Bigotry will fail here

He devoted most of his time to argue that secularism suits the genius of a multi-religious, multi-caste and multi-lingual country like India best. He demolished the BJP8217;s case of Hindutva, without ever mentioning the party8217;s name. He never referred to the Gujarat carnage. He explained how secularism provided the glue for India8217;s unity and strength and nothing should be done to disturb it.

Murthy took pride in saying that the secular ethos, furrowed deep by Mahatma Gandhi in the minds of Indians, had nurtured a sense of tolerance that had kept society together as well as democratic. He regretted that there was a fanatic fringe that was ranged against secularism but felt gratified that its number was small and did not count for much. Through these remarks, Joshi sat impassively.

Murthy covered a broad canvas. It was from the time when his son, then a few years old, literally adopted a Muslim family to the present when Murthy found that intolerance was overcoming the spirit of tolerance. He was confident that pluralistic and accommodative India, where Hindus and Muslims have lived together for centuries, would not depart from its traditions.

He took to task those who criticised the Indian Muslims for celebrating the victory of Pakistan over India in cricket. Their number was small, Murthy said. They reflected the feeling of insecurity prevailing among them. He compared such incidents to the demonstration of support by the Indians in the UK to the Indian cricket team. That, too, indicated a sense of insecurity and nothing more than that, he said. Joshi could not have felt happy over the example of the cricket match because the BJP has often cited such instances to 8216;prove8217; that 8216;they8217; are 8216;not loyal8217; to India.

After the lecture, I asked Joshi why he looked so uncomfortable. 8216;8216;You were looking uncomfortable,8217;8217; he shot back. I told him that the real India was the one which Murthy had delineated and not that which he or his party projected through chief ministers like Narendra Modi in Gujarat.

Joshi is one of those who watched the demolition of the Babri masjid at Ayodhya. Coal and Mines Minister Uma Bharti, riding on his shoulders, had laughed and enjoyed the spectacle. Both were indicted by the CBI in the case relating to the destruction of the masjid. The Uttar Pradesh High Court did not entertain the case on technical grounds. It went up to the Supreme Court. Before it could pronounce judgment, the Mayawati government withdrew the case on the plea that the state government would come back with fresh thinking. People are still waiting for this to happen.

Murthy spoke equally strongly against caste. His warning is timely. I find the caste factor gripping more and more states. Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Haryana 8212; the five BIMARU states are the worst examples. They are pulling the entire country down.

I do not know whether caste can transcend religious considerations. At one time it looked as if caste had stalled communalism. But Gujarat proved this thesis wrong. The BJP poisoned the mind of tribal people to such an extent, they used bows and arrows to kill Muslims. It will be interesting to wait for the full implications of events like the BJP8217;s support to Dalit leader Mayawati as UP8217;s chief minister.

What is enduring about our country is that the majority of people are not parochial. For them, it is not a question of black or white. They believe there are shades, a huge grey area which they try to expand all the time. The approach of the BJP and other members of the Sangh parivar is that of the bigoted. It is not the approach of tolerance, of feeling that perhaps others might also have some share of the truth. This approach is wholly unreasonable, uncivilised and unscientific.

Yet, whatever our approach, we have arrived at a stage where the imposition of Hindutva ideas is bound to fail. In the present circumstances this may even tell upon the country8217;s integrity. The sangh parivar should learn a lesson from the revulsion the Gujarat carnage has created in other parts of India. There was no fallout from Gujarat in the neighbouring states, neither in Maharashtra where the Shiv Sena-BJP combine is openly following the anti-Muslim agenda, nor Rajasthan which the BJP is preparing as the next laboratory after Gujarat. The Sangh parivar may win seats here and there while building hatred against Muslims and Christians. But does it realise the harm it is causing by polarising the society? What it is doing is a recipe for disintegration and disaster.

During question time at the memorial lecture I asked Murthy: Should a political party, which did not believe in secularism, be banned? He did not reply to the question. He wanted people like me to answer it. There is no answer other than secularism 8212; a society where religion is not mixed with the state or politics.