November 9, 1998

For some liberals, a riot-free India is anathema

Swapan Dasgupta

If boisterous after-dinner conversations are anything to go by, the British writer William Dalrymple is over the moon. Now shooting a TV film on India for British television, he is ecstatic that Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) loudmouth B.L. Sharma "Prem" has been egged into committing a series of indiscretions on camera. These include saying Hitler wasn't such a bad chap after all. Coupled with intrusive candid camera shots of the elite in private conversation, the visit has bolstered his pre-conceived belief that BJP-ruled India is fast becoming a hothouse of sectarian intolerance. If the film turns out the way Dalrymple brags it will, we are certain to witness another furore over Hindu fascism.

A controversy of this nature, accompanied by intense liberal breast beating and incredible suggestions of tax raids on anti-nuke activists, fits a stereotype. The ordinary citizen's experience of the A.B. Vajpayee Government may well centre on ineptitude rather than intolerance, but that fits uncomfortably into the thesis of creeping fascism. Juxtapose the Saraswati Vandana controversy with some crazy utterances of a VHP activist and the rape of nuns in Jhabua, and it is easy to build an impressive collage of the Talibanisation of India. So what if it doesn't correspond to reality? It makes good copy and an even higher TV rating.

Yet, there is no point singling out a clever British writer for opprobrium. For the past fortnight, the Government has been mercilessly flayed for pressing with its saffron agenda. Sonia Gandhi has spoken about the subversion of the Constitution, the Minorities Commission has protested against a move to amend Articles 29 and 30 and Star News has grilled Murli Manohar Joshi for allegedly doctoring children's textbooks. There was even a fanciful report that the US ambassador was anxious to discuss the Jhabua rapes with Home Minister L.K. Advani. Even if the hoary secular-communal debate hasn't quite revived, there is an impressive dhobi's list of the BJP's communal transgressions.

It is tempting to brush aside the concerns as familiar pre-election posturing. Since Ayodhya featured more prominently in the anti-BJP agenda during the general election, there is every likelihood of the Congress doing a repeat performance for the November assembly polls and fuelling minority fears. It may work, but there is a real danger of minorityism rebounding on the minorities, as it did during the Ayodhya dispute.

For a start, the objection to extending Article 30 ensuring the right to establish and manage schools and colleges to "all classes of citizens" is churlish. If a special right to a few is made universal, it doesn't compromise minority rights, unless the assumption is that minorities must always be regarded as special citizens. This, in a sense, is what is implied. The VHP has rightly been attacked for Sharma's obnoxious comment about the Jhabua incident, but there has been an embarrassed conspiracy of silence over the growing politicisation of the church. For example, the National Council of Churches representing some two dozen denominations denounced the Pokhran tests and charged the Government with ignoring development issues. Since this is precisely what Sonia said at her election speech in Bikaner last week, can we rush to the conclusion that the Church in India is the Congress party in prayer? It's a question worth posing to Dalrymple the next time he goes on his hunt-a-fascist rounds.

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