The politics of intolerance

"Be arrogant with arrogant people; this is the only language they respect, as they confound kindness with weakness”.                                  -Paulo Coelho

I think this message fits in perfectly in today’s situation. Those who are crying wolf about growing intolerance in the country need to be told in the most certain terms what intolerance means. They are misusing the freedom granted by the Constitution of India to defame a Prime Minister and a government elected by the people of this country who are “Sovereign”. To their misfortune and dismay this party and its Prime Minister do not subscribe to their ideology of ‘tolerance and secularism’.

Democracy is the ‘least defective’ system of governance. Difference of opinion and regard for different opinions are the core values of democracy. That is why there are a number of political parties with divergent and even opposite views on various issues of national concern and there are people who choose the party according to their choice.

India became independent in 1947 and began its ‘tryst with the destiny’ under the first Prime Minister Pt Jawharlal Nehru. He ruled this country almost unchallenged till he died in 1964. The country witnessed aggression in Kashmir by the Pakistani-backed Kabailies in 1948; invasion of Buddhist Tibet by Communist China in 1950s and finally the Chinese advent into Indian Territory of NEFA (Now Arunachal Pradesh), Laddakh and Sikkim. No one questioned Nehru on his failure to protect the boundaries of the country he ruled. All praised him as harbinger of peace.

What type of peace he wanted to usher in India? Soon after independence Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated by a fanatic. The murder had a background of the most tragic vivisection of our motherland; the mindless killings, rape and violence unleashed by the Muslims on Hindus in those days and Gandhi’s soft corner towards Pakistan. Those who came forward to save the distressed Hindus in those days were the swayamsevaks of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). Risking their lives they succeeded in safely bringing back the hapless Hindus from Pakistan to India; made arrangements for their temporary stay in refugee camps and earned their goodwill.

The massive response to RSS disturbed Nehru. This ‘tolerant’ leader suddenly became so intolerant towards RSS that he did not hesitate to ban it holding it responsible for the murder of the Mahatma! His police arrested the then RSS chief and a number of RSS men under IPC 302!! Even after Sardar Patel who was Home Minister then wrote to him absolving RSS of the heinous accusation, the obstinate, intolerant Nehru continued with the ban for more than a year.

This is intolerance!

After the government lifted the ban on RSS, its then Chief M S Golwalkar asked his swayamsevaks and general people to forget the nightmare.

This is tolerance!!

Nehru’s daughter Indira Gandhi ruled India from 1968 to 1984 barring the two years of Janata Party regime after internal emergency. What was her attitude? She was held guilty of misuse of government machinery to win the elections and as the Allahabad High Court disqualified her from electoral politics, she imposed emergency in this country forfeiting fundamental rights of the citizens. Again the victim was RSS and its thousands of innocent swayamsevaks who were jailed, tortured, maimed, and even killed. A special propaganda cell was set up to defame the RSS day in and day out.

The 19-month ordeal ended with people rejecting Indira, her son Sanjay and their Congress party, at least in the North India. The RSS played a crucial role in restoration of democracy taking all the people, parties, groups, organization with it in its fight against the tyranny of Indira Gandhi. It was but for the sacrifice of thousands of RSS workers that India remained a democracy and those who are branding RSS as ‘intolerant’ can do so because of that very organization!!

What Indira practiced during her regime was intolerance!

The then RSS Chief Balasaheb Devras showing magmanimity of heart gave a call to 'forgive and forget' the injustice of Indira Gandhi. This is tolerance!! 

The successive governments after Indira’s unfortunate assassination in 1984, too adopted similar intolerant attitude towards the RSS. The best example is of the Janata Party and the issue of ‘dual membership’ raised by the Socialist Loudmouths like Madhu Limaye and Raj Narayan. Their ‘anti-RSS-ism’ reached such a crescendo that finally the Jan Sangh members in the Janata Party had to break away and form a new political party called Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Any amount of adjustment by the then Jan Sangh members would not satisfy their intolerance level.

This is intolerance of Janata Party!

The Congress Government of Narasimha Rao too did not lag behind. The then Congress President Sitaram Kesri accused RSS of ‘Gandhi Murder’ and had to face the music for his misdemeanour. Rao banned the Hindu outfits holding them responsible for pulling down the disputed structure at Ayodhya in 1992 and the subsequent communal riots in the country.

This is again another level of intolerance.

When Atal Bihari Vajpayee became the Prime Minister in 1996, all the secular parties lined up against him and did not allow him to rule. His first government collapsed by just one vote that went against him.

This is intolerance of highest level!

The UPA Government under Sonia-Manmohan duo practiced similar intolerance towards RSS and Hindu society. The bogey of ‘Hindu terrorism’, ‘Saffron terrorism’ was part of this pattern of intolerance towards the majority community. Murder of Swami Lakshmananda in Odisha’s Kandhmal; arrest of Sadhvi Pragyam Swami Aseemananda and others, systematically maligning RSS leaders are some of the examples of this crass intolerance of the Congress and its secular bandwagon displayed during the past decade.

Came 2014 and the scenario is changed. The Congress and its ‘secular, tolerant’ co-passengers faced crushing defeat in the Lok Sabha elections and people elected BJP to power with full majority. Narendra Modi, who talks for all the 125 crore Indians, is the Prime Minister. This reality is not acceptable to the Congress and its secular friends. The Congress following the inherited legacy of the British all along indulged in politics of intolerance, division, fragmentation and hatred. Its politics is quintessentially based on the principle of ‘divide and rule’. How can they tolerate a leader who talks of inclusivity? How can they tolerate a political party that vows to take people of all hues with it in making the country number one in the world? How can they remain tolerant towards its policy of ‘justice for all, appeasement of none’? The fact that leader like Mufti Mohammad Sayeed can understand and does not feel ashamed to say openly that Modi is inclusive leader.

The media is another major culprit in creating this atmosphere of 'virtual' intolerance in the country. As the famous columnist Tufail Ahmed says, “the fascism emerging from India’s newsrooms is backed by big businesses and the nation’s dynasty. Corporates and dynastic centres of power pose a threat to democracies in every country. Indian media houses are ideologically configured”....

He further says “the fascism emerging from television studios mushrooms into large-scale intolerance when the voters elect leaders not in ideological compliance with it. It fears vote. On the eve of elections, it searches for new issues that will serve its objective. Fascism hopes to win by dividing us. The lynch mob is at issue only when the victim is a Muslim. In Faridabad, journalists painted the deaths of two kids in fire as an attack on Dalits. ABP news channel described Chhota Rajan as a “Hindu don”. When a Naxalite is arrested, journalists describe Indian laws as ‘draconian’.

Such intellectuals and journalists are professional second-hand dealers in ideas, according to Tufail Ahmad. Narendra Modi, he says, is the ‘first-hand dealer in original ideas’ who has fully well understood that economic freedom is a prerequisite for all other freedoms, these intellectuals are not willing to honour the voters; judgement.

With the help of these journalists they are using the television studios to accuse BJP and Narendra Modi of being extremely intolerant. The most ‘intolerant Congress’ is holding a march in national capital from Parliament House to Rashtrapati Bhavan with an appeal to the President to bring back India to its tolerance level! There can be no bigger travesty of truth than this!!

The Congress and its secular, intellectual and tolerant bandwagon of intellectuals and journalists must note that India and Hindus are tolerant by their very nature. The atmosphere of intolerance is not visible in the country save for their false propaganda. They must understand that their politics of intolerance will not derail the Modi Express of development that ensures ‘Sab ka Saath-Sab Ka Vikas’.