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When
the eagerly-awaited results of the elections from the Indian state
of Gujarat were finally declared, the worst fears of the secular forces
of India had come true. In the home state of Gandhi, a militant Hindu
party, with Muslim blood dripping from its hands, ran on a fascist
platform and won in a landslide.
The stakes in India had never been greater. At risk was the very soul
of India – her very democratic nature. So much so that the main
political parties that are usually bitterly divided had vacated the
field for a duel between the hardline Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party
(BJP) and the secular Congress party. The Congress party, the party
that won India its independence and gave India leaders like Gandhi
was swept away by the party that idolizes Gandhi's assassin.
The results become more disturbing if the background of the elections
is kept in the perspective. BJP is the political wing of the "Sangh
Family" of "Hindutva" groups that are lead by RSS (affectionately
called Sangh). The founders of Hindutva ideology, Savarkar, Hedgewar
and Golwalkar were greatly influenced by Hitler and Nazism. Hindutva
states that India is the "Hindu Holy land" and "Hindu
Fatherland" and belongs to the "Hindu race."
BJP rose to national prominence from a fringe party that had two seats
in India's 500-plus-member parliament to its largest party, after
launching a national and bloody campaign to build a temple to the
Hindu God Ram in place of the historic Babri mosque. Many Hindus were
swayed by the BJP's propaganda that the mosque was built on the very
ground where Ram was supposed to have born thousands of years ago.
That campaign was led by the "hardline" World Hindu Council
of the Sangh family.
BJP did not win a clear majority and needed support from other parties.
So it put forth the name of Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who had carefully
cultivated his image as a moderate BJP leader, as the Prime Minister.
But having failed to deliver on its economic promises and beset with
corruption scandals, the BJP lost all crucial state elections since
assuming the reins of the federal government. The hardliners in the
party became restive and with the blessings of the RSS they launched
a campaign against moderation, calling moderation suicidal.
It was this campaign in which they once again made the temple construction
a focal point that led to the massacres in Gujarat in which many hundreds
of Muslims were brutally massacred and hundreds of thousands were
driven from their homes. A report by the UK High Commission called
the massacres consistent with ethnic cleansing.
So appalling were these massacres even according to the sometimes
bloody standards of Indian politics that the whole country seemed
to have been gripped by a wave of revulsion. The outcry led by the
English media gave hope that BJP would be swept out of power.
It is in this backdrop that the utter despair of Indian secularists,
the great fear of Indian Muslims and Christians and the gloating of
the Hindutva hardliners should be studied. Even more telling than
the win of the BJP in Gujarat is its victory in all three state assembly
seats that were up for grabs in the neighboring state of Rajhistan.
It was alluding to this "winning formula," that the hardliners
today predicted that India will soon become a "graveyard of secularism."
They are openly talking of using the "same formula" in the
upcoming state assembly and then the national elections.
It is not just the Indian secular forces about which the world should
be concerned. India, the largest democracy in the world, with its
arsenal of nuclear weapons and strategic geopolitical location and
a huge and fast-growing market is too important a country to be allowed
to become fascist.
History has shown that whenever hateful ideologies become well entrenched
in a society, their uprootment always require international attention.
Nazi Germany, Apartheid South Africa and Communist Yugoslavia are
a few such examples.
Fortunately the fascist support in other states is still shaky. If
it can be made clear to their soft supporters, especially the upper
caste business class, that it will not be in their financial interest
to have India under the sway of Hindutva ideology, they will pull
the purse strings. Without their financial support the Sangh family
will not be able to run its hundreds of thousands of schools or win
elections. A hard look by the western law enforcement agencies will
dry out the substantial funding that the Hindutva forces get from
their supporters in the US and Europe. It will also dissuade the Hindutva
diaspora in the US and UK from sending their children to the hate
camps that are being conducted in the west under the name of "culture
camps."
If this happens, the gloating of the Sangh family may very well turn
out to be a premature celebration. It may even be the last such celebration.
The world owes this to the man it admires so much, Mohandas Gandhi.
His home state under fascist rule is too much to bear. His home country
should not suffer the same fate.
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Dr.
Shaik Ubaid is a physician and President of Indian Muslim Council-USA,
an advocacy group for the rights of Muslims.
Indian
Muslim Council-USA
265 Sunrise Highway
Suite 1-355
Rockville Center, NY 11570
Tel (516) 567-0783
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