06-17-2009, 09:10 AM
A Rejoinder to Swapan Dasgupta's Advice to Farewell to H-word
Arvind Lavakare
June 16, 2009
I have several times observed how, Swapan Dasgupta keeps away from hard
facts and prefers, instead, to obfuscate issues by mixing some facets of
political history and political theories with his wishy-washy views on
the BJP. He's known to have been associated with Advani and BJP for long
and was reportedly Advani's speech writer once. Yet, unfortunately, he
doesn't seem to have realised that BJP's most important appeal to voters
was based on pushing Hindu interests that demanded justice to all,
appeasement of none. And now he wants the BJP to totally give up
Hindutva or even the use of the word "Hindu". How truly "secular" of
him!!
Instead, Swapan believes that the business on hand for the BJP is
"forging an enlightened nationalist agenda centred on security, growth,
modernity and good governance." Well, well, isn't that exactly what the
BJP largely concentrated on during its recent Lok Sabha campaign? Thank
God, the political expert from Oxford (or is it Cambridge?) did not
recommend that the BJP promise reservations to Muslims, a Sachar
Committee II, a Muslim always as the chief justice of India, a Muslim
always as Chief of Army Staff, an increase in the Haj subsidy and
proclamation of a madrasa degree as equivalent to an MBA.
On Hindutva and Secularism
Agreed, the BJP may well be confused with the ingredients of Hindutva.
That is only because it has never ever tried to communicate its ideology
in a manner that would be easily understood by the common man. And, for
this to happen, it has, in short, to become known as a party that
believes in its old motto of "Justice to all, appeasement of none" even
as it aims to make India into a super power while protecting the
interests of the Hindu majority of this nation and scrapping the several
discriminations against the Hindus.
To bring about the above altered image of the BJP, the party will, first
and foremost, have to mount a large and sustained nation-wide campaign
to permanently dispel the notion that the BJP is "communal" while the
Congress and all other parties are "secular"
For instance, the BJP has never ever educated the nation about the fact
that it was Morarji Desai's Janata Party (which included Vajpayee and
Advani among other Jana Sangh leaders) which introduced a Constitutional
Amendment Bill which, among several amendments, wanted the word
"Secular" in our Constitution's Preamble to be defined as "equal respect
for all religions". The BJP, further, has never told the nation that
while that definition was passed by the required majority in the Lok
Sabha, it was the Congress majority in the Rajya Sabha that rejected
that definition. As a result, "secular" continues to remain undefined in
our Constitution. The situation around that word is so bad today that
now everyone believes "secular" to mean "pro-Muslim" and
"pro-Christian", if not exactly anti-Hindu.
Consider the tragic irony today that even the Indian Union Muslim League
(IUML) party is considered as "secular" with which the Congress and the
Left come together as "secular" partners despite the IUML having the
word "Muslim" in its nomenclature itself!! On the other hand, the BJP is
condemned as "communal" despite having had Muslim ministers in its NDA
government and having two Muslims holding important slots today in the
party's organisational structure.
On Uniform Civil Code
Take, again, the BJP's proclaimed desire to have a uniform civil code in
the country. This is considered as being a "communal Hindu" agenda. But
the BJP itself has never ever educated the nation that if the uniform
civil code is a "communal Hindu" demand then the founders of our
Constitution must also be dubbed as "communal" because it is they who
put that demand in Article 44 of our Constitution though desisting from
making that Article justiciable. Further, the BJP has never told the
nation that because the Supreme Court also advocated the uniform civil
code in at least two separate judgements, our Supreme Court must also be
condemned as "communal"!!
On Article 30
Further, take Article 30 of our Constitution which permits religious and
linguistic minorities to establish AND administer its educational
institutions. This freedom to administer their educational institutions
is denied to the majority religion (Hindu) educational institutions.
This is blatantly anti-Hindu and minority appeasement. And its result
has been adverse, very adverse. A constitutional authority, M.P.Jain,
wrote in his book "Indian Constitutional Law" that, quote, "The position
as it has developed is that, in effect, institutions of general
education established and administered by religious or linguistic
minorities enjoy a much more privileged position than those run by the
majority in the matter of regulation by the government or the
university. The Supreme Court has given a very generous interpretation
to Article 30(1) in favour of the minorities." unquote. Now, would
Swapan Dasgupta want that to continue? And can that discrimination
against the Hindus be removed without even mentioning "Hindu rights"?
On Article 370
The BJP's demand for the abrogation of Article 370 of our Constitution
is widely condemned by those detestable "pseudo-secularists" as being
anti-Muslim. Sadly, there are some ignorant leaders in the BJP itself
who believe that the demand for such abrogation is now meaningless
because the several amendments to the Jammu & Kashmir State Constitution
have brought that state citizens' rights to the same constitutional
level as the national Constitution. Absolutely nothing could be farther
from the truth. The subject is too vast for discussion here. But let it
be stated, without hesitation, that the abrogation would be a measure
that will ensure that at least the major and important democratic rights
are the same throughout the length and breadth of India. For instance,
the abrogation of Article 370 will enable the "non-State subjects" in
J&K to vote in the State Assembly elections and not merely in the Lok
Sabha elections. Further, "non-State subjects" will, unlike presently,
be able to contest all elections in J&K --- from Panchayat to State
assembly, and will be eligible for government scholarships and
employment that are presently legally denied to them. These and several
other discriminations against "non-State subjects" of J&K are the result
of Article 35A --- created specially for J&K through a Presidential
Order under Article 370. Abolish at least that 35A and you will have
secured a major triumph for democracy in India.
On subsidy to religious pilgrimage
Take another example: the Haj subsidy. Why should only Muslims get such
a subsidy for their pilgrimage to a site sacred to their religion? Why
can't a Pilgrim Subsidy be given to Hindus for pilgrimage to Amarnath,
Manasarovar, Vaishnodevi, Chardham, Sabarimalai etc? Why shouldn't Sikhs
get a Pilgrim Subsidy to their scared site in Pakistan? Why shouldn't
Christian get a subsidy to visit the Vatican during the X-mas Mass or a
visit to Bethlehem? Is giving a Pilgrim subsidy only to Muslims a
"secular" act? Would asking a pilgrim subsidy for Hindus be communal?
Swapan Dasgupta should answer.
A last example. Why should only Hindu temples be allowed to be run by a
state government? Aren't there mosques and churches which are
mismanaged? Why can't they be managed by a state government? Swapan
should be asked to answer. He should also answer whether it is entirely
"secular" that the the collections of a temple are allowed to be used by
the state for Muslim and Christian purposes?
There are several areas, really, in which the Hindus have been
discriminated against in our country. Why then should they not
politically protest against such discriminations?
The problem, as I see it, is that the BJP just does not know how to
project itself and the interest of the Hindu majority of India. Time has
come, surely, for the BJP to engage, for a five-year period, a
thoroughly professional PR agency, which will create a Unique Selling
Proposition (USP) for the party and guide the BJP leaders and cadres to
market it across the country.
On building Ram temple in Ayodhya
When the BJP/NDA lost in 2004, several ordinary Hindus I met in Mumbai
personally (car mechanics, taxi drivers, white collar workers in
government as well as private sector, and corporate executives) said
that they and innumerable others of their kind voted against the BJP
because the BJP didn't do anything about the Ram Temple when they were
in power from 1998 to 2004. In fact, one taxi driver expressed his
frustration scintillatingly by saying, "Sahab, Ram Mandir Ayodhya me
nahi banega to kya Saudi Arabia me banega?"
All of the above, and crores and cores more of Hindus, just didn't know
that (i) it was impossible for the BJP to build the Ram Temple without
first scrapping or amending The Acquisition of Land At Ayodhya Act,
1993,wherby the Congress Government of Narasimha Rao had not only
acquired the entire land in the Temple area but also promised the
construction of some kind of a holistic park there to include a church,
a mosque, a temple, etc etc. (ii) scrapping that law was impossible
without getting the BJP's NDA allies consent for the new law that would
permit the construction of the Ram Temple (iii) the NDA allies of the
BJP were just not prepared to give that consent. The BJP has never
educated the nation on that score, leaving crores and crores of Hindus
to be convinced that the BJP was just not serious about the Ram Temple.
By the way, but most significantly, the BJP did not challenge the above
Acquisition of Land At Ayodhya Act, 1993. In fact, it was a Muslim who
did so!!!!!!!
Further, on the Ram Temple itself, the BJP has never ever educated the
Hindu community on the structured series of dialogue which were arranged
by Prime Minister Chandrashekhar between the Hindu and Muslim
representatives to ascertain concrete evidence as to whether the Babri
Masjid was, as belived by the Hindus, built after Baber had destroyed
the Ram temple already existing there. The Hindus, represented by VHP
leaders, presented government land revenue records as well as historical
and other evidence to prove their point; even the excerpts from the
diary of Aurangzeb's daughter were shown to prove that the Ram Temple
existed before the Babri Masjid was built there. The Muslim side's
evidence was just a collection of nebulous articles written by so-called
"eminent historians" who even contradicted themselves at times. And,
when the concluding, critical meeting was to be held to finally decide
the issue one way or other, the Muslim side just didn't turn up!! It was
tragic that Chandrashehkhar had to quit around that time and the whole
matter got buried in history as Narasimha Rao's minority Congress
government came to power. Why, even the comprehensive Press Note issued
by the VHP to sum up the proceedings of this dialogue and how it ended
was not used by the"secular" media of ours.
This blatantly unprofessional and partisan attitude of our media could
have been well overcome if the BJP had utilised a sustained advertising
campaign on the subject. That is what a professional PR agency would
certainly have persuaded the BJP to do. But nothing, alas, was done ---
either then or at anytime thereafter. No wonder that the crores and
crores of Hindus have come to believe that the BJP is not at all serious
about building their dream of a glorious Ram Temple at Ayodhya, about
fighting to preserve and protect Hindu rights, about preventing the
blatant ongoing appeasement of Muslims and stopping the serious
discrimination against Hindus.
By the way, Ashok Chowgule, a Vice President of the BJP, has all the
relevant data on the subject of the Ram Temple at Ayodhya including a
glossy booklet in which it is stated how a British civil judge, had, in
the 19th century itself, come to the definite conclusion that a Ram
Temple was, in fact, in existence at Ayodhya prior to its destruction
and the building there of the Babri Masjid. The British judge, however,
confessed that he was unwilling to give a verdict to that efect because
of the possible impact on the sentiments of the two communities. Sad to
say, the BJP has never even tried to project all this info that Ashok
Chowgule has to the nation at large. A professional PR agency would have
ensured that it got adequate media coverage throughout the country and
also suceeded, if employed, to advertise all the info most tellingly in
a sustained national campaign. That would have been great for the BJP in
securing the support of crores and crores of Hindu voters who have,
sadly, turned to the Congress and other parties. Alas, the BJP just
doesn't have the sense of communicating its point of view effectively.
One last thought on the Ram Temple. Has the BJP ever pursued the matter
long-pending in the Allahabad High Court? Why not?
Arvind Lavakare
June 16, 2009
I have several times observed how, Swapan Dasgupta keeps away from hard
facts and prefers, instead, to obfuscate issues by mixing some facets of
political history and political theories with his wishy-washy views on
the BJP. He's known to have been associated with Advani and BJP for long
and was reportedly Advani's speech writer once. Yet, unfortunately, he
doesn't seem to have realised that BJP's most important appeal to voters
was based on pushing Hindu interests that demanded justice to all,
appeasement of none. And now he wants the BJP to totally give up
Hindutva or even the use of the word "Hindu". How truly "secular" of
him!!
Instead, Swapan believes that the business on hand for the BJP is
"forging an enlightened nationalist agenda centred on security, growth,
modernity and good governance." Well, well, isn't that exactly what the
BJP largely concentrated on during its recent Lok Sabha campaign? Thank
God, the political expert from Oxford (or is it Cambridge?) did not
recommend that the BJP promise reservations to Muslims, a Sachar
Committee II, a Muslim always as the chief justice of India, a Muslim
always as Chief of Army Staff, an increase in the Haj subsidy and
proclamation of a madrasa degree as equivalent to an MBA.
On Hindutva and Secularism
Agreed, the BJP may well be confused with the ingredients of Hindutva.
That is only because it has never ever tried to communicate its ideology
in a manner that would be easily understood by the common man. And, for
this to happen, it has, in short, to become known as a party that
believes in its old motto of "Justice to all, appeasement of none" even
as it aims to make India into a super power while protecting the
interests of the Hindu majority of this nation and scrapping the several
discriminations against the Hindus.
To bring about the above altered image of the BJP, the party will, first
and foremost, have to mount a large and sustained nation-wide campaign
to permanently dispel the notion that the BJP is "communal" while the
Congress and all other parties are "secular"
For instance, the BJP has never ever educated the nation about the fact
that it was Morarji Desai's Janata Party (which included Vajpayee and
Advani among other Jana Sangh leaders) which introduced a Constitutional
Amendment Bill which, among several amendments, wanted the word
"Secular" in our Constitution's Preamble to be defined as "equal respect
for all religions". The BJP, further, has never told the nation that
while that definition was passed by the required majority in the Lok
Sabha, it was the Congress majority in the Rajya Sabha that rejected
that definition. As a result, "secular" continues to remain undefined in
our Constitution. The situation around that word is so bad today that
now everyone believes "secular" to mean "pro-Muslim" and
"pro-Christian", if not exactly anti-Hindu.
Consider the tragic irony today that even the Indian Union Muslim League
(IUML) party is considered as "secular" with which the Congress and the
Left come together as "secular" partners despite the IUML having the
word "Muslim" in its nomenclature itself!! On the other hand, the BJP is
condemned as "communal" despite having had Muslim ministers in its NDA
government and having two Muslims holding important slots today in the
party's organisational structure.
On Uniform Civil Code
Take, again, the BJP's proclaimed desire to have a uniform civil code in
the country. This is considered as being a "communal Hindu" agenda. But
the BJP itself has never ever educated the nation that if the uniform
civil code is a "communal Hindu" demand then the founders of our
Constitution must also be dubbed as "communal" because it is they who
put that demand in Article 44 of our Constitution though desisting from
making that Article justiciable. Further, the BJP has never told the
nation that because the Supreme Court also advocated the uniform civil
code in at least two separate judgements, our Supreme Court must also be
condemned as "communal"!!
On Article 30
Further, take Article 30 of our Constitution which permits religious and
linguistic minorities to establish AND administer its educational
institutions. This freedom to administer their educational institutions
is denied to the majority religion (Hindu) educational institutions.
This is blatantly anti-Hindu and minority appeasement. And its result
has been adverse, very adverse. A constitutional authority, M.P.Jain,
wrote in his book "Indian Constitutional Law" that, quote, "The position
as it has developed is that, in effect, institutions of general
education established and administered by religious or linguistic
minorities enjoy a much more privileged position than those run by the
majority in the matter of regulation by the government or the
university. The Supreme Court has given a very generous interpretation
to Article 30(1) in favour of the minorities." unquote. Now, would
Swapan Dasgupta want that to continue? And can that discrimination
against the Hindus be removed without even mentioning "Hindu rights"?
On Article 370
The BJP's demand for the abrogation of Article 370 of our Constitution
is widely condemned by those detestable "pseudo-secularists" as being
anti-Muslim. Sadly, there are some ignorant leaders in the BJP itself
who believe that the demand for such abrogation is now meaningless
because the several amendments to the Jammu & Kashmir State Constitution
have brought that state citizens' rights to the same constitutional
level as the national Constitution. Absolutely nothing could be farther
from the truth. The subject is too vast for discussion here. But let it
be stated, without hesitation, that the abrogation would be a measure
that will ensure that at least the major and important democratic rights
are the same throughout the length and breadth of India. For instance,
the abrogation of Article 370 will enable the "non-State subjects" in
J&K to vote in the State Assembly elections and not merely in the Lok
Sabha elections. Further, "non-State subjects" will, unlike presently,
be able to contest all elections in J&K --- from Panchayat to State
assembly, and will be eligible for government scholarships and
employment that are presently legally denied to them. These and several
other discriminations against "non-State subjects" of J&K are the result
of Article 35A --- created specially for J&K through a Presidential
Order under Article 370. Abolish at least that 35A and you will have
secured a major triumph for democracy in India.
On subsidy to religious pilgrimage
Take another example: the Haj subsidy. Why should only Muslims get such
a subsidy for their pilgrimage to a site sacred to their religion? Why
can't a Pilgrim Subsidy be given to Hindus for pilgrimage to Amarnath,
Manasarovar, Vaishnodevi, Chardham, Sabarimalai etc? Why shouldn't Sikhs
get a Pilgrim Subsidy to their scared site in Pakistan? Why shouldn't
Christian get a subsidy to visit the Vatican during the X-mas Mass or a
visit to Bethlehem? Is giving a Pilgrim subsidy only to Muslims a
"secular" act? Would asking a pilgrim subsidy for Hindus be communal?
Swapan Dasgupta should answer.
A last example. Why should only Hindu temples be allowed to be run by a
state government? Aren't there mosques and churches which are
mismanaged? Why can't they be managed by a state government? Swapan
should be asked to answer. He should also answer whether it is entirely
"secular" that the the collections of a temple are allowed to be used by
the state for Muslim and Christian purposes?
There are several areas, really, in which the Hindus have been
discriminated against in our country. Why then should they not
politically protest against such discriminations?
The problem, as I see it, is that the BJP just does not know how to
project itself and the interest of the Hindu majority of India. Time has
come, surely, for the BJP to engage, for a five-year period, a
thoroughly professional PR agency, which will create a Unique Selling
Proposition (USP) for the party and guide the BJP leaders and cadres to
market it across the country.
On building Ram temple in Ayodhya
When the BJP/NDA lost in 2004, several ordinary Hindus I met in Mumbai
personally (car mechanics, taxi drivers, white collar workers in
government as well as private sector, and corporate executives) said
that they and innumerable others of their kind voted against the BJP
because the BJP didn't do anything about the Ram Temple when they were
in power from 1998 to 2004. In fact, one taxi driver expressed his
frustration scintillatingly by saying, "Sahab, Ram Mandir Ayodhya me
nahi banega to kya Saudi Arabia me banega?"
All of the above, and crores and cores more of Hindus, just didn't know
that (i) it was impossible for the BJP to build the Ram Temple without
first scrapping or amending The Acquisition of Land At Ayodhya Act,
1993,wherby the Congress Government of Narasimha Rao had not only
acquired the entire land in the Temple area but also promised the
construction of some kind of a holistic park there to include a church,
a mosque, a temple, etc etc. (ii) scrapping that law was impossible
without getting the BJP's NDA allies consent for the new law that would
permit the construction of the Ram Temple (iii) the NDA allies of the
BJP were just not prepared to give that consent. The BJP has never
educated the nation on that score, leaving crores and crores of Hindus
to be convinced that the BJP was just not serious about the Ram Temple.
By the way, but most significantly, the BJP did not challenge the above
Acquisition of Land At Ayodhya Act, 1993. In fact, it was a Muslim who
did so!!!!!!!
Further, on the Ram Temple itself, the BJP has never ever educated the
Hindu community on the structured series of dialogue which were arranged
by Prime Minister Chandrashekhar between the Hindu and Muslim
representatives to ascertain concrete evidence as to whether the Babri
Masjid was, as belived by the Hindus, built after Baber had destroyed
the Ram temple already existing there. The Hindus, represented by VHP
leaders, presented government land revenue records as well as historical
and other evidence to prove their point; even the excerpts from the
diary of Aurangzeb's daughter were shown to prove that the Ram Temple
existed before the Babri Masjid was built there. The Muslim side's
evidence was just a collection of nebulous articles written by so-called
"eminent historians" who even contradicted themselves at times. And,
when the concluding, critical meeting was to be held to finally decide
the issue one way or other, the Muslim side just didn't turn up!! It was
tragic that Chandrashehkhar had to quit around that time and the whole
matter got buried in history as Narasimha Rao's minority Congress
government came to power. Why, even the comprehensive Press Note issued
by the VHP to sum up the proceedings of this dialogue and how it ended
was not used by the"secular" media of ours.
This blatantly unprofessional and partisan attitude of our media could
have been well overcome if the BJP had utilised a sustained advertising
campaign on the subject. That is what a professional PR agency would
certainly have persuaded the BJP to do. But nothing, alas, was done ---
either then or at anytime thereafter. No wonder that the crores and
crores of Hindus have come to believe that the BJP is not at all serious
about building their dream of a glorious Ram Temple at Ayodhya, about
fighting to preserve and protect Hindu rights, about preventing the
blatant ongoing appeasement of Muslims and stopping the serious
discrimination against Hindus.
By the way, Ashok Chowgule, a Vice President of the BJP, has all the
relevant data on the subject of the Ram Temple at Ayodhya including a
glossy booklet in which it is stated how a British civil judge, had, in
the 19th century itself, come to the definite conclusion that a Ram
Temple was, in fact, in existence at Ayodhya prior to its destruction
and the building there of the Babri Masjid. The British judge, however,
confessed that he was unwilling to give a verdict to that efect because
of the possible impact on the sentiments of the two communities. Sad to
say, the BJP has never even tried to project all this info that Ashok
Chowgule has to the nation at large. A professional PR agency would have
ensured that it got adequate media coverage throughout the country and
also suceeded, if employed, to advertise all the info most tellingly in
a sustained national campaign. That would have been great for the BJP in
securing the support of crores and crores of Hindu voters who have,
sadly, turned to the Congress and other parties. Alas, the BJP just
doesn't have the sense of communicating its point of view effectively.
One last thought on the Ram Temple. Has the BJP ever pursued the matter
long-pending in the Allahabad High Court? Why not?