Hinduphobia: The Neo-Secularism
To many, whether
The Economist or Time magazine commenting on the elections with a
cautionary notes for voters, actor turned politician Kamal Haasan
linking political assassin of Gandhiji - Nathuram Godse - to his Hindu
identity, many missionary and Islamic groups coming out openly to
support parties that would defeat Modi, Urban-Naxals playing their
narratives of democracy in danger, some media giants attempting to
invigorate caste divisions and Rajasthan Government removing a chapter
on Savarkar from text-books etc may be different strategies by different
players. In reality, they are part of the same grand-strategy to create
the ‘Hinduphobia’ – of which Prime Minister Narendra Modi is just a
symbol. If at all 2019 election campaign is to be analysed, it has to be
seen in this form of Neo-Secularism.
Just
before 2014 elections, ‘secularism’ was the buzz word which is
completely missing from the entire election discourse. Not just the
self-proclaimed intellectuals, artists, historians and bureaucrats etc
of the Lutyens gang but their international voices also then played the
‘Secularism in Danger’ narrative. In the earlier avatar of secularism,
playing vote-bank politics, discriminating against larger Hindu identity
through legal and policy instruments so that more and more people
dissociate from the same, divide them on caste and regional lines etc
were the common strategies. As this flawed version of unfit borrowing of
terminology called ‘secularism’ from the West backfired, what is now
practised skilfully and with entire networked might is Neo-Secularism in
the form of ‘Hinduphobia’.
Here
the attempt is not just to appease so-called minorities or discriminate
and divide the larger Hindu identity but to denigrate the Hindu
identity by branding it as intolerant, regressive, violent and
therefore, anti-democratic. The 2019 campaign is the culmination of all
the narratives played from the results of 2014 elections.
Whether national or international, media groups have their own freedom
to analyse and comment on democracy of Bharat. As a part of this freedom
what they try to do is actually preaching what is good for the common
electorates and what are the benchmarks for democracy. The film industry
or other intellectuals definitely have a role to play in democracy and
perhaps they have been most vocal in the last five years. Still, they
are crying of ‘free speech in danger’. Their selectivity about the
issues and intellectual hypocrisy of not terming what happened in Sri
Lanka as terrorism while labelling anybody who is Hindu as terrorist is
problematic.
The
Congress hypocrisy and double standards of temple tourism on the one
hand and demonising Hindus on the other hand has been exposed many a
times. Though Congress is believed to have critically analysed the
failure of 2014 and tried to play the Janevudhari card conveniently,
removing a chapter on Savarkar from textbooks or Rahul Gandhi insulting
the freedom fighter time and again just because he articulated the book
‘Hindutva’ is another sign of ‘Hinduphobic’ mindset.
By
the time this edition is published, the voting for General Elections
2019 would be over. Media and political pundits would be analysing data
and discussing exit polls. Various numbers would be thrown to us and
numerous political strategising would be carried out. While doing so, we
should not forget that the central theme of campaign by the entire
opposition alliance (formal and informal) has been creating Hinduphobia.
Modi is the symbol and outcome of rise of Bharat on its eternal Hindu
identity that believes in acceptability and respect. The same identity
also knows how to protect that inclusivity and multiplicity of truth
from the violent, colonising, monopolistic aggressions. Irrespective of
the election outcome, this assertion of the national identity is the
fact and everyone will have to deal with it.
Source: https://www.organiser.org/Encyc/2019/5/20/Hinduphobia-The-Neo-Secularism.html
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