I have a confession to make. I cannot help but hopelessly admire what Narendra Modi has just managed to accomplish in Jammu and Kashmir. Venturing into an almost virgin territory and capturing 25 seats in the 87-member assembly to emerge as the second largest party, ahead of the National Conference and Congress, is nothing short of a coup for the PM’s party. The performance is even more remarkable considering this is a Muslim majority state and, as everyone knows, the BJP has a thing for all things Muslim. This is a state over which India and Pakistan have fought three bitter wars. And the Kashmiris, at least a substantial chunk of the population, have long dreamed of going their own separate way.
It may be a bit of a stretch but this is Modi’s own ‘audacity of hope,’ if you will, rushing in where angels fear to tread. Of course, the BJP hasn’t managed to win a single seat in the Kashmir Valley or even in Ladakh, evidently thanks to the unprecedented numbers in which Kashmiris, alarmed out of their skin by the prospect of a BJP government in Srinagar, came out to vote.
That doesn’t belittle the groundbreaking nature of the saffron success though. The BJP has breached the Kashmir citadel, breaking a critical psychological and political barrier. Its vote share has nearly doubled.
And the long-term geopolitical implications of this development for the Himalayan state that joined India after being promised a ‘special status’ under the Article 370 of Indian constitution — something the BJP has long opposed — can hardly be overemphasized.
This election may very well turn out to be the most defining one in Kashmir’s history and for its future. Whoever forms the government in Srinagar, the BJP is set to play an influential, probably a kingmaker’s, role in the state where it was not long ago a political untouchable.
Both the PDP of Mufti Sayeed and the National Conference that repeatedly warned the voters against the saffron designs over Kashmir are falling over each other to court the BJP. How did Modi do it? Long-term calculations, planning and strategizing, massive propaganda onslaught and communal polarization — all the gems of a typical Modi campaign had been successfully employed in Kashmir. But, above all, it was the magical, all-conquering mantra of ‘Development’ that was carpet-bombed as a message for months before the elections that apparently did the trick; just as it worked in the general elections and successive assembly polls this year. It seems even the stereotypically cynical Kashmiris, weary of their self-serving politicians and their endless hypocrisy, incompetence and corruption, couldn’t remain impervious to Modi’s message of ‘change.’
For the predominantly young, educated and enterprising Kashmiri population, the talk of jobs, good governance and development had been as irresistible as it had been for voters elsewhere in India during the recent elections. Hardly surprising considering Modi and his senior ministers never tire of singing endless hymns to the deity of development and good governance.
Who would have any issues with development? Everyone wants development and good governance. Everybody wants jobs, good roads, infrastructure and a good life.
Since Modi moved to Delhi, the Bombay Sensex and Delhi’s Nifty have claimed ever new heights. Inflation has bottomed out, aided by crashing global oil prices. This is all very nice and awfully heartwarming. Even as the ‘Development Man’ Modi has been marketing and hard-selling exotic economic dreams to the breathless middle classes and impoverished masses with the finesse of a slick, snake charmer, the RSS and its numerous avatars and think tanks have been playing out their own parallel orchestra. The Vishwa Hindu Parishad of Singhal and Togadia, the Hindu Vahini of Yogi Adityanath, a four-time BJP MP from Uttar Pradesh, and other brothers-in-faith have been bursting with missionary zeal as they go about bringing Muslims, Christians and all those who ‘strayed’ centuries ago “back home” to Hindutva.
In the past few days, several such ‘reconversions’ have taken place across the country including in Gujarat, the vibrant home state of the PM. Indeed, over the past few years, the VHP claims to have brought thousands of such ‘strays’ into the Hindutva fold. Mohan Bhagwat, the RSS chief and the head of extended Hindutva Parivar, minced no words as he disdainfully dismissed opposition protests over forced conversions: “We are trying to create a strong Hindu society. Those who have strayed, they have not gone on their own. They have been allured and have been forcibly taken away. When the thief is being caught and my property has been recovered, when I am taking back my own property, what is new in it?”
So as far as the Sangh is concerned, this is essentially a ‘property’ dispute over ‘strays.’ And lest anyone still nurtured any misguided notions about India, Bhagwat proclaimed: “This is our own country, our Hindu ‘rashtra’ (nation). What we have lost in the past, we will try to bring it back. Our God says that after 100 crimes, don’t tolerate crimes against Hindus.”
And we thought this was a ‘sovereign, socialist, secular, democratic republic!’
One would dismiss these pearls of wisdom as the rants of the fringe if it wasn’t for the fact that the RSS happens to be the ideological mother of the governing BJP, VHP, Bajrang Dal and numerous other groups.
The PM himself is a life member and worked for years as RSS pracharak (organizer) before being parachuted as the chief minister of Gujarat. He has included at least 19 senior RSS members as ministers in the federal Cabinet.
Rajnath Singh, the home minister and former BJP president, cleared the air when he said (Nov. 22): “The RSS is not an external force. The PM and I have been RSS volunteers from childhood and will remain so until our death. When we ourselves are members, then how will the RSS influence us? One could have understood the argument of any organization influencing the government if it had a different identity, a different ideology…” Yet all those who cheered and voted for Modi the messiah, including the faithful in media and the big business, cannot bring themselves to believe that the Parivar fun and games could be happening with the tacit understanding, if not blessings, of the PM. After all, in the face of strident opposition protests in Parliament and growing alarm and uneasiness in the country, Modi hasn’t uttered a word to condemn or distance himself from the saffron shenanigans. His silence is deafening.
And more dangerous than the forced conversions, communal conflagrations and violence being orchestrated across the country is the silent and insidious war on India’s very identity and character as a secular, multicultural and democratic nation.
From rewriting of history to saffronizing textbooks and from lionizing Gandhi’s killer to demanding minorities to fall in line or leave, the Hindutva project reveals itself in so many fascinating ways.As Praful Bidwai notes, what’s scary is not that all this distracts attention from the BJP’s “development” agenda but that shifting political goalposts through violent communalism has become its main agenda.
Whether or not all this is happening with Modi’s acquiescence, one thing is for sure. Progress and Parivar’s regressive ways cannot go together. Investments are notoriously allergic to instability and uncertainty. Investors are the first to flee at the first sign of trouble. The choice before Modi and India is stark: Rein in the crazies now or say good bye to the future – and all the progress and development that it promises. You cannot have your cake and eat it too. In the Hollywood classic, The Godfather, Don Corleone warns: “Don’t ever take sides with anyone against the Family.” In this case though, Modi must confront his Family before it destroys everything in its path.
