In throes of a new order, offended neighbours

Sandeep Dikshit

The second coming of the religious right at Raisina Hill has proved to be more fruitful from the viewpoint of fulfilment of its ideological agenda. It is also a reflection of a world where seasoned religious nationalists, who have imbibed the shortcomings of their pioneers, are now in charge of setting the socio-political agenda.

The strains had been showing in the concept of secular nationalism, passed on with great enthusiasm by the West, to all nation states that came into being after World War II. The other version of a secular nation state, led by the Soviet Union, came apart in the early 1990s. The collapse of one system of a secular nation state and the distress and turbulence caused by the ingress of a free market economy heralded the rise of the early batch of religious nationalists.

As a second-generation torchbearer of religious nationalists in India, Team Modi is obliged to advance the changes in the socio-political make-up that were long promised but weren’t executed under Vajpayee. When it revised the Constitution, the Vajpayee regime may have had other aims at the core but its leaders publicly denied that there was any move to alter the policy of secularism, diffusing all aspects of public policy, including foreign policy.

The world over, the inclination of the first generation to change the socio-political order and the relationship of the individual to the state was tempered by their lack of absolute majorities. Many like Jean-Marie Le Pen of France never came close within a sniffing distance of power because of the long time it took for them to integrate into mainstream political life. In Asia and many countries of Africa, political life turned differently. There were many national liberation movement leaders, with almost the entire cross section of the recently-liberated nation state backing them, who felt no need to pander to the needs of the political religious right. Unlike Europe, many of these leaders painted their nations in colours that were culturally religious and politically secular. This gave a real opening to leaders from the religious-nationalist corner. Narendra Modi cut his political teeth under the first generation of religious nationalists in power at Raisina Hill.

Modi’s predicament

The PM’s first attempt to redefine religious ties has drawn the ire of at least three neighbours he has serenaded all through his tenure. His problem is compounded by his supporters who highlight the balm that he aims to provide to minorities that fled persecution, putting them in a bad light. However, after Afghanistan’s National Security Adviser paid a visit, they have had to temper tales of Sikhs from Afghanistan with copious references to how the present India-bankrolled secular dispensation was not responsible for their woes.

It is Bangladesh’s imperative to balance China with India and the competition to political power by Islamists that has prevented it from going ballistic over the unease generated by the Citizenship (Amendment) Act. The anti-Bangladesh refugee rhetoric by the BJP all through the Assam and Lok Sabha polls was unsettling not just for Bangladeshi leaders. It began giving grist to the Islamist mill in Bangladesh, posing a potential political challenge to the Hasina government. It may now have to gear up to quell a law-and-order challenge if a rise in violence levels in India gives rise to a counter-cycle in Bangladesh of Islamists waylaying Hindus.

The Modi government’s large-heartedness towards Hindu refugees from Muslim countries does not extend to those from Sri Lanka. Colombo kept India at a distance after it had disastrously meddled in Tamil politics. An about turn towards LTTE and hefty grants and credit lines enabled India to sidle close enough to Colombo to offer counter-terrorism support. Having contrived to achieve proximity, PM Modi might not want to throw it away by giving citizenship to Tamil Hindu refugees. The contradictions in the application of the CAA are not just glaring and ironical; they have the seeds of a mental distancing from India by not just Muslim majority nations but also the ones professing secular nationalism.

The highs

A week after ‘Howdy Modi’, US President Donald Trump recalled PM Modi’s star power in a Texas stadium full of wildly supportive Indian-Americans while protests against Article 370/NRC were much smaller. Modi explained the reasons for abrogating Article 370 and the enthusiasm for him at ‘Howdy Modi’ seemed to suggest that New Delhi had carried the day on Kashmir and Assam NRC.

An award and an address  

In March, the PM was conferred Order of Zayed, UAE’s highest civilian award conferred on heads of government. A month later, UAE backed its invitation to late Sushma Swaraj to address an Organisation of Islamic Countries (OIC) conference, the first Indian to do so, despite entreaties to cancel it from OIC founder-member Pakistan. The forum helped India explain Pulwama-Balakot to the Muslim world.

Visit of EU Parliamentarians

No matter that most of the Members of European Parliament (MEP) visiting Kashmir post revocation of special status were from the Right-wing corner, but the MEPs did have an incident-free visit and some of them were in sympathy with Delhi’s line that the lockdown was necessary to prevent terrorists from regrouping.

The lows

Home Minister Amit Shah’s observation that CAA was meant to help minorities who fled repression in Afghanistan and Bangladesh (besides Pakistan) was tempered by the rider that the reference was to previous regimes and not the ruling ones with which the PM enjoys close ties. The clarification mollified the present Afghan government but could hamper Indian attempts to build bridges with the Taliban, whom Shah has accused by implication. Pak PM Imran Khan also took umbrage to the statement.

Unimpressed members of US Cong

A confrontation with human rights-minded US Parliamentarians should be avoided in an election year when a potential Presidential candidate can fan the flames. One such, Kamala Harris has cottoned on to Foreign Minister S Jaishankar’s refusal to meet a US Congress panel that included Pramila Jayapal, who opposes Kashmir detentions. 

A glut of travel advisories

Countries with whose leaders Modi shared good chemistry too issued travel advisories cautioning their citizens when travelling to India after the anti-CAA protests exploded.