HVK Archives: The real culprits - It is not the BJP, but other parties which are communal
The real culprits - It is not the BJP, but other parties which are communal - The Afternoon Despatch and Courier
A.R. Kanangi
()
October 10, 1998
Title: The real culprits - It is not the BJP, but other parties which are communal
Author: A.R. Kanangi
Publication: The Afternoon Despatch and Courier
Date: October 10, 1998
They are all self-appointed friends and protectors of minority
communities. There is method in their madness. They create fear
in the minds of members of Muslims and Christians. They are ready
to rush to their rescue at the slightest provocation. Any lame
excuse is good enough to bash the big, bad BJP. There is
sustained propaganda to tarnish the image of the party. They try
to make out the BJP is a terrifying orge looking for a chance to
spill blood. They to tell the Muslims and Christians that under
the BJP rule, they will be finished. They make charges in which
there is not even as iota of truth. They shout from house tops
the BJP is communal. They want to give the party a bad name and
hang it
They are doing all this to get the Muslim and Christian vote.
They want to distance these two communities from Hindus. It is an
evil, politically motivated exercise.
And it is dangerous. They are the folks who are really communal.
They are the ones who is exploiting a communal situation. instead
of bringing the Hindus and Muslims together, they are separating
them - sowing seeds of hatred and reaping violence.
Is the BJP communal?
Track record
Consider its track record. Wherever it is ruling, there is total
communal peace. The Shiv Sena BJP alliance has been in the
government for the last three years. Has any Muslim's interest
suffered? Are not Muslims allowed to do their own thing? Are they
not getting all possible assistance and facilities. Are they
being treated like second-class citizens - like Hindus are in
Pakistan? Has there been any tension in Mumbai since the take-
over of rule by the BJP-Sena alliance.
Is there even a shred of evidence to show that Muslims are being
discriminated against under the BJP rule? Since Mr Vajpayee has
formed the government, how has been the communal climate all over
the country. Compare it with what was happening under the
Congress rule. Has a single person of the minority community felt
that he is not being allowed to practice his religion the way he
wants to?
Yet they are saying the BJP is communal.
Who are the real culprits? There is a whole lot who stir up
communal fire all the time so they can make political advance.
They have no qualms about it. They hold atrocious views, they
make dangerous statements. They whip up tensions.
Any action is good enough if it can bring them Muslim or
Christian votes. They know how to practise psychology on poor,
ignorant people. They know how to strike the right chord and get
the response they want.
Why did Samajwadi Party leader Mulayam Singh Yadav have to make
that shocking statement about the distruction of a terrorist base
in Afghanistan? He was a defence minister of our country and he
should have been more responsible. Our government has supported
the missile strike by the U.S. This it did not because it was
jubilant that a Muslim terrorist had been under attack. The BJP
government is committed to fight global terrorism. By supporting
the U.S. move, it only expressed its readiness to be a part of
the global campaign against terrorism. But Mulayam Singh Yadav
saw an excellent chance in the episode to get communal mileage.
The self-appointed, great champion of Muslims condemned the U.S.
attack. What he. intended is quite obvious. He was trying to send
a message to the Muslims. There has been an attack on a Muslim.
Never mind he is a terrorist who organised a bomb blast and who
has been responsible for the death and injury of some 300
innocent persons. Now, are you convinced I am on the side of
Muslims? See what the BJP has done. It is siding with the
Americans. It is against Muslims. It is communal.
The great Islamic crusader went a step ahead when he declared
that we must give a soft loan to Pakistan -- Rs. 2000 crore so
that it can recover from the economic crisis following nuclear-
tests. Again the same strategy -- the same unabashed attempt to
send out a communal message. He damn well knows that our
government will not give any loan to Pakistan which is waging a
proxy war in Kashmir and which is all the while building tensions
over the issue. It is possible however, his support to a Muslim
country will stir sympathy in some hearts. That is all that he
wants to do. Here in our country we are involved in a grim
battle for survival even as prices keep going up and the
financial situation is becoming worse. And here is a man who
wants us to provide assistance to Pakistan. Of course Mulayam
Singh Yadav does not believe that we should give aid to Pakistan.
He is not that dumb. His motivation is different and it
is not difficult to see what it really is.
And then, the communalists make a song and dance about a few
incidents here and there and try to give a religious colour to
it. There are rapists among Congressmen, in the Samajwadi Party
and in the BJP too. It would be wrong to blame any party for the
crime committed by an individual. The communalists seize any
opportunity to bring religion into the sordid affair and malign
the BJP.
The Sangh Parivar, of which the BJP is the political unit, has a
clean record with regard to protecting the interests of all
religions. The Hindus pray for "Sarva Loka Sukhi Bavanto". I do
not want to go into the generosity, compassion and the spirit of
tolerance displayed by Hindus belonging to various strata down
the centuries. Not a single church anywhere in India has been
pulled down by Hindus. It is the Muslim rulers who have attacked
and tried to wipe out Christianity. It may be noted that while
hundreds of temples have been destroyed in Pakistan after
partition, in India, masjids and churches have remained intact.
India is the only country in the whole world where a very small
community like the Jews have not been persecuted. Can any other
community claim to have such a clean record?
It is with a sense of shock that the nation has received the
dreadful news about the rape of four nuns in Jhabua. What would
opposition parties like the Samajwadi party would like us to
believe? The horrible deed has the approval of the Sangh
Parivar. Such an allegation of course is baseless and
ridiculous.
What the Sangh Parivar -- Bajrang Dal, Vishwa Hindu Parishad,
R.S.S. -- does not approve is the prosetylising activities of
foreign mission -- both Muslim and Christian. There is solid
evidence that the missionaries are carrying on sustained
programmes to convert people. They get lot of money from abroad
to do the dirty work. They carry on their work among the
ignorant, illiterate and poor people -- particularly in the rural
areas. They promise jobs, salvation; they attend to the sick,
they open educational institutions where young minds can be
brainwashed. And they have all the money in the world to
distribute among the destitute and the downtrodden. They lay the
traps cleverly, systematically and deceptively. When they render
such ervice=94, the beneficiaries have no go but to embrace
Christianity. They have no choice. No direct force is used, but
the victim is under subtle compulsion all right. When once in, he
cannot wriggle out.
It is clean the missionaries take full advantage of the
helplessness and ignorance of the poor and spread their religion.
They have done a lot of mischief in Nagaland, in several rural
areas in the South, in Tihar and Madhya Pradesh.
Is it wrong then that the Sangh Parivar wants them to go?
In no western country attempts by foreign missionaries to convert
will be allowed. Hare Krishna folks make no effort to convert
people. It is only some intellectuals, and culture folks that are
attracted by Hare Krishna. The poor folks are left alone. No
bribes or temptations are offered.
Communal policy
And we now find that the communists too are rushing to the rescue
of minority communities. They too are adopting increasingly. a
communal policy to improve their stock in the country. At the
16th session of the party, a resolution was passed condemning "a
well-chalked out plan to harass, intimidate and terrorise the
minority Christian community. It alleged attacks were being
carried out on activists of Bajrang Dal, RSS Vishwa Hindu
Parishad and Shiv Sena in Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra,
Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and North-East. There is not an iota of
truth in these allegations. We know, for instance, definitely the
Christians are not harassed.
And the communists who presented Christians in the Soviet Union
and elsewhere and sought to destroy their religion have overnight
become crusaders fighting for the rights and security of
Christians in India.
Two Jam "Sadhvis" were molested recently in Delhi. It will not be
a surprise if the Sangh Parivar is blamed for this also.
Thanks to the false charges levelled at the BJP and the Sangh
Parivar, foreign countries are having a distorted picture of the
country. Our politicians obviously care a jot about the kind of
impression India creates abroad. They will go to any length to
get the better of their opponents and improve their vote bank.
They tell brazen lies and hurl charges.
And even as they do this, they expose themselves: they provide
proof they have no compunction about resorting to communalism to
score in the power game.
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