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Tharoor's 'Hindu Pakistan': Warning or blunder?

By Satish Misra. Dated: 7/20/2018 3:37:15 PM

In four years of the Modi government, cases of mob lynching, attacks on Dalits and minorities particularly Muslims and incidents of instant justice have damaged the country's social fabric. These incidents have lowered the country's image internationally. It is appalling to note that neither President Ramnath Kovind nor Prime Minister Narenda Modi have chosen to condemn or disapprove these brutal incidents in unequivocal terms. Silence on the part of the top BJP-RSS leaders have only emboldened their followers and criminal incidents have been rising.

Congress leader Shashi Tharoor's remark on Wednesday (July 11) in Thiruvanthapuram that if the BJP was voted to power again, it will rewrite the Constitution that will eventually result in a "Hindu Pakistan" has stirred the proverbial hornet's nest. While the BJP has demanded an apology from Tharoor and even from Congress president Rahul Gandhi, the Congress itself has gone on defensive asking its leaders to exercise restraint in their selection of words.
It has become a common practice and a favourite pastime of the political parties and their respective spokespersons to react to statement tearing them apart from the context and the same has happened with Tharoor's comment. Let us have a dispassionate look at what the former UPA minister said. "If they are able to win a repeat of their current strength in the Lok Sabha, then frankly, our own democratic Constitution, as we understand will not survive…because then they will have all the three elements they need to tear up the Constitution and write a new one" he stressed.
"And that will enshrine the principle of Hindu Rashtra that will remove equality for the minorities, and that will create a Hindu Pakistan… and that is not what Mahatma Gandhi, Nehru, Sardar Patel, Maulana Azad and other heroes of freedom struggle fought for", Tharoor pointed out.
Undeterred by the controversy, the two times Congress MP has defended himself saying that the BJP and its ideological mentor Rashtroya Swyamsevak Sangh's idea of a Hndu Rashtra which was the "mirror image" of Pakistan.
Many proud Hindus like him have cherished and continue to cherish the inclusive nature of the faith and had no desire to live, as their Pakistani neigbours were forced to, in an intolerant theocratic state, he said adding "We want to preserve India and not turn our beloved country into a Hindu version of Pakistan".
It is more than obvious that the BJP's attack on Tharoor is to target the Congress and is the part of its electoral strategy. In absence of any concrete achievements on the economic and developmental front, the ruling party's strategy is to polarize the Indian society on communal lines. The saffron party's war cry for the next Lok Sabha battle is "Hinduatva".
Felicitating of Swamis, Sadhus and Hindu priests by several of the BJP ruled state governments, trying to expedite a Supreme Court judgement on the civil suit on the ownership of the land in Ayodhya where promised Ram temple could be eventually built before the announcement of dates of the Lok Sabha polls are but the component of the electoral strategy.
In four years of the Modi government, cases of mob lynching, attacks on Dalits and minorities particularly Muslims and incidents of instant justice have damaged the country's social fabric. These incidents have lowered the country's image internationally. It is appalling to note that neither President Ramnath Kovind nor Prime Minister Narenda Modi have chosen to condemn or disapprove these brutal incidents in unequivocal terms. Silence on the part of the top BJP-RSS leaders have only emboldened their followers and criminal incidents have been rising.
Such a sorry and tragic state of affairs is the direct result. One may argue that Tharoor has provided the BJP ammunition to fire at his party but the Congress leader is bang on the target when he warns of the danger that are in store for the society and country at large.
—(IFS)
Dr. Satish Misra is a Veteran Journalist & Research Associate with Observer Research Foundation.