Lead

Real Modi, Please Stand Up

Zaheer Zaidi for BeyondHeadlines

Please note that precondition to become Prime Minister is that the candidate should be an Indian National. He should have faith in Indian secular constitution, and in the National Flag. It is the PM who unfurls the Tri color from Lal Qila on Independence Day. It may be noted that before unfurling Tricolor he has to visit Raj Ghat to pay homage to Rashtra Pita. Homage should be from core of heart.

Narendra Modi claims to be Hindu Rashtrawadi and torch bearer of RSS legacy. RSS neither has faith in our secular constitution nor in the National flag. You claim that entire Nation is under Modi wave. Yet you are looking for safe constituency through snatching Dr. Murli Manohar Joshi’s seat. Dr. Joshi happily wore Muslim Turkish cap at a Muslim function at Aligarh whereas you declined to wear cap offered by a Muslim at Gujarat. We may vote for BJP if liberal leaders like Advani, Dr. Joshi, Sushma Swaraj, Arun Jaitley, Lalji Tandon etc. are getting chance to be PM.

You claim to be omnipotent yet could not control Muslim carnage for 3 months. When Atalji reminded you of Raj Dharm, you said killing of Muslims is your Raj Dharm. Managing clean chit from Supreme Court does not mean that you are omnipotent administrator. You have no regret for Muslim carnage. You called Muslims puppy. You ran away from interview when Karan Thapar questioned you on August 31, 2012. You are propagating Hindutva, not Sanatan Dharm i.e. Hinduism.

As per Shri Ram Punyani: “This Hindutva became the base of politics of Hindu Mahasabha and RSS. Gandhi in contrast was a Hindu but was opposed to the idea of Nation being a Hindu nation. Similarly we see Maulana Abul Kalam Azad; a Muslim who never supported the idea of a Muslim nation – Pakistan. Gandhi and Hindutva politics were two opposite poles. Gandhi united the whole nation on secular grounds, cutting across region, religion and caste. He was a religious person but he was opposed to misuse of religion for political goals.

Said Gandhi: “In India, for whose fashioning I have worked all my life, every man enjoys equality of status, whatever his religion is. The state is bound to be wholly secular” (Harijan August 31, 1947) and, “religion is a personal affair of each individual, it must not be mixed up with politics or national affairs” (Ibid pg 90). While Hindu Mahasabha and RSS believed that this nation is a Hindu nation and minorities have to remain subordinate to Hindus. They mostly did not take part in anti British agitations and struggles. For example, Savarkar who was an anti British revolutionary in the beginning of his life, after getting released from Andaman jail, never participated in any anti British movement or joined any national movement. RSS followers barring Hedgewar, occasionally and in the beginning also did not take part in freedom movement. Their main focus was countering the Muslim communalists and subjugating them, they were not against the British power as such.

Jagan Phadnis in his book ‘Mahatmyachi Akher’ (Lokvangymay Griha, 1994) correctly argues that Gandhi murder was not on the charges propagated by them (Partition and insistence on paying Pakistan’s dues (55 crore) from the treasury), but due to the basic deep differences with the social politics of Gandhi and that of the followers of the Hindu Rashtra. These two reasons are proffered merely as a pretext for the same.

We need to understand that when BJP and company talk of nationalism, they are not talking of Indian Nationalism but Hindu nationalism, which is the not so hidden part of their political agenda. The present attacks on secular fabric of our polity are yet other assassination attempts of Mahatma. So talking about the deeper causes of his murder will remain relevant till the attacks on secular democratic values of the country continue to hover on the nation.

Dear Modi, if you are a real patriotic Indian nationalist, come to the Ramlila Ground, wear a skull cap that you have been denying to wear till now, apologize for your previous mistakes and make your views clear about Gandhi, Indian national flag and our mother country India.

[Views expressed are personal.]

Loading...

Most Popular

To Top

Enable BeyondHeadlines to raise the voice of marginalized

 

Donate now to support more ground reports and real journalism.

Donate Now

Subscribe to email alerts from BeyondHeadlines to recieve regular updates

[jetpack_subscription_form]