Ehtasham Amer
“The larger project of denying that people of all faiths enjoy equal rights
under the constitution is now nearing completion”, observesThe Hindua day after
Indian Supreme Court made its landmark judgment inAyodhya case.This is the best
commentary on the famousBabri Mosque case, given by Indian Supreme Court last
week. How this court order would shape India’s image in the world is anybody’s
guess!One doesn’t have to be a genius to predict the future of India. With this
judgment, right wing domination of last bastion of executive branch, the higher
judiciary, is almost a foregone conclusion.
BJP has never shied away from any confrontation with long cherished Indian
values of secularismthroughout its political history, especiallywhile making its
manifesto in 2014 and 2019 elections. Construction of Ram Temple was a major
campaign promise. In 1992, it was viewed as having facilitated in destruction of
Babri Mosque. LK Advani, a senior BJP leader and ex deputy prime minister, led
the 1992 RathYatra,which brought down the 16th century Babri Mosque. The Supreme
Court had called it a “crime” that “shook the secular fabric of India”. The
demolition scarred Indian constitutional secularism forever.
BJP ruled India from 1998 to 2004 under Prime Minister Vajpayee, whose
government saw the Gujarat riots of 2002, the worst communal violence the world
witnessed in recent times. About 2200 Muslims were killed, mostly burnt alive,
while police and other law enforcing agencies looked on. Modi is the only person
who was banned to travel to USA under the International Religious Freedom Act (IRFA)
provision of US Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) in the aftermath of
Gujarat carnage. The ban was only lifted when Modi became Prime Minister.
Those riots brought Modi into negative spotlight, but paved the way tohis ascent
to being the undisputed leader of BJP. He also projected himself as a Hindu
leader who could redeem the lost glory of Hindus by “confronting and defeating
“the ignominious history of “enslavement of Hindus by Muslims”. Right wing
politics just discovered its poster boy in Modi.
Mob lynching has risen astronomically post-2014. Studies say 90% of hate crimes
against minoritieshave occurred since his rise into power.Cow vigilantes are at
liberty to pick and choose their targets since the state and people accept it to
be new normal. Fires of communal hatred, stoked by right wing nationalistHindu
funambulists have started to burn its own house. Mere Muslim sounding name
became the reason of mob lynching of Sahil, a 23 years old Delhi resident this
year. His crime: he dared to stop a street brawl between high caste and low
caste Hindus,in an area inhabited by high caste Hindus. He was taken to be a
legitimate target of lynching. Only when his identity was revealed that the
press reported the gory details of hisviolent death. Bigotry eats its own
children.
It appears as this atmosphere of fear is deliberately created by circulating
videos of mob lynching of Muslims and other weak sections of society. Any
attemptby family of victims to take recourseto law to punish perpetrators is yet
to meet success. In August, courts released all offenders of a lynching case
that occurred in broad day light and was recorded live in a video. All six
defendants of mob lynching a Muslim, Pehlu Khan, in Rajasthanwere set free,
since courts refused to accept mobile phone recorded videos as an evidence.
To add another dimension to the atmosphere of fear is the latest citizenship
law, National Register for Citizen, which appears to be targeting Muslims in
Assam and Bengal. After a deliberate exercise to ascertain as to who is
“genuine” citizen of India and who is not, a final list was released,
whichexcluded majority of Hindus, declaring them as non-citizens, along
withMuslims and few others. The list scared Hindu voters and created a political
storm for BJP government. BJP has assured Hindus that the law would be amended
and only Muslims would be considered as “aliens”. Reason cited for this
amendment is the difference between emigrants (Muslims) and refugees (Hindus),
who moved from erstwhile East Pakistan, now Bangladesh, to India during violent
year of 1971.
Putting together all the pieces of the puzzle reveals a fascinating plan to
marginalize minorities, especially Muslims whowere angered when in July this
year, their personal law of instant divorce was amended by parliament. Muslim
social and political bodies considered it as an encroachment of state into their
personal law, which to them was against the spirit of a secular constitution.
BJP declared it as another step towards introducing uniform civil code for all
Indians, in utter disregard of religious or social sensitivities of minorities.
August this year saw the curtailment of constitutional status of disputed state
of Jammu and Kashmir from a state to a Union territory.This is the only Muslim
majority state in Hindu majority India and has been seething with centrifugal
tendencies for 30 years. Indian Parliament bulldozed the law in hurry and
without consulting Kashmir Assembly. A curfew and communication blockade have
been enforced in IOK since August 5. Angela Merkel, German Chancellor termsthe
situation in IOK as “un sustainable.”That’s the softest way of conveying
concerns to a huge trading partner.
Domination of legislative and executive branches by right wing party is now a
matter of fact. But recent judgments of Ayodhya cast an ominous shadow of a
creeping influence of right wing Hindu fundamentalist ideology within the ranks
of highest judiciary in India. To quote Scroll, an Indian daily, “What tilted
the scales infavour of the Hindu side in Ayodhya case was Supreme Court’s
willingness to consider exclusive possession by the Hindus of just one part of
the disputed site as valid grounds for awarding a title over the entire site
(emphasis added).”
India has been torch-bearer of pluralist, secular and non-exclusionist state
policy since Independence. It has prided on unity in diversity to accommodate
minorities and marginalized communities. Any embrace of religious extremism and
fundamentalism would neither be good for Indian democratic model nor would be
conducive to regional peace and prosperity.
(The author is a security analyst based in Rawalpindi)