Growing flames of intolerance
By Suresh Neotia Feb 03 2010
Tags: Op-ed
I find growing intolerance in our civil society. And what we witness
today is no longer limited to intolerance among people practicing
different religions or between the castes. Political parties have
aggravated the divide in an effort to create captive votebanks. Some
political parties not only take an extreme view in favour of a
particular community but go a step further and alienate the rest in
order to command the total loyalty of a particular group of people.
We are now grappling with new forms of intolerance — regionalism and
linguistic chauvinism. Maharashtra has taken the lead and Raj
Thackeray has raised the slogan "Maharashtra for Maharashtrians".
Unfortunately, other political parties have remained mute spectators
as they do not wish to alienate Maharashtrian voters. Now Maharashtra
chief minister Ashok Chavan has gone a step further and announced that
unless a taxi driver knows Marathi, he would not get a licence. He
backtracked later but not before the damage was done. One can pardon
Thackeray for his views as his sphere of influence is limited to
Maharashtra. But why does a pan-India party like the Congress project
such an extreme view.
There were times in early the 70s when a small group of people in West
Bengal raised the slogan 'Amra Bangali'. The group could not garner
enough political support and the movement died a natural death. If
such germs are sown in a state, other linguistic states, particularly
Bengal, Orissa, Assam, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka may
follow suit. This form of intolerance may give dividends to a
narrow-minded regional party. But the majority even in these states
may not subscribe to this means of securing votes.
The fundamentalist elements in BJP and its allies caused the
demolition of Babri Masjid with the objective of consolidating Hindu
votes. This dastardly act paid short-term dividends to BJP. But led
them nowhere as soon as a majority of the people realised that this
agenda is not serving the larger interests of the nation. Even BJP's
stint as a ruling party at the centre was due to the persona of Atal
Bihari Vajpayee who projected a secular face. Now the BJP is in
shambles. If they are ruling some states now, it is because of the
leadership qualities of the respective chief ministers and not because
of the BJP high command in Delhi. Narendra Modi, irrespective of what
people think about the incidents at Godhra, continues to rule due to
the virtues of good governance and personal integrity. Is it a BJP
government or a Narendra Modi government? It is possibly the latter.
Now Congress has a unique opportunity to spread its powerbase across
the country, including the Hindi belt where it has a mere token
presence. To regain lost ground, the party has to denounce a
narrow-minded outlook. It has to rise above the politics of community
and caste, and bring everyone into their fold with the slogan 'Be
Indian First'. They have to project that our nation has always
accommodated people of different faiths. Congress ran the freedom
movement with the help of people from various communities, regions and
languages. It was only during the last lap of the freedom movement
that an error occurred in the judgment of Mahatma Gandhi. He possibly
failed to notice the historical forces and personal ambitions of
leaders like Jinnah on one side and Ambedkar on the other. Ambedkar
believed, and rightly so, that though Congress includes Dalits in the
Hindu fold, Dalits would not be able to get their rightful place in
independent India. The age-old tyranny of upper castes left a long
shadow. On the other side, Jinnah also realised that once independence
was achieved, Congress would not give adequate representation to
minorities in the governance of the country. The fatal mistake
committed by the party in 1935 destroyed the faith that Muslim leaders
had on Congress. The party formed the government in UP without Muslim
League even though both the parties fought the election jointly.
Jinnah possibly could not anticipate the events that followed his call
for the creation of Pakistan. He didn't realise the magnitude of
communal violence that would follow. He felt he was ignored and not
given the rightful place in Congress. Mahatma Gandhi lost control
over the party because of the ambitions of Congressmen to achieve
Independence at the earliest and at any cost. Jinnah wanted an equal
status and there was no space for Jinnah as things developed. I would
be inclined to believe the genuineness of Jinnah's speech to the
Constituent Assembly of Pakistan on August 11. He wanted Pakistan to
be a just nation, but the reason for creation of Pakistan was
different from what he projected through his address. He contradicted
himself when he addressed the nation. But that is history.
Can we reflect on our history and stop such divisive and intolerant
forces now? If we do not do so, we may have to face minor civil wars.
A civil war can never be controlled by the military. Military
operations take place against an enemy nation and they cannot be used
against our own countrymen. Police is totally inadequate when it comes
to controlling a civil war and, therefore, it is incumbent on our
political leaders to give up this tendency of fuelling regionalism and
creating divisions on the basis of languages. If not, one day our
country would pay a heavy price and our entire edifice of independent
India spelt out in the Constitution would crumble. Congress possibly
is a party that can evolve a larger vision and move swiftly to
consolidate its position. It can help the country overcome such
divisive forces by stirring Indian nationalism. It can fill the
political vacuum as most people still believe in the basic integrity
of the country.
The writer is chairman Ambuja Cement Foundation
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