What the nation witnessed in the Lok Sabha yesterday (April 2) was an incredible carnival of illogic and deceit. That the Narendra Modi government claimed it brought the Waqf Bill because it is animated by the concern for Muslim welfare is the vilest political fraud independent India has seen. The illogic and implicit deceit has the potential of tearing apart the nation’s collective sanity.
Much has been written and said about the intent and purpose of the Waqf Bill. Even an uneducated person knows what the real motive is. Let’s not delve into that. But the stunning claim, a truly magical invention of the Amrit Kaal, that the Modi government and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) dreamt up what all the governments in the last seven decades couldn’t – that the assets of the Muslims must be put to optimum use for the community’s welfare requires serious examination. Words pouring out of ministers’ mouths – why can’t these resources be utilised for education and health of poor Muslims, to skill youths, to empower women – fell on the wounded soul of the nation like comforting ointment showered by the benevolent sky.
Let the grateful nation bow to the bountiful messiah Amit Shah, whose compassion has doubtless surpassed his mentor’s kindness. Let’s forget the duopoly emerged from the ashes of communal amity in Gujarat. Let’s forget what Modi said barely months ago – that any other government would snatch people’s assets and jewels to distribute among those who are intruders and who produce more children. Let’s forget the eloquent home minister doesn’t utter a word when goons give calls for economic boycott of Muslim hawkers, when their followers chant toxic slogans describing Muslims as traitors, when innocent men are lynched on the streets. Let’s forget the prime minister’s silence when the political contest is defined as 80 versus 20 battle.
The audacity of the government to sell this lie is bewildering. They think this operation can be conducted by administering local anesthesia on the nation’s polity. As if, the nation will forget for a while what their politics stands for. As if their bigoted supporters will lie quiet till the surgery is completed. This happened when an abnormal hype was created about helping Muslim women by removing triple talaq. Is a poor Muslim woman not affected when her husband, or her brother, is harassed or lynched on the street? Does a Muslim woman, helped by triple talaq abolition, not suffer that overarching sense of alienation, that agonizing feel of inequality, that piercing fear of being branded a traitor?
Also read: ‘Vote Bank Politics’ Versus ‘Disenfranchisement’ As Waqf Bill Passes Lok Sabha
Benevolence works in switch-on switch-off mode for this government. Equality and justice are restricted to financial doles. Why should only Muslims perpetually keep proving their loyalty to the nation? Why special fetters on their religious activities? Why should special measures be taken for religious identification of hawkers during Kanwar Yatra? What special measures are announced to facilitate devotees on Eid? Why are their businesses targeted by shutting down meat shops for days during navratras and other festivals? What restrictions are imposed on devotees of other religions? The objections are endless – from azan to hijab, from madarsas to mosques, demonstrating a clear design to push them to the status of second class citizens.
Evil intents are often camouflaged by noble pretensions. No politics laid greater emphasis on morality and idealism than Nazi philosophy. But Adolf Hitler showed to the world how inhumane restrictions are imposed on the community which has to be marginalised. He started with minor acts of discrimination against the Jews, slowly advancing to putting restrictions on their travel and businesses, before starting the cruelest form of genocide the mankind has seen. Hitler used to psyche up his supporters by telling them to trust their instincts as “intellect and reason” can misguide them. He created an environment in which his decisions were not questioned by anybody.
Will the mainstream media in India ask the BJP – what’s your agenda? Do you want welfare of Muslims, do you want to strictly adhere to the constitutional scheme of equality and justice, do you want to abandon divisive politics for good? Mixed narratives and crass opportunism can fool the gullible but weaken the nation. The BJP has to clearly articulate whether they want to isolate the Muslim youth by calling them traitors or to educate and skill them for better future. If sentiments expressed in parliament during the Waqf debate were genuine, the same should be reflected in the speeches of ministers, behaviour of supporters and the discourse in the aligned media. Politics of deception is naked; everybody can see everything. The presumption that the nation, put under anesthesia of momentary righteousness, cannot see through the facade is foolishness. The truth is known to the world and it rests on a higher perch, beyond the weeds and sprouts of sophistry and illogic.
A party that does not have a single Muslim member in the Lok Sabha giving sermons on the welfare of the community is an oddity. But equally odd are expectations of the opposition parties from allies like Chandrababu Naidu, Nitish Kumar or Chirag Paswan. They have been old and trusted allies of the BJP. It is foolish to expect ideological qualms pushing them away from the BJP.
Nitish Kumar’s politics flourished in the BJP’s lap. His occasional betrayals were tactical, not ideological. They were driven by personal ambitions, not by national concerns. Naidu too hasn’t done politics of ideological commitment. That’s an extraneous factor for him. The core of his politics is power and vested interest. Both of them will be together with the BJP even if the constitution is buried and India is declared a Hindu Rashtra. They may severe ties with the BJP under pressures of pragmatic politics if their own political interests are in jeopardy. It is a mockery of secularism that the Congress, or other secular parties, wants to fight communal forces with their help. This attitude exposes their infirmities and helplessness.
What’s worse, some opposition leaders are dreaming that the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) will derail the Modi juggernaut. No, never. The RSS may have evolved a critical assessment of Modi but it will think of replacement only to strengthen the government and to secure the future. The RSS has seen its best under Modi and its every step will be aimed at perpetuating its hegemonic control.
The opposition’s reliance on the change of mind in the RSS, or internal dissensions in the BJP, and the somersaults by the likes of Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and Janata Dal (United) (JD (U)), is itself a symptom of ideological impurity. Those who expected a turmoil in the ruling establishment because of Waqf Bill should draw the right lessons from this experience. If they don’t, they will keep muddling along, holding the small copy of the constitution in their trembling hands.
Sanjay K. Jha is a political commentator.
