HVK Archives: Double-speak, dubious intentions
Double-speak, dubious intentions - The Pioneer
Sandhya Jain
()
February 2, 1999
Title: Double-speak, dubious intentions
Author: Sandhya Jain
Publication: The Pioneer
Date: February 2, 1999
One can only applaud the courtesy and forbearance of the priests
and trustees of Tirupati Tirumalai Devasthanam in the face
Congress president Sonia Gandhi's arrogant refusal to sign the
register affirming belief in the Hindu faith. Such catholicism
is the essence of the Sanatan Dharma (the eternal way of life)
that our ancestors have espoused through centuries of
vicissitudes and grave provocation.
There is little doubt that, like all Ms Sonia Gandhi's actions,
this too was planned and scripted in advance, though servile
Congressmen would have us believe that she was 'guided' by their
"advice'. Those acquainted with Congress culture are familiar
with the system whereby the supreme leaders' wishes are divulged
to the select, strategically tomtommed as public/party opinion,
and transported back to the expectant leader with the precision
of a homing pigeon. A cursory look at the sequence of events
would bear this out.
Despite extensive dialogue with Tirupati trustees, including the
final meeting in which it was reiterated that Ms Sonia Gandhi
would have to sign the statement mandatory for non-Hindus,
Congressmen were careful not to hint at any reservations on this
score. They sought no waiver of the declaration, which non-
Hindus like Dr Farooq Abdullah have signed without fuss, and
gave the impression that Ms Gandhi would comply. It must,
therefore, have come as a rude shock to the priests that the VIP
guest preferred to gatecrash into the sanctum sanctorum, even
though they were there to welcome her. To their credit, they
maintained their composure and conducted the ceremonies with
aplomb.
Ms Sonia Gandhi may believe that her haughtiness carried the
day, and that she scored a victory by invoking the Hindu
heritage of the "Nehru family'. The truth is that she has
sullied the maryada (honour) of the temple, and shown contempt
for Hindu sentiments and beliefs. Her stubborn refusal to make
even a token gesture of respect to the faith she and her party
have put under siege, makes her claims to a "naturalised Hindu
status' highly suspect. It is nobody's case that Ms Sonia
Gandhi should have converted at marriage-either to Feroze
Gandhi's Parsi faith or Indira Gandhi's Hindu creed. But in
today's surcharged politico-communal climate, she cannot expect
us to develop amnesia about her religious identity while she
masterminds an aggressive strategy of putting the Hindu
community on the defensive, taking advantage of its famed
tolerance to attack its very foundations.
Ms Sonia Gandhi's refusal to admit her religion is pure
political expediency. Her attempt to hijack the symbols of her
rejected marital religion (Hinduism) must be seen as part of the
dangerous double-speak in which Congressmen have no equal. In
fact, she has been so successful in her misuse of the diversity
of the Hindu tradition to create space for an effective
political confrontation, that it is no surprise that she and her
fellow travellers decided to up the ante so soon.
The political content of the current unrest is now quite
apparent. Groups and classes unreconciled to BJP rule converged
and attacked the Government at short notice, even as the latter
struggled to comprehend the origins of the trouble. The
unprepared Government was forced to react to situations created
by persons with a specific agenda-its removal from office-while
its allies were in disarray, as they were unsure who was morally
right. Once again, Defence Minister George Fernandes carried
the day, though it is also to Prime Minister Atal Bihari
Vajpayee's credit that he kept his nerve through these harrowing
days and stood up to bullies disguising their political agenda
as a minority/human rights issue.
A pattern is now visible. Four nuns are raped in Congress-ruled
Madhya Pradesh and vociferous attempts made to implicate the
Vishwa Hindu Parishad; by the time this is exposed Congress wins
the State elections. Suspicious low-intensity violence breaks
out in BJP-ruled Gujarat (where Congress failed to make gains in
the recent polls), and the hysteria of the Left-secular-
intellectual-political establishment reaches epic proportions.
Once it is established that missionaries had been provoking
tribals by breaking their temples and idols, that they began the
disturbances by stoning a Hindu Jagran Manch rally, that Hanuman
temples were attacked long after an administrative crackdown,
the scene shifts dramatically.
This time the incident is truly grisly-a foreign missionary and
his minor sons are burnt alive in their sleep in the dead of
night, in Congress-ruled Orissa. The adjoining thatched roof
Christian hamlet is untouched. The killing shocks the nation
and attracts international attention on internal affairs in
India-one of the main objectives of the anti-BJP crusade. The
shouting brigade has its cannon balls ready, but amidst the
volley of charges against the VHP, Bajrang Dal, Sangh Parivar,
et al, the local administration links the principal accused to a
sitting Congress minister!
This is not to accuse the Congress. Yet those who remember the
cold-blooded precision with which Sikhs were hunted down, burnt
and butchered in the Capital itself for three whole days just in
1984, should pause before pointing an accusing ringer at the BJP
and its associates. The status that the principal political
accused continue to enjoy in the Congress, including the recent
resurrection of the most controversial of them, should be food
for thought. At any rate, it indicates the party's cynical
attitude towards human life in its search for the elusive
political grail.
Does this add up to an international conspiracy to overthrow the
BJP? It certainly indicates that a dangerous mischief is afoot.
The Pokhran explosions, followed by steps to nuclearise the
Armed forces by creating a meaningful Nuclear-deterrent and
chain of command, have upset significant sections of the Western
world. At the same time, the unmasking of plots to assassinate
Home Minister LK Advani indicates nervousness in some
fundamentalist groups at having to deal with a firm and focused
leadership. Yet, this nationalistic Government is sought to be
overthrown by an opportunistic alliance of allegedly insecure
minorities.
More significantly, Pope John Paul II has dubbed the coming
millennium as the Millennium of Evangelisation. Since much of
this evangelisation will target non-Christian lands like India,
the question arises: Is there a strategy to create "martyrs" to
help promote the cause? Since the Sangh Parivar can be expected
to resist the concerted targeting of tribals in this enterprise,
what better way to begin than by discrediting the Parivar
itself! Those aware of the activities of missionaries in Madhya
Pradesh will not dismiss this lightly.
Coming to Graham Stewart Staines' gruesome end, despite vehement
denials that he was an evangelist, it now transpires that he was
aggressively into conversions, and that this had caused
considerable local tension. Referring of his work among the
lepers, his associate Subhantar Ghosh avers: "We shad continue
preaching that tribals should study God's words to have a deeper
knowledge of the Christian faith." (The Pioneer, January 27).
In the Hollywood film, The Odessa File, the German (Aryan) hero
hunts an ex-Nazi on account of moral outrage against the
butchering of Jews. But when he finally tracks him down, it is
to find out the truth about his fathers' murder. The Nazi
smiles wryly and says, "So you didn't come for the Jews after
all." This is how it seems to have been with Graham Staines.
ay God have mercy on his soul.
Back
Top
|
