BJP's governance is questioned by Madhu Kishwar

BJP's governance is questioned by Madhu Kishwar
http://mikeghouseforindia.blogspot.com/2015/11/bjps-governance-is-questioned-by-madhu.html   



Madhu Kishwar is one of the biggest supporters of Modi in building his image over the years. To her, Modi is an avatar of God,  like most of the devotees, she believed that Modi cannot make mistakes. Modi is blessed to have such blind following. 

After the Delhi Debacle, she and few others spoke out, and now here is another article (below) that critiques Modi. I am not sure, if the BJP members will swallow this or go after her as they have done with others, there is a new culture of intolerance germinating in India among the members of Sangh Parivar, unchecked, it can grow big and tear down the social fabric of India.

She has written this article obviously to the zealots of BJP, and has passed on a lot of hot air as facts, which you see as you read through it, but has retained some integrity and that is the reason for my writing this note.

Modi is surrounded by the Chamchas, the sychophants who lie to him that everything is going great in his kingdom. She has said some of the things I have written before. Click on these article links  after reading Madhu's article.  Modi's Bubble and the Chamcha Culture,  Modi on track to Cripple India,  and many more articles.


Mike Ghouse
http://MikeGhouseforIndia.blogspot.com

Dr. Mike Ghouse is a community consultant, social scientist, thinker, writer, news maker and a speaker on Pluralism, Interfaith, Islam, politics, human rights, India, Israel-Palestine and foreign policy. He is committed to building cohesive societies and offers pluralistic solutions on issues of the day. More about him in 63 links at www.MikeGhouse.net and his writings are at www.TheGhousediary.com  
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Lessons From BJP’s Bihar Election Fiasco

Reams have already been written on the drubbing received by the BJP in the crucial Bihar assembly election.

Madhu Kishwar @madhukishwar
Commentary | 27-11-2015

Reams have already been written on the drubbing received by the BJP in the crucial Bihar assembly election. Let me attempt to add my own two cents’ worth to the series of postmortem reports that have been released since November 8.

Countdown to Debacle

Team Modi’s explanation for their drubbing in Bihar is that the caste arithmetic went against the BJP. But that could happen only because of the party’s own acts of omission and commission.

The writing was writ large on the wall from the word go, but Team Modi refused to pay heed to it in a timely manner. The main reason why Team Modi lost the Bihar election is that it avoided doing everything that had the potential to divide the opposition, and instead did everything to bring the mutually warring parties together. Determined action against political scamsters would have put the opposition in disarray. However, the failure to do so has created a Frankenstein monster that threatens to not only smash BJP but also destroy India.


People rallied behind Modi in 2014 cutting across caste, class, linguistic, regional, gender and even religious boundaries because of his promise of a corruption free India. Convinced that poverty, unemployment, increasing crime, mal-governance, etc., are all byproducts of the bureaucratic and political corruption institutionalized by previous regimes, the electorate passionately responded to the prospect of Congress Mukt Bharat because the party had become synonymous with scams, untrammeled loot of India and siphoning-off the country’s wealth to foreign shores.

modiPeople were persuaded that the Congress High Command – namely Sonia Gandhi and her family – were the fountainhead of this corruption. The Vadra-Priyanka land deals, the National Herald scam, the NDTV scam, Jet-Etihad deal, NSEL scam, the CWG scam were the proverbial tips of the iceberg.

Therefore, people were expecting Modi government to take strong action in order to bring to account the mafia that executed this loot. Had the Modi government ensured firm and determined action at least in the already exposed above mentioned financial scandals, it would have isolated the Congress Party from other opposition parties. It would also have sent the right signals to the likes to Lalu Yadav, Mayawati and Omar Abdullah.They would all be running for cover instead of launching a vicious campaign against the BJP in general and Modi in particular.

Senior BJP leader Subramanian Swamy kept warning the Modi government not to allow dilatory tactics in the open and shut National Herald case which had reached the concluding stage. Had Sonia and Rahul been convicted of fraud within the first few months of the Modi regime, the country would have celebrated the conviction. Now even if the court orders a well substantiated conviction, the Gandhi family will present themselves as victims of political vendetta.

Even the once despised Robert Vadra is now challenging Modi government’s belated inquiries into his land scam. It is beyond comprehension why the BJP government in Haryana humiliated and persecuted Ashok Khemka, the officer who exposed Robert Vadra’s shady deals, while rewarding all those officers who had assisted Vadra in acquiring huge tracts of land through devious means.

It is no less puzzling why PM Modi went back on his decision to bring an honest officer like Khemka to PMO aftyer announcing it publicly. That gave the impression of BJP government having cut a deal to protect the Gandhi family instead of letting the law take its own course. Like Lalu Yadav, Vadra too will become a hero of the secular brigade and be treated as a martyr if any action is taken against him now. Sensing the change in political equations post Bihar election both Rahul and Vadra are roaring like lions daring Modi to take action against them.

logoSimilarly, if right at the start of Modi’s tenure the scam ridden NDTV, which had become the most prominent symbol of partisan agendas of the media, had been brought to book on the strength of available evidence of financial frauds and hawala transactions collected by the Income Tax Department during the UPA tenure, the company would have faced imminent closure. That would have sent a clear message that the days of “paid media” were over.

Instead, Modi supporters were shocked to find that the BJP government was going out of its way to shield the tainted television network. The former Director of Enforcement Directorate Rajan S. Katoch known to be a P Chidambram flunkey was given an extension by the Finance Minister.

After the Bihar debacle, the Enforcement Directorate has issued a Rs. 2030 core notice to NDTV, but the action has been only under the relatively mild FEMA and not under the more stringent money laundering Act. This may prove to be a case of too little, too late. NDTV too will go scream vendetta and get loads of support from Modi baiters despite being caught in serious financial frauds.

The flip-flops over retrieving black money siphoned out of India, followed by an utterly ridiculous and draconian law for the ostensible purpose of bringing back the looted wealth topped with the final declaration that “there is no black money abroad, it’s all at home,” made the Modi government appear indecisive.

Veteran Supreme Court lawyer Ram Jethmalani kept shouting from roof tops that the German government had expressed willingness to provide to the Indian government the entire list of culprits holding secret foreign accounts abroad, if only the government made an official request for the same.

However, the BJP government’s steadfast refusal to secure the list from Germans put a shadow of doubt on it. The finance ministry may have buried the whole issue but it is alive in public memory as a major let down. So confident are Congressmen of being protected that they openly ridicule Modi for his false bravado in claiming to bring back India’s looted wealth.

Likewise, appointment of compromised officers as CBDT chairman, Central Vigilance Commissioner (CVC) and Chief Information Commissioner (CIC), despite their willing collaboration in the scams of the previous regime, created serious misgiving about the intentions of the Modi government.

While the prime minister seems to have put some of his own cabinet colleagues under strict watch in order to curb their propensity for corruption, letting his select ministers a free hand, despite their unsavory credentials along with the protective attitude towards the rogues of the previous regime, cast a pall of gloom among all those who had gravitated to him in the hope of ushering in a ‘clean India’ – both physically as well as morally.

The continuation and even promotion of rogue officers owing allegiance to the tainted UPA regime, gave a clear signal to the opposition that this government lacked the guts to confront and book the corrupt. This let down on the anti corruption drive, despite repeated warnings led, erstwhile close friends and supporter like Ram Jethmalani to actually go and address public meetings in Bihar in order to appeal to voters to defeat Modi and support Nitish Kumar because the PM had let down the country by protecting the crooks of the UPA regime.

sonia gandhiThe Opposition parties wouldn’t have dared to rally behind Sonia Gandhi nor would the latter have had the guts to act so belligerent had this government released the list of black money account holders that is suspected to include the name of Sonia Gandhi and other Congress bigwigs.

In short, a serious anti-corruption thrust, through due process would have divided the Opposition and brought many fence sitters come knocking at BJP’s door. This would have also kept the enthusiasm and idealistic dream of the youth alive that Modi government has the political will to free India of corruption. To top it all, Modi allowed the Opposition to put his government on the defensive by bringing in the highly ill-advised Land Acquisition Ordinance. The stigma of being anti-farmer along with the taint of being a shielder of scamsters enabled even Yadav to resurrect himself as a champion of democracy.

Walking into the “Intolerance” Trap

While avoiding all those actions that had the sure shot potential to divide the opposition, the BJP has done all it could to unite the opposition. The Narendra Modi of the highly-charged campaign for the 2014 general elections that brought BJP to power on its own steam seems an altogether different avatar from the one that fought the Bihar election of 2015. At that time, he talked like a statesman with his “Sabka saath, sabka vikas” (Together we stand, for development of all) slogan that fired the imagination of all those tired of the prevalent divisive politics of caste and religion.

While a divided opposition tried to run a shrill campaign projecting Modi as a divisive figure, the BJP’s prime ministerial aspirant was widely perceived as someone who would deliver for the general well-being of the nation if elected to the country’s supreme office. His own stellar track-record in Gujarat made him appear to be the best equipped to lift the country out of its third-world mindset to establish it as a world leader among the comity of nations.

One of the most awe inspiring moments of that historic campaign was the Hunkar (Battle Cry) Rally at Patna’s Gandhi Maidan. Modi had been warned by the security agencies about the high likelihood of bomb explosions. But he braved addressing that rally of over 500,000 even while bombs kept exploding as he was addressing the admiring audience.

Next day the police discovered several unexploded bombs under the very stage on which he stood. Modi knew he was standing in the jaws of death but spoke with such calm that no one in the charged gathering got a hint of what was happening right in the midst of that mammoth crowd. His main message to the audience reverberated with positive energy:

Hindus have a simple choice — either fight against poverty or fight against Muslims. Likewise, Muslims too have just one choice — fight against Hindus or fight against poverty.
Not surprisingly, he got a resounding endorsement for his “sabka saath, sabka vikas” vision, not just from Muslims and Hindus present in that rally but also from millions who watched Modi’s performance in that rally on TV.

In that situation, a divisive politician would have ranted against his opponents for having tried to sabotage his rally and get him assassinated. But Modi didn’t breathe a word about the explosions because he knew it could at once trigger communal mayhem since Muslims and JDU leaders would have been prime suspects. At the conclusion of the rally, Modi advised people to disburse peacefully, avoid stampede like situation so that each one reached home safe.

When people returned home and found out that the blasts had left six dead and over 80 injured, they realized the importance of the “reach home safely” message and his warning against divisive agendas. That day in the eyes of most people, Modi established his credentials as the man of the moment for India who would put an end to politically engineered sectarian strife.

However, after becoming PM, Modi seems to have forgotten his own deftly crafted script of inclusive politics. Not that his government did anything concrete against the Christians or Muslims. But as PM, Modi failed to define the terms of political discourse as he did during the run up to May 2014 election victory.

The humiliating defeat of the BJP in Delhi should have woken up the party that its survival in power depended on a divided opposition. To defeat BJP in Delhi, every party—whether regional or national—pitched in their bit to stop the Modi juggernaut by orchestrating and unleashing a high decibel smear campaign against BJP as a party that endangers religious minorities and is “intolerant” towards political dissenters. The hitherto divided parties had ganged up together and began a sinister campaign to put BJP on the defensive.

A couple of months prior to the Delhi assembly election, a series of alleged attacks on Christian institutions mysteriously happened in quick succession – in Delhi of all the places. This city hasn’t had a history of attacks on Christian community despite hosting a huge number of prominent Christian institutions.

To add fuel to fire, a Hindu Muslim riot was engineered in one of the trans-Yamuna colonies which the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) was nursing as its special constituency. This enabled the combined Opposition along with Christian and Muslim leaders to build hysteria against Modi government alleging that these ‘attacks” are part of the “fascist” agenda of Modi government.

churchChurch-affiliated bodies and the Delhi-centric English TV and print media put the onus on “extremist right wing Hindu organizations” which are cleverly projected as offspring of the BJP even when they have been propped up by the Congress Party.

Police investigations soon exposed that those isolated acts of vandalism had no religious overtones.

In the first of these six alleged attacks in December 2014, a fire damaged St. Sebastian Church in Dilshad Garden. The Special Investigative Team (SIT) exposed that the fire was caused by faulty electrical wiring in the Church. The SIT report to the Home Ministry emphatically stated that, “There was no attempt made by anyone to trigger off a religious hate crime and neither was it the result of polarization on religious lines. It was a clear cut case of short circuit which was blown out of proportion by a section of people.”

In a second incident in Jasola it was alleged that a group of miscreants threw a stone and shattered a windowpane. The police investigation revealed that it was due to a group of kids playing outside, which resulted in a stone landing inside the church. There was no evidence as yet of any communal angle.

The third incident in Rohini, in which the Christmas crib was charred, was determined by the police to be the result of an electrical short circuit.

The fourth incident in Vikaspuri, in which a small group of men allegedly broke the glass windows of a church and toppled the statue of Mother Mary kept in a glass enclosure outside the Church, turned out to be the result of a drunken dare. What’s more, they were caught on CCTV and arrested shortly thereafter by the police and have confessed to the crime. Again, there was no evidence whatsoever of a communal angle.

The fifth incident in Vasant Kunj, was found to be a case of minor burglary.

The sixth incident in Holy Child School, Vasant Vihar involved case of theft of Rs 8,000 by an insider. But it was blown up as yet another “attack on Christians.”

Even in an open and shut case like the Vikaspuri incident in which the perpetrators were caught and confessed to the drunken dare, Delhi Archbishop Anil Cuoto maintained in the face of the evidence that he was dissatisfied with the police explanation, without explaining how the CCTV footage and the perpetrators’ own confession go against his version.

Even the high-profile case of the alleged rape of a 71-year-old nun at a convent in West Bengal turned out to be the handiwork of a Bangladesh-based gang in collusion with employees of that convent. Ironically even though the attack itself took place under super secular chief minister Mamta Bannerjee’s regime, the blame of it came directly on Modi as though he had personally hired the attackers.

In the case of a petty theft in Holy Child School, HRD Minister Smriti Irani personally rushed to the school give assurance of quick action. But in effect it lent credence to the “attack” theory. PM Modi also called the Police Commissioner and gave strict instructions to set up a special monitoring system to protect churches. All these seemed like defensive measures and only emboldened BJP baiters.

Although each one of them were incidents of petty crime or minor accidents, the Indian media led a hysterical campaign to tar India as a place of “growing intolerance.” This chorus by respected leftist and “liberal” intellectuals was avidly picked up by the international media which in any case delights in bashing “Hindu India.”

The absurdity of this charge becomes more obvious when you consider the comparative figures for similar or even more serious incidents involving Hindu temples in the same period.

As per police records, 206 temples, 30 gurudwaras and three churches (out of some 200 or more churches in Delhi) and 14 mosques were burgled during 2014. And such crimes didn’t mysteriously start to occur in May 2014 after the BJP’s victory — as with other crimes, they routinely occur every year in Delhi as the data shows.

Despite the facts pointing in one direction, church leaders and commentators, both in the domestic and foreign media who parrot their line, continued to insist that there’s a pattern to the incidents, the motivation is communal, and the BJP or affiliated groups are the key culprits in promoting “intolerance”.

Similarly, a couple of instances of reconversion of a small group of Muslims to Hinduism accompanied by a few statements in favour of “Ghar Wapsi” by stray members of Sangh Parivar – came to be used as ultimate proof of BJP government endangering religious minorities. By contrast, wholesale conversions to Christianity in several regions of India through means fair and foul and systematic change in the demographic profile of border states due to large scale illegal Bangladeshi migrants pushing out Hindus from their ancestral villages is not an issue with our “sickularists”. The lackluster approach of the Modi government in handling this duplicity provided its opponents with yet another stick to browbeat it with.

On February 5, just two days before the Delhi election, when prohibitory orders were well in place against holding any unlawful assembly, in pursuance of the Central Election Commission (CEC) guidelines, a major demonstration to condemn “religious intolerance” of BJP government was staged outside the Sacred Heart Cathedral in Delhi’s Lutyens zone.

Interestingly several leaders of the AAP that was trying to stage a second coming after a disastrous first term in the city state, prominently took part in it. The Delhi Police managed to break the demonstration without any untoward incident. However, by that afternoon, the media was widely reporting how the cops had prevented a democratic protest against “religious intolerance” and had “bundled (protestors) into waiting buses”. This became yet another proof that Modi regime poses a menace to India’s democracy.

 All this mischief could have been nipped in the bud if only the government had grabbed the bull by the horns and published a white paper to expose the sinister purpose behind misleading reports of attacks on Christian institutions. In addition, it should have issued a stern warning to all those spreading misinformation that they would be booked under section 153 & 153A of IPC for vitiating social atmosphere and spreading disharmony among religious groups. A couple of such convictions would have put the fear of law in the minds of those willfully spreading disinformation and halted the tsunami of hate campaign that soon followed.

But since Modi government appeared defensive it enabled the national media and Opposition parties to tar it internationally. Global networks of the Church played on the hysteria to the hilt and Modi-ruled India was declared as a place that made life unsafe for Christians and Muslims.

The frenzy thus generated emboldened, Modi’s “good friend” Barack Obama to give a stiff sermon to the PM on the need to curb the growing religious strife and intolerance. This set the “intolerance” discourse in stone with BJP government haplessly taking all the drubbing.

The very same forces that had worked hard to bring Modi down as Gujarat CM and prevent his rise to power as PM were back in full force. But the Modi government remained smug in the belief that his popularity wave would conquer all as in May 2014. When the results of the Delhi poll were out, the BJP, the strongest contender to Delhi was all but routed by a mere two-year old AAP. Not surprisingly, “church attacks” stopped as soon as the BJP was trounced in Delhi.

The biggest take away from the Delhi poll was that a united opposition aided and abetted by the intellectual fire power of the “secular” gang in the national media could easily defeat the BJP. And yet no lesson was learnt.

Instead of winning over sections of the Opposition parties, Modi allowed them to consolidate a united front against the NDA government. In the run-up to Delhi elections, Modi government at least tried to defend itself against false charges, however ineffectively, but in the run up to Bihar election, Modi himself fell in every trap laid out for him and his party.The most inexplicable act of omission was with regard to the September 28 lynching of Mohammad Akhlaq in Dadri (Uttar Pradesh) allegedly on account of beef eating.

All that Modi had to do was to issue a strong statement saying that though the cow is indeed sacred for his party but human life is no less sacred for BJP. Therefore, anyone harming another human being under the guise of cow protection would be dealt with sternly.

In addition, Modi should have conveyed a strong message to Akhilesh Yadav to expedite the investigation and punish the guilty. BJP should have gone on the offensive against SP government for failing to book culprits.

Instead the mysterious silence of Modi on this issue enabled his opponents to attribute it to Modi’s complicity in encouraging mob action. Even as the sinister plot behind the Dadri killing is slowly unraveling and the Samajwadi Party has failed to charge sheet the accused, Modi’s mishandling of this incident caused irreparable damage to the BJP’s image.

kalburgiThis was followed by the murder of “rationalist” writer MM Kalburgi in Karnataka. Even before police began investigations, the murder was attributed of BJP. Although it took place in a Congress ruled state, no one grilled the Congress chief minister for failing to nab the culprits.

Instead the target was Narendra Modi himself whose steadfast silence on the issue was exploited to build a case that his party men were guilty of the crime. Similarly, the media has earlier insinuated the participation of “hard line Hindutva groups” in the murder of rationalists Narendra Dhabolkar, and Govind Pansare in Maharashtra.

Dhabolkar was killed when a Congress-led coalition government was in power in Maharashtra. What is interesting is the fact that Dhabolkar once vehemently argued against the canonization of Mother Teresa by the Vatican Church, while Pansare had been highly critical of some very powerful god men, some with close Congress links. Till date their killers have not been caught but the Congress governments have not been called to account and the blame is put squarely at BJP’s doorstep.

The astute manner in which Congress and Left parties got several past winners of Sahitya Akademi awards to return their trophies as a mark of protest against “rising tide of intolerance” in India under PM Modi should have come as a wake-up call.

Although several commentators in the mainstream and social media called the political credentials of the protesting artists to doubt, the drama got wide coverage in the national and international media. The Award Wapsi Brigade may not have carried any electoral clout in Bihar but they certainly succeeded in building a negative aura around BJP and Modi and gave the much needed boost to the morale of the newly united opposition parties. Even the tainted and convicted Lalu Yadav strutted around like a proud peacock because the media treated him like a prized warrior in their desperate bid to defeat Modi.

This disgraceful drama could not have been orchestrated with such finesse had the government booked those spreading false information in the run up to Delhi elections.

To use an analogy, a now united opposition kept throwing banana peels in the path of the BJP, and the party for its own part, kept unfailingly slipping on them more by their acts of omission than any serious harm they did.

Undervaluing Intellectual Firepower

Worse still, instead of defusing the hate campaign, the Modi government added fuel to the fire by appointing an undistinguished Bollywood actor and producer as the director of Film and Television Institute (FTII), Pune, a strong bastion of leftist film makers.

So inappropriate was this choice that even long time BJP supporters were left aghast. True, the left would have raised hell no matter who the BJP government appointed because they cannot tolerate the loss of their monopoly over key positions of power after the defeat of Congress Party.

But by handpicking utterly inappropriate persons for key portfolios in academic and cultural institutions, the BJP gives the message that it is both talent deficit and talent averse. This makes it more vulnerable because the enormous intellectual talent pool that gravitated towards Modi in the run up to May 2014, election feels repelled by the party’s low grade choices.

The Modi of the 2014 Lok Sabha elections had created disarray in the opposition by putting them all on the defensive. But the Modi of the 2014 Delhi elections as well as the 2015 Bihar elections was fighting a defensive battle against a combined opposition because the agenda was set by his enemies.

Just as church attacks ceased the moment the BJP was defeated in Delhi so also the beef related violence vanished along with award wapsi campaign as soon as the BJP was trounced in Bihar.

The only unifying glue for the opposition is a crass variety of “secularism”, these days aptly described as “sickularism.” And Modi himself supplied them this glue in such an abundant measure that even sworn enemies like Nitish Kumar and Lalu Yadav became firm allies.

Fatal Flaw of the BJP

A long standing fatal flaw of the BJP is that while it puts great emphasis on the hardware of politics–namely electoral mobilization through dedicated party cadre, they show little awareness of the need to develop high-quality software of politics, which comes from cultivating intellectual firepower and academic talent which plays a crucial role in defining the political narrative of the day.

It’s regrettable that Modi has allowed the Congress and Left monopoly in this regard to stay intact. The Congress party deftly used the education and culture ministries to garner a national and international network of intellectual warriors. Nurul Hasan as Indira Gandhi’s Education Minister laid the foundations of this empire while Arjun Singh, Kapil Sibal and others added further reinforcements to that citadel by extending their net of patronage far and wide among left oriented intellectuals around one point agenda – make them full time warriors against the BJP.

Their discourse has made the BJP synonymous with “fascist” politics, while washing away the blot of thousands of caste and communal riots from the face of the Congress. The BJP has never dared challenge this defamation either through courts or by countering it with its own intellectual firepower.

If one looks at the appointments to key positions in institutions, it appears that the Modi government has communicated disdain for the world of academia and intellectuals or at best is unaware of the importance of these institutions.

Today, Congress appointees openly sneer at Modi government’s talent deficit saying they have none to replace us. The BJP government doesn’t seem to realize that moral legitimacy of regimes is created by well-honed intellectuals.

Even his Skill India Mission cannot succeed if it does not have solid intellectual foundations. No country can become a global power in the 21st century by merely training good plumbers and electricians. Universities and other knowledge hubs act as shapers of public discourse and political narratives, a game that the BJP is losing fast.

oropAnother blunder of Team Modi was the inexplicable delay in implementing the One Rank One Pension promise which led the army veterans—once avid supporters of Modi—to sit on a 70-day long dharna and hunger strike against the BJP government. Many of them actively campaigned against BJP in the Bihar election.

Finally, it didn’t help that the BJP’s campaign in Bihar sidelined local leaders who were rendered invisible and inconsequential during the election campaign. The election team airlifted outsiders to go and camp in Bihar while local leaders were denied any meaningful role. There was widespread anger against arbitrary choice of candidates, especially those with criminal track records. Today it is the BJP rank and file that is accusing “the party with a difference” of having become “a party with arrogance”.

Bihar is the last wake up call for PM Modi. He better realize that failure is not an option for him since the people of India have reposed enormous faith in him to deliver a model of governance and economic growth that would help India gain a respectful place in the comity of nations.

The above article is published on 11/27/15 at http://indiafacts.co.in/lessons-from-bjps-bihar-election-fiasco/

(These are the author’s personal views)

Madhu Purnima Kishwar is a professor at Centre for the Study of Developing Societies and founder of Manushi–a human rights/ women’s rights organization. Among others, she is the author of “Modi, Muslims and Media” ( Manushi Publications), Zealous Reformers, Deadly Laws, (Sage Publishers), Deepening Democracy–Challenges of Governance & globalization in India ( Oxford University Press), Off the Beaten Track: Essays on Gender Issues ( Oxford University Press), Religion at the Service of Nationalism & Other Essays ( Oxford University Press).

Modi is like a new bride refashioning herself for a wealthy sasural, says Madhu Kishwar

Madhu Kishwar and I have gone from admiring Modi talk prior to elections to wondering about him - his silence is the most difficult one to understand. May be Madhu's notes have a lot of insight.  This is one of the most critical pieces about Modi, and Madhu has praise where it needs to be and criticized where it should be.  Hope you ponder over this interview.

Mike Ghouse
http://MikeGhouseforIndia.blogspot.com 

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Modi is like a new bride refashioning herself for a wealthy sasural, says Madhu Kishwar
http://scroll.in/article/727274/modi-is-like-a-new-bride-refashioning-herself-for-a-wealthy-sasural-says-madhu-kishwar

Vrinda Gopinath  · Today · 09:00 am

Photo Credit: Sam Panthaky/AFP

The noted academic provides a caustic report of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s first year in office.

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In this season of discontent with Narendra Modi, academic and writer Madhu Purnima Kishwar is yet another admirer who is disappointed with the prime minister's leadership, goals and aspirations. In a free-wheeling interview, Kishwar outlines what has gone wrong and gives a caustic report of Modi’s first year in office. Excerpts:

You published a series on Narendra Modi in the run-up to the 2014 Lok Sabha elections where you set out to demolish Modi the Demon and project Modi the Doer. What do you believe today?
Narendra Modi as chief minister of Gujarat acquired the reputation for having a very sharp focus about what needed to be done – he had a clear road map; resource allocation was clearly laid out; he picked the right man for the right job; he was admired for not having favourites and no official or minister could claim proximity to him as to influence his decisions. People praised him for being a good listener and he was very accessible; he was constantly travelling to different parts of the state and had direct contact with diverse sections of society. Gujarat had his personal stamp, with a clear command control structure.

None of this can be said about Modi, the prime minister.

Let’s look at the plus side first. There’s no big-ticket corruption, no scandal or scam as yet. Fiscal deficit is low as no extravagant schemes have been announced. There’s single window clearance for projects, cash transfers in welfare programmes have minimised scope for corruption. It’s also a good idea that arms purchases will be done government to government, thus cutting out middlemen. The Yemen, Kashmir and Nepal rescue operations are very laudable.

However, Modi as PM has come as a huge shock and a big disappointment. He has created a bubble for himself from day one. It began with the swearing-in ceremony when Modi did not invite a single person from the vast army of volunteers who gave him their passionate support in the run-up to the elections – whether from the ranks of BJP-RSS [Bharatiya Janata Party-Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh], the Citizens for Accountable Governance, Friends of BJP, Mission 272 Plus, etc. There was not even a thank you from Modi, or even an SMS acknowledging their hard work and extraordinary effort.

Anyone serious about accountable governance would have used this huge network of supporters to boost programmes like the Beti Bachao campaign, Swacch Bharat and anti-corruption drive. In Gujarat, he was very successful in involving civil society in government programmes. Today, even eminent citizens and close associates don’t as much as get a response when they write to him.

What does it reveal about Modi the prime minister?
Obviously he wants to construct a new persona for himself. It would be worthwhile to compare Modi’s swearing-in with Arvind Kejriwal’s swearing-in at the Ram Leela grounds – there was mass rejoicing; it was open to all citizens. At Modi’s ceremony, those who were occupying pride of place were film stars, Adanis, Ambanis and socialites. Why would you want to do this?

Is Modi glamour-struck after moving to Delhi?
I would say disorientation. After coming to 7 RCR [Race Course Road], it has brought a dramatic makeover for his persona. It indicates the desire to adopt a totally new identity and determination to avoid people who remind him of his past – much in the same way a new bride from a modest background tries to refashion herself to suit her wealthy sasural. He certainly displays his penchant for glamour, the high and mighty, even wanting to be a fashion icon – these are not positive signs coming from someone who is supposed to lead India out of its morass.

Is he being a wannabe?
That’s the impression you give, when you change your attire five times a day or wearing a new suit for each occasion when visiting abroad. It doesn’t behove a serious statesman to try and become a fashion icon. You wouldn’t notice what Obama is wearing, right?

What did you think of his monogrammed suit?
It did Modi a lot of damage and it’ll stick. It’s vanity that’s coming through… it’s this bubble he’s created for himself.

What are your other disappointments?
The second jolt was the cabinet appointees. I may have reacted very fiercely to Smriti Irani’s appointment because education is very close to my heart but many key appointments are lacklustre and don’t fit the job profile. Modi’s choice of cabinet colleagues caused a deep upset even within his party. On the one hand he rode roughshod over party hierarchy by sidelining most of the senior leaders. On the other hand, he gave the most weighty portfolios to those who have never won an election in their life. Both [Arun] Jaitley and Irani lost even at the height of the Modi wave. Therefore, even first-time MPs like Meenakshi Lekhi are raging as to why they have not been given a ministerial berth.

Of course, few appointments like [Manohar] Parrikar as Defence Minister is creditable. But again, a credible face like Harsh Vardhan was unceremoniously removed as Health Minister even though he had a clean image and competence in that field. Modi had promised far-reaching administrative reforms and bringing synergy between different ministries by breaking silos. He did this well in Gujarat. But as PM he has allowed the old chaos to prevail.

For instance, Ministries of Agriculture, Rural Development, Panchayati Raj, Irrigation and Food Processing should have been clubbed under one ministry with dedicated teams of experts. But nothing of the sort happened and so the old system prevails. In Gujarat, Modi gave the highest priority to rejuvenating agriculture. But as PM one doesn’t see in him that sense of urgency about reviving the health of farm sector. The man appointed as his agriculture minister seems as rudderless as his HRD minister.

What do you think of the decision to replace the Planning Commission with Niti Aayog?
The Planning Commission was scrapped with much fanfare but Niti Aayog took months to come into being with only three people appointed till date to replace the mammoth structure – that too without a clear mandate. It’s inexplicable why there is not a single farm sector expert in Niti Aayog – this, when agriculture is in deep crisis.

Any change in corruption?
There’s no noticeable difference for the ordinary citizen who is still battling harassment and bribes. An important reason why BJP suffered such a humiliating defeat in the Delhi elections is that the party failed to make the slightest improvements in the scam-ridden and inefficient Delhi Municipal Corporation which the BJP rules. Modi could have easily cracked the whip on councillors on corruption, demanded performance, or [told them] to deliver at least a spotless Swachh Delhi within six months. But apart from municipal councillors doing the silly nautanki of holding the broom for the benefit of news cameras, we did not witness the slightest improvement on governance. Hence the backlash.

What does IAS officer Ashok Khemka’s transfer yet again show?
The PM had let it be known that Ashok Khemka, the IAS officer who risked his life and career in exposing Robert Vadra’s fraudulent land deals in Haryana, would be brought in to the PMO. But I have it from very reliable sources that Arun Jaitley put his foot down and got that decision cancelled. Worse still, the chargesheet filed against Khemka by the Congress government has not been withdrawn by the new BJP government in Haryana. What’s more, he has been humiliated further with a punishment posting where he has no work, no staff and office space that resembles a garage.

Similarly, the PM had promised that justice would be done to Sanjay Srivastava, the Income Tax Commissioner who caught the alleged Chidambaram-NDTV hawala scam [Editor’s Note: In a statement last year, NDTV denied Madhu Kishwar’s charges of a scam and announced that it is initiating legal action against her for making defamatory allegations]. He too was hounded out of his job by Chidambaram with numerous false cases filed against him when the UPA [United Progressive Alliance] was in power. His chargesheet has not been withdrawn, he continues to be on “compulsory wait”. The rules permit an officer to draw his salary while on “compulsory wait” but Srivastava continues to be deprived of his posting and salary since April 2013.

It is the same story with the promise regarding the return of black money stashed in foreign accounts. This was a major electoral promise of Modi but there is very little follow-up required to fulfil that promise.

You spent hours talking to Modi, interviewing him, what has gone wrong?
I think many of the problems arise from the fact that Modi has decided to cocoon himself and become inaccessible. Compare it to how Sonia Gandhi built a power base for herself starting from total scepticism about her suitability for the top job. One of the first things she did was to co-opt several high profile do-gooders as her personal courtiers by creating the National Advisory Council. With this one stroke she managed to tie most of the NGO leaders, left-leaning academics and intellectuals to her apron strings.

They became intoxicated by their proximity to the UPA High Command and felt they had high stakes in this government. Even though the NAC was an unconstitutional body, none of the leftist intellectuals or activists objected because she made them stakeholders in the government. They also helped create a halo for Sonia Gandhi as someone who was pro-poor, pro-minorities, pro all good causes. Even though the Congress ran a scam-ridden government, the leftist NGOs and intellectuals remained Sonia’s firm allies.

By contrast, far from creating new allies, Modi has studiously distanced himself from old allies like Arun Shourie, the Jethmalanis and numerous others who stood by him. Even his party colleagues do not have easy access to him. And who has he surrounded himself with? Nameless, faceless bureaucrats and a couple of political favourites who are themselves lightweights. If you want to be seen as a tall leader, you can’t afford to be surrounded by political dwarfs. To surround yourself with yes men is a sure shot disaster recipe.

Isn’t the India Foundation being groomed to look like the NAC?
Far from it. At the Goa conclave, India Foundation attracted a substantial talent pool of super bright young people eager to do their bit for India. I doubt very much that any of them have been recruited to help the government. It’s unfortunate that the BJP has not yet developed the tradition of nurturing high worth intellectuals and academics. It has not done so even in states where it has been in power. Even Modi failed to do so in Gujarat even though as CM he paid far more attention to the education sector than he is doing as PM. BJP better realise that the education sector provides the software for effective politics. They will continue to suffer from talent deficit if they don’t pay serious attention to this domain.

How has he handled the agrarian crisis?
To begin with, there’s been complete mismanagement on the Land Acquisition Bill, Modi should not have left it to Rahul Gandhi to start his padyatra and label him as anti-farmer. Second, the government’s response to the agrarian crisis on account of untimely rains and hailstorm has been far from effective. As farm policy expert Ashok Gulati has pointed out, in this day and age of technology you can use satellite imagery and drones to assess crop damage and get computerised data for each farm within hours. This can be easily tied up with the Aadhar card system to reach speedy compensation to farmers. This job should not have been left to the corruption-friendly and inefficient patwari system. The relief money should have reached the farmers with the same speed with which the PM responded to the Nepal disaster.

There is also very little sign of Modi government introducing noteworthy changes in farm policy that need to be brought in on a war footing.
At a personal level too, it was important for Modi to be seen interacting with farmers and coming up with innovative schemes that gave them hope. But his avoiding to do so is both puzzling and disappointing.

Modi has been accused of being a Capitalist Crony? Adani is his constant companion on official trips abroad?
It is a well-established fact that crony capitalists thrived under the socialist regimes of the Congress. Ambani or Adani are not Modi creations. In Gujarat the fact is that Modi created an overall business friendly ecosystem. Even small-scale industry thrived. People from many other states went and invested in Gujarat grew fast. Adani’s growth ought not to be an issue if others are also allowed due space to thrive. However, it was not appropriate of Modi to personally preside over Adani signing mining contracts in Australia.

What about his self-promotion pageants abroad?
Pageantry apart, one area where Modi has undoubtedly made a substantial difference is in the foreign policy domain. The Congress had ignored this crucial area and put India in a very vulnerable position. Modi is determined to fix this with urgency. If in the process, he indulges in some amount of extra hoopla, so be it. No doubt he loves himself, even though self-love is not a bad thing if it’s not out of control. However, when the performance is not in sync with image, then it risks looking exaggerated.

Like you, there were several academics, analysts and journalists who openly supported Modi in the campaign. Do they agree with you?
All of his well-wishers are sounding alarm bells. Recently the loudest one came from Arun Shourie on Headlines Today. Either Modi is floundering because the task is too big and he doesn’t have a competent team or because he has decided he has reached the acme and doesn’t need to bother any more. The Modi we all supported was someone who seemed to care intensely to make India a global power in the best sense of the term, someone who was passionate about improving the life conditions of the most marginalised. Maybe he is preparing the ground for all that in a slow, quiet manner and we will see the results in a year or two. All I can say is people may lose their patience if they don’t see signs of visible change.

What’s your message for Modi?
Failure is not an option because India cannot afford to waste more time. People have invested their hopes in you. You cannot be timid about government reforms without which you cannot deliver your promises. If you are seen faltering or being half-hearted the backlash will be more ferocious than the tsunami of support that swept you to power.

We welcome your comments at letters@scroll.in

Decoding PK: Despite Fun and Frolic, the Undertone is Anti-Hindu by Madhu Kishwar

Fairly good critique, and I agree with quite a few observations, however, I lost her when she was  fixing this up as a  Hindu Muslim issue. Aamir Khan is merely an actor and that is the dream of every actor to play that role. Is that how they gain grounds? Nothing good to counter so label it this way. I am disappointed in Madhu, she has lost the semblance of being a thoughtful person.

 Mike Ghouse

http://www.firstpost.com/bollywood/outrage-pk-really-sign-hindu-intolerance-2041285.html 

Let me state at the outset that PK is an eminently entertaining film, though it claims to raise serious issues. Cinematically, too, the film is a visual treat in many parts. The dialogues are crisp and punchy. The use of Bhojpuri dialect, with its quaint mixture of English words in their Bhojpuri-fied avatar, adds enormously to the fun and frolic in the film. All in all, there is a hardly a dull moment in the two-and-a-half hour saga of an alien creature landing on our planet and experiencing endless culture shocks in his encounters with the various specimens of humanity on earth.

But what gets him befuddled is the all-pervasive god obsession among human beings and how this sentiment is manipulated for personal aggrandisement by spiritual gurus. Exposing phony and crooked spiritual leaders is not a new or unusual theme in Bollywood films. From its days of inception, Bollywood has portrayed a whole range of holy men, from the innately compassionate and elevated ones to outright thugs and criminals masquerading as sadhus and swamis. Bollywood has also often ridiculed the tendency of people to put blind faith in people either claiming supernatural powers or speaking as though they are actual representatives of god on earth.

The relationship between humans and divine beings has been put through repeated scrutiny – both through a comic lens and hard-hitting satire as well as through the eyes of socio-religious reformers. But since there is no dearth ofgenuine spiritual gurus, ascetics and sanyasis in Bollywood films, no one really takes offence.

The most recent example of a very rigorous questioning of the very existence of god and those who claim to speak on his behalf was the Umesh Shukla directed film, Oh My God. A much earlier film in the same genre entitled Yehi Hai Zindagi (1977) was even more audacious in challenging the supremacy of god face to face rather than merely challenging his self-appointed representatives on earth. There are numerous other such examples of Bollywood presenting the relations between humans and divinities in ways that demand accountability of gods or challenges their wisdom in letting wrong-doers prosper.

Hindus are used to laughing at their gods and even picking quarrels with them. Therefore, films that indulge in rebellious dialogues with the divine have hardly ever caused upsets in the way PK has done. Instead of disdainfully dismissing the outrage around PK as a product of the resurgence of obscurantist Hindutva forces, we need to try and understand why this particular film has evoked such outrage.

To begin with, director Rajkumar Hirani has tried to be too clever by half by deviously proclaiming that he has the blessings of BJP leaders as well as that of one of the most popular spiritual gurus, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar. The film begins with the following opening credits. The first one says:

Earnest Gratitude

LK Advani

Pratibha Advani

Amitabh Bachchan

Amitabh Jhunjhunwala

The second slide reads as follows:

Earnest Gratitude

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar ji (The Art of Living Foundation)

Dr Prannoy Roy (NDTV)

Andre Timmins, Sabbas Joseph & Virat Sarkari (Kingdom of Dreams)

One can understand NDTV or Kingdom of Dreams being thanked by Hirani because he used their facilities for shooting certain scenes of his film. But bringing in LK Advani and Amitabh Bachchan is clearly meant to use them as shields against criticism by Hindutva groups. Luckily for Hirani, LK Advani actually endorsed the film enthusiastically, but Sri Sri Ravi Shankar has good reason to be displeased with the use of his name and visual shots of his ashram in the film.

Hirani filmed the Shivratri Sangat at Sri Sri’s ashram under the false pretext that his projection of it would respect the spirit of the festival organised by the ashram. But then he superimposed the character of a very devious and thuggish spiritual guru on the real life sangat of Sri Sri’s ashram with the clear purpose of trashing the very institution ofdharma gurus. By this clever gimmick, Hirani not only betrayed Sri Sri’s trust but also played foul with thousands of Sri Sri devotees whom he filmed live. They are presented as gullible fools who dance to the tunes of an evil dharma guru.

Sri Sri's trust was betrayed by the makers of the film

It would have been quite another matter if Hirani had created his own filmy sangatwith hired actors playing mock devotees. But to caricature and demean real life people who come motivated by deep faith to their chosen dharma guru – without as much as a by-your-leave-- can only be called outright fraud.

Secondly, the phony credit line mentioning Sri Sri makes it out as if he has blessed the film. This puts Sri Sri in a very awkward position. Firstly, shots of his own ashram andsangat are being used to defame him by implication. Secondly, Hirani is making out as if Sri Sri actually endorses Hirani’s all-out attack on dharma gurus. This is a double whammy on Sri Sri, and totally unethical at that!

Many defenders of PK have raised the point that Hindu groups did not attack Oh My God even though it is no less devastating in exposing the frauds of those claiming to be spiritual gurus. They argue that attacks on PK are in large part because OMG had a Hindu hero while PK has Aamir Khan, a Muslim, as the hero.

There is no doubt that Aamir Khan has been the special target of ire of Hindu groups. But that is not because he is a Muslim but because he is the lead voice of the “secular brigade” which has demeaned and demonised Hindu groups and political parties like the BJP in the guise of fighting allegedly communal politics of BJP. Hindu groups are outraged at him because he was a lead player in the Teesta Setalvad-Tarun Tejpal-Shabana Azmi brigade that acted as the fighting sword of the Congress and Left parties against the BJP, in general, and Narendra Modi, in particular.

Aamir Khan’s attempts to cosy up to Modi and Modi’s willingness to befriend Aamir Khan has not softened Hindu groups because they feel their demonisation as fascists was totally unmerited. They are not quite ready to embrace Aamir Khan because he has not even expressed the slightest regret for his role in the Hate-BJP campaign.

It’s not easy to forget that Aamir Khan actually pleaded with voters to give a fractured verdict to prevent BJP from coming to power— not caring that India desperately needed a stable government after 10 years of disastrous coalitions cobbled together by the Congress party. People are angry because the “Secular Brigade” Aamir was part of did not fight an honourable political battle against the BJP; their politics was based largely on lies and hideous exaggerations.

Normally, people don’t hold actors responsible for the flaws of the story line or script. But Aamir is not just another actor. He is known to take deep interest in the minutest detail of the script, storyline and even technical aspects of any film he accepts to act in. Therefore, he can’t disown the political orientation of the film.

Comparison with Oh My God (OMG)

There is a world of difference between the content and intent as well as the approach ofOh My God, towards the issue of blind faith as compared to the worldview adopted inPK. Oh My God takes a very even-handed approach towards religious leaders of the three major faiths - Hindu, Christian and Islam. Even while the Hindu faith gurus get a special drubbing, it is fairly upfront in challenging the self-appointed guardians of other faiths.

But PK focuses obsessively on Hindu dharma gurus as well as Hindu deities. There is only one fleeting scene dealing with Christian priests promising redemption to poor families targeted for conversions. The scene involving a dargah very fleetingly shows the hero being chased out of the shrine because he naively carries wine bottles asprasad in a place of Islamic worship. But that only indicates the insensitivity of the iconoclastic hero, not a flaw in Islam. Likewise, he is shown causing a stir in a church because in his ignorance he tries to carry out Hindu puja rituals before an image of Jesus Christ. No words are exchanged, no pious sermons delivered by the hero challenging the Christian priests as to why Jesus is averse to accepting a coconut offering. In fact, the film studiously avoids dealing with the frauds within Christianity or Islam.

Other than these two harmless comic scenes, there is no attack on the core values or mythology of Christianity or Islam, whereas the core values - and not just the corruption of individual religious gurus of Hindu faith - are lampooned and caricatured mercilessly in diverse ways. While there is no denying that a certain number of hypocritical sants, swamis and gurus have brought a bad name to the Hindu faith, Hinduism is far from being the worst case example in this matter.

Core Values of Sanatan Dharma Attacked in PK

Some will argue that the film is not anti Hinduism per se but against the corrupt among Hindu dharma gurus. But Hinduism has perpetuated itself mainly through sampradaysand dharma gurus. They are not incidental to but an integral part of Hinduism. Therefore, an all-out attack on the very institution of dharma guru or sampraday is as good as an attack on Hinduism.

Most important of all, despite its ostensible intention of fighting harmful superstitions and unscrupulous gurus, the film is an outright, vicious attack against one of the core aspects of Sanatan Dharma—namely worship of the divine in its myriad, countless manifestations. Hindus are supposed to have 33 crore devis and devatas with new ones taking avatar whenever the devotees so desire. This freedom of devotees to call upon the divine to manifest to them in as many forms as the myriad devotees desire, as and when they desire, is something that none of the Abrahamic religions - Christianity, Islam and Judaism - have been able to stomach. In their world view, there is only ONEand ONLY ONE TRUE GOD. And each of them claims a monopoly over the exclusive way to reach this Almighty God. Each one of them rejects the god of the other Abrahamic religions as well as demonises the gods and goddesses of non-Abrahamic faiths as being not just “false” but also evil.

Representational image: AFP

The Abrahamic god is also a “jealous” god who demands that his devotees wage relentless war against all “false gods” and their devotees who are derogatively termed as “kafirs and idol worshippers,” deserving the most hellish punishments. The believers of the one and only true god are expected and encouraged to wreak vengeance on worshippers of “false gods” as proof of their commitment to theOnly True God! This arrogance and claim to exclusivity has caused endless mayhem and havoc in the world, especially for people of Indic faith traditions as well as for Jews, who were ironically the originators of the idea of an almighty one and only true, ferociously jealous, god. The Jews faced an endless series of pogroms and ethnic cleansing all over the Christian and Islamic world. The only place they escaped persecution and violence has been India.

Hindus have been similar victims at the hands of Islamic invaders who carried out huge massacres and looted as well as vandalised and desecrated countless Hindu temples and deities. Allah’s zealous soldiers forced Hindus to give up their faith and convert to Islam largely through brutal means for over 1,000 years - all because the Allah of Muslims demanded ruthless elimination or subjugation of infidels. After them the British, Portuguese and French, who together colonised large parts of India, launched equally vicious attacks against the Hindu faiths as part of their “civilising missions” coupled with attempts to convert Hindus to Christianity. They may not have broken Hindu “idols” but they caused no less damage by enacting laws which allowed the state to control major shrines and temples and take away their landed properties and other assets.

This is not to deny that conversions to Islam and Christianity by the lower castes, especially untouchable groups, were at times a voluntary rejection of Hinduism on account of the demeaning treatment meted out to them. But most converts have been won over through a combination of force, violence, fraud and/or inducements.

Pluralism & Respect for “the Other” Innate to Hinduism

For most Hindus, the arrogant claims of Abrahamic prophets or religious leaders who present their god as such a mean-minded and tyrannical creature as to want the destruction of people of other faiths is an unacceptable way of dealing with the divine. As Tulsidas said in his inimitable way: “Jaaki rahi bhavna jaisi, Prabhu moorat tin dekhi taisi” (The temperament and emotional bent of the devotee determines the attributes he/she gives to his/her chosen god). The god of Abrahamic religions is tyrannical because through history most of those claiming to be sole spokespersons of that god have been tyrants. He shows mercy only to those who follow him exclusively and obey his commandments blindly. The commandments have come through prophets in the form of the one and only sacred book—the Bible for Christians, the Torah for Jews and the Koran for Muslims.

Representational image

At the core of Classical Hinduism or Sanatan Dharmawith its philosophical moorings in Vedanta lie three basic propositions:

1. God, or the divine power, is present in every living and non-living being. Thus there is no sharp divide between the human and divine, between human and other forms of life, between living and non-living. This finds popular expression in sayings such as “kan-kan mein hai Ram” (Ram, or the diving being, is present in every being, every atom in this universe). Hence, the worship of nature – in all its manifestations – rivers, mountains, trees, animals, birds and even pests and reptiles – is a characteristic feature of Sanatan Dharma.
2. The purpose of life is to know and recognise this divinity not only within ourselves but also in each living and non-living being and become one within it. Once you accept the non-dualistic view of the world; there is no scope for “me” or “us” versus “others”. All religions, no matter how vast their theological differences and clash of dogmas or belief patterns, are supposed to lead one to union with the divine. Therefore, those who are truly spiritual, at one with the divine, cannot possibly have any quarrel with the followers of other theologies or religions or those following varied spiritual paths.
3. Daily life is to be lived by codes of morality (dharmic codes) specific to different life situations, roles and relationships a person is involved in at different stages of life. Thus, there is pitra dharm (fatherly responsibilities and duties), matri dharm(those of a mother), padosi dharm (duty towards one’s neighbours) raj dharm(duties and responsibilities of a king), guru dharma (that of teachers), grihastha dharm (that of a householder), and so on. A person who performs his worldly duties in different situations and stations of life with integrity and steadfastness needs no formal prayers, no religious rituals to be close to god.

Just as Hindus have millions of devis and devatas, so also they have innumerable sacred texts, with each sampradaya free to choose whatever text it considers worthwhile. But none of these texts, including the two foundational texts of Hindu faith traditions - namely the Mahabharata and the Ramayana - claim to be the word of god or product of exclusive divine revelation. Each of them has been written by gifted mortals. None of our sacred epics, dharma shastras or even vedas issue commandments for their followers. Almost all of them state that the code of ethics to be followed by each person is time, culture and situation specific hence constantly evolving.

The most endearing part of Hindu faith traditions is that devotees and even non-devotees alike are allowed full freedom to laugh at, criticise and even punish their gods. Since there is no sharp divide between humans and divines, our gods and goddesses routinely take avatars and get born on earth as ordinary human beings. In their roles as sons, brothers, fathers, and friends they are judged by the same moral standards that you would judge ordinary human beings. They neither claim perfection nor any special rights in those roles. For instance, Lord Ram may be iconised as Maryada Purushottambut even today he was not been forgiven his ill-treatment of Ma Sita as depicted inValmiki Ramayana. Consequently, hundreds of Ramayanas have been written to force him to make amends for his unacceptable behaviour of subjecting Sita Ma to a fire ordeal and later abandoning her in a forest. In many latter-day Ramayanas, Ram is either an improved version of Tulsi Ramayana or is castigated harshly for his uncouth behaviour towards Sita. (For a detailed analysis read my essay, “Yes to Sita, No to Ram” in Manushi issue No 98, 1999).

Likewise, Krishna died a tragic death because of the curse of Gandhari he willingly took upon himself for his role in the Mahabharata war. As Bal Gopal, he took endless scoldings and spankings from mother Yashoda for his naughty pranks as would any ordinary child. (For more details read my article “Of Humans & Divines” in Manushi issue No 136 May-June 2003.

The Vedantic worldview was further strengthened and popularised by the Bhakti tradition that spread in wave after wave in different parts of India starting from the South in the 6th century AD. The sufi upsurge within Indic Islam in the medieval period popularised a version of this view among Muslims. The bhakti and sufi movements played a vital role in finding theological resolution to the historic clash between the polytheistic Indic faiths and the aggressively monotheistic Islamic worldview, building bridges of non-antagonistic communication and even friendship between the two. The essence of both these worldviews is that god dwells everywhere and in every being but especially among the humble and poor; that a good heart with love and compassion for all of god’s creatures brings a person much closer to god than any ritualistic practice, textual commandments or the dictates of any religious authority. To treat anyone as the “hostile other” is not to know god. A real heartfelt prayer reaches god, no matter whether performed in a church, mosque or mandir. Allah, Ishwar, Christ are different names for the same Divine Power.

It is no coincidence that Mahatma Gandhi openly proclaimed that his idea of mutually respectful coexistence of diverse communities of India was deeply rooted in Sanatan Dharma and drew sustenance from the Bhakti tradition. His vision of Ram Rajya was that of an egalitarian society capable of protecting and respecting the rights of all citizens, irrespective of their caste, religious or class or gender identity. One of his favourite bhajans played in his regular prayer meetings, attended jointly by people of different faiths, says it all:

Raghupati Raghav Raja Ram, Patit pavan Sita Ram, Ishwar Allah tero naam, sabko samati de bhagwan.

(Lord Rama, Chief of the house of Raghu, Uplifters of the weak and the downtrodden, (O divine couple) Sita and Rama; Your name may be Ishwar or Allah, Please bless everyone with good sense and wisdom).

Such a prayer would be considered blasphemous by fundamentalists within Islam, Christianity or Judaism. For them such syncretic beliefs are the route to hell and perdition.

All these values give unique intellectual, social and spiritual freedom to followers of Hindu faiths. Devotees are free to choose their preferred deities, or even invoke new ones. One remains a Hindu even if one is an atheist, or agnostic. We are free to hold this or that book sacred or reject them all. We are also free to read the sacred texts of other faiths and imbibe in our conduct what we like of them. No one challenges a person’s right to be a Hindu even if the person goes and prays in a church or mosque rather than a temple. Belief in one’s own chosen deity/deities does not mean rejection of the gods and goddesses of other faiths as false or evil.

For most of us this easy and gracious acceptance of the right of each person to his/her own forms of worship as well as ways of relating to the divine is one of the greatest strengths of Hinduism.

PK’s Critique Identical to Islamic & Christian Critiques of Hinduism

The most objectionable part of PK is that it attacks these core values of Hinduism in the same vocabulary and spirit that Christianity and Islam have used to attack Hindu faiths. The message of the film given through PK is that people should worship the True Almighty God and not the various gods invented by human beings because that amounts to “dialing the wrong number”. PK would have us believe that “man-made gods” with distinct forms - Ganesh, Shiva etc - are invented by unscrupulous spiritual thugs to fleece and cheat people. He tells us that Lakshmi, Durga or Saraswati, or male gods like Shiva, Ram, Krishna or Ganesha, are all images created to mislead humanity. Praying to them amounts to “dialing the wrong number”. One will not get an answer simply because there is none there to answer. These are mere clay idols or “false gods”. The god who created us all is the ONLY ONE worth praying to. This is not one bit different from the theological basis of attacks by Christians and Muslims on Hinduism. This is why the film is offensive even to those of us not given to blind faith in spiritual entrepreneurs.

The Love Story Angle

Finally, let’s review the love story aspect that has irritated Hindu groups no less. At a time when the reported phenomenon of “love jihad”— ie, the entrapping of young Hindu, Christian or Sikh girls into phony love affairs and marriages with a view to converting them to Islam - has come to aggravate a large section of Hindus, this film projects the fleeting romance and sexual liaison between a Hindu girl from India with a Pakistani Muslim boy as the acme of the most sincere devoted love a man can ever have for a woman.

To begin with, the objections of the heroine Jaggu’s father to her marrying a Pakistani are interpreted as a sign of Hindu communalism. The truth is that given the state of affairs in Pakistan, given the crude dominance of jihadi terrorist groups over Pakistani society and polity, even Indian Muslim parents are reluctant to marry their daughters to Pakistani grooms. The days when elite Indian Muslim families used to look across the border for suitable grooms and brides are well nigh over.

Today, the only ones keen to go to Pakistan are psychologically disturbed, Islamic zealots gravitating towards jihadi mayhem. They go to get arms training to spread terror. In such a situation, the concern of a Hindu father that his daughter might be endangering her very life by marrying a Pakistani is perfectly understandable. It is also well known that girls marrying even Indian Muslims have to convert to Islam and raise their children as Muslims. There is very little chance that a Hindu girl marrying a Pakistani Muslim can retain her faith, especially if the couple has to live in Pakistan. The systematic genocide and forced conversions of Hindus who were left in Pakistan following the 1947 partition as well as reports of large scale abductions of Hindu girls in Pakistan and Bangladesh would give nightmares to any parent at the prospect of his daughter having to live under the umbrella of terrorism and extremist Islam which has overtaken Pakistan. To project this anxiety as a subject of ridicule, as this film does, is to rub salt into deep, hurting wounds.

On the other hand, the euphoric response of the staff of the entire Pakistani embassy in Belgium to Jaggu’s reaching out to her long separated lover Imran makes it out as if getting Jaggu to marry Imran was a Pakistani state-sponsored project. The message: Hindus are all misguided and narrow-minded bigots whereas Pakistani Muslims are all tender-hearted liberals who embrace Hindu girls into their fold with love and warmth. One could have swallowed such an unrealistic scenario if the film was all fun and frolic. But under the humourous façade of this film is a serious message about the need to reject “false gods” while using stereotype versions of fraud gurus to proselytise people to worship the One and Only True God.

The same point of parental disapproval of an inter-faith, inter-country marriage could well have been driven home by picking on a Belgian or Spanish or even an African boyfriend for the film’s heroine. But projecting a marriage between a Pakistani Muslim man with a Hindu girl at a time when there is a virulent upsurge of jihadi elements within Pakistani and when the minuscule Hindu community in Pakistan is facing a literal genocide, when Hindu girls in Pakistan are being routinely abducted, subjected to sexual slavery and converted to Islam, the idea of a Hindu girl’s marriage to a Pakistani Muslim as the most idyllic example of matrimony can’t be digested that easily. If the purpose of the film is to say that all Muslims are not out to defraud Hindu women and that a Pakistani Muslim can also make a genuinely caring husband for a Hindu girl, there are better ways of getting across that message. But the gooey-gooey manner in which this film goes about projecting what on the surface appears like a casual, flippant romance makes one suspect a hidden agenda behind it all, especially since the Hindus are either presented as naïve, gullible idiots or as thugs and manipulators.

Hinduism has an infinite capacity for self-criticism, self-improvement and even withstanding attacks from outsiders. But the attacks hurt more when an insider attacks with the imperious arrogance of an outsider or when outsiders assume they have an exclusive copyright on perfection!

Post Script: Bizarre to Equate Paris Carnage with Protests over “PK”

Just as I finished writing this piece came the horrific news that three AI-Qaeda terrorists stormed the office of the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, well known for lampooning politicians, public figures and religion, including Christianity and radical Islam. The attackers called out the names of these cartoonists they had come to wreak vengeance on. The masked gunmen shouted “Allahu Akbar” before gunning down and killing 12 people – two policemen and 10 journalists, including the editor of the weekly. Among the dead were four prominent cartoonists who had lampooned Islamic terrorists and Prophet Mohammad.

The spirit and tenor of the TV programmes discussing the Paris carnage was serious and non-aggressive. For instance, on Rajdeep Sardesai’s programme on Headlines Today, all the panelists, including those like Aamir Raza Hussain, who argued forcefully in favour of state censorship and self-censorship when dealing with matters of faith, were given a respectful hearing. There were no hysterical harangues against terrorists who gunned down French journalists and the condemnation was in measured tones.

AP

This was in sharp contrast to the contempt and disdain with which critics of PK have been treated by media’s secular left liberals. The protestors againstPK were snubbed and humiliated on most TV channels as though they represented a sub-human species that did not understand the value of artistic freedom.

Most important of all, even while discussing the Paris carnage, almost every TV channel continuously referred to the intolerance shown by Hindu groups towards PK and other such portrayals as proof that Hindus were no less intolerant than Islamic jihadis. This attempt to draw equivalence between Hindu zealots and Islamic terrorists is indeed bizarre. Even the lunatic fringe of Hinduism has never gone for bloodshed and mayhem to express their religious hurt in the murderous manner in which militant jihadis are routinely expressing their defence of Islam.

The double-standard and attitude of open contempt displayed by left secular liberals towards Hinduism and its followers is what pushes a section of Hindu zealots into believing that their sentiments and hurt will be taken seriously only if they too start getting violent against people who outrage them. Centuries of being ridiculed and demeaned for their modes of worship and belief systems has unfortunately led a section of Hindus to think that they need to mould their gods and goddesses in the template of the ‘quick-to-take-offence’ Abrahamic God. To my mind, this would be the greatest tragedy for Hinduism.

It would be a great pity if we have to start treating our devis and devatas with the same awe and fear that the followers of Islam, Christianity and Judaism have to treat their Almighty God. In Hinduism, highly evolved human beings are even allowed to acquire greater power than gods. Hindu lore is full of stories of great tapasvis whose tapa gave them such exceptional powers that even gods had to do their bidding. Any woman who displays extraordinary valour or courage often gets to be called and even treated as Durga incarnate!

As pointed out by Sharda Ratan in his Open Letter to Bollywood,  "God Fearing is an English Term”, rooted in Christian theology. The Hindus use the term “Prabhu premi”(god loving). The ultimate aim of life for a Hindu is discover the divine within, not be fearful of god up above.

I pray and hope that we find better ways of protecting our faith traditions from ugly, gratitutous attacks than emulate the negative aspects of Judaic faiths by making our deities as quick to take offence and demand vengeance, as does the Abrahamic God. The fact that the Bajrang Dal and allied outfits who vandalised theatres running PK could not find more than 15-20 persons to join their hoodlum protests shows that the Hindu samaj is not endorsing their lawless ways of expressing hurt.