It would be churlish to deny the excellent work being done for economic and administrative improvement.
One,however, acknowledges this with trepidation, lest such appreciation be taken as endorsement of the social horrors being let loose by the emboldened fringes of the parivar.
Prof J S Bandukwala has posited a very sensible and doable way forward for RSS, i.e to give up it's hatred of Muslims, in the tradition of Nanak and Kabir, Tagore and Gandhi.
Jinnah made the mistake of moving away: why punish ourselves, both Muslims and Hindus? Even Sikhs and Christians get targeted.
This then represents the real challenge for Modi Sarkar. Will Modi Ji be just a good CEO of Indian economy, (like a good gujrati businessman), Or, be remembered alongside Mahatma Gandhi; even Nehru, whom they are trying to downplay, even denigrate?
Dear Vinod:
ReplyDeleteI do not know Prof. Bandukwala. However, I think his expectation for RSS to give up hatred of the Muslims is unrealistic. It is like asking Evangelical Christians to start believing in the theory of evolution. I am not justifying the stand of RSS vis-a-vis Muslims. However, I think Prof. Bandukwala has a better chance of success with RSS if he pushes them to take up much needed reforms of Hindu society. Even today Hindu society is mired in superstitions, dowry system, child marriage, social discrimination and so many other bad practices. The RSS has organizational capacity in rural areas to augment Modi Sarkar's many programs in rural areas which they can put to use. Regarding the Muslims, I think Muslims in India too need to reform their own societies so that they integrate better in the main stream. They should agree to a common personal law that will go a long way to liberate their women from the tyranny. Let Prof. Bandukwala reach out to Muslim philosophers as well. I was very disturbed when some of the Muslim leaders refused to utter `Bharat Mata ki Jai' on the fake ground that it is against Islam. It sounds so silly and outright ridiculous.
Hi, both your points are well taken. Prof Bandukwala, indeed all of us need to do much more to live peacefully. We need to bury the ghosts of partition.
DeleteSomeone 'forcing' others and others refusing a slogan is pure politics, in its rawest and in my mind virulent form.
In my view, judgements are being made based on personalities rather than based on issues. Whatever BJP Govt is doing is wrong because it is being led by Modi and opposition finds excuses to block even discussions as we have seen in Parliament in last two years or so. When Cong was in power, BJP's attitude was no different.
ReplyDeleteI remember having read Khushwant Singh in one of his columns during Amritsar action. He wrote that he has been receiving letters both supporting the action and also criticizing the same. But when he sorted the letters, he found that letters criticizing the action were all from Sikhs and those supporting the action were from Hindus. He posed a question that is there not a sikh who thinks the action was right or is there not a Hindu who thinks the action was wrong. In fact it is extemists who vitiate the atmosphere by taking extreme positions and being violently vociferous. But the vast majority takes a middle view and because of vicious atmosphere, refrains itself from expressing the same.
Neither all Hindus are muslim haters nor all muslims are Hindu haters. Vast majority wants to have friendly and peaceful relations with all, irrespective of one's religion
It is high time that the social leaders should recognise and acknowledge this fact and subdue the extremists
Dear Shiv, Ordinary people take positions based on very basic "tribal instincts" as noted by Khushwant Singh. There is nothing right or wrong about it. For society to function and grow, we have "leaders", who must be informed by higher values. If the "leaders" do not follow their "dharma" we have Sikh Riots, Gujrat Riots, Bhiwandi, Malegaon, Babri Masjid and indeed even Partition and "Holocaust". And now Muzafarnagar, Akhlaq and many more in the making. Modi Ji is giving the fringes free hand : and may be he cannot control them. He is possibly making a good choice to majorly focus on economy and administration. Good Choices. But he will be a lesser Leader, as he may not find a way out.
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