World’s most populous nation sits today at the cusp of a demographic explosion. This explosion can go either way, on one end, you may have a skilled and educated youth and on the other, you may just be left with a herd of bigoted & armed androids.
There are two popular discourses prevalent in the current society, one that believes India as a nation has been looted and plundered by foreign invaders, Islamists in particular, and therefore today we need to settle the score with anything, or anyone associated with Islam. We need to rebuild the temples demolished, we need to reclaim the political landscape from Muslims & Muslim sympathizers, and we need to wipe clean the Muslim identity from our places. Amusingly these people also propagate the idea of ‘Caliphate’ more than what Muslims themselves do. They demonstrate the urge to settle the scores on Islamic invasion, though on British loot they remain unscrupulously silent.
And second, the 70 years of post-independence history simply glossed over the embodied anguish of Hindu Muslim conflict of centuries in India not letting it vent out. On the contrary, the Congress led government practiced the politics of appeasement in order to secure Muslim votes, they also attempted to reinforce the socio-cultural identity of Muslims. The Hindu society could never be a monolith owing to the deep-rooted caste structure. In last ten years, the embodied angst between the two communities has got an outlet. These years have been helpful in fixing the unjust communal milieu of earlier 70 years. The majority Hindu community have strengthened and asserted their identity reviving their historical glory. The way, 65 years of Congress rule administered the historical communal discord between Hindus & Muslims needed to be undone. Last ten years have been a sort of retribution for last 70 years. The rise of Hindu fanaticism, which in itself is an oxymoron (and that’s why it’s a fabricated one), can therefore only be a reaction to Islamic radicalism. Both fed each other.
My position on the first point is very direct. At the onset we must accept the documented fact that various Invaders right through the history of India, Sakas, Huns, Mongols, Turks, Iranians, Central Asians have been frequently damaging the native fiber of this land. Many of them invaded, looted and went back. Many of them established their rule here and wielded heavy influence on the socio-cultural life of native Indians. And many of them like Mughals made India their homeland not to look back. Has this been a one-way street? No, the power and influence of native Indian rulers have also been reaching out far & wide. The great Chola dynasty once ruled Malaya, Burma, Sumatra, Lanka and part of Bangladesh. The Mauryan and Gupta empires rule extended up to central Asia, including the modern-day Afghanistan. No surprise though this fact conforms to the idea of ‘Akhand Bharat’. Having said this the nature of influence of native Indic rulers on neighboring territories have been very different from the foreign invaders. We have been land of profound religious wisdom and a fountainhead of global religions like Buddhism. The native Indic rulers are mostly seen in history as tolerant and ambassadors of Indian culture.
We are looking back at a 2000 year long history, with all the known and unknown complexities. Drawing out singleton narrative is nothing short of hoodwink. History may be ridden with bloodshed and sins of powerplay, world over the modern man has learned to reconcile with it. We have learned it the hard way that ‘living well today is the best revenge to your troubled past’. People who are hell bent to dig the old graves, scratch the wounds of past are surely on the path to wreck whatever little economic progress that we as a nation are making. Not only India, but all great old civilizations of the world have also generally been beacons of syncretism. Hinduism in particular is known to be truly based on the doctrines of universality, timelessness and inclusivity. We have had a tradition of including all kinds of opinions.
Labelling the Muslims of the outside world as a single political monolith is nothing but a conspiracy for the domestic constituency. Even a cursory glance around the world would tell you that the Islamic world today is utterly fragmented, fraught with chaos & civil wars. They don’t talk about any global caliphate unless you are ready to buy the bluff of some Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi. I have heard many self-proclaimed staunch Hindu chieftain’s voices claiming there is a concurrent design at work since 1800’s to convert India into a Muslim nation. They quote claims of some Iqbals, Dehlavis or Deobandis who are long dead. They keep them alive as major Muslim ideologues in their discourses spreading fear of our socio-cultural space being usurped by them. It’s downright foolish to believe in their conspiracy theories if you don’t intend to gain political power by crushing the downtrodden. Muslims in India have never had adequate intellectual, financial or demographical capital, good enough to unsettle the Hindus at large. Moreover, the present-day Muslims at large have simply been cornered yielding rich political mileage for the current dispensation. Times for the minority appeasement have long been over, it’s time to appease the majority. Time for Muslims offering prayers in public spaces to face frivolous FIR’s and Kanwar Yatris to be showered flower petals from choppers. Seemingly we have transitioned to a space-time warp!
Score settling can only be stopped if you take a close look at the realities of the day. Islamophobia in the Indian context may be needless and pure machination. Muslims at large have never had the kind of power that is required to do heavy lifting of political influence, unlike the farmers, students, socialists, Dalits, caste-based groups and labor unions as major socio-political groups. I fail to recall any major socio-political movement fueled by the Muslims as a major social group in the last seventy years. In case Wahabism of certain Kashmiri groups running in your mind, had they been a major force they would not have resorted to guns. Picking guns is generally a sign of intellectual weakness.
The 1991 “places of Worship” act was a great move forward in reconciling the long history of both the Hindu Muslim communal discord and syncretism. Post 1947, India as a nation was committed to be ruled by a constitution that serves you a modern world secular non-theocratic democracy. I see some sections of the society have a deep issue to pick with this idea of democratic republic. As they say it, India as a nation was not constituted in 1947. We had an ancient past when we were an “Akhand Bharat”. So just to put a simple documented fact, even in the Guptas and Mauryan times when you could say we were going through a Golden period, the southern India was not part of one unified empire. Or, even at the peak of Influence, the Cholas or Pandyas did not rule the north India. One unified India even as an idea was made a reality only post 1947 by the likes of Patel & Nehru. And instead of having a deep respect for this fact a set of our people either mischievously or foolishly propagating the lofty idea of “Akhand Bharat”. Coming back to reconciliation with the past, fanning the communal fire around old Mandir-Masjids and this caprice to dig old graves is dangerous for the idea of one India itself. These whims are bound to keep the communal agendas on the boil all the time, merely meant for polarization and political gains.
And then my position on the second point where you tend to see the last 10 years as an opportunity to let the tap open for unleashing long brewing Hindu Muslim angst says, you will never have these 10 years enough. You can keep this tap open for next 50 years too without any closure on such issues. Examples galore around the world where two bellicose communities are never able to enjoy lasting peace in an environment of volatile emotions. Peacebuilding can only be achieved by diverting the energies of people towards positive nation building endeavors like upskilling, manufacturing, R & D and exports. Afterall the ‘Key performance indicator’ of peace & prosperity should be the goddess Lakshmi making your house, society or state, her abode. By keeping the communal temperature high through a pliant media, we are doing a great disservice to the prospects of this abode though.
There is just no harm in recognizing the differences between the two sides instead of brushing them under the carpet. The nation has demonstrated strong trust entrenched in the judiciary especially after the landmark Ayodhya judgment. There never was any point in making so much of noise through the media, all these years on communally sensitive issue when the legal recourse is available, except that this always was a means to a deeply divided society as an end. All this communal cacophony on Media reeks of a deep malaise only to be harvested on an opportune time i.e. elections.
Any objective evaluation of the 6 decades of pure Congress rule would tell you that socio-economic development parameters of the Muslims have remained totally suppressed during their tenure. Any narrative that puts Congress as patron of ‘Secularism’ and ‘Minority appeasement’ must also comprehend, if the overall human development index of Indians at large remained suppressed during the pre-liberalized (1991) India, then the Muslim community have remained even bigger loser than the rest of the Indians. On one hand it’s the inherent radicalism in a particular community that must take the blame for the decline, on the other side it’s state’s square responsibility to uplift the people who have been left behind.
Therefore, the rise of this fabricated Hindu fanaticism is going to have multi-pronged damage to India. It’s going to push the country behave in a unique “out of character” way. And you get movies like “Adipurush” made or delinquent Ram Navami processions, or mob lynchings by ‘Gau Rakshaks’ which was unheard earlier, incessant coverage of so called ‘Love Jehad’ issues or a desperate bid by a large section of media to find out a Muslim culprit responsible for the Balasore train accident. Next, this is going to push the Muslims to the wall which may have its own reaction sometime or the other. You are going to be deprived of a large section of society from the skilled labor force and the connected economy. A volatile social atmosphere will never attract investment, you are likely going to be judged negatively on International forums on religious freedom issues, your foreign relations with the Islamic world will get impacted, and most prominently the energy of your youth is going to get diverted to pernicious activities.
Media is the most important tool which can reverse this. The Indian media at large in last ten years has been actively creating massive amount of junk value. It has been on a rampage to pervert the collective conscience of Indians at large, as if the prime purpose of this media was to create the Golems out of Indians. This spree to kill the ‘thinking’ and ‘reasoning’ ability of the common Indians is going to cost us heavy in immediate future and the signs are already there screaming loud. People have lost the habit of serious reading, and the only thing they indulge in is the visual media these days. Attention span of Indians are getting shorter, teens can’t focus on one thing even for a minute. May be soon you will see even Politicians creating their reels for attention!
What stops us from filling our media with serious conversations on Tech-education, Skill development, investment, tourism, space, bio-tech, qualified history, constitution, discussions on good quality publication from around the world. For god sake, we have a superbly well developed entertainment industry already doing brisk business, so why the India media needs to entertain us? I can only think of a savage intent to impair and pervert the public conscience at large forever. Remember whatever that you supply you also create demand for the same. Today, possibly the last chance staring at us with hope to curb this incessant supply of muck through Indian media. May be a few years later this may go beyond any opportunity to repair.
Lastly, the ‘Sanatan’ truly means something that remains relevant forever and therefore it can never get stuck to any point of time in history. So. keep moving for the better & lighter and shed the unnecessary load of history.
