Nip this in the bud

When asked how many of the German people were true Nazis, a German aristocrat prior to World War II answered: "Very few people were true Nazis. But many enjoyed the return of German pride, and many more were too busy to care. I was one of those who just thought the Nazis were a bunch of fools. So, the majority just sat back and let it all happen. Then, before we knew it, they owned us, and we had lost control, and the end of the world had come."

Transport these thoughts to our present day pluralistic democratic Indian republic with latent simmering communal tensions that could flare up uncontrollably under a majority Hindu government, and it conjures up a chilling point of view.

We are told again and again by professional "talking heads" that Hinduism is a religion of inclusive brotherhood and that the vast majority of Hindus just want to live in peace. Although this unqualified assertion may be true, under the change of guard at the center, it is entirely extraneous. It is trivially meant to make the insecure feel better, and to somehow diminish the specter of Hindutva fanatics rampaging across the Indian subcontinent in a majoritarian shift of Hindu pride. The worrisome underlying fact is that hardliners who subscribe to a divisive ideology of a Hindu Rashtra hold the reins of governance in Indian democracy today.

Fringe elements from the Sangh Parivar affiliated to the fundamentalist RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh), the rigidly communal parent organization of the new elected government, forge ahead in unconstitutional activities of omission and commission, without fear of censure or the law of the land. It is these zealots who fan communal tensions nationwide. It is these bigots who systematically endeavor to provoke minorities or tribal groups throughout India by pushing them into a corner, and brazenly attempting to engulf the entire subcontinent in a saffron wave. The peaceful majority are cowed and silent, while corporate owned media and self-seeking crony capitalists are treading cautiously. All the more alarming when a Hindutva ideology incumbent Prime Minister has switched to a disturbing mute mode even when his colleagues and party cadres in and out of Parliament continue espousing their not so hidden agenda with emboldened vigor, as audaciously advocated by the RSS honcho.

Viewed against this backdrop of surging radical Islamic militia out to theocratically crush states in the neighboring landscape, and the Hindutvavadis out to do the same on Indian soil, this is a wake-up call for all Indians and political parties with conscience in the right place and rooting for our secular constitutional legacy, to act in unison if we do not wish to witness the end of our vibrant robust democracy and a new dark age for India.

The majoritarian project to subvert the very democratic tradition that India stands for should be nipped in the bud.

MICKIE SORABJEE

nashmick@hotmail.com