Digvijay Singh
The Hindu, October 10, 2014
Subramanian Swamy’s call for
burning books written by Nehruvian historians is part of a larger conspiracy to
underplay the contributions made by Nehru
The recent statement made
by Subramanian
Swamy calling for the burning of books written by Nehruvian historians
is part of a larger conspiracy by the Sangh Parivar to underplay the
contribution of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru in India’s history. It has been a while
since the Sangh began attempts to rewrite India’s history and now they feel
they have a good opportunity to accomplish this since the Bharatiya Janata
Party (BJP) has won a clear majority in the Lok Sabha election. The provocative
statements made by Mr. Swamy — who has been owned, disowned and re-owned by the
Sangh — are only a step towards reclaiming historical narratives to suit the
right-wing group’s political agenda. Mr. Swamy’s statements, which are usually
worth ignoring, cannot perhaps be overlooked for this reason.
Pandit Nehru’s contribution to
the freedom struggle under the leadership of Mahatma Gandhi and his vision for
the country’s development is something which India can never forget. He was
Gandhi’s chosen one in order to lead the nation after independence. Prime
Minister Narendra Modi recently made a statement asking people to go on a
cleanliness drive from November 14, the birth anniversary of Pandit Nehru to
Indira Gandhi’s birth anniversary, November 19. This is probably the first time
Mr. Modi has acknowledged the existence of the two great former Prime Ministers.
The problem with the RSS-BJP
combine and their followers is that they don’t have any names worth mentioning
among their leaders who might have contributed to the freedom struggle. That is
probably the reason why they have been trying to appropriate the legacy of
Gandhi, Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose and Sardar Patel among others. During the
1980s, the BJP under the leadership of Atal Bihari Vajpayee initiated the
process of appropriating the doctrine of Gandhian socialism. The idea was to
try and establish some relationship between their party and the freedom
movement. This attempt, however, did not offer them any political advantage. As
a result they reverted to hardcore religious fundamentalism and pursued the
provocatively divisive issue of building a Ram temple in Ayodhya after the
demolition of the Babri Masjid as their core political agenda. Later they tried
to appropriate Patel as their leader and the Sangh Parivar propagated stories
about the differences between Pandit Nehru and Sardar Patel.
In the run-up to the general
election Mr. Modi constantly made references to building the iron statue of
Sardar Patel. He even appealed to contribute iron in the same way that they
sought contributions of bricks for constructing the Ram Mandir. But now that he
is the Prime Minister of the country, we have not heard much about the massive
“Loh” statue of “Loh Purush” Sardar Patel.
Modi,
the statesman
After
coming to power, Mr. Modi is trying hard to distance himself from the hardcore
religious and fundamentalist ideology in which he had been trained and
associated with since the beginning. In his attempt to project himself as a
statesman, he has been making statements in favour of Indian Muslims and also
appealed from the Red Fort for communal harmony in the country.
But
can a leopard conceal its spots?
The
game plan of the RSS-BJP combine to achieve a “Congress Mukt Bharat” is to
capture the central space in national politics presently occupied by the
Congress. At the same time marginal players like Mr. Swamy who are part of the
RSS-BJP fraternity are being allowed to rake up their divisive agenda. Those
who have been accused of indulging in communal riots are being honoured by the
current dispensation. Provocative statements are allowed to be made by the
cadre of right-wing groups.
Every
small incident of tensions between local communities is being blown out of
proportion and given a communal colour. The strategy of the RSS-BJP combine is
to demolish the contributions made by the Nehru-Gandhi family during the
freedom movement and building a new India post-independence. Their agenda is
clearly to further polarise politics.
But
several important questions need to be raised at this point. Would the saner
elements in Indian society allow this to happen? Would we remain silent
spectators while the RSS-BJP combine distorts Indian history? The thing to
watch for is how Mr. Modi will tackle people like Mr. Swamy, Yogi Adityanath
and other fringe elements within the RSS-BJP fraternity in order to emerge as a
true national leader. Or would he surreptitiously allow these players to
further polarise politics?
(Digvijaya
Singh is a Rajya Sabha member and General Secretary of the All India Congress
Committee.)
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