Secular Parivar, the new fundamentalists

The range of responses that have come from some personalities who must surely now be christened the Secular Parivar matches only the ugliness and extremism of both Hindu and Muslim fundamentalist groups who spew venom while propagating their own ideologies which are in no way shared by the vast majority of people. India’s ordinary people do not wear badges in order to gain concessions, oppress their fellow citizens or declare their superior morality but a small group of self-proclaimed ‘‘secular’’ writers have decided for the rest of us what secularism is and how wretched are those who do not subscribe to their definitions.

By accusing riotous mobs of turning on Hindus after they attacked Muslims as if they were cannibals, Kishwar is indulging in hysteria and hyperbole. So is her view that all Hindus are turning into such murderous fanatics that Musharraf’s plan to destroy India will be realised by Indians i.e. Hindus. Let us have the honesty to admit the sad truth that Hindus and Muslims attacked each other violently through a series of events that fuelled each group. It is no use ascertaining which used knives and who used acid bombs and AK-47s.

To decide who started it all now also depends not on the truth but on whether you are ‘secular’ or ‘communal’ and could take us back to colonial times. Their idea of secularism is certainly not what ordinary Indians know it to be, whether they are from the majority or any minority group. Let it be absolutely clear to Musharraf and Kishwar that the VHP and Bajrang Dal by no means represent the views of the majority of Hindus just as SIMI and various maulvis do not represent the inclinations of most of the Muslims. Did the Khalistanis ever represent the entire Sikh population?

It is not so easy for anybody to inject criminality into the bloodstream of the majority or minority community unless there already lies seething imbalances, injustices (perceived or otherwise), economic problems and joblessness which create the climate for violent reactions in any situation. For Kishwar to blame everything on Hindu criminality alone while forgetting to call Godhra any kind of crime and to refer to it merely in passing as something that did not dent the economy of Gujarat must be music to the General’s ears. There is so much poison already in the air that even if those inquiring into Godhra genuinely report that it was pre-planned and supported by people inimical to India it will be attacked as a Hindutva plot to cover up the truth that it was a Hindu plot.

This group who have been peddling the line that every one in the NDA government is to be hated because they are fundamentalists include the feminist Kishwar, writer Arundhati Roy, media peacock Tarun Tejpal and a handful of journalists and lawyers have been screaming ever since this government came to power and declared its aim of building a strong, resurgent and confident India. This is not an ‘‘Indira is India’’ argument where a person has to love this government, or any government for that matter, in order to love this country, but an analysis of how blind hatred of a Government translates into a diatribe that goes far beyond and harms us as a nation. The NDA carried out the Pokharan tests because of the ominous and precarious security environment in the neighbourhood. It has since then effectively overcome all the sanctions and hostility that came in its wake, building better relationships with China, USA, Japan, the Arab countries, Israel, Central Asian countries, Vietnam. It also made a very sincere attempt twice with Pakistan both at Lahore and Agra.

At WTO, we finally started asserting ourselves without taking any steps that would reverse reforms, which was impossible. Successive budgets have been well managed except for the usual criticism and the usual alterations. One would have thought they would be happy that the ‘communalists’ were finally behaving and doing well in the country. But no! We have Ms Roy suddenly waking up from deep slumber having missed all the nuclear tests conducted all over the world including Pakistan and China and declaring herself so alienated from her country of birth that she converted herself into ‘‘an independent mobile republic’’.

Enter Tejpal who produces a sham expose of defence procurement. He declares with intense pride on his Tehelka website that they had destroyed the last sacred cow of the Indian establishment and that his Operation Westend was enough for anyone to lose hope in the idea of India. Now we have Kishwar advising General Musharraf not to waste his time destroying India because Indians had all become murderous and would do the work for him. The dastardly attack and killing of over 30 innocent people and army men in Jammu a few days after her ‘Open Letter’ was published indicates that the General either cares not for her advice or does not read The Indian Express. It is indeed sad that Kishwar and her friends have lost faith in this country and its people in their bid to play petulant politics or perhaps for a slice of momentary fame.

(The writer is a leader of the Samata Party)