They used to say that there were two Indias: India of the Indologists and that of the Sociologists. The first India represented philosophers; sanskritists; orientalists; intellectuals; scholars; the Brahminic element in society; thinkers; and theologians. The other India consisted of the poor; Dalits; tribals; marginalized; subalterns; social activists; and justice-fighters. The worldviews of both of them were different. However, each was incomplete without the other. Absolutizing any one worldview and planning accordingly would be inadequate. 

Much of the so-called dialogue had been between the elite in society: higher castes, classes, and educated people among different religions or ethnic groups. Certainly, that sort of dialogue must still continue, not only about religious concepts and cultural traditions, but also about social problems and shared responsibility for the common good. But when discussing the more pressing problems of day-to-day life, we cannot ignore the humbler sections of society. Their opinion is most important because any mistake in social decisions is likely to hurt them more. Their collaboration is absolutely necessary to ensure the long-term good of society.

With the marginalization of genuine scholarship under Hindutva leadership and the down-grading of an academic approach to problems, the image of the intellectual elite has suffered a great deal. But new elites have emerged, who do not merely look down on the illiterate masses as the first group was inclined to do, but take advantage of them, ‘instrumentalise’ them, even exploit them. To this group belong today’s “political leadership”, sturdily supported by the present day “economic giants”. These two hold the destinies of the nation in their hands. 

They have developed the art of using religious and cultural symbols to mobilise crowds to win elections and promote their own interests. All national discussions are about what this club considers important: not development and welfare, but profits and privileges.  Subordinate groups are ‘instrumentalised’ to serve these interests; their voices are “bought” to further elite causes. 

What Hindutva Stands for

Hindutva stands for “a malignant form of nationalism”: Profits to the rich, and losses to the poor.

Look at privatization, for example. It is a two-edged sword. We are not sure which way it will cut. Amit Mitra, Bengal Finance Minister, wrote to Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman warning her against privatizing Insurance companies like LIC and throwing into insecurity 30 crore policyholders. It will affect the life and livelihood of 12-15 lakh insurance agents as well. Some call the decision “anti-national”. 

But the present government is not easily influenced by public opinion. Their thought is not for the poor, but exporters and expanders. The Adani group expanded their empire to embrace petrochemicals, refineries, and cement. Mercedes sales have risen despite Covid.

Business has bounced back with double profit after the lockdown. In the meantime, the attention of the ordinary people is diverted to the contribution to be made to Ayodhya Temple, melas, yathras and yajnas, not to inflation or lower wages that affect their lives.

The RSS, the “Extra-constitutional Authority in India”, is mightily pleased with the BJP for getting their Hindutva goals accomplished: Ayodhya Temple, Kashmir, uniform civil code, cow protection, anti-conversion bills, anti-Pakistan postures, and so on. Shashi Tharoor has described Hindutva as a “malignant form of nationalism”. Its leadership rejoices as their patrons get richer, even though the poor sink lower.  Anand Nivasan says, India’s “usurious taxation policy on fuel” has created a national crisis, inflation depleting growth. Lower middle class suffers the most. Ordinary people are caught in a vicious circle of low growth and high inflation. They do not know where to turn. They are given a sense of “non-belonging” to the nation.

From Achhe Din to Sachhe Din

As Mamata Banerjee said, we have had enough of BJP’s ‘achhe din’ of Deception, we would like to move onto some ‘sachhe din’ of Truth. We can build only on truth. For example, three separate studies have shown that India’s true Covid death-count was 6 times the official number.  There were journals like Dainik Bhaskar that exposed Modi’s mishandling of the Covid. And sure enough, 30 of their premises were raided by income tax officials! Abhishek Manu Singhvi exclaims, we are truly under a “totalitarian, autocratic, despotic, tyrannical” regime! It is in this distressing situation that the BJP claims its “bragging rights”, in which, they say, the PM is a Past Master. The problem, as Anand Sharma explains, is that the PM suffers from Raj-hath. As for Yogi, despite hundreds of dead bodies on the Ganga, he is held out as a model in the Covid battle. May truth prevail!

The result, as Mamata says, is an absence of mutual confidence in society, least of all in the present regime. People can look at it only as an alliance of vested interests, self-interest groups, and bribery clubs; a refuge of opportunists, defectors and law-evading criminals. Hence there is a sense of total insecurity in its top leadership: “Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown” (Shakespeare). Hence the need of Pegasus for security, keeping every intelligent person under surveillance: politicians, journalists, even judiciary. Hence the need to plant wrong evidence in the computers of persons associated with the Bhima-Koregaon case. This is the rejection of the very creed of democracy and a projection of an anti-ethical outlook.   

Colliding Two Indias 

The two Indias -- the Great India and the “Boycotted India” -- are always on a course of collision. 

The famers’ issue, for instance, has divided the nation. Rahul says, farm laws were passed in the interest of two or three industrialists, corporates, not the benefit of farmers. Meantime, China is clipping the wings of corporates; resurrecting her commitment to socialism; and giving attention to poor people’s needs like housing, medical and education. She wants to reduce polarization.  In India today, polarization is officially sponsored. Anyone who defends the weak becomes the enemy of the strong. Uttam Anand, a judge was killed in a road accident in Jharkhand, raising many questions. In UP, another judge, Mohammad Ahmad Khan, was hit by car from the rear. He says, a young man had threatened him for refusing bail. Everyone is watched, but no one is safe. We have moved into a world of non-belonging. Hindutva culture has taken over. A liberal vision of life and relationship has vanished.  

Even so, we hear sober voices from time to time. Uttarakhand High Court has strongly affirmed that one’s food is one’s “fundamental right”; choice of meat or no meat is for each citizen to decide. The Court continues: Uttarakhand itself has 72.6% non-vegetarians, India 70%; hence, no one can ban slaughter houses even at Haridwar. This message would be of great value for Assam with its new cow protection bill, and for the rest of India. The trouble today is that the needs of humbler society are being ignored by the elite. Vyasa and Valmiki may have belonged to that community; also intellectuals like Ambedkar, Ladakh fighters and Olympic champions. But when it comes to decision-making, they stand marginalized. As though “the twain shall never meet”!

Sharan Kumar Limbale believes, “Mainline historians have deliberately ignored Dalits and Adivasis (tribals)”. He quotes Ambedkar who says that there are two Indias: the Great India and the “boycotted India”. The money allotted for Dalit-development is regularly diverted. Atrocities against them have grown. The riot of Bhima-Koregaon merely confirms that. However, before elections, even radicals mellow for a while as Mohan Bhagwat did recently, conceding that all Indians have the same DNA, that Muslims too are Indians, that lynching is wrong. Evidently, we cannot go by what he says before elections, we have to go by what happened during the 7 years of BJP-RSS misrule. During the election season, they are vote-dependent, as the poor are cash-dependent. And cash-loaded leaders know how to play their game. And the ethnocentric Hindu supremacists win again. The division continues, with its evil consequences.

Tragic Consequences 

Malnutrition: An Ashoka University study reveals that India has 40.6 million stunted children, one-third of the world, mostly among the Dalits in the BIMARU states. Four lakhs of such children are in UP, which, Amit Shah boasts, has a $1 trillion economy! According to Pew research 75 million people in India have slipped back to poverty, composing 60% of the world’s poor. Similarly, there were 562 protein-energy malnutrition deaths in Assam last year, highest in 5 years. We are even told that some poor people have reached the stage wanting to sell their body-parts to organ-traffickers for mere survival in these Covid days. The help given to banks has caused a 6.3% price rise.

Pseudoscience: Mamata may sound too strong accusing the BJP of having a “barren brain”; but that they are promoting “barren thinking” with their consistent support to Astrology is a fact. The other day, more than 100 Tripura scholars wrote to IGNOU against introducing Astrology into their PG course… all to no avail. At Sagar in MP, a webinar on “Obstacles to Scientific Temper” was halted, both by the Madhya Pradesh University authorities and the RSS-inspired ABVP students’ union. If superstition-based prejudices are officially planted and promoted, what will prevent our youth from joining Taliban-like radical bodies? Is the ABVP already moving in that direction? For the people of the wider world, Blasphemy Laws in Pakistan and Cow Craze in India, both are symbols of irrationality in South Asia. They fear that an Afghanistan-type of ultra-fundamentalism is on the rise in India.

Polarisation: Rahul attributed the Assam-Mizoram tensions to the “dreadful consequence” of Amit Shah’s activity of “sowing hatred and distrust’. While the killing of 6 police men at the border was a veritable tragedy, many things had gone before that: the zero tolerance attitude towards CAA protesters that killed 5 young men in Assam, the Yogi-style encounter killings of 12 people in two months, the unilateral intervention on Mizoram border ignoring traditional border posts, the aggressive vocabulary before and after.  

Perpetuation: Strategies are ready for the perpetuation of the Hindutva order. A silent plan is being formed to reorganize Lok Sabha constituencies by 2026 (described as ‘delimitation’), according to changed population patterns, weakening representation from the states in the South and East and strengthening that of the BIMARU states. Shashi Tharoor considers that it will be most unfair to the more enlightened regions of the Indian society, and to India itself. If the Parliament’s strength is raised to 1000, it will end up as a mere Acclaiming Assembly like in Communist states. 

Thinkers will Save the World

An intelligent Parliament is India’s strength. Discussion or dialogue, there should be dignity and decency in Legislative Assemblies and Parliament. Derek O’Brien described the recent ruckus in the Lower House as “boorish behaviour and hooliganism”, setting an extremely bad precedent. The dignity of the Parliament is turned into a travesty. The role of the Opposition is not to embarrass and silence the Government, but to make them THINK, and persuade them to do what is RIGHT. Opposition’s weapons are not rough words and rough behaviour, but well researched data, carefully reflected correctives, profoundly thought-out suggestions. It will be respectful reasoning and interactions that take an idea forward. 

Dialogue is disciplined. Arjuna and Krishna were able to keep up a profound dialogue even amidst the din of battle on the Kurukshetra field. That has a message for us.  For Tilak, Gita prompted violence; for Gandhi, it promoted peace. If the Mighty Mahabharata story has a message, it is precisely about the “Futility of War”…at Kurukshetra, on the Ladakh front, Mizoram border, Parliament House, and amidst today’s political tensions.

Differences, Not Dissensions

The hug that Mary Kom gave to Ingrit Valencia of Colombia after her defeat in Tokyo was truly moving. Statesmanship like sportsmanship has a community-building quality. Our mutual acceptance ought to tower over our differences, not only in the Olympic field, but also in the political and social fields. From time to time all divisions should be positively rejected and togetherness affirmed. Our sense of belonging is everything to us. Chanu Mirabai thanked the people of Manipur for their prayers on winning the Silver Medal.  Lovlina Borgohain thanked the people of Assam.  Borpathar, her village, sang hymns, Kirtans, and Nam Ghosh for her victory. And she won. She is the 6th child in her family.  Women of India have shown their calibre. Give the poor a chance. There is a future for everyone, even the humblest, when we are One.