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Padmavati’s BJP critics

THE controversy over the film Padmavati reflects a larger problem.

Padmavati’s BJP critics

Goondagardi: There has been a sustained attempt to stifle creative thought.



S Nihal Singh

THE controversy over the film Padmavati reflects a larger problem. The space for freedom of speech and practising one’s lifestyle is shrinking since the BJP government came to power at the Centre in 2014. Second, public discourse has taken on a coarseness which was largely absent in the days of Congress rule.

The reasons are not far to seek. The Sangh Parivar in its efforts to remodel India on lines of majoritarian rule is rewriting history after installing its ideologues in major historical and research institutions. It has a narrow view of nationalism and ideal India and draws its support base from persons rooted in a setting where there can be only one view of truth.

 In making their points, Parivar members and supporters fall back on the idiom of insults and threats to get the better of their opponents. So they hurl abuses and threats of bodily harm to those who would dare opposed PM Modi. At the receiving end is also the principal actor in the film. The authorities largely choose to look away.

 The cow is a sacred animal to the majority of Indians and hence worthy of respect. Yet the crimes committed in its name in the shape of cow vigilantes in harassing and sometimes killing innocents transporting cows have daunted even the Prime Minister. After suggesting that most of these vigilantes were fake, he had to eat his words in 24 hours deferring to the command of the RSS. And we are familiar with the homilies on how women should dress and be careful of “love jihadis” bent on enticing and converting Hindu girls to Islam.

  Freedom of media and ways of living that have been the norm of civilised conduct the world over do not exist in Parivar ideology. If you believe there is only one truth expounded by the RSS rooted in ancient India, the land of bliss and wonders, there cannot be any argument about the superiority of Hindus rooted in the philosophy of Hindutva.

There is therefore unanimity among the chief ministers of BJP-ruled states, citing a variety of reasons, why they are against the screening of Padmavati. They have no reservations in being censors. In real terms, there is a large dose of opportunism because a particular community believes that amour propre has been hurt. The Congress, on the other hand, is confused, with the Punjab and Karnataka chief ministers taking opposing sides.

 In the politician’s dictionary, consistency is the virtue of fools. Indian politicians have gone with ruling majorities, crossing over the dividing line. Why blame politicians alone? Many in business and professions find virtues in the ruling dispensation with an eye on profit or landing a sinecure. The changing opinions of media establishments is another story.

 The ruling BJP has a bigger problem. It wants to change the idea of India. Secularism is evil, as the UP Chief Minister, Yogi Adityanath, has amply made clear. The culprit for him and the larger Sangh Parivar is the relegation of the Hindu majority to a status similar to that of the minorities. The reality in the Parivar’s eyes is that Hindus are a superior race, a fallacy adopted for shorter and longer periods in history by the Nazis and Fascists as their contemporary copyists tend to believe.

Mr Modi derives support from the fact that with a majority in the Lower House, he can be a decisive leader in contrast to the UPA II under Dr Manmohan Singh, who had to put decisions on hold or look the other way on corruption charges facing his coalition partners. In the post-Emergency of the late 1970s, Janata governments of various hues brought utter confusion and mayhem reminding people of the idiom, ek din ka sultan.

Mr Modi has the freedom to make mistakes. The demonetisation of high currency notes about a year ago was, in the eyes of most non-partisan economists, a blunder although it is being dressed up as a triumph of sorts. On the other hand, the Swachh Bharat campaign and the blitzkrieg on building toilets are welcome ideas, judging by the filth Indian cities and towns and rural areas people live in.

The issue ultimately boils down to how much autonomy Mr Modi enjoys in the Sangh Parivar. With the next general election in 2019 looming on the horizon, the RSS is giving every indication that it is cracking the whip. With the Yogi in the CM’s chair in UP, the RSS has an alternative spokesman for its views in the Parivar’s leadership ranks although he has much to learn in administering his state.

Whatever the differences in the Parivar on goals and the time frame, there is unanimity on the question of the definition of truth and the need for a Hindu India. The Prime Minister might have pragmatic reasons for delaying some goals but he is a believer in the myths of ancient India and even dared to say so once after assuming his present office.

In some ways we now have the curious spectacle of myth-making coexisting with an accent on modern technology to move the country forward. If restrictions on free speech are added to the mix, we are destined to have a hybrid state seeking a new direction.

Critics of Mr Modi are not only admirers of Jawaharlal Nehru and the Independence generation. In what political historians can only describe as audacious moves, the BJP has appropriated the Congress leader Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel as its hero while denigrating Nehru and embraced Mahatma Gandhi, the father of the nation shot dead by a Hindu fanatic.

The problem, of course, is that the first time it came to power at the Centre under its own steam in 2014, the Sangh Parivar had no recognisable heroes. Its own attitude to the Congress-led Independence movement was at best ambivalent. Thus it became necessary to steal Congress leaders to take the country in a totally different direction.

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