By Shehzad Poonawalla,
As the Ramdev fast/tamasha takes a dramatic turn in the wee hours of Sunday morning, my message inbox is being flooded with dozens of SMSes, terming the action taken by the Delhi Police as violative of the Fundamental Rights of the citizens of this country. But if we paused for a moment, lowered the cacophony of our shrill news channels and heard the saner elements out we would find that Ramdev and Hazare have been successful in completely shattering the delicate balance created between Majority Rule and Minority Rights by hijacking the institutions of democracy which function under the mandate of the Constitution and is invested heavily with public confidence. By manufacturing a carefully crafted media exercise which was attempted to be passed off as a representative voice, Hazare and Ramdev have actually played into the hands of the right wing (perhaps intentionally), which has been uncomfortable with the secular dispensation at the Centre.
Unable to create political relevance for themselves in legitimate elections (thanks to their unsavory venom spewing propaganda) the RSS and its affiliates have been known for their subversive activities (including the destruction of churches, support of terrorism and political assassinations including that of Mahatma Gandhi) and these protests have been hatched and sponsored by them to defraud the average minority member of his constitutionally protected rights. Having won only 5 seats out of the over 700 odd assembly seats up for grabs in the last assembly elections across 5 states, the RSS and its affiliates are increasingly finding themselves being reduced to political insignificance. Hence, their attempt to make Parliament irrelevant by blackmailing a legitimate government and making governance impossible. It comes as no surprise that this entire tamasha has been stage managed before the UPA government was planning to introduce the Communal Violence (prevention) Bill and the Food Security Bill which would respectively have ensured better security against Gujarat 2002-like genocides and would have helped in bridging the divide between the ‘Haves’ and ‘Have Nots’, both of which would have ensured that politics based on hate filled religious ideologies would have seen its last days.
Right from providing the art work for Anna Hazare’s backdrop to providing him with ideological fodder (which perhaps led him to sing praises about Modi (only to retract it half heartedly) and thereafter providing Ramdev with foot soldiers and their poster girl- Sadhvi Rithambara go on to show just how “civil” this civil society group was!
Backed by a section of the right winged, rabble rousing media every attempt has been made to carry out a coup on our secular democracy and turn it into a somewhat “saffronized Pakistan”. It would shock you to know that neither Anna Hazare nor Ramdev found one capable, sincere member of the minority community from amongst the civil society to take lead of the movement! Not a single member of the minority community was chosen by Hazare to be a part of the so called ‘civil society’ group in the Jan Lokpal drafting panel! Was this because there is no capable leadership amongst the Muslims, Christians and SCs/STs or was this a deliberate and systematic attempt to keep these sections out? Is it not a co-incidence that neither Ramdev nor Hazare speak out against BJP and the rampant corruption in BJP ruled states? Why this blinkered approach to a malaise that cuts across party lines? I leave it to the judgment of the reader as to whether this entire charade seems to be politically motivated or not.
We have a constitutionally elected government yet its authority and legitimacy is challenged by religious cults and the main opposition party is actually proud of conceding to these Bhagwa bigots, the space they enjoy in our polity! Slowly but surely they are ensuring that religion and politics become inseparable. But wherever that has happened, it has resulted in the breakdown of democracy and internal instability. Our neighbours Pakistan and Bangladesh are shining examples of what happens when religious zealots gain control over the state machinery. Experience and history should tell us that the promises of accountability and transparency form nothing more than a very seductive rhetoric but in the end those who ride this saffron tiger will end up finding themselves inside of it! Neither Ramdev nor Hazare are willing to subject themselves to the same stringent standards they expect of others in public life and hence they have no trouble in traveling in private charter planes and accept donations from dubious characters in the name of fighting “corruption and black money”! Clearly, for them George Orwell’s lines “All animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others” holds true!
I do not expect those who have been swayed by this agenda driven media exercise to perceive the real and imminent danger that Baba Ramdev and Anna Hazare pose to our democracy but there is a large section of our population which accounts for almost 15% which has been left out in the cold. Neither have they been co-opted in this “national” movement nor have their issues (of discrimination and inequality in access to justice – social, economic and political) been addressed at any level. Instead their vote- their last yet most potent constitutional resort to secure for themselves equity has been brutally undermined and violated. Whether any good will come of running roughshod over the rights of a people just because they are a numerical minority is something every right minded individual of this country must decide for himself. While some celebrate this Ram Leela Maidan frenzy, all I can say is that these people are not men of God, they are mere Godmen who wish to ride on religious sentiments to create their political capital at the expense of our secular democracy.
Finally, a message to Ramdev:
“Moh-maya wyape nahin jene, driDh wairagya jena manma re
Ram-naam shu taaLE laagi, sakaL teerath tena tanmaa re
VaishNav jan to tene kahiye, je peed paraayi jaNe re”
“Material attachments don’t occupy his mind- which is deeply rooted in renunciation.
Every moment he’s intent on reciting the name of Ram. All the holy places are ever present in his body.
He is a true Vaishnava who feels another’s woes as his own.”
Jai Hind
(The author is law graduate from Pune’s Indian Law Society and political activist)