Azad
Tiktok videos glamorizing dua over dawa. Attack on health workers. People wiping snot on notes. Urinating. Hiding travel history. Spitting. These are some ills that are on display in trying times. But what is the reason behind attempts to whitewash these crimes? Let us begin with some History. After 1950, every election in India has been made to be an election of survival for the Muslim community. A country that was mourning the physical loss of their countrymen dying and ideological loss of partition was not very happy with Congress.
Other major political force at this time were the left parties. Promise of land reforms and labour welfare help them taste electoral success as early as 1957 in Kerala. They steadily gained ground in many pockets of the nation. However, after initial popularity, Left started losing credibility. Violent food protests in 1959, 1966 & Naxalbari dented their credibility while the vertical split over support to China dented their political capital.
Nehru on the other hand was deeply influenced by the Soviets and heavily borrowed from their playbook. India adopted Socialist Economy and anybody who opposed this was promptly sidelined. This included giants like C. Rajagopalachari who prophetically warned about ‘License Raj’.
While Left was often against the ruling party, they were over all satisfied India was not in American sphere of influence. In-fact they actively pursued the agenda of sending like minded intellectuals in positions of power in academic institutes. Goal was to shape the future.
Dissent had no place in the left’s playbook. In 1955, B.R. Shenoy was appointed to the Panel of Economists who were to appraise Nehru’s ambitious Second Five-Year Plan aimed at heavy industrialisation. He was the only one to submit a Note of Dissent. He was promptly sidelined. Ethnic cleansing of all non-left thinkers from academia was carried out. By 70’s, it was clear that Socialist model had failed. But people like Raj Krishna who coined the term ‘Hindu Rate of growth’ to slyly shift the blame on Hindu society were hailed as heroes.
By now, a part of left was heavily dependent on Congress to give it institutional support while the congress was increasingly depending on Left parties to give them intellectual cover for overtly socialist measures like Bank nationalization and freight equalization.
Indians could see rampant corruption around them. This is where the bogie of Hindu nationalism was taken out of the closet. Left-Congress combine’s model was simple. Divide the fragmented Hindus and scare the Muslims after creating and continuously stoking the communal fire. This was soon adopted by fast springing regional parties. Famous MY (Muslim-Yadav) Equation or Bhura Baal Saaf karo slogan (Bhumihar, Rajput, Brahman, Lala) by Lalu Yadav or Tilak Taraju aur Talwar, inko maaro joote chaar by Mayavati are still fresh in people’s minds.
You might question- “But why does the left support Islamists who are antithetical to everything a liberal values, like freedom of speech, freedom of expression, LGBT rights, etc etc. Good question! Allow me to take you on another tangent. At the core of Leftists-Marxist philosophy, there is no room for nationalism. Nationalism is just a tool used by state to oppress the people and to obtain their consent. In India, nationalism is majorly a Hindu concept in India due to it being a majority Hindu country.
Eg-Ram was not working towards unification of the nation, he was using patriarchy, casteism & force to acquire power. India’s philosophy, culture & language are tool for Brahmins to generate consent and oppress Dalits. This is why you will hear things like “Brahmins are trash”.
Nationalism is also based on Historical memory. Your ancestry. I am proud to be an Indian because I know what they did and what I should be doing. But if I don’t know my history, it becomes easier for me to diss my nation, identity, culture and work for class consciousness. Key people were installed at key places, Textbooks modified, anything ancient Indian eliminated because it was Hindu. You will read about Archimedes and Euclid but never read about Varahmihir, Aryabhatta or Shushruta. Every medium was used to push the narrative. Educated youngsters are perennially confused. This creates an issue of who your idol is. For one set Shivaji and Pratap are idols and for the other Aurangzeb and Babur. History took backseat where truth about none has been told in the name of secularism.
This battle for ideology makes them side with the second most potent political force, Islam. This is why they not only overlook the flaws in Islam but actively dissuade them from looking within. Hindu fault lines are amplified while areas of concern in Muslim society ignored. Words like “Hindu Fascism”, “Oppressive majority” are used to drill it in the heads of idealistic students to prepare foot soldiers for the cause by the thinking Generals who know very well what they are doing.
Anti CAA protests are a fine example where again this bogey was created and innocent students took to streets because let’s face it, if there really was a threat to our society, all of us would be on the streets and the borders. And rightly so!
Vande Mataram!
