Preaching To The Converted

The BJP is good at spinning theories, but lousy at predicting their outcome. They bragged nuclear bombs would bring an era of nuclear deterrence, lasting peace in the region and global recognition of India's new might. Instead, we find ourselves scurrying under a mushroom cloud. Forget peace, our region has never looked more unstable and dangerous. The nuclear bomb did not deter Pakistan from flagrantly intruding into Kargil in 1999. Instead, it deterred us from using our conventional superiority to lethal effect. We are hamstrung now because we are victims of nuclear blackmail. Far from winning global respect, we arouse consternation and panic. For the first time, we proud Indians have to witness the shame of foreigners departing because our country is no longer safe. This ancient and peaceful civilisation, this land of Buddha, Asoka and Gandhi, is almost like a volatile nation in Africa or Latin America from where foreigners and capital periodically flee. Let's not forget in 1987, when also Indian and Pakistani armies had an eyeball-to-eyeball confrontation along the border, foreigners didn't flee.

We've seen how counterproductive the nuclear bomb has been. We cannot allow ourselves to go through a war now to see how counterproductive the BJP's theories on war are. Common sense tells us war is disastrous. And this we knew before reading chilling media reports that Pakistan's nuclear doctrine is more focused than ours, that India's conventional military superiority is not what it's cracked up to be and that army leaders have warned in private that even a surgical strike in PoK can fail dangerously. Israelis and Americans are learning that even successful wars on terrorism can't stop suicide bombers in Jerusalem or Karachi. Only vigorous internal vigilance, and not war, can safeguard nations from terrorist attacks.

The war threat, coming as it did after the Gujarat carnage, has damaged India's reputation as nothing before ever has. So much for the BJP's garbled theories. The tragedy is that India suffers this shame and indignity just when it was soaring in global recognition. India was seen as a mature, stable, peaceful democracy with tremendous economic potential. Relations between India and the world faltered after the nuclear bomb, but the software revolution, the continuity of policies by successive prime ministers and India's inherent strengths as a vibrant, slightly-chaotic-but-functioning democracy, convinced foreigners about her potential. Assuming the BJP could not fundamentally alter the nation, the west continued to woo India. And so the BJP reaped the benefits, though they were by no means the architects of India's improving status in the world.

But in the last six months, the BJP has severely damaged India's reputation. The reason is obvious: instead of being guided by its NDA partners, they are noseled by their hardliners, VHP and Bajrang Dal. In doing so, they are loosening the very nuts and bolts that keep our nationhood intact. Two principles have kept India united, rich and vibrant: democracy and multi-culturalism. You undermine or damage these two principles and India begins to unravel. Gujarat is a classic example. The danger is that these two principles are anathema to the VHP and Bajrang Dal, wedded as they are to fascism and exclusive jingoism. Their hate pamphlets against Muslims prove they suffer from persecution complex and paranoid delusions. The trouble with this condition is that you cannot change their mind even if you give ample proof to the contrary. The disaster is that the BJP is institutionalising their brand of politics in our national life. Topping this is their shameless disregard for what is ethical, decent and honourable. Despite nationwide outrage, and even the PM's admonishments, Narendra Modi's still in power.This lack of accountability, this remorselessness is unprecedented in Indian public life.

And then they pride themselves about their genius in having Abdul Kalam as president! But they preach to the converted. Only BJP supporters can believe this "masterstroke" will atone for their sins, appease the anguished Muslims and is guided by lofty ideals and not cynical, cold-blooded opportunism. This kind of tokenism will not impress the people it is meant to impress. We are also seeing the invasion of fascist functioning into the corridors of power, curtailing our fundamental freedoms. The Gujarat ias lobby had to cancel its meeting. People with dissenting and divergent points of view—an absolute necessity in a multi-cultural democracy—are branded, vilified and persecuted as "leftists", "pseudo-secularists" or "anti-nationals".

The question is how are they able to get away with these patently wrong, unfair and unethical manipulations—especially when civil society has ratcheted public awareness and when the main opposition party rules 14 states. The problem is Sonia Gandhi is diffident about leading this fight because she feels defensive as a Christian and a foreigner. Also, officials in key positions, even while they disapprove of this subversion of democratic, pluralistic style of functioning, are disinclined to court trouble, dare not risk losing their jobs. Big business leaders who have the clout to protest prefer to kowtow or turn ostrich. And that alone demonstrates the growing stranglehold of these fascist forces on the levers of power. As the history of Nazi Germany shows, disaster rumbles in when citizens refuse to see the peril, let alone act against it. Each one thinks of his self-interest and thus they collectively slide into hell. When a Tarun Tejpal or an Anand Patwardhan is victimised, people abandon these voices of conscience to their fates lest they invite reprisals upon themselves. As the old saying goes, harm is done not by the deeds of the evil, but by the silence of the good. Only fearless intervention by influential, liberal Hindus can save India from the ruinous clutches of Hindutva.

(The author can be contacted at post@anitapratap.com)