Newsy Take

By Abhishek Pandey

Politicians often shook our belief in democracy and secularism by making silly comments to gain attention or perhaps the prime goal, votes. The ongoing drama of Varun controversy is the recent example of this trend. Mr. Gandhi is not the first politician to make comments dipped in ‘hate-sauce’, which he claims are doctored in the compact disc (CD). Hate campaigning is the technique to come in the news headlines in recent times. And, our media fell prey to these techniques every time. Whether, it is Raj Thackeray calling shots against north Indians to become the messiah of Marathi ‘manus’ or it is Varun Gandhi abusing Muslims to make targeted electorate feel his political presence as aggressive ‘Hindutava’ face in the saffron party. Everything is done to elevate own stature in the cesspit called politics.

The whole India watched Varun Gandhi’s venomous statements against Muslims through video footages of his rally, which were repeatedly shown on the news channels. He was seen on the idiot-box saying, “This is not the ‘hand’ (of the Congress), this is the hand of the lotus. It will cut the throats of Muslims after the elections,” It is ironical that the son of animal right activist Maneka Gandhi is hurting the sentiments of the human beings. This incident is a slap on the face of his great-grandfather and first Indian Prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, who fought for the formation of secular India unlike Pakistan, after several years of freedom struggle.

We may think that Varun Gandhi is a beginner in the politics and bound to commit stupid mistakes. But he is not an exception in the Indian politics. The List is long. Senior politicians have also made such statements. Former Prime Minister and BJP stalwart Atal Bihari Vajpayee once said in Goa after post-Godhra Gujarat riots, “Wherever Muslims live, they don’t like to live in co-existence with others, they don’t like to mingle with others; and instead of propagating their ideas in a peaceful manner, they want to spread their faith by resorting to terror and threats.” Later, Mr Vajpayee justified that he was talking about extreme faction of Muslims and he meant ‘such’ Muslims in his speech, not Muslims in general.

In 2003, Praveen Togadia, General Secretary of Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) committed the same mistake by ejecting hatred in the minds of the people against a community. Togadia reportedly said, “…Muslims, you are orphans, you are alone. You are being given the illusion that people are with you. The kind of abuse we had to suffer after Gujarat, both the BJP and the VHP. I issued a challenge to Sonia Gandhi publicly. There have been riots before also in Gujarat. I challenged Sonia Gandhi, saying that there must be one Congress worker at least in every village in Gujarat. Name a single village where during communal violence a Congress person has saved the life of Muslims. Ahsan Jaffri (former MP) was phoning all Congress workers desperately. How many Congress workers came to protect him? Not even one. Oh, Muslim brothers, if the Congress can give me the name of even five villages in Gujarat where congress workers saved Muslims or protected Muslims, I will give you the name of hundred villages where Congress workers have worked under the bhagwa jhandha (saffron flag) of the VHP.”

Ashok Singhal of same party was also reported saying in a rally in September 2002, “Godhra happened on February 27 and the next day, 50 lakh Hindus were on the streets. We were successful in our experiment of raising Hindu consciousness, which will be repeated all over the country now." The list does not end here. It also involves other politicians of different faith.

Syed Ahmed Bukhari, Imam of Jama Masjid reportedly expressed apprehension that the country may witness 1947-like agitation, if those arrested in the blasts case are not released. Mohammed Yaqoob Qureshi, Former UP Minister for Minority Welfare and Haj, announced on record that he would award 51 crore rupees to any person who behead the Danish cartoonist for making cartoon of Mohammad. The head of religious institutions and political parties are not supposed to utter these crap speeches which may lead to violent aggressions. Don’t they respect the Indian constitution?

Region, language and caste are also used for garnering votes. Balasaheb Thackeray, who was punished and barred from voting and contesting in the elections for six years, reportedly said in Shivsena mouthpiece ‘Saamna’ after the Babri mosque demolition, “Muslims revolt in their own areas. They beat Hindus, demolish temples and attack the police. The government is appeasing these traitors. It is learnt that Pakistan has manufactured seven bombs. But the bomb that has been made in India with the blessings of Pakistan is more dangerous. Now Pakistan need not cross the borders for launching an attack on India. Twenty-five crore Muslims loyal to Pakistan will stage an insurrection. One of these seven bombs made by Pakistan lies hidden in Hindustan.” Bal Thackeray was also involved in campaigning against south Indians in sixties by raising slogans like “Bhagao Lungi Bajao Pungi (Chase out south Indians from Mumbai and blow bugles).”

Last year, Raj Thackeray also adopted the legacy of his cartoonist uncle Bal Thackeray to acquire votes by hate politics. Raj Thackeray commented on Biharis, ''Biharis should remember that if they abuse us, our hands will rise. We'll hit them every day, for breakfast, lunch and dinner" Udhhav Thackrey also said that non-Maharashtrians would be “packed off” if they were given jobs in the mega project for modernisation of Mumbai airport. Though, Indian constitution allows any Indian to live anywhere in the country.

The bandwagon of these leaders also includes Narendra Modi, Imam of Jama Masjid Ahmed Bukhari, Yogi Adityanath, Mukhtar Ansari, Abu Azmi, Vinay Katiyar, and many more. The space is not enough in this article to mention the name of all champions of this trade.

Leaders, who command a significant supporter base, don’t understand that their comments can end in a bloody communal clash. India has stringent laws to shut the mouths of such communal zealots. India penal code has the different sections for executing the accused of causing social disharmony by his or her word or expression. Section 153A, 153B, 295A, 298, and section 505 of Indian Penal code prohibit any person to spread enmity or fear in the society and can put these fire-spewing politicians behind the bars. Though, most of these politicians are still amidst of us not in the jails. They were booked under these sections of IPC, but not punished. The case is pending in the courts or they have been acquitted because of lack of proper evidences. It seems that these politicians don’t give a damn to these laws.
Few sections of Representation of peoples (RPA) act, like 123a and 123B, restrain politicians to seek votes on the grounds of religion or caste. Remarkably, Bal Thackeray was debarred from the voting and contesting elections in 1999 by Bombay High court under Sections 123A and 123B of the RPA related to seeking votes on grounds of religion and spitting venom against one section of the Indian population.

‘Inheritance of hatred campaigns’ should be dumped in the dustbin by electorates in this general election. Voters should tell these factions of politicians, “You can not fool us any more and we are going to through you out from the ‘sacred’ parliament, this time’. Justice will take its course on the ‘right’ time but this would be the verdict of people for the people. We hope, it will dwindle the brigades of these politicians and no politician would dare to claim the ‘heritage of hatred’.

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