It is
certainly trial by fire for Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Perhaps a L K Advani
would not have been judged and scrutinized
the manner Modi is subjected to such threadbare scanner for his less than
one-year stint in office as Prime Minister of a complex country like India with
its multi-layered complex problems.
The examination
(change the word to scrutiny if u favour) is so ruthless that the Congress
leaders are getting away with their long 60-years rule or misrule.
No body is meanwhile
talking about the performance of other Prime Ministers like H D Deve Gowda, who
made guest appearance in the corridors of power in Delhi solely because there was a
Marxist-inspired conspiracy against Atal Behari Vajpayee in 1996.
"Hum sarkar nahi
bacha pa rahen haen kyon ki sabse zyada tang aap ne lagaya (It's your party's
machinations that I am bowing out of office because of numbers)," Vajpayee
had told CPI-M veteran Somnath Chatterjee in Lok Sabha during the now popular
debate of 1996.
Coming back to Modi
regime's one year, one has many yardsticks to analyse the same. One way is to look at
what has happened to the Congress party in these 12 months. Rahul Gandhi's
party has not only lost power in crucial states like Maharashtra and Haryana it
is now 'Congress mukt' Delhi and also in Nagaland. In the north eastern state 8
Congress legislators have deserted the sinking ship and joined T R Zeliang
ministry sharing power with a 'BJP Minister'. Congress remains zero strength in
Sikkim also.
Next comes what has
happened to the armed-chair Indian intelligentsia's pet issues like SECULARISM
and the welfare of the MINORITIES.
In the run up to the
polls last year, Arun Jaitley, a key member of the Team Modi then and also now,
during the height of election campaign had said, "the efforts of
opponents to create scare about Narendra Modi (among minorities especially
Muslims) are not
working".
BJP’s renowned Muslim
face, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi also dismissed the ‘hate Modi’ phenomenon and had
said. “People of India and that includes Muslims know it pretty well that a
decade of sustained efforts by Congress through CBI, NGOs and disgruntled
police officials like Sanjeev Bhatt could not link Modi to the riots of
2002".
PM Modi bowed down before Indian Parliament |
The campaign seemed to
be working now and there's not only a fine combination of 'fear' and 'hatred'
about Modi among the minorities, there is also a good amalgamation of
Christians in the entire paradox if post-2002 phenomenon was all about
Muslims.
Thus, according to me,
worst part is Christians have turned too 'fussy' about so called 'minority
rights'. This is certainly different from mere 'rights'. and that's the
dangerous element in it.
During last year, the
fear card about Christians and re-conversion row has been played up with such a
hyped media publicity that Christians have developed a 'weakness'. They are
trying to be "neo-Muslims" -- feeling threatened and more 'isolated'
than Muslims. This is not Christian temperament globally nor part of Indian
history and the community.
I think Quota Raj or
appeasement offered to Muslims over the years was a factor. And I think it
was due to a motivated campaign by some quarters among Christians. Indian
Christians have a strong history of being Indians first. No otherwise
signal should go. Identifying themselves as a community who would vote for
Sonia Gandhi
at any cost
irrespective of Congress performance was another mistake by a section of
Christians at least in some states.
An impression has gone
from Christians, a corrupt and grossly inefficient 'Congress under Sonia or
Rahul' is better than Narendra Modi. I have
no answer whether Congress is 'better' in that form but overwhelming Christians
have voted for the BJP in the past even
in Christian-dominated states like Nagaland. The recent comment by
a key member of judiciary on Good Friday is simply unwarranted.
Posterity would judge that
better.
But do Americans work
on Sundays and Good Fridays? This mistake is akin to Mother Teresa once
talking about reservation for Dalit Christians. But is not Christianity a classless
society/religion? Some misguided utterances more from people held in high
esteem harm.
But before one
concludes, that a section of Hindutva hardliners is trying to derail Modi's
development agenda is an issue. Congress
leader Jairam Ramesh too has his argument when he says PM Modi himself is playing double games allowing
hardliners to pursue polarisation agenda on one hand while he gives only a lip
service that only religious
book for his government is the Constitution of India.
Now, what about common
Hindus perception about Christians and especially the missionaries?
Generally Hindus
believe Christians have mixed charity and missionary works like health
camps with conversion. Only
a community based soul searching can answer these questions. This a grey area.
I suspect and I stand
subject to correction, the common Christians have played into the hands of a
section of their own community who made the most of anti-BJP rhetoric and RSS
bashing. This was during Vajpayee tenure also.
This is where I think
Christians are going wrong.
They have almost put
themselves in bracket with another minority community, who has been
historically over sensitive to
their 'non Hindu origin'. On the other hand, even Catholic Christian
institutes in the past, 1980s and 1990s, as I know from
my St Anthony's days in Shillong and later in Nagaland, used to have cultural
programmes like Bharatnatyam where Christian performers offered flowers to
Goddess Saraswati.
Christians in India
have been integral part of Indian society. Saraswati was not Hindu Goddess but
much respected Goddess of
Learning. Is this changing today?
BJP has alliance
partners in Nagaland and since 1990s they have shared powers in Meghalaya and
also Nagaland. In 2003 Nagaland
assembly, BJP won 7 seats out of 60 while they lost power in Himachal. Christians voted for
BJP even in Kerala because they feared Muslim hegemony and Love Jihad.
Finally, am I anxious
about India’s survival as a secular, democratic nation?
### No never. If India
is to be a nation and remain a nation, it has to be secular and democratic
nation. Country has come a
long way ! If someone says Hindus are most tolerant community, my counter
is simple: actually it is
we Indians who are most tolerant.
An American or even someone in Bangkok cannot understand the
beauty of this multi-caste, multi-religion society. That's ‘democratic
nirvana’! and I spoke from my heart.
Ends
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