Fear is in the air and fear is the key! For any full-fledged, fascist government to succeed in pursuing its agenda FEAR among the population, it lords over, is a paramount prerequisite.
The moment there is fear, all fall in line and there is a deathly silence that stifles voices, opinions, ideas, creativity, music and most critically opposition.
So are we like the Germans under the Nazis, or like the Cambodians under POI Pot? Are we cowering down waiting to be tied to the stake as in medieval Europe or trembling with terror, all set to be beheaded as in the Islamic caliphate?
Most certainly not! Not yet that is! But eerie winds blow and the sky is overcast.
Let us be crystal clear about one thing. The trigger may be pulled by the killers of Kalburgi or the club may have been wielded to brutal effect, or that innocent man in Dadri, by a mob.
But the gun was loaded by bullets of a toxic ideology. And therein lies our fundamental problem. Don’t pull the bullets in the gun and presto, even if a madman pulls the trigger, there will be no shot. It is that ridiculously simple.
I have many friends in the RSS and blind Modi bhakts, who constantly wrestle with me, that their ideology and indeed their God and Master, is nothing of the sort, that ‘sickularists’ paint them to be.
I am in complete agreement with them, that every country, every people have a right to be proud of their religion, their faith and their culture short of declaring a Hindu Rashtra. It has happened through the ages and will continue to do so, with even more vigor, as our modern day lives, turn ever more complex, and we turn to spirituality/religion for answers and solutions.
The issue with the RSS ideology is not its attempt to preserve an ancient civilizational history and culture, the way it deems correct. That is a legitimate conservative political position, the Republicans (packed with Evangelical Christians) in the US or the Tories in the UK a dept-in modern democracies. It is a perfectly valid political corner to occupy, even if the Left Liberal Constituency (the Democrats in the US; the Labour in the UK) reflexly opposes this, with all its might.
The problem with the Sangh Parivar, is in the methods, it tries to use, to achieve its objective. There can be no question that violence and intolerance; bigotry and vitriolic hate speeches, the calling cards of many of its affiliates like the VHP and the Sanathan Sanstha or the extreme lunatics in the various Dals and Senas, is completely unacceptable criminal behavior that is at direct odds with our guiding principles in the constitution.
The BJP/RSS may well claim as indeed, they do that you can’t blame them for the acts of a few madmen in their midst. But madmen don’t become mad, only on a whim.
In its objective to achieve their Hindu conservative political space (which is fine, I reiterate) they have insidiously and assiduously, built up a hate campaign against the Muslim and Christian faith in particular and against the left leaning establishment, as existential threats to their ideology.
Hence, when sensitive and creative minds in the country throw the awards back at the governments’ face, it is not just in protest against Mr Modi’s deafening silence or against the callous motor mouths in Government. The awardees are protesting an ideology, that provokes hatred and enmity among communities and strikes fear and terror in dissenters.
The fight is against this ideology. That needs to be corrected. The language has to be mature and responsible, when one is in power and the constitution must be genuinely respected in words and deeds, not just with rhetoric, spin and high theatre.
I particularly salute and admire the courage of literary stalwarts from Goa like the incredibly ageless Maria Aurora Couto, the epitome of left liberalism Datta Naik and Damodar Mauzo and even noted conservatives like Naguesh Karmali and Pundalik Naik to come together on one platform to condemn these dastardly attacks on freedom of thought and expression.
Many people ask me, where will violent Hindutva meet its nemesis. The BJP/RSS must realize, that if this level of intolerance and violence, goes unchecked and unpunished within its ranks, the biggest backlash will not come from the left liberals and the minorities. That has already begun.
They will meet their waterloo, at the hands of the very constituency, they believe in automatically theirs – the Hindus themselves. This level of medieval, barbaric behavior is completely at odds with the inclusive tolerant and democratic traditions of Hinduism itself and when that rejection reaches a crescendo, the cookie will truly crumble.
In sum, let me give you the analogy of a mother-in-law and her protesting daughters in law.
Fed up of the constant bullying, physical and mental violence, even killing by a lady’s wayward and truly despicable sons, the daughters-in-law of the house unitedly decided to return the marriage certificates, gold jewellery and gifts back to the mother in law in agonized protest.
There could be three responses of the mother-in-law to this: 1)The Hysterical response: She could go out in the public square and beat her breasts and wail that the daughters-in-law have brought disrepute and dishonor to the family (nation?); and this is an evil plot by the neighbours to defame them and that the protests were ‘manufactured’ by vixen of the highest order.
2)The indifferent response: The mother-in-law, could care a damn about the fights between her sons and daughters-in-law. She would cock a shoot at the hulabaloo, dress in her finest and go for lunch with the Queen at Buckingham Palace.
This would bring peace to the squabbling family and the mother-in-law could go back to fixing the broken economy and dipping family finances.
After all, credit rating agencies like Modi’s are getting very very angry, and that ultimately is the real God, worshipped by all our governments, present and past.
(Dr. Oscar Rebello is a full-time consulting physician and a social activist, at times)
