Opinion BJP’s double engine sarkaar has failed Gandhi, Nehru, Patel’s dream for independent India — Manipur is proof of it

During the same time, Jawaharlal Nehru was trying to steer India towards its destiny, Sardar Patel was engaged in painstaking efforts to unite the country and the Communists were fighting against the princely states — for example, in the struggle against Nizam Rule in Telangana. Surrounded by law books, B R Ambedkar was working labouriously to draft the Constitution.

The foremost leader of our struggle for liberation was in Calcutta on that fateful day of August 15, 1947. The eastern parts of the country had seen a bloodbath recently; Mahatma Gandhi was there with the people of our infant nation to heal the wounds of communal violence. Gandhi went to Noakhali (now in Bangladesh) where the riots were at their peak. He was there with the resolve to protect minorities from the fury of mobs, enraged by the creation of East Pakistan. His appeal for peace did work and his concern for the people of his country prevailed over the communally charged mobs. Gandhi’s fast had an extraordinary effect on the masses and people and leaders from both the communities promised him they would maintain peace and protect people from the other community. Gandhi’s courage and conviction in the unity of our people became the bridge of secularism and mutual respect, on which our highly diverse population took its first steps of freedom.

Soon after, Gandhi embarked on another journey, this time to the northwest of the country with the same mission, establishing harmony and bringing people closer. The Mewat region of what is now Haryana, UP and Rajasthan was in flames. Hundreds of Muslims were ready to flee to Pakistan fearing violence. Their anxiety heightened after the unfortunate events of Alwar and Bharatpur. Gandhi decided to visit the riot-torn region at the insistence of Meo leader Chaudhary Yasin Khan and visited Ghasera village near Gurgaon in the shivering cold of December in 1947.

The dhoti-clad Gandhi addressed the masses and built their confidence in India’s ability to protect its minorities. He said “If I had the original power, not a single Muslim should have found it necessary to migrate to Pakistan from India or a single Hindu or Sikh to leave his home in Pakistan and seek asylum in the Indian Union.” He declared “India belongs to you and you belong to India.” The minority population decided to stay in the secular, democratic India rather than moving to Pakistan. Gandhi’s promise was upheld.

Today, as the nation moves towards the culmination of ‘Azaadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav’, we are faced with a similar situation. Manipur, in the eastern part of India is victim to ethnic strife. Violence that erupted on May 3 engulfed the entire state killing several, displacing thousands and making the entire state a relief camp. Empathy and compassion are signs of statesmanship but these virtues are sorely lacking among those who sit on seats of power today. The courage and concern for unity shown by Gandhiji has no meaning for the BJP. It took nothing less than a shameful video of women being disrobed and paraded for the Prime Minister to open his mouth on Manipur. The Home Minister said that the High Court order added fuel to fire, accepting that there was fire before. Was the government caught sleeping? No, the “double-engine” of RSS-BJP requires the fuel of hatred to run. The Gandhian touch of empathy is absent, demagoguery and rhetoric cannot heal wounds. The double-engine has scarred Manipur.

Haryana recently witnessed a classic example of the use of weaponised religion, when six people died on July 31 after a self-proclaimed cow vigilante posted a video on social media giving a call to attend in large numbers a religious procession organised by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad of the Sangh Parivar. This cow vigilante, a member of the Bajrang Dal, is wanted for the kidnapping and killing of two Muslim men whose bodies were found burnt in a car in February this year. Since then, peace in the region has been fragile and normalcy absent.

The rulers’ answer to this widening gulf in society is not dialogue and trust-building. It is the bulldozer. Gandhi built bridges among the people of Mewat at a very sensitive time. The hateful bulldozer of the RSS-BJP is demolishing even the possibility of enduring peace and harmony in the region. Yet again, the lack of empathy and concern is discernible. Gandhi toured the region with his frail frame wrapped in a simple dhoti for he was not afraid of his own people. Those who are moving in armored convoys lack that faith.

Our independence came during a testing time for our country and leadership. The largest migration in modern history took place as the Tricolour replaced the Union Jack. The leaders with genuine concern for the people stood up to the occasion, faced the challenges bravely and shaped the country we all love and respect. The world was doubtful of the survival of democracy in a poor country like ours which had seen an orgy of communal violence very recently. Still, our leaders worked tirelessly to give India the secular, democratic and welfarist foundations on which our Republic was inaugurated on January 26, 1950.

Those suspicious of democracy’s survival in India were not all foreign. Closer home, the followers of Golwalkar and Savarkar had no faith in representative democracy. Mahatma Gandhi was killed for upholding secularism and protecting Hindu-Muslim unity but our country faced that calamity bravely too. The people of India, through unity and hard work, brought laurels to the country in all arenas. What Narendra Modi got in 2014 was a stable democracy, built on the bedrock of sacrifices by freedom fighters and guided by the vision of our Constitution. The last nine years under him have been mostly about trampling on that vision and bulldozing the aspirations of the people of India. The empathy and courage we talked of earlier is nowhere to be seen. This is the challenge our precious freedom is facing today and the people have realised this. They are not ready to tolerate the assault on the idea of India by the present rulers anymore. The inclusive India of Gandhi, Nehru, Patel and Ambedkar will rise with empathy and courage and will prove to be stronger then the hateful ideology of Golwalkar and Savarkar.

The writer is General Secretary, CPI