by SANJAY KUMAR
Narendra Modi asks for restraint and disapproves of the remarks made by his party man, Giriraj Singh in Bihar few days ago. The Prime Ministerial candidate of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), a right wing Hindu organisation, in a tweet said that,
Petty statements by those claiming to be BJP’s well wishers are deviating the campaign from the issues of development and good governance.
The statement on social media came in response to a statement that Singh made last week in which he asked the opponents of Modi to migrate to Pakistan.
Modi’s response sounds like the pot calling the kettle black.
Not long ago, the BJP leader equated defence minister AK Antony and Arvind Kejriwal of the Common Man’s Party as agents of Pakistan. At the time no one asked Modi for an apology and there were no disapprovals of such by any other party leaders.
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When Giriraj Singh talks of sending all those who oppose Modi to Pakistan, he obviously does not mean the Hindus. He wants to say that if the Muslims don’t vote for the BJP, which they don’t normally, they are the enemy.
It is this fear of Hindu majoritarianism that was at the root of the two nation theory in the first part of the 20th century that led to Partition in the subcontinent. Now, the rise of Modi symbolises the same fear not just among the minorities but also among the liberal and secular Hindus.
Such fear will of course not indicate the second redrawing of the Indian map, but it will accentuate the fault lines which democratic India has been trying to bridge since 1947.
By referring to Muslims as ‘the others’, other radical Hindu right wing organisations want the wedge to continue and stop the emotional integration of Muslims in the mainstream.
This has been their project since 1925 when Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the BJP’s parent organisation was founded. The idea was to create a majoritarian state. They have not succeeded thus far but their nuisance value cannot be underestimated.
When Modi was anointed as the BJP prime ministerial candidate he vowed to fight the elections on the issue of development. A few rounds into the poll, the rhetoric has changed.
The mask has started slipping.
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