The Sangh parivar’s political arsenal has unveiled an enticing new slogan: ‘batenge to katenge’. This is the same old propaganda technique used to create irrational fears and emotional frenzy among the Hindus, telling them that a division in the community will see its people be butchered.
This sinister project to heighten anxieties in the majority community comes at a time when the protagonists of Hindutva politics have returned to power for the third consecutive term and the minorities, particularly Muslims, have been ruthlessly marginalised in India’s polity.
Ironically, they still feel the need for heightening a false sense of victimhood among the Hindus instead of using their political hegemony to make the majority community confident and secure. With all the levers of power in their hands, the rulers could have attempted to make the majority community more sensitive, tolerant and compassionate – a prerequisite for a healthy and civilised society.
But the BJP is constructing a fearful Hindu, troubled by false imaginations of a minority attack. They intend to sustain the hate for the collective other, of which Muslims make up the core. That is how they demolish the Gandhian project of tolerance and peaceful coexistence. That is how Gandhi is assassinated again and again, through newer manifestations of politics of hate and deception.
The tantalising impact of this catchy slogan, batenge to katenge – which was coined by Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath – has not only encouraged BJP leaders to weave electoral discourse around this weapon; it has also left political rivals numbed because nobody wants to explicitly speak against the apparent cause of Hindu unity. But the question is, what kind of unity does the Sangh parivar want?
The greatest example of national unity India saw was the freedom movement under Mahatma Gandhi. The Sangh, the ideological wellspring of the BJP, kept away from the freedom movement and was banned for creating a situation that led to Gandhi’s assassination. Does the RSS-BJP want a kind of unity that led to the demolition of the Babri mosque, unambiguously described as a crime by the Supreme Court?
The RSS is now 100 years old and must have an example in mind of the kind of unity it wants to see in the future. Does it want a unity of the kind Adolf Hitler achieved under Nazi Germany? This question arises because the RSS guru M.S. Golwalkar wrote: “Race pride at its highest has been manifested in Germany. It has also shown how well-nigh impossible it is for races and cultures having differences going to the root, to be assimilated into one united whole, a good lesson for us in Hindustan to learn and profit by.”
Hitler’s experiment triggered a global disaster, leading to a protracted mayhem in which millions of innocent people were killed.
When Yogi Adityanath says batenge to katenge, the context and substance of his rhetoric is absolutely clear. He is using this slogan for Hindu mobilisation. In a speech he made in Maharashtra earlier this year – and where his slogan is now being put to good use – Yogi explained how Muslims had stopped offering namaz on the roads and removed loudspeakers from mosques. His model of governance, in its pristine form, offers encounters, bulldozers and fear among minorities.
Another Union minister, Giriraj Singh, said in a speech: “If these infiltrators, these Muslims, give us one slap, we will come together to give them a hundred slaps … Let’s stay united if we want to be safe. Batoge to katoge … you are yourself saying we will be butchered if we don’t unite. So, all of you keep swords and trishuls at home. Lord Shiva keeps trishul in his hand and goddess Durga keeps a sword in her hand. You too worship these weapons and defend yourselves from the attackers.”
The frame of reference for the description of the enemy is a Muslim. Such assertions are often heard at the gatherings of bigots in several states. Do we need more evidence to convince ourselves that these people are itching to dance on the grave of Gandhian tolerance?
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Leaders of the BJP, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and the RSS have endorsed this batenge to katenge idea. Before taking this bait, Hindus must carefully scrutinise what is the ideological theme and political purpose of this unity being sought by the Sangh parivar.
Will this unity defy the constitutional principles of equality, justice and fraternity? What are the social, cultural and political aspirations of this unity? Is it to establish an authoritarian majoritarianism that treats the state as an entity with absolute power, above the constitution and the judiciary? Do they want the collective other – the enemy – defined on the basis of religion? When they say katenge, shouldn’t they say who is the murderer? Are they talking about external aggressors – Pakistan or China?
If yes, then the unity umbrella must accommodate every citizen of India. If the context is internal, are they projecting minorities as murderers? Sikhs, Muslims, Jains, Buddhists, Parsis – who are itching to cut down the Hindus? No group has ever indicated any such political agenda. Has the RSS-BJP found any evidence of counter-mobilisation among the minorities with an evil intent of targeting Hindus?
No, never. The RSS-BJP is only maligning minorities with a perverse fantasy and using this fictional agenda to grab political power.
How can the ruling party, having taken oath to abide by the constitution, declare that the intent of non-Hindus is so violently harmful to the majority community? How can they say the political interests of minorities are not compatible with the national interest?
A deeper analysis will reveal a partisan political motive devoid of any nationalist goal. These leaders are actually telling Indians that their social and cultural existence is safe in their political loyalty to the BJP.
They don’t want the citizen as a free agent, nursing his or her own independent political consciousness. They want robots in the political domain, even if they are free to practice their own religion. A Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi or a Shahnawaz Husain is safe even if they are Muslim. And a Hindu who doesn’t follow the diktats of the likes of Giriraj Singh – to keep swords at home to attack Muslims – he or she is not safe.
This is the purpose of the fusion of politics and religion. The real purpose is power. Politics and ideology are like an empty space for the RSS-BJP. They use and replace their agenda like furniture. They can decorate the space at times with soothing rhetoric like “sabka saath sabka vikas” and replace it with toxic divisiveness whenever they want.
At times, you hear the music of Mohan Bhagwat about peaceful coexistence, and at other times you get to burn your ears with the ‘Ali-versus-Bajrang Bali’ poison.
To escape the muddle, citizens need a larger understanding – unity is not a divisive instrument to create polarisation on caste and religious lines. Batenge to katenge should be an India slogan, not a BJP slogan.
Sanjay K. Jha is a political commentator.
