THE END OF INDIA

by Khushwant Singh

  Ex-MP and former editor of the weekly BJP Today, Praful Goradia, like the leaders of the RSS (from Hedgewar and Golwalkar to the ones today), the Shiv Sena’s Bal Thakeray, leaders of the VHP, Bajrang Dal and others of the Sangh parivar (including the BJP), believes in Savarkar’s Hindutva. An ardent admirer of the Nehru-Gandhi family not so long ago, and an aspirant for a Congress ticket during Rajiv Gandhi’s tenure, Goradia is the author of a booklet, Thus Spoke Indira Gandhi. Notwithstanding his past, he is a neo-convert to Hindutva, is now a member of the BJP think-tank and he has put his passionate belief in Hindutva in print in The Saffron Book.

  Like other supporters of Hindutva, Goradia attributes anti-Muslim feelings in the minds of this generation of Hindus to the vandalism of Muslim invaders from Mahmud Ghazni onwards and the destruction of temples during the reign of Aurangzeb. He asserts that this makes Hindu blood boil with anger. How long can we allow our blood to boil and what will be its consequences on the health of the nation? Goradia concedes that perpetuating hatred against present-day Muslims for what their forefathers did centuries ago will be counterproductive. His solution is, however, naive and beyond belief. He writes: ‘One simple way would be to call a congress of leading Muslim lights of India, say one hundred of them, maybe more. Let them consider seven of the desecrations described in this volume and let them give back these sites on their own as these leave no doubt of the wrongs committed.’

  Goradia must know there is no possibility whatsoever of such a conclave of Muslim leaders being convened or their magnanimously handing over mosques in which prayers have been offered over hundreds of years. Indeed, never was this kind of demand articulated till the Sangh parivar gained ascendancy in Indian politics. Goradia doesn’t only ask for the noses of Indian Muslims to be rubbed in the dirt of the past. He has similar reservations about Christian presence in India, about the demise of Nehruvian secularism and socialism and about much else. His book deserves to be read because it gives us an insight into the minds of Hindu fundamentalists.

  When the likes of Praveen Togadia and Giriraj Kishore criticize the three-man Election Commission (of whom two are Hindus), they single out J.M. Lyngdoh because he is a Christian and describe him as ‘anti-Hindu’. I want to yell back at these fellows: ‘Lyngdoh is not anti-Hindu. He is a civilized gentleman, above communal prejudices. It is people like you who are anti-Hindu because you give Hinduism a bad name.’

  If fundamentalists have any religion at all, it is hate. Abuse and lies come more easily to them than reason and logic. Their private armies are designed to implement political agendas through force and to be used in communal riots. It is the job of the courts and the police, and not of illiterate sadhus and armed thugs, to uphold and enforce law and order. But that is clearly not the BJP’s idea of good governance.

  Until a few years ago I used to think that I could dismiss the menace of fascism erupting in my own country as a figment of my sick mind. I can no longer do so. The Indian brand of fascism is at our doorstep. The chief apologist for Indian fascism is Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani, who read Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf while in jail during the Emergency. Bharatiya fascism has its crudest protagonists in Bal Thackeray, the Shiv Sena supremo who openly praises Hitler as a superman. Its chief executioner is Narendra Modi, chief minister of Gujarat. And of course, there is the rag-tag of the Singhals, Giriraj Kishores, Togadias and other tuppennyha’penny rabble-rousers.

  Germany was a literate nation and yet succumbed to the most irrational sort of racial prejudice. We are largely illiterate and it is much easier to sway our masses by rousing their basest instincts. Distort facts, inject dollops of pride in your own race and religion, and prejudice and contempt for that of others, and you have a witches’ brew of hate which can be easily brought to a boil. We saw how Bhindranwale succeeded in winning over the Sikh masses by preaching hate. We are now witness to the same kind of preaching of hate on a national scale. The Nazis had Jews and Gypsies as their targets. Our fascists have all religious minorities as theirs. No better proof of this is needed than BJP chief Venkaiah Naidu’s spirited defence of Modi’s hate speeches against the Muslims and the atrocities against them by his supporters. Naidu said that the Congress has no right to accuse Modi of the mass killing of Muslims when its own hands are soiled by the blood of innocent Sikhs massacred in 1984. Clearly, minorities are fair game for both sides.

  The BJP and its sister organizations incite the majority Hindus by harping on the anti-Hindu acts of the medieval Islamic rulers of India. But our entire history is that of a people divided by race and religion with each section trying to dominate the other by violence and vandalism. No group can point an accusing finger at the other. If the Muslims killed and destroyed, the non-Muslims (the Raiputs, Jats, Marathas and Sikhs) did no less. Our history is not the simple annals of Hindu-Muslim confrontation. In most if not all cases of conflicts, there were Hindus on the side of Muslims and Muslims on the side of Hindus. Through all the centuries of Hindu-Muslim association runs a strand of mutual respect and affection which made it possible for us to create a common culture. The Qutab Minar, the Taj Mahal and Fatehpur Sikri, though essentially Saracenic in concept (you can see the similarity in hundreds of mosques and mausoleums in West Asia), were often executed by Hindu artists and craftsmen and therefore became a Hindu-Muslim mélange which we can rightly describe as Indian. It is both historically wrong and morally unfair to cater to chauvinistic pride and prejudice. If we brainwash the younger generation with this venomous mixture of distorted fact, fancy and specious argument, we will forever be the real authors of communal discord. If we fail to hold ourselves as one nation, we will be the authors of that failure. And we will be the real perpetrators of the end of India.

  Hate-mongers & Co. Pvt. Ltd

  What exactly is the nature of the beast at our door? An examination of the RSS and its ideology is important to get a true sense of the danger we are in. But before I do that, I would like to describe a meeting I had thirty years ago with Madhavrao Sadasivrao Golwalkar, the then head of the RSS. Thinking back on it, I realize that part of the Sangh parivar’s success can be attributed to the charm and charisma of many of its leaders. They were men of polite manner, obvious sophistication and intelligence who cloaked their fascist ideas in sweet reasonableness and impeccable etiquette.

  Guru Golwalkar had long been on the top of my hate list, because I could not forget the RSS’s role in communal riots, the assassination of the Mahatma and its attempt to change India from a secular State to a Hindu rashtra. There were passages in his 1939 tract, We, or Our Nationhood Defined, that seemed to suggest that he shared Hitler’s ideas about racial purity and approved of his methods to purge Germany of the Jews. I could not resist the chance of meeting him and in November 1972, I interviewed him for The Illustrated Weekly:

  ‘I expect to run into a cordon of uniformed swayam sevaks. There are none; not even plainclothes CIDs to take down the number of my car. I arrive at what looks like a middle-class apartment. It seems as though there is a puja going on inside—there are rows of sandals outside, the fragrance of agarbatti, the bustle of women behind the scenes, the tinkle of utensils and crockery. I step inside.

  ‘It is a small room in which sit a dozen men in spotless white kurtas and dhotis—all looking newly washed as only Maharashtrian Brahmins can manage to make them look. And there is Guru Golwalkar: a frail man in his mid-sixties, black hair curling to his shoulders, a moustache covering his mouth, a wispy grey beard dangling down his chin. He wears an inerasable smile and dark eyes twinkle through his bifocals. He looks like an Indian Ho Chi Minh. For a man who has only recently undergone surgery for breast cancer, he is remarkably fit and cheerful. Being a guru, I feel he may expect a chela-like obeisance. He does not give me a chance. As I bend to touch his feet, he grasps my hands in his bony fingers and pulls me down on the seat beside him.

  ‘“I am very glad to meet you,” he says. “I had been wanting to do so for some time.” His Hindi is very shud
h. ‘“Me too,” I reply clumsily. “Ever since I read your Bunch of Letters.”

  ‘“Bunch of Thoughts,” he corrects me. He does not want to know my views on it.

  ‘He takes one of my hands in his and pats it. “So?” he looks inquiringly at me.

  ‘“I don’t know where to begin. I am told you shun publicity and your organization is secret.”

  ‘“It is true we do not seek publicity but there is nothing secret about us. Ask me anything you want to.”

  ‘“I read about your movement in Jack Curran’s The RSS and Hindu Militarism. He says . . .”

  ‘“It is a biased account,” interrupts Guruji. “Unfair, inaccurate—he misquoted me and many others. There is no militarism in our movement. We value discipline—which is a different matter.”

  ‘I tell him that I had read an article describing Curran as the head of CIA operations in Europe and Africa. “I would never have suspected it,” I say very naively. “I have known him for twenty years.”

  ‘Guruji beams a smile at me. “This doesn’t surprise me at all.” I do not know whether his remark is a comment on Curran being a part of the CIA or my naiveté.

  ‘“There is one thing which bothers me about the RSS. If you permit me, I will put it as bluntly as I can.”

  ‘“Go ahead.”

  ‘“It is your attitude towards the minorities, particularly the Christians and the Muslims.”

  ‘“We have nothing against the Christians expect their methods of gaining converts. When they give medicines to the sick or bread to the hungry, they should not exploit the situation by propagating their religion to those people. I am glad there is a move to make the Indian churches autonomous and independent of Rome.”

  ‘“What about the Muslims?”

  ‘“What about them?”

  ‘I have no doubt in my mind that the dual loyalties that many Muslims have towards both India and Pakistan is due to historical factors for which Hindus are as much to blame as they. It also stems from a feeling of insecurity that they have been made to suffer since Partition. In any case, one cannot hold the entire community responsible for the wrongs of a few.

  ‘“Guruji, there are six crore Indian Muslims here with us.” I get eloquent. “We cannot eliminate them, we cannot drive them out, we cannot convert them. This is their home. We must reassure them—make them feel wanted. Let us win them over with love. This should be an article of . . .”

  ‘“I would reverse the order,” he interrupts. “As a matter of fact I would say the only right policy towards Muslims is to win their loyalty by love.”

  ‘I am startled. Is he playing with words? Or does he really mean what he says? He qualifies his statement: “A delegation of the Jamat-i-Islami came to see me. I told them that Muslims must forget that they ruled India. They should not look upon foreign Muslim countries as their homelands. They must join the mainstream of Indianism.”

  ‘“How?”

  ‘“We should explain things to them. Sometimes one feels angry with Muslims for what they do, but then Hindu blood never harbours ill-will for very long. Time is a great healer. I am an optimist and feel that Hinduism and Islam will learn to live with each other.”

  ‘Tea is served. Guruji’s glass mug provides a diversion. I ask him why he doesn’t drink the beverage out of porcelain like the rest of us. He smiles. “I have always taken it in this mug. I take it with me wherever I go.” His closest companion, Dr Thatte, who has dedicated his life to the RSS, explains: “Porcelain wears off and exposes the clay beneath. Clay can harbour germs.”

  ‘I return to my theme.

  ‘“Why do you pin your faith on religion when most of the world is turning irreligious and agnostic?”

  ‘“Hinduism is on firm ground because it has no dogma. It has had agnostics before; it will survive the wave of irreligiousness better than any other religious system.”

  ‘“How can you say that? The evidence is the other way. The only religions which are standing firm and even increasing their hold on the people are those based on dogma—Catholicism, and more than Catholicism, Islam.”

  ‘“It is a passing phase. Agnosticism will overtake them; it will not overtake Hinduism. Ours is not a religion in the dictionary sense of the word; it is dharma, a way of life. Hinduism will take agnosticism in its stride.”

  ‘I have taken more than half an hour of Guruji’s time. He shows no sign of impatience. When I ask for leave, he again grasps my hands to prevent me from touching his feet.’

  I remember being impressed with Guru Golwalkar because he did not try to persuade me to agree with his point of view. He had made me feel that he was open to persuasion. I accepted his invitation to visit him in Nagpur and see things for myself. I had thought then that I could perhaps bring him around to making Hindu-Muslim unity the main aim of his RSS. I had been a simple-minded Sardar. The Sangh parivar’s PR men can no longer hide the truth about their mission. And the truth is this: the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh stands for ‘the spread of Hindu culture’. This ‘culture’ is ‘a value system’ based on Savarkar’s concept of Hindutva and is necessarily a Hindu value system. The mission of the RSS is to ‘unite and rejuvenate our nation on the sound foundation of Dharma’, a mission that can be achieved by ‘a strong and united Hindu society’. It has therefore undertaken the task of uniting the Hindus because it believes that ‘rejuvenation of the Hindu nation is in the interest of the whole humanity (sic)’. Clearly, there is no room here for anyone who does not pray to Hindu gods.

  The RSS is blatantly and fiercely anti-Muslim and anti-Christian. It junks Jesus just as it rejects roza. Golwalkar even raised an objection when Abdul Hamid and the Keelor bothers were honoured by the Indian government for their bravery during the Indo-Pak war—the gallant men were non-Hindus.

  Apart from the assassination of the Mahatma, the RSS, VHP, BJP and RSS offshoots like the Bajrang Dal and Vanavasi Kalyan Ashram have been implicated in various communal riots all over the country. The RSS ally Shiv Sena, with its leader Bal Thackeray, believes in ‘benign dictatorship’ for India. BJP leaders like the late Vijaya Raje Scindia were in favour of inhuman practices like sati and believed in the Hindu caste system. Every year, 14 February, St. Valentine’s Day, is marked by Shiv Sena sainiks going on a rampage all over the country. They burn buses, vandalize shops and generally make a nuisance of themselves protesting against what they call ‘cultural decadence’. They wish to protect a Hindu rashtra from the evil influence of Western practices.

  We talk about the Taliban using religion to stifle the social and cultural lives of the people of Afghanistan. The same thing has been happening in our very homeland and we see it in every aspect of our daily life. It is not only the Shiv Sena that foams at the mouth about ‘Western influence’, Minister of State for Tourism and Cultural Affairs Bhavnaben Chikalia was recently considering banning discotheques in all government hotels. She felt it was ‘against our culture’ and a ‘bad influence on our Bharatiya sanskriti’. Some years ago, Sushma Swaraj made a hue and cry about Fashion Television, and the Sangh agitated all over the country against Deepa Mehta’s Fire and even succeeded in stopping Water, her next film, about the widows of Varanasi. These moral police have problems with books, with plays, with music and with art. In their effort to create a Hindu rashtra, they have played up the Shah Bano case, using the Congress’s appeasement of the Muslim orthodoxy as their trump card. They have attempted to ‘rectify’ Muslim ‘wrongs’ in history by rewriting it. They have tampered with textbooks in their efforts to ‘amend’ Leftist readings and tried to reconstruct in the twenty-first century an imagined Hindu golden age.

  Every fascist regime needs communities and groups it can demonize in order to thrive. It starts with one group or two. But it never ends there. A movement built on hate can only sustain itself by continually creating fear and strife. Those of us today who feel secure because we are not Muslims or Christians are living in a fool’s paradise. The Sangh is already targeting Leftist hist
orians and ‘Westernized’ youth. Tomorrow it will turn its hate on women who wear skirts, people who eat meat, drink liquor, watch foreign films, don’t go on annual pilgrimages to temples, use toothpaste instead of danth manjan, prefer allopathic doctors to vaids, kiss or shake hands in greeting instead of shouting ‘Jai Shri Ram . . .’ No one is safe. We must realize this if we hope to keep India alive.

  COMMUNALISM—AN OLD PROBLEM

  ‘It has more arms than an octopus,’ thundered Qazi Abdul Sattar, professor of Urdu at Aligarh Muslim University. We were at a seminar in Kanpur in late 2002. Amongst the others on the rostrum were the writers Rajendra Yadav and Krishna Sobti and the saffron-clad sadhu-politician Swami Agnivesh. There was a gory opening to the seminar. Police bandobast around the Merchant Chambers Hall almost got into disarray when a senior head constable ticked off an errant junior for neglecting his duty. The junior rewarded his superior by putting a bullet through his heart. We proceeded to discuss the menace of communalism as if nothing had happened.

  The audience was most receptive; comparing communalism to the tentacles of an octopus drew cries of wah! wah! ‘Who was the admiral of Shivaji’s fleet?’ asked Qazi Sahib. And answered the question himself: ‘A Muslim.’ He carried Shivaji’s flags of secularism further. ‘Who was the commander of Shivaji’s artillery? A Muslim. When Shivaji sacked Surat he brought back a copy of the Holy Quran bearing it reverently on his head.’ So great was Qazi Sahib’s enthusiasm for the Maratha hero that he made him out as the vanquisher of the communal villain, Aurangzeb. I had not read of it in any book of history but in that atmosphere, sentiment mattered more than historic facts.

  We all talked a lot and were applauded. We slew the canker of communalism ending on the note that all the world is communal save thee and me, and even thee is a little communal. We went back to our business the next day and nothing changed with the world.