Page 14 - Khabar Magazine (February 2020)

Editorial

Gandhi dynasty. Otherwise he may as well have been a who trace back their ancestry in India to several centu-
struggling poet or an idle idealist. ries if not over a millennia—but who may not have docu-
With such a background, Modi offered the best hope ments proving their citizenship. This is especially the
for the nation. It seemed that he had learned his lessons case for the large number of poor and uneducated mass-
from his time as the CM of Gujarat: communal misdeeds es, regardless of their religious background. But while an
earned him global censure and brickbats, while a devel- undocumented Hindu (or a Sikh, Jain, Buddhist, Christian
opment agenda earned him praise and popularity. But or Zoroastrian) gets a pass, as per CAA, an undocument-
even in 2014, while admitting so much, my caveat was ed Muslim may be potentially declared stateless in his
that the Modi roller coaster could easily derail if he would own country and be thrown into a detention camp.
let his communal instincts get the better of him. Modi’s affiliation from early childhood with the
Sadly, that is precisely what is happening! I don’t Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), a Hindu national-
begrudge him so much for the failure of his outland- ist paramilitary organization … the BJP’s rise to power in
ish schemes such as demonetization and GST (Goods the wake of their tearing down the Babri Masjid … Modi’s
and Services Tax)—poorly executed and highly compli- likely culpability in the Gujarat riots … his appointment
cated undertakings that have backfired, at least in the of unabashed Hindu extremists such as Yogi Adityanath
short run. These were in his Ministry … the
well-intentioned, even Some of the most thriving lynching of Muslims by
if grandiose initiatives, cow vigilantes and those
that no politician inter- nations in the world, such as the targeting the so-called
ested in self-preservation ‘love jihadis’—these are
would dare to attempt. Nordic countries in Europe, are just some of a large roster
Nor do I begrudge him of facts that collectively
much for the economy secular democracies; some of leave no doubt that the
that is going south under PM and the ruling party
his watch. While Modi’s the most regressive and strife are no friends of Indian
outlandish experiments Muslims, rightful citizens
may have had some ridden nations are those that of the country.
impact on the slowdown, This distrust and
ultimately the Indian have a religious identity. divide that the Modi
economy is a behemoth camp is instigating be-
influenced by innumerable factors, not all of which are tween Hindus and Muslims should be the work of India’s
in the PM’s control. enemies, not its well-wishers. Not only does this reli-
All this and much that ails India under Modi’s term gious chauvinism go against the age-old Indian ethos
is often cyclical, and can be corrected in due time. What of inclusivity and diversity, but it is also against the
is not so easily reversible is the damage caused by him spirit of India’s Constitution, wherein secularism is
and his party’s fascist targeting of Indian Muslims, which enshrined. And no, unlike what Hindu nationalists
has notched up during his second term. The strong- believe, choosing secularism was not a mistake of our
armed revocation of Kashmir’s semi-autonomous status founding fathers like Nehru and Gandhi. Some of the
and the recent Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) are most thriving nations in the world, such as the Nor-
being advertised as progressive, and even humanitar- dic countries in Europe, are secular democracies; some
ian steps—but the Modi camp is fooling no one who can of the most regressive and strife ridden nations are those
see the communal designs lurking behind these insidi- that have a religious identity.
ous undertakings. Veiled behind the promise of bring- Modi’s aggressive push towards the vain idea of a
ing investments and jobs to Kashmir is the fact that the Hindu Rashtra will, at best, turn India into another the-
reversal of Article 370 will, in due time, change the ocracy like Pakistan or Iran, and, at worst, could trigger
demographics of Kashmir to increase the Hindu popula- widespread communal riots or terrorist attacks.
tion of the state.
Similarly, CAA, besides being unconstitutional, when
combined with the National Register of Citizens (NRC),
has the potential of disenfranchising Muslims, not just Some portions of this editorial have been previously published in
asylum seekers and recent migrants, but also citizens Khabar in prior editorials, but have been reframed and updated.

12 • FEBRUARY• 2020 KHABAR MAGAZINE