To
Mohan Bhagwat,
Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) Sarsanghchalak,
It was heartening to read about your recent statement stressing the need for communal harmony.
Undoubtedly, the strength of Bharat is her all-encompassing nature. The journey must be by holding the hands of everyone who wants to live in a prosperous, resurgent India. You have rekindled that hope in an atmosphere of utter distrust and desperation. If every citizen is equal as you have rightly pointed out, the urgent need is to empower each one of them, instead of further increasing the population, in the most populous country on earth.
Why this letter to you, now? Reasons are more or less, similar to what former Chief Election Commissioner (CEC), S.Y.Quraishi had pointed out after meeting you some two years ago – the insecurity felt by the marginalised, in general and Muslims, in particular, who are proud of a distinct faith and culture of their own, and the atmosphere of hate created by hard core proponents of Hindutva politics.
Quraishi had written about your assurances, that (i) Hindutva is an inclusive concept in which all communities have equal room, (ii) the country can progress only when all communities are united and that (iii) the Indian constitution is sacrosanct.
Contrary to your earlier advice that “there is no need to look for a ‘Shiv ling’ in every mosque,” there were attempts across the country to rake up the past and suits were entertained by civil courts, till recently, when the Supreme Court pressed the pause button.
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As a citizen, hailing from southernmost part of this great nation, I was deeply worried when the policies of the Union government seemingly treated Hindutva as the default culture of this multi-cultured, multi-faith and most diverse nation on earth. Enactment of Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019 giving a differential treatment for citizenship based on faith, laying the foundation of a Hindu temple at Ayodhya by the prime minister of secular India, thereafter its inauguration by the prime minister, recital of religious shlokas at the inauguration of the new parliament building, (that too on May 28, 2023, V.D. Savarkar’s birth anniversary), many indirect references to the Muslim community in the prime minister’s Election speeches, all gave me a feeling that India has certainly derailed from the path of acceptance of all faiths, as advocated by Swami Vivekananda.
You may kindly remember that the prime minister in his widely televised speech on the occasion of Ayodhya temple inauguration, has not referred to the mosque to be built by Muslims, consequent to the same judgment of the Supreme Court.
The final blow to my faith in the democratic institutions and its impartiality, came when a sitting high court judge gave a speech about the virtues and vices of two communities. Unfortunately, the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, who has high regard for you, has spoken in support of that statement. A correction, even at this later stage is essential to spread a message that this land belongs to all, irrespective of their beliefs.
It has now come to public knowledge that Justice Shekhar Kumar Yadav had close connections with the RSS. Let me plead with folded hands to exercise all your moral authority to rectify the narrative in the speech of Justice Yadav.
The fundamental flaws in the ideas presented by Justice Yadav are as follows:
- Will of majority prevailing upon the minority is a dangerous proposition anywhere in the constitutional democracies. Minority Hindus are at the receiving end in Bangladesh recently. The plight of minorities in Pakistan or Afghanistan is nothing worthy of emulation elsewhere.
- Uniform Civil Code is included as a Directive Principle of State Policy, for achieving social justice. Equal justice for every individual irrespective of her faith is entirely different from imposing the will of the majority upon minority.
- Though the judge has proudly narrated the virtues of Hindu laws, he has conveniently forgotten the fact that B.R. Ambedkar faced stiff resistance from the Hindu orthodoxy at a time when he tried to codify Hindu laws. He has also forgotten the counter-majoritarian role of judiciary in protecting every citizen and in that process to give special care for those who are most vulnerable, Dalits, Adivasis, women and minorities – religious, linguistic and ethnic.
As you have suggested recently, everyone in this great nation, is equal and deserves equal respect.
I belong to a minority by language – Malayalam, by culture – Dravidian and I feel an equal part of this great nation, because we all are treated equal stakeholders in this democracy, the constitution assures equal treatment and non-discrimination.
Even if one looks from the angle of cultural heritage, there cannot be any difference between people professing different faiths.
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In the ‘Collective works of Swami Vivekananda,’ who by no means is a lesser Hindu than anyone else, there is not a single word of hatred towards anyone. He had immense faith in this great nation, even when she was extremely poor and in shackles. If Hindu majority of this country had imbibed those values, there would have been no incidence of repeated communal violence.
The call for communal harmony, coming from you, the head of an influential Hindu organisation, is the best thing that could have happened at this point of time.
I wish and hope that this message of communal harmony is reiterated whenever there is a derailment and all your followers will heed to that advice.
Communal harmony alone will assure peaceful co-existence and the Hindu as the cultural majority has the greater responsibility in assuring that.
Thank you,
Prashant Padmanabhan
Advocate, Supreme Court
