Bulldozer Is The New Weapon Of The Ruling Hindu Right In India

Sharad Pawar was not revealing a state secret when he accused the BJP of creating a communal situation in the country. Ever since the hijab-halal-azaan row in Karnataka and elsewhere, the BJP’s intention of raising the communal temperature has been obvious.

However, the purpose is unclear. Is it related to the over-confidence which the party is feeling after its victories in the four state assembly elections or is it because of a sense of unease about the next round of contests in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh this year and in Karnataka early in the next? Any setback in these four states, as in the recent by-elections in West Bengal, Bihar, Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra, will take the shine off the BJP’s victories in U.P. and elsewhere

But for the reasons such as these, it is difficult to understand why the BJP should light the communal fires in several states all at once of which Delhi is the latest. Moreover, the method the party has chosen to fan the flames, viz. the use of bulldozers to destroy the houses and shops of the suspected rioters in Muslim-inhabited areas is clearly intended to show the minorities that “strong” men are now in charge who will not hesitate to take stern action against the miscreants.

The message is loud and clear – that the Hindu rashtra is totally different from the namby-pamby “sickular” (secular) dispension of the Congress and other non-BJP parties which tend to pander to the Muslims. Nothing demonstrates the BJP’s wish to assert the predominance of the Hindutva forces than the attack on the Delhi chief minister’s residence followed by the felicitation of the vandals at the BJP office just as a lynch mob was once garlanded by a Union minister after they had thrashed Muslim cattle traders.

The reckless use of bulldozers in several BJP-ruled states is in keeping with the party’s muscular approach when dealing with the minorities. The latter are also being maligned under various labels – ghuspetiyas (infiltrators), Rohingyas – which have been added to villifications like jehadis and Babur ki aulad or the children of the Mughal invaders which the BJP has been hurling at the Muslims for years.

These disparagements have long been a part of the BJP’s anti-Muslim campaign. The difference is that these are now being reinforced on the ground by the power of the state, of which the bulldozer is the latest symbol. Time will show what gains (or losses) the BJP makes from such muscle-flexing. But what is immediately clear is that the party’s image will take yet another beating in the international media where India’s democratic credentials have already come under a cloud.

Even if the BJP is not overtly bothered about what the westerners say, it must know that even if governments in Europe and America hesitate to intervene in India’s domestic politics, except for the Biden administration occasionally voicing concern over the human rights situation, industrialists will be wary of investing at a time when Hindu-Muslim relations are seen to be steadily deteriorating.

After the BJP government’s deployment of bulldozers in Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Delhi, much of the delight of a saffron TV anchor who asked whether more bulldozers will have to be manufactured or imported, the judiciary has finally called it a halt. But a BJP spokesman was surprised how the ghuspetiyas could mobilize well-known lawyers and the Supreme court acted so quickly. If only a Hindu rashtra was in place in the corridors of power to prevent such “interference” !

It is clear by now that only the judiciary stands in the way of the saffron dispensation trampling rough-shod over Muslim sensibilities. The Hindutva group is also hand-in-glove with a section of the audio-visual and print media whose anchors and writers unabashedly engage day in and day out in praising the BJP and its leader, the “vishwaguru”, the world leader. Both the saffronites and their admirers in the media are sure that they have decades before them to implement their majoritarian agenda.

If they have read their tea-leaves right, it means doomsday for India’s secular democracy. The last time when the concept of freedom was in danger was during the Emergency of 1975-77. A fortuitous election saved the nation by evicting the autocrats. Liberals will hope, therefore, that popular will prevails once again as in 1977. (IPA Service)

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