PROF RAM PUNIYANI
In its manifesto for the Karnataka Assembly polls, the Congress party committed to ban organisations that “spread hatred against communities on grounds of religion or caste”. In that sense, it equated the Peoples Front of India, banned by the Bharatiya Janata Party government at the Centre, with the Bajrang Dal, an offshoot of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, itself an arm of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, of which the BJP is an arm.
There was a mini-storm in response, as the BJP made it a major issue in the last days of its election campaign. In a way they got their favorite election plank. They equated Lord Hanuman with Bajrang Dal, and Prime Minister Modi accused Congress of trying to lock up Lord Hanuman as they earlier locked up Lord Ram. Incidentally BJP has been using Lord Ram in most of the elections so far. In contrast Congress retaliated by stating that equating Lord Hanuman with Bajrang Dal is an insult to Lord Hanuman, that BJP is hurting the sentiments of Hindus by making such an comparison. Some reminded that Sri Ram Sene of Pramod Mutalik was banned in Goa by the BJP itself! So BJP itself did ban an organisation named after Lord Ram, so crying hoarse if one talks of Bajrang Dal, is a sheer political opportunism on the part of BJP.
Lord Hanuman, who symbolises devotion, is revered in many parts of India, and poet-saint Tulsidas wrote the Hanuman Chalisa, which is among the most popular hymns in India. But can the Bajrang Dal make itself synonymous with Bajrang Bali, or the powerful Hanuman, in any way? The Jai Bajrang Bali or Hail Hanuman slogan is often raised in the BJP’s public meetings, but it is with less faith and devotion and more aggression on display, for the aim is to polarise India’s two biggest religious communities for the sake of consolidating Hindu votes.
Regardless of the BJP’s intention, the important question is, can those who have sworn by the Constitution invoke gods and goddesses in their public meetings? And why, if it can, does the BJP oppose members of other faiths, or activists or politicians, who also raise religious slogans in political contexts—slogans such as Allah-u-Akbar or God is great?
Recall that the Bajrang Dal is an offshoot of the VHP, which came into prominence in the 1980s when it vociferously demanded the construction of a temple dedicated to Lord Rama at the site where the Babri masjid once stood in Uttar Pradesh. It was formed to involve contemporary youth in the divisive campaign, and it spread across many parts of the country. It was instrumental in recruiting youth for so-called kar seva, or religious service, but it eventually ended in the demolition of a mosque built in 1527, when the Mughal ruler Babur ruled over Hindustan.
The demolition of the Babri mosque was a dark chapter in India’s history, and the Bajrang Dal’s creed of violence was visible in it. Its ‘volunteers’ offered the BJP’s top leader in those days, LK Advani, a cup of their blood and a tilak of blood during his Ram-Janaki Rath Yatra (or procession), which spread violence and unrest in its wake. The cult of violence was an inherent part of its programs.
Vinay Katiyar, the Chief of Bajrang Dal, who later became BJP MP, stated on the eve of Babri demolition that the mosque will be demolished and its debris will be thrown in river Sarayu. One recalls the breaking out of massive violence in the aftermath of Babri demolition.
Bajrang Dal also took up the issue of Valentine day celebrations by young couples. Couples exchanging Valentine Day greetings and spending time together were beaten up in different places. In due course it started opposing the wearing of jeans by girls and also came up with a dress code for girls.
The burning of Pastor Graham Steward Stains came as an “a monumental aberration of time-tested tolerance and harmony. The killings belong to the world’s inventory of black deeds”. (Ex-President K.R. Narayanan). Initially the then Home Minster L.K.Advani denied Bajrang being involved in this gruesome act. The investigations pointed the finger to Rajendra Pal aka Darasing who was a member of Bajrang Dal. He is currently serving life imprisonment.
The period of 2006 to 2008 witnessed many acts of terror. One of the initial acts was that of two Bajrang Dal activists Naresh and Hinmashu Panse were killed while they were making bomb and some mishap happened. There was kurta-pajama and fake beard near the site. Many such cases were also reported from different parts of the country. In January 2019, a BD worker, Yogesh Raj was arrested for the murder of Inspector Subodh Kumar in Bulandshahar in an issue related to dead cow.
There are a dozen such incidents. In the recent violence related to Ram navami in Biharshrif, Kundan Kumar of Bajrang Dal has been arrested in connection with the violence.
What about PFI? The spread of hate and consequent violence has been the hallmark of their activities. One recalls the horrific cutting of hands of Kerala Professor, Joseph, for blasphemy in 2010. The commonality between such organisations operating in the name of religion is that they are intolerant, spread hate and resort to violence. As such there are similarities and differences both.
At an earlier occasion Rahul Gandhi had compared RSS with Muslim brotherhood. Rahul Gandhi said, “The RSS is trying to change the nature of India. There is no other organisation in India that wants to capture India’s institutions… It is similar to the idea that exists in the Arab world of the Muslim Brotherhood. The idea is that one ideology should run through every institution and one idea should crush all other ideas,” and that “Muslim Brotherhood was banned after Anwar Sadat’s assassination; RSS was banned after Mahatma Gandhi’s assassination… And the most interesting one — women are not allowed in either of these organisations,”
Surely their modus oprandi is different but what puts them in the same league is their foundation on the particular understanding of their religion, imposing that version on the society and making it the base of their politics. They also oppose the values of Liberty, Equality and Fraternity. They also share the promotion of charity work in the society.
During the course of the last few decades the religiosity has been intensified and politics in the name of religion is becoming powerful by the day. The fulcrum of the society has shifted towards orthodoxy and faith based attitudes in most aspects of society. The result is that even secular parties do not dare to ignore the intense use of religion in politics by communal forces.
Today Taliban’s dictates for women may be the worst but that is a matter of degree, opposing girls wearing jeans and imposing the burqa are two spectrums of the same phenomenon!
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Ram Puniyani is an eminent author, activist and former professor of IIT Mumbai. The views expressed here are personal and Clarion India does not necessarily share or subscribe to them.