Not about Jinnah

But this is not about Jinnah or Partition. This is not even about Advani or his so-called metamorphosis from Hindutva8217;s greatest hawk into a liberal dove chanting the mantra of secularism. This debate is about India and the ongoing battle for its soul. This debate is about accepting the unique richness and fascinating multi-faceted character of India as a nation that is home to all 8212; Hindus, Muslims and everyone else.

This is about the pathological hatred of the saffron brigade for all things even remotely related to Muslims and accepting their contribution to, and place in India.

It8217;s this disconcerting intolerance for a worldview different from its own that provided people like Jinnah with the cause of a separate Muslim homeland. It is this mindset that cannot tolerate even fleeting praise for Pakistan8217;s founder by Advani following a regulation protocol visit to Jinnah8217;s mausoleum. And the BJP leader, in spite of his immense contribution to the Hindutva cause, is condemned by fanatics like Praveen Togadia as a 8216;8216;traitor8217;8217;. If this is how the saffron brotherhood and its sympathisers treat their own, imagine the plight of religious minorities living amidst them.

Even after Advani and his acolytes offered an elaborate explanation, apology rather, about the circumstances in which the BJP chief had acknowledged Jinnah8217;s concern for secularism, the VHP-RSS firebrands, and many in BJP, simply refuse to forgive or forget the BJP president8217;s qualified remarks. And look at the way BJP8217;s own young turks 8212; men and women groomed by Advani himself 8212; have made their leader a laughing stock by ripping apart his comment on Jinnah. The man, easily the tallest grassroot leader of Hindutva, who riding the Ram Janmabhoomi wave took his two-member party in Parliament to the seat of power in Delhi, was forced to eat his own words and made to look like a clown laughing at his own bad jokes.

This debate, therefore, is not about Jinnah and his belief in secularism or otherwise. It is about the outlook and ideology of Sangh Parivar that cannot tolerate any dissent, and any viewpoint that is at odds with its own blinkered worldview. It8217;s this intolerance for an alternate worldview that drives the brotherhood to cast itself in the mould of sole champions of patriotism and nationalism, painting everyone else as traitors and villains. It8217;s this extremist approach to Hindu nationalism that offered raison d8217;etre to Muslim League and claimed the life of Mahatma Gandhi, the apostle of peace and non-violence.

This mindset is at work yet again. In baying for the blood of Advani, the fallen prophet of Hindutva, the Parivar is trying once again to fan the dormant flames of anti-Muslim sentiments. Advani, by being magnanimous about Jinnah, may have made a bold attempt to position the BJP as the centrist, inclusive party reflecting India8217;s plural character. However, the BJP chief erred spectacularly in expecting the Sangh to compromise on the question of its USP: Muslim-bashing.

Advani was wrong and Sangh is right. The great Hindutva family just cannot survive without the oxygen of demonising the Other. By his attempts to accept the reality of Pakistan and giving Jinnah his due, Advani may well have asked his Parivar to give up on its right and reason to exist.

The writer is an Assistant Editor with Khaleej Times