysts, and their Indian followers, have looked at India’s
pluralistic diversity like a museum showcase. They may see a happy bustling
coexistence or they may factor in some mutual frictions. Some may only see
mutual animosity. But where all these observers err is in detaching the varied
communities from three aspects of reality: caste, class and gender. These three
are relationships of power and coercion and lead to brutal economic, social,
cultural and political exploitation. They may interact or overlap with each
other, or they may act separately. Their trappings may vary with different
regions, cultures or faiths. But one thing is for sure, confirmed empirically:
these exploitative relations are found in practically every community, of every
religious persuasion, across regions and across stages of economic development.
Perhaps some ‘primitive’ tribal groups like the Sentinelese in Andaman or some
of the Arunachal tribes may show a lesser extent of these features but, barring
such exceptions, all communities have developed features of domination and
violence by propertied classes over deprived sections, subjugation of women to
a secondary or subservient role and caste domination by upper castes over the
laboring ‘lower’ castes. Exceptions are tribal communities, where caste
differentiation may not exist and whole communities may be treated as ‘lower’
castes by other communities.
Appreciation of this fact leads to several
important consequences not just for academic study of India’s pluralism but
also for material action towards defending it. What is common to class, caste
and gender relationships is that they are based on coercion and exploitation.
They subjugate and deprive one section of society for the benefit of another
section. In this they are different from other forms of community identity like
cultural practices or art and literature or customs or even religious/spiritual
beliefs, which are not built for the purpose of being deployed as instruments
of power although they may reflect such ideological inclinations. Due to this,
class, caste and gender based differentiation should not be used as a marker
for defining diverse communities and neither should pluralism include the
defense of such differentiation.
In fact, a true defense of India’s
pluralism can arise only from people and an ideological position that stands
with the economically and socially exploited and struggles against a system
that perpetuates class, caste and gender based coercion and exploitation. This
is so because only such a stance can truly unite all people across all
communities cutting across faiths, beliefs, cultures, traditions, linguistic
and ethnic groupings as also numerous castes and sub-castes, and differentiated
segments of working people including both men and women. Those who ignore
class, caste or gender based divisions and want to brush them under the carpet,
and equally those who define their identities only on the basis of caste and
gender are doomed to fail in defending pluralism.
Pluralism in the Life of Common People Today
A great deal can be learnt about pluralism
in India by looking at the way common people engage with each other in the
present times. Despite the repeated engineered incidents of communal strife and
violence, some reported in the media, many unreported, working people in
villages and cities constantly display a natural human relationship with others
of a different faith or culture. This is not based on indifference or
tolerance, and perhaps it is not yet intellectually worked out as a deliberate
action – and so it has a power that collectively upholds the very fabric of
India’s pluralistic society.
Modern life, especially urban life, has
created vast centers of population where people from all kinds of different
customs, traditions, beliefs, faiths and histories come together working in
factories and offices, in bazaars and mandis, in transport systems and
construction sites. They face the same problems of employment and wages, of
housing and civic utilities, of education and healthcare, of discrimination and
social evils like dowry, of crime and the justice system of money lenders and
ration shop owners of bribery and nepotism and of inequality and extravagant
display of wealth. They fight together to protect their lands or crops, their
water sources or forests, and their dwindling incomes from agriculture. This
shared life, embedded in the day to day customs and habits, through births,
marriages and deaths, through festivals and travels, in the company of their
families, friends and relatives is a perpetual strengthening of bonds between
different communities.
That is why continuously, we see reports of
how people of one religion invited those from another religion to offer prayers
in their place of worship because of some difficulty, how one family or mohalla
saved the lives of families from another religion during a communal riot, how a
family performed the last rites or adopted or married off persons from another
religion. We constantly hear about artisans from one community building idols
or places of worship of another community in some remote village or town, or
two religious communities participating in religious processions to mark each
other’s festivals.
This is not to say that everything is
idyllic everywhere. Undoubtedly there are many instances of mutual hostility or
even collective hostility in places. But, the resilience of mutual bonds is surprisingly
strong and abiding. And there are many more instances of mutual love and
affection than are of hatred or hostility. In view of the earlier discussion
about the thousands of years old history of Indian people’s pluralistic life,
respecting, understanding and sharing different cultures, faiths and customs,
this is not really as surprising as it is made out to be.
Hindutva’s Attack on Pluralism & Democracy
The vision of Hindutva with regard to India
is completely inimical to the pluralistic society that has been described
above. Let us look at why this is so.
The Hinduism upheld and propagated by the
Sangh parivar is but one strand of the many streams that make up what is called
Hinduism. It is a distorted, highly ritualized, fundamentalist vision, steeped
in intolerance, xenophobia and belligerence. It upholds most of the heinous
traditions and practices of yore, the most significant of them being the
chaturvarnashram or the caste system. It considers Manu Smriti, an ancient text
that lays down most of the despicable behaviourial norms like punishment to
dalits for violating the upper castes’ purity, treatment of women as chattel
and so on. It is thus not only inimical to the pluralism of India, it is hostile
even to Hinduism’s own composite history.
The Sangh parivar’s ideal for the future of
India, its strategic objective so to speak, is a homogenizing and
regimentalising of Indian society that will mean a de fact end to pluralism. One
of the most prominent leaders of the RSS and its ideological fount, Guru
Golwalkar had this to say in his key book “We, or Our Nationhood Defined”:
“..in this country, Hindusthan, the
Hindu Race with its Hindu Religion, Hindu Culture and Hindu Language, (the
natural family of Sanskrit and her off-springs) complete the Nation concept:
that, in fine, in Hindusthan exists and must needs exist the ancient Hindu
nation and nought else but the Hindu Nation. All those not belonging to the
national i.e. Hindu Race, Religion, Culture and Language, naturally fall out of
the pale of real 'National' life.” (p.99)
The Hindu nation that the RSS wants to
build cannot be better defined. It excludes virtually all the diverse
communities, tribes, non-Hindu religions, non-Aryan ethnicities (not that any
pure ethnicity exists anymore!), and even languages that do not originate from
Sanskrit. It also exposes the biggest fallacy of all – that a nationality can
be defined by a common religion, something that numerous examples from the 20th
century (Bangladesh and Pakistan splitting is the most familiar one) have blown
to smithereens.
If you read Golwalkar’s book or look at the
utterances and actions of his followers down the years, it becomes clear that
these ideas are meant to be put into practice with coercion and violence if
necessary, because all this is for the greater glory of the Nation! It is small
wonder that this violent streak runs through the RSS’ activities whether it be
killing dalits for going about their avocation of flaying hides from fallen
cattle or attacking Muslim families including women and children in several
communal riots. Thus Golwalkar again:
“We repeat; in Hindusthan, the land
of the Hindus, lives and should live the Hindu Nation— satisfying all the five
essential requirements of the scientific nation concept of the modern world.
Consequently only those movements are truly 'National' as aim at re-building,
re-vitalizing and emancipating from its present stupor, the Hindu Nation. Those
only are nationalist patriots, who, with the aspiration to glorify the Hindu
race and Nation next to their heart, are prompted into activity and strive to
achieve that goal. All others are either traitors and enemies to the National
cause, or, to take a charitable view, idiots.” (pp. 99-100)
While these are distant ideals for the
Sangh parivar, their practice in the form of daily poisonous propaganda, and
now through the legitimizing of these thoughts through official propaganda and
speeches by ministers and the Prime Minister himself is already shearing apart
the delicate bonds that tie together communities of different faiths. For
several decades now, the political wing of the RSS, the BJP has used these
tactics of spreading communal hatred and enmity among Hindus on the one hand
and minority communities on the other. Their movements for Ram Janmabhoomi
‘liberation’ and construction of a temple there, the communal carnage in
Gujarat in 2002, the series of communal riots engineered around day to day and
trivial issues are all in the service of a dual agenda: the seizing of
political power by polarizing the people along communal lines, and ultimately
the establishment of a Hindu theocratic state.
What is the link between pluralism and
democracy? The entitlement of all irrespective of faith or cultural status to
basic democratic rights is a corner stone of democracy. Not just that,
democracy also means the entitlement to state-initiated policies and
affirmative action to compensate for historical deprivations in order to meet
the Constitutional directive of equal opportunity for all. Those who are denied
an equal opportunity in say, education or jobs or welfare schemes, due to
historically existing social cultural or economic discriminations, need to be
given extra or special attention so that the playing field is levelled.
Similarly, in the field of ideas – art, literature, academia and so on –
democracy means the opportunity to express, investigate, interpret and exchange
should be available to all, without any bar arising from faith or community based
characteristics.
Viewed from this general standpoint, the
Indian democratic system was never a paragon of virtue. For decades it
discouraged and effectively marginalized vast sections of people who were on
the wrong side of the power hierarchy. These included dalits and tribals,
religious minorities, the poor and dispossessed, regional and linguistic
minorities etc. However, with all its failings and limitations, India’s
democracy gave some political and intellectual space for the emergence and
flowering of different political, caste-based, or deprived people’s expression
and activity. These expressions reflected the over-arching economic and social
crisis felt by all, but especially harshly experienced by the already
vulnerable sections of society. In a way these were expressions of empowerment.
Leaving aside the important issue of
whether such political empowerment – like the rise of dalit political groups –
could possibly lead to real economic or social liberation for dalits, there can
be no denying that this was possible only because of the existence of a
Constitutionally backed democratic system. Similarly, the functioning of
panchayats and other local bodies with reservation for women and dalits may not
have brought about a transformative change in the status of these sections in
society, but again it cannot be denied that it is a step in the right direction
towards breaking up the stranglehold of patriarchal dominance or upper caste
hegemony in rural areas.
All this is under a threat now from the Sangh
parivar’s drive to fulfill its dreams. Even in the short time of two years in
power at the centre, the BJP has shamelessly tried to stifle dissent and
protest in Universities and various academic research institutes, tried to gag
or throttle NGOs and those fighting to expose the Sangh parivar’s doings, subverted
elected governments (Arunachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand), tried to sabotage the
work of other state governments run by Opposition parties (Delhi), used every
dirty trick available including huge injections of illegal money and use of
religious hatred to try and win elections (Bihar and now moving towards UP),
etc.
Another prime focus of the BJP/Sanghparivar
is the education system. It is openly trying to impose its own version of
‘nationalism’ (which is really completely synthetic and hypocritical) by such
diktats as asking all universities to fly the tricolor and prohibiting freedom
of expression in campuses, forcing the chanting of religious verses or doing
yoga and diverting research into its own brand of pseudo-science.
One of its pet projects is to rewrite
history so that it reflects its own completely erroneous and fundamentalist
view that the history of India is a history of war between Hinduism and foreign
religions. Bodies such as the ICHR and NCERT are being stocked with Sangh
supporters with the mandate of turning history specifically, and educational
curricula in general with a narrow and false content so that future generations
are molded to its dangerously sectarian viewpoint.
One of the most far reaching and dangerous
subversions of democracy has been the BJP’s shamelessly open alignment with
corporate houses, giving them enormous concessions and leverage in determining
state policy. This has led to a criminal onslaught on workers’ rights, brutal
restriction of their economic interests and a free hand to take over lands and
resources of communities without due consultation.
In other words, the BJP’s onslaught on
democracy is seamlessly affecting pluralism, as also the rights and interests
of large sections of population including rural labourers, small farmers and
industrial or informal workers.
Attacks on freedom of expression
The right to free expression is an integral
part of any democratic society. But with its revivalist ideology of Hindutva,
based on glorification of a mythical past based on one religion, the Sangh parivar
is trying its best to stifle any voice that is critical of the present
government, or of its favorite symbols like the army and the flag. This
throttling of democracy is given the cover of “people’s anger” to make it
appear as if there is popular anger against dissent whereas the reality is that
it is just the Sangh parivar’s own supporters in various guises that launch
protests, backed up by government’s illicit support. Some examples of this are:
On 3 August 2016, a group of ABVP (student
wing of RSS) supporters protested against a student magazine published by
Pondicherry Central University which carried articles critical of the
government. The University authorities promptly stopped the magazine’s
circulation and appointed an enquiry. The magazine had criticized the
government and former HRD minister Smriti Irani for discrimination against
dalit students in higher education centres which led to suicides by Rohith Vemula
and others.
On 21 September 2016, the English and
Foreign Languages Dept. of Central University of Haryana, Mahendragarh, staged
a play by famous author Mahasweta Devi called Draupadi. The story is about rape
of a tribal woman by army men. Again, the ABVP launched a protest accusing
several faculty members and students of ‘sedition’ and anti-national activities
by depicting army men in a negative light. Earlier, in November 2014, ABVP had stalled
the screening of Anand Patwardhan’s documentary, Ram Ke Naam, which
explores the Vishwa Hindu Parishad’s campaign to build a Ram Temple at Ayodhya
in the late 1980s and early 1990s and the communal violence that followed after
the Babri Masjid’s demolition in 1992. The ABVP has also been attacking
and harassing Kashmiri students in the University alleging that they are
anti-national.
In several incidents across the country,
people have been harassed by police after they posted critical thoughts on the
Modi government or Sangh parivar on social media.
Attacks on Universities
What marks attacks in universities today is
that it was not just the local Sangh parivar outfit and the University administration
that was involved, but support for attack came right from the top with
ministers and central bureaucrats directing things and police forces deployed.
Thus, it became not just a matter of freedom of expression but the very right
to education that was trampled upon.
In IIT Madras, the Ambedkar-Periyar Study
Circle, a progressive students’ group was banned in May 2015 by the authorities
after the HRD minister complained that they were indulging in anti-national
activities. The APSC had been highlighting issues of caste discrimination and
workers’ rights. The ban led to widespread protests and later the authorities
had to rescind the ban.
In January 2016, Rohith Vemula, dalit
research scholar at Hyderabad Central University committed suicide after facing
discrimination and his scholarship being withheld. Central govt. minister
Bandaru Dattatreya had instigated action against Vemula for his activities
criticizing the government. The suicide caused outrage throughout the country
even as HRD minister Smriti Irani tried to defend the actions of the
government.
In JNU, several students were arrested in
February 2016 after a BJP MP lodged a complaint with the police that they were
indulging in anti national activities like protesting against the hanging of
Afzal Guru who had been punished for his alleged involvement in the terrorist
attack on Parliament. Using this pretext, the campus was swamped by armed
police, dozens were arrested including the students’ union president, who was
attacked by BJP supporters in the court. After massive and united protests by
JNU students and teachers against the vicious attack by the government, and
worldwide condemnation, the situation was normalized although cases against
several students are ongoing.
In several other universities, like
Allahabad University, Aligarh Muslim University etc. too the Sanghparivar has
unleashed attacks and disruption trying to cow down dissenting forces and force
everybody to follow their narrow diktats.
Foisting Anti-Science attitudes
Rejection of science and the scientific
method comes naturally to the Sangh parivar. Their glorification of a mythical
“golden” past in which the mythical Hindu society had supposedly achieved great
heights of scientific discovery motivates them to dismiss present achievements
of science and claim that all scientific truth was already known to ancient
Hindu seers. This not only stifles current scientific progress but also
encourages quackery and mystical practices in important fields.
A prime example of this kind of backward
thinking, with enormous destructive potential was provided by Radha Mohan
Singh, India’s agriculture minister. Addressing agricultural scientists, he was
quoted as saying, “With the help of Rajyog, the farmer’s confidence level
should be increased so that he is able to face today’s challenges like global
warming and climate change.”
“The idea behind Yogic farming is to
empower the seeds with the help of positive thinking. We should enhance the
potency of seeds by rays of parmatma shakti,” said Singh, adding that this
would “help India become Vishwaguru” and “contribute in making India ‘sone ki chidiya’
once again.”
At the Indian Science Congress, scientists
who support the Sangh parivar insisted on a session on ancient science in India
where papers claiming all kinds of imaginary achievements were presented. These
included claims that ancient Indian ‘scientists’ had developed viable and
effective flying machines. Elsewhere leaders of BJP claimed that plastic
surgery and organ transplant sciences were highly evolved in ancient India
giving examples of Ganesha who has the head of an elephant.
In the pursuit of validating their mythical
beliefs, the BJP led Haryana state govt. spent Rs.50 cr on trying to discover
the mythical Saraswati river mentioned in the Vedas.
Attempt to mould festivals and anniversaries
Motivated by its belief that India needs to
be the land of Hindus alone, the Sangh parivar has been trying to change
traditional festivals and even anniversaries of secular leaders to match their
narrow and intolerant vision.
A recent example of this was the branding
of Onam, a festival celebrated in Kerala, as “VamanaJayanti” by the BJP
president Amit Shah. Traditionally, Onam festival has been celebrated for the
return of the Asura king Mahabali (a just and beloved ruler). It is widely
observed by all communities in Kerala. Shah, following the Sangh view tried to
make it out as a festival to mark Vamana, an avatar of Vishnu, who sent
Mahabali to the underworld. After wide protests, he was forced to retreat.
Earlier, the BJP had tried to declare
Christmas as ‘Good Governance Day’ in a cheap and transparent trick to
denigrate the observance of Christmas. Again, it was forced to downplay its
announcement after protests.
Since it is unable to tolerate any person
who does not fit into its fundamentalist mold, the BJP government has also
targeted Mahatma Gandhi. It has characterized his birth anniversary 2 October
as Swachchata Divas (Cleanliness Day). In several parts of the country, Sangh parivar
affiliates have tried to glorify the Nathuram Godse, assassin of Mahatma
Gandhi.
Attacks on minority communities
In line with its hostility towards minority
religious communities in the country, the Sanghparivar and its affiliated
organisations have launched an open and belligerent war against them. Creating
an atmosphere of terror to subjugate sections of society is a direct blow to
India’s pluralist democracy. Incidents of violence, mainly against the Muslim
community have accelerated in the past two years. It should be noted that violent
incidents are not confined towards Muslims alone: there have been several
incidents of church burning or desecration, and barbaric attacks on nuns, as in
the rape of the aged Catholic Nun in a Convent and School in Ranaghat in West
Bengal. Even Delhi saw several incidents of attacks on churches.
According to various reports, there were
600 incidents of communal violence, coercion, assault, arson, rape and killings
in the first year of the NDA government since it took power in June 2014. Of
these 149 incidents targeted Christians while the remaining 451 were directed
at Muslims. 43 people died in these incidents and dozens were injured. Besides
these, 108 Muslim community members were killed in attacks by Bodo militants in
Assam.
According to a statement by the government
in Parliament, there was a 17% increase in communal incidents in 2015 compared
to 2014. There were 644 incidents in 2014
While attacks on minority community members
are widespread across the country, there appears to be a link with electoral
timelines. For instance, Uttar Pradesh, which will see elections for the Vidhan
Sabha in 2017 has seen a relentless rise in communal incidents, often linked to
religious festivals.
In the recent past, the festivals of
Durgavisarjan, Dusshera and Muharram fell close to each other. While there were
several reports of people marking the festivals with traditional amity and
mutual participation, UP saw a spate of violent incidents or tensions caused by
aggressive and provocative slogan shouting, stone pelting and fireworks
throwing in as many as 14 districts - Gonda, Mau, Moradabad, Bahraich,
Maharajganj, Deoria, Kushinagar, Bareily, Sitapur, Raebareily, Balrampur,Shravasti,
Ballia, Pratapgarh. Earlier this year, there was a communal riot in Bijnor. It
is clear that there is a planned attempt by the Sanghparivar to incite communal
tensions in the hope of cashing in on polarization of voters on religious
lines. It is a different matter that the people may not fall for this and
reject the communalizing attempts as they did in Bihar last year where the BJP
lost badly despite indulging in similar tactics.
The recent festival related communal
violence was also seen in some distrcits of Bihar (PoorviChaparan,
PashchimiChamparan, Bhojpur, Sitamarhi, Madhepura, Gopalganj, Gaya), West
Bengal (Kharagpur, Hooghly, North 24 Parganas), Maharashtra (Thane), Karnataka (Belgaum)
among others.
Appointing
Sangh parivar supporters in Educational Institutions
After
coming to power, the current government has made a concerted attempt to reorient
the education system towards its revivalist and fundamentalist ideology. One of
the typical measures this involves is appointing Sangh parivar supporters to
key positions in educational institutions who then proceed to encourage the
spread of the Sangh’s ideas. Some of the key appointments thus made are:
National
Council for Teachers’ Education (NCTE): This
key body in charge of all teachers’ training colleges in the country is being
manipulated by RSS backed groups. As a first step, they are pressing for
removal of eminent educationists like Krishna Kumar, Janaki Rajan, Padma
Sarangapani and Virginius Xaxa because they are progressive liberals.
NCERT: Parvin
Sinclair, the director of this top educational body, which determines school
curricula, resigned in October 2014, two years before her term was supposed to
end. It was alleged that there were irregularities. As a result of her ouster,
the last stage of updating the National Curriculum Framework 2005 had to be
aborted. The search is on for a ‘suitable’ candidate.
Universities:
The Chancellor of Nalanda University in Bihar (run by the Centre),
Nobel Prize winner Amartya Sen resigned because of BJP pressure on him. In an open
letter he said that the Board wanted him to continue but the government
didn’t.In Rajasthan, vice-chancellors not openly allied with the SanghParivar
are facing the heat. Dr Dev Swarup from Rajasthan University has publicly
complained of excessive RSS interference in running the university. The search
committee to pick his successor is headed by an RSS-backed vice-chancellor,
Kailash Sodhnani. Two members of Rajasthan University’s Syndicate are part of
the RSS-backed Akhil Bhartiya Rashtriya Shaikshik Mahasangh. Girish Chandra
Tripathi, an RSS functionary, was appointed the Vice-chancellor of Banaras
Hindu University on 24 November 2014. His name was recommended by a
search-cum-selection committee headed by Justice (retired) Giridhar Malviya ,
grandson of Madan Mohan Malviya and a proposer of NarendraModi’s candidature
from Varanasi. Malviya and Tripathi are old associates, according to media
reports. In Haryana, the BJP government has scrapped all literary academies
constituted by the previous government and will be appointing its own chosen
persons shortly.
NIT,
Nagpur: Vishram RamchandraJamdar, a professed
RSS swayamsevak, was appointed as the head of Visvesvaraya National Institute
of Technology, Nagpur even when he was not among the four shortlisted
candidates for the post.
Tata
Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR): The
Prime Minister's Office earlier this year rejected the appointment of
theoretical physicist Sandip Trivedi at the Tata Institute of Fundamental
Research (TIFR) on "technical grounds", making it the first time that
a director's appointment has been vetoed by the PMO. Trivedi is a front-ranking
theoretical physicist and recipient of prestigious awards. Bharat Ratna
recipient and renowned scientist Dr CNR Rao sought PM Narendra Modi's
intervention in the matter, but there was no response. Rao alleged that
something similar happened in the appointment of the head of the
Bangalore-based Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research
(JNCASR).
IIT’s: Nuclear
scientist Anil Kakodkar resigned from Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay's
governing body in March 2015, following reports of differences with the HRD
minister over the selection of directors for IITs at Ropar, Bhubaneswar and
Patna. The HRD ministry's decision to trash the earlier selection process and
recall all 37 candidates for interviews was considered by many in the
search-cum-selection committee as interference and an attempt to get the
ministry's favourites short-listed.
Indian
Institute for Advanced Studies, Shimla: Gopalkrishna
Gandhi resigned as chairperson of IIAS soon after the BJP's electoral victory
in May last year. Media reports say that HRD Minister Smriti Irani got
Chandrakala Padia appointed to the post. Padia's name wasn't part of the panel
of probables that had been prepared earlier.
Control over media
Both print and electronic media have
surrendered to the Sangh parivar and its representative govt. at the centre.
While there is a natural tendency for the media owned by big business to kowtow
to whatever govt. is in power, the extent of compromise with the current government
is stunning. While TV channels are outdoing the Sangh parivar in spreading
jingoism, xenophobia, and intolerance, helped along by stooges of the Sangh parivar
posing as ‘intellectuals’ or ‘commentators’, newspapers too have taken to
one-sided and craven praise of the government. So much so that the activities
and functions of the RSS are nowadays telecast live on TV, something that was
unthinkable till a few years ago.
With the kind of enormous reach that the
media has developed in the present times, this has led to dangerous propagation
of Hindutva sponsored poison. This means that there is an open attempt to
subvert pluralism in the country by bombarding people with Hindutva based
propaganda, at the cost of India’s thriving plurality. There are also counter
attempts by minority oriented channels to spread their own brand of
fundamentalism but this is insignificant compared to what the mainstream media is
doing.
The Sangh parivar has also taken over two
important government bodies by appointing their trusted men to top posts.Central Board of Film Certification (popularly
called the Censor Board) is now headed by Pahlaj Nihalani,
author of the slogan ‘Har Har Modi, Ghar Ghar Modi’ before the 2014 general
elections. His predecessor Leela Samson resigned because various Hindutva
groups were unhappy with her. Prasar
Bharti -- the autonomous body that runs Doordarshan and All India Radio --
is now headed by A Surya Prakash, consulting editor of the pro-BJP paper
Pioneer and a fellow at the Vivekananda International Foundation, a Delhi-based
pro-RSS think.
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