Religion, politics: Potent mix, potential threat

CNN-IBN

The investigation into the September 29 Malegaon bomb blast case has revealed that Hindu groups may have been indulging in terror acts. Some Hindu religious leaders including Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur have been arrested in the case.
A serving Army officer, Lieutenant Colonel Srikant Prasad Purohit, is now being questioned not just for the Malegaon blast but also for the February 2007 Samjhauta Express blast in which 66 people died as well as the Hyderabad Mecca Masjid blast of 2007 in which 42 died.
Now Hindu religious leaders are uniting and some of then met in Panipat on Sunday to form a Dharam Sangrakshan Samiti to defend the blast accused from the allegations levelled by the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad.
In Panipat, the Sangh Parivar demonstrated its united resolve to fight for those accused of terrorism. The Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) now plans to hold a massive rally of religious leaders on November 26 to demonstrate their support for the blast accused.
With the Malegaon blast investigation forcing Hindu leaders to speak in a united voice CNN-IBN show Face the Nation debated: Should Hindu religious leaders stay out of politics? The panel included former Bharatiya Janata Party leader KN Govindacharya, Professor of Sociology in Jawaharlal Nehru University Dipankar Gupta and BJP National Executive Member Siddharth Nath Singh. The discussion was moderated by senior editor Sagarika Ghose.
When Hindu leaders are accused of killing innocent people and indulging in terror acts isn't it time to do aatmachintan (introspection) just as they want the Muslin leaders to do when Muslim youths are accused of being involved in terror acts.
Govindacharya set the ball rolling by claiming that the government has been ignoring the Hindus and such terror acts only reflect the frustration in the society.
"Hindu Samaj has definitely done the aatmachintan and this kind of emotional outburst are the result of such aatmachintan. There are two reasons: First when Hindu samaj (society) feels that there is no government that takes care of their interests and feelings then such outburst are a natural consequence though undesirable. Similarly when the legitimate established organisations espousing the cause of Hindu society apply double standards to their own convictions and they are not honest about their concern of large section of Hindu society, then definitely the Hindus do the aatmachintan and the result is mushrooming of such outfits," Govindacharya said.
Tit-for-tat?
When asked if he was justifying terrorism, Govindacharya replied, "Not at all. I don't justify but just condemning won't do anything. One has to be quite dispassionately honest about the state of situation and responsibly find the solutions. If solutions are not there we may go on indulging in blame game against each other just as it was on December 6, 1992. But lessons were to be learnt from December 6, 1992 by politicians, judiciary and executive also but none of them have learnt lessons. Politicians have indulged in duplicity, double talk. Bureaucrats as always are lack lustre and irresponsible. For example, ATS is leaking news. What good does it do to the society or to the nation? There are inordinate delays in the judiciary. If anybody has committed crime let the law take it own course, let them punish the guilty but they should not go through such untoward publicity like leaking sources of ATS."
BJP President Rajnath Singh has said that Hindu saints are being maligned and VHP's Praveen Togadia says a Hindu can never be a terrorist so isn't it the same politics as what BJP accuses the Muslim politicians of.
BJP's Siddharth Nath Singh justified his party's stand by invoking Mahatma Gandhi.
"There is a difference. In Batla House the issue was they were supporting those who acted against the nation and condemning those who fought and died for the nation. So there is the difference. I think the basic thing which we all are forgetting is when you say religion or Hindu being into politics, I think we must also understand it is not just a religion which you are talking. Gandhiji also said ‘politics without religious values is of no use to me'. He meant the Dharma. Dharma needs to be in politics otherwise it will become immoral. When you take religion which you mention as Hindu religious people should not be into politics, it is the Congress and others so called secular parties which bring religion into politics. For example; the Dharma of any political party which is religious values is that there should be a uniform civil code. Now the Congress doesn't want that. They bring in religion at that stage," Singh argued.
But India today is a very different country from the early 1990s when rath yatras were taken out and when Babri Masjid was demolished. So if the BJP does return to the hardcore Hindu agenda can it win votes?
BJP's way to votes
Dipankar Gupta argued that BJP can never every rid itself of its Hindutva agenda.
"When you come down to the wire, the defining characteristic of the BJP is Hindutva. It can occasionally take on other issues as well like economic regeneration but everybody is talking about that. So what's different about the BJP? The difference is Hindutva. So when push comes to shove, its Hindutva colours come out. I don't have a very strong position on whether Hindu religious leaders or Muslim religious leaders should be in politics or not but I have a strong position on one subject which is this that character certificates cannot stand in for the law. You can't have faith saying that this is more important than law and legal procedure should be suspended because Rajnath Singh says so and to say ‘we believe so and so to be above reproach. Why should the law come into the picture? How dare the law come into the picture?' This is exactly what the people are talking about. This is what I think is most unconstitutional and dreadful for the democratic structure of the society. It is something reprehensible and there is no way by which one can condone such statements made by a national leader like Rajnath Singh and the fact that the rest of the BJP is standing by him," Gupta said.
Govindacharya too tried to buttress the point the hardcore Hindutva may not yield the desired results and pointed out the states elections held just after the 1992 Babri Masjid demolition as an example.
"I want to say that after 1992 demolition BJP lost all the states in the 1993 elections. Therefore such acts need not end up in increasing the votes. Secondly I want to say that BJP President who was today roaring on behalf of Pragya just 15 days back his statement was that he feels ashamed of his association with Pragya. Incidentally he had met Pragya just once. Therefore I say that such kind of double talk is also remembered by the people and their memory is not so short. The lost credibility of the last 15 years of BJP will also have some impact on the mind of the people," he said.
Is not the BJP by brining in religious leaders into politics actually ruining the moral symbolism of Hinduism?
"I feel political leaders should keep distance from the religious programmes and activities publicly. If Advaniji had not led the rath yatra then perhaps the discourse on validity of the civilisational aspect of Lord Ram would have been brought forth," Govindacharya said.
Singh quipped, "Probably Govindacharyaji is forgetting that he was part of the BJP at that stage."
The Hindutva agenda
When the NDA was in power, it seemed that the BJP was moving away from it core agenda and forging a new identity. Now it seems with BJP party president back with sadhus and sants (religious leaders), the party is back to the hardcore Hindutva position and is not going to alienate allies who have secular positions.
Singh did not buy the argument and instead said that Rajnath meeting religious leaders should not be made into a big news.
"Firstly all the allies are free to follow their own policies. Secondly, I don't really understand why to Rajnath going and attending the meeting of sadhus and sants is becoming a big issue. Why only Rajnath Singh, there are so many political leaders who carry some religious leaders to catch certain votebanks. Here it was a get together of various saints of India. The Dharam Sangrakshan Samiti is for Congress and others are maligning Hindus. They are maligning Hindus and the terms being used. The news says Hindu terror and a newsweekly says saffron in uniform. This needs to be criticised by all of us not just the BJP," Singh said.
However, Gupta cut him short. "It shows that the BJP lacks moral fibre and that it indulges in double talk. As you mentioned a little while back when it comes to Muslims they are more than happy to condemn them even before a case is tried out and even after an alleged SIMI activist has been released they say the court has been very lenient."
Singh was not to be left behind and retorted, "We as a political party have never said ‘a Muslim terrorist’. We have said the Congress doesn't want to hang Afzal (Mohammed Afzal Guru who has been given death sentence in Parliament attack case) because it relates to a votebank. We criticise that, we condemn that."
Gupta continued to argue that the BJP was trying to circumvent legal process.
"Not getting the sants or whoever they are when they are allegedly being charged for explosions is a violation of our democratic principles and laws of land. This is a police case and they have filed a case. At this point of time for Rajnath Singh to say that I know these people are innocent and that the case and any action taken against them is political vendetta is completely anti-democratic and should not be allowed at all. Why is the BJP doing it? It is simply because the Congress has stolen its thunder when it comes to the atom bomb, on economic policies and almost everything. The only thing left with the BJP right now is Hindutva and they are falling back on it," Gupta said.
Singh once again harped that Hindutva should not be seen as one-dimensional. "Dipankar perhaps doesn't understand that Hindutva is perhaps a progressive way of leading the country, it means development also."
But Gupta did not backtrack. "I don't see anything progressive when the BJP President says the law is not important but my character certificate is? I see everything regressive in that and it is the worst thing the BJP can do."
Singh continued to defend his party's stand and said, "Rajnath Singh going and attending a function is not wrong and the party stands with him. Secondly Rajnathji has not gone and defended anybody. He has always maintained that the law should take it own course. But Congress should not use the ATS and selectively leak information. Now Lt Col Purohit is not linked to Samjhauta blast but two days back it was being said that 60 kgs of RDX was used in the Samjhauta blast."
Should not the leaders come out and say that there is something wrong when Hindu youths indulge in violence?
Govindacharya concluded the debate saying, "If established organisations indulge in double talks then this is the result which is totally undesirable for the nation. They have failed in their duties."
Final Web/ SMS poll: Should Hindu religious leaders stay out of politics?
Yes: 61 per cent
No: 39 per cent.