January 12th 2003
As 2003, a new year (albeit Gregorian and alien) starts should we be getting ready to say farewell to the Tiranga (tricolour) under which some Indians braved the might of the British Empire to fight for and win freedom? Will the Tiranga be replaced by the Bhagwa or the saffron pennant saluted every morning by hundreds of thousands knicker clad RSS in the tens of thousands shaakhaas spread all over the country?
It is said
‘The old order changeth, yielding place to the new…’
Does ‘new’ mean better?
Perhaps not, except and only in the make believe world of advertising and sales promotion. The world in general and India in particular appear to be exchanging larger holistic, all humanity embracing ideals for more limited ideas which pander to specific communities. These ideas may help win power but they do not uplift the mind and the spirit like ideals.
In the USA and the white dominated areas of the world such as Britain in Europe and Australia in the Pacific there is noisome and hysterical war mongering. The word ‘peace’ is, increasingly, a dirty word.
The same appears to be happening in India. The bedrock ideals of the polity established in 1947 viz ‘nationalism’ including all communities (Hindu Muslim Christian Sikh Parsi) and its twin, the ideal of ‘secularism’ are under concerted and often savage attack from the RSS rulers and their parivaar
The R.S.S. never fought for freedom, had no role in making the Indian Constitution and have always had their own alternative agenda to pursue.
There is a concerted attempt on the part of the parivaar to redefine nationalism in their own terms Their ideologue and mentor Vishnu Damodar Savarkar was a freedom fighter until he suffered brutal incarceration in the Penal Settlement Andamans. The experience broke him and he apologized most abjectly in 1911. To make his release attractive to the British he offered his own and his followers services to the British without any restrictions on where or how they would be used.
The British did not immediately relent and there were many representations and appeals from Savarkar and his family.
In 1924 the British allowed Savarkar to return to peninsular India with residence restricted to Ratnagiri. What was new? Savarkar had, in 1923 (from Nagpur) published the tract HINDUTVA ; WHO IS A HINDU? and coined the ideals of ‘Hindutva’. This ‘ideal’ was tailor made to suit the alien rulers as it fractured Indian society by excluding non-Hindus from the Indian ‘nation’. Only Hindus were true Indians. Muslims Christians Sikhs and Parsis were not Indians. This ‘ideal’ suited the British policy of ‘Divide and Rule’ and a new era of cooperation started between the two parties. Perhaps the formulation of this ‘ideal’ had something to do with the release
The first Indian Home Secretary of the U.P. Rajeshwar Dayal I.C.S. records the seizure of detailed maps of U.P.cities and towns from the RSS. The maps had highlighted areas where there was a concentration of Muslims. Points of easy entry and exit were marked clearly. Everyone knows how secretive the British administration was about maps and access to this kind of information could not have been possible without official blessings and collaboration at a high level.
The Hindu Muslim riots of the 1920s were largely the work of agents provocateur acting in cohorts with the British Indian Police. These riots went on building up and achieved the British objective of not quitting as long as possible and leaving after dividing the country and making one of the biggest and bloodiest administrative messes in the history of the world. They were able to hand over Pakistan to their collaborators in the 1939-1945 War, the Muslim League. India, would not become exclusively and only Hindu because of Gandhi Nehru and Abul Kalam Azad. There was an attempt to strike an independent line and the Non Alignment movement abroad and self reliance at home showed that the spirit of Liberty remained alive even after freedom had been achieved. Today we have ‘globalisation’ in which goods are free to move anywhere but labour cannot do so. There is only one super power and the leaders of India seek to be Sancho
Panza to its Don Quixote. Alas for their aspirations! Miyan Musharraf is already riding the donkey and will not make place for the RSS!
Meanwhile the days of secularism are over and its symbol, the flag of three colours is in jeopardy. Let us see how long it lasts.
As for the Constitution the Rule of Law requires that whoever transgresses shall be brought to book regardless of position and personal power. The British police officers who beat up Gandhi and Nehru went back home with full pension and a chestful of medals. The Lion of the Punjab, Lala Lajpat Rai was beaten with a stick covered with a metal boss by a British police officer. The assault took place on 31st October 1919 and he succumbed to his injuries on 17th November. No action was taken against the officer. The Indian State behaved in the same callous manner in 1984 after the assassination of Mrs Gandhi by her Sikh bodyguards. No one has till date been punished for sins of omission and commission during those riots. The moral capital of the Indian National Congress was exhausted by this outrage. In 2002 we saw the RSS prachaarak run government of Gujarat stand neutral or actively assist rioters kill rape loot and burn. Will this undermine the moral strength of the RSS or will they go on winning elections?
As for the tricolour beloved of Gandhi and Nehru and Abul Kalam Azad perhaps we should remember Faiz
‘ Make a circle around this fading candle
At least some light remains although it is not much’
Hulqaa kiyaiy baittheiy ruhoa is sha’mmaa kaa yaaroan
Kuchh raushnee baaqee to heiy hurchund kay kum heiy’