INDIA’s current right-wing discourse has gone sour — it has created a left-wing hero. A supporter of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) or one of its affiliates can declare being a “nationalist”, wave the national flag and get the licence to label anyone he or she dislikes or disapproves of as “anti-national”.
The national tricolour under which millions fought and thousands died during India’s freedom movement, has never before been used to defame and thrash political opponents and critics.
This “we” and “you” war, with violent words, actions and threats, is being fought in the name of “nationalism”. Mixed with religion, this heady opiate has divided people.
Two incidents at a university campus ignited the spark last month. Hyderabad University scholar Rohith Vemula left a suicide note, lamenting the “fatal accident” of his birth as a Dalit or a Hindu at the bottom of the caste hierarchy. It prompted nationwide soul-searching.
A sedition charge was slapped on Kanhaiya Kumar, the students’ union chief of Delhi’s prestigious Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), also a Dalit. Both student activists were dubbed as “anti-nationals”.
Kanhaiya was arrested after slogans were raised at a rally held to criticise the execution of Afzal Guru, convicted for his complicity in the 2001 attack on the Indian Parliament.
Kashmiri separatist slogans and criticism of Guru’s hanging, prompted the BJP, keen to “capture” JNU, to blow up the incident as an affront to national pride and patriotism. Protests for and against the students have rocked many university campuses. So was Parliament, its business disrupted until a debate took place. The debate only widened the political rift.
Sedition, a colonial-era law that Britain has itself discarded, triggered another debate that it should be repealed or at least amended to suit modern-day democratic needs.
Allegedly tortured by police while being interrogated, belaboured by flag-waving lawyers, not once but twice in court premises, in full public view, Kanhaiya has emerged from the trial by fire.
Granted conditional bail, Kanhaiya returned to the JNU campus after 23 days in jail to a hero’s welcome. TV grabs of his rally showed him being defiant. His speech before a 3,000-plus audience of students and teachers was full of wit and sarcasm. It betrayed no venom at his tormentors. He measured his arguments well and replied to all the charges levelled against him.
Belonging to a moderate communist group and an unlikely separatist, Kanhaiya seeks “azaadi (freedom) in India, not from India”. He spoke against tyranny of the Hindu upper caste and of the state. He lambasted BJP and its all-powerful mentor, Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh.
Alluding to Adolf Hitler, who had won 31 per cent of the German votes before turning a dictator, Kanhaiya reminded Prime Minister Narendra Modi that his party, too, had won only 31 per cent of the popular mandate. Nobody has ridiculed the prime minister the way he did.
Barely two years ago, most TV channels had boosted Modi’s campaign against the Manmohan Singh government. Ironically, on the day Modi was berating the opposition for not allowing Parliament to function, the evening was reserved by the same TV channels for Kanhaiya’s mesmerising 45-minute speech. Even if one does not agree with every word he spoke, the plaudits belonged to Kanhaiya.
Some compared it with “freedom at midnight” — a reference to the famous “tryst with destiny” speech delivered by free India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru on midnight of August 14-15, 1947. That would be an exaggeration. But, it is impossible to ignore or downplay the spirit of Kanhaiya’s speech.
Kanhaiya has been called “new star on the political horizon”. For one, he has brought the Left parties into focus in time for the assembly polls in West Bengal and Kerala states. They ruled there for long years but are now fighting for survival. They must thank Modi and his vituperative men and women for throwing them a lifeline.
Whether the campus turmoil helps the fractious communists in their polls campaigns remains to be seen. Kanhaiya has refused to join in; he wants to complete his PhD and become a teacher. Star of the moment, if he joins politics full time, he could end up as yet another run-of-the-mill politician, like many past products of mass protest movements.
Widely perceived as down-in-the-dumps, the main opposition Congress has shown signs of revival even as Modi loses goodwill and some political ground. Weekly magazine India Today ran a cover story on the Congress and its vice-president, “Resurgent Rahul” (Rahul Gandhi).
The JNU stir should have been best left to the university authorities to tackle. Now, it has blown up into a never-before ideological war between an aggressive Right and a befuddled Left that Finance Minister Arun Jaitley claims has been won by his party. Under the circumstances, with elections in five states due, and social media participating, social and political tensions are bound to soar.
Two concerns persist. One is the atmosphere of fear and acrimony. There is now a prize on Kanhaiya’s scalp. Ministers and BJP lawmakers are engaging in a tirade against religious minorities.
One sweeping comment comes from Ananthkumar Hegde, a BJP lawmaker: “As long as we have Islam in the world, there will be no end to terrorism.”
While President Pranab Kumar Mukherjee heeded environmentalists’ pleas against attending a global fest held on the ecologically fragile Yamuna river bed, Modi attended, lambasting critics of “cultural heritage”. Spiritual guru Sri Sri Ravishankar who organised it was fined Rupees 50 million (RM3.04 million) as “environmental compensation”.
The other worry is the economy. Modi’s development agenda remains a big bunch of lofty ideas and high targets. Movement on the ground is limited. Economic reforms, for which he blames the opposition, have slowed down.
With state agencies’ complicity, business tycoon Vijay Mallya has fled to London, leaving banks defrauded of billions and employees without salaries to rue.
Social disharmony could impact economic development. Investors would be wary of putting their faith — and their money — into an India where politicians and their ideologues routinely justify — and occasionally call for — violence. Invited by the hashtag #MakeinIndia, they may be put off by a visceral #HateinIndia.
Mahendra Ved is NST’s New Delhi
correspondent. He is vice-president of the Commonwealth Journalists Association and a consultant with ‘Power Politics’ monthly magazine