R. S. Pathania
‘I am a Hindu nationalist.’ ‘Garv se kahon hum Hindu hain’. This is the much-talked-of title-trail of king-size hoardings of Narendra Bhai Modi, Chairman of Campaign Committee of B.J.P., hogging ‘nukkads’ and ‘chowks’ in metro-cites of India.
While on the other hand, fundamentalist zealot from Kashmir, Syed Ali Shah Geelani , at his histrionic best, has issued a clarion call to Muslims of Jammu and Kashmir to unite and observe 26 July as ‘Day of Muslim unity’.
Right from Ramayana to Mahabharata, Ashoka to Akbar and from Britsh subjugation to an independent India, much water has flowed under Ganges. Bharat, as a country, civilization and a cultural cache has oldest roots and history in the world. It is the only nation in the world where different religions, castes, creeds and clans, speaking different languages, wearing different attires, and having different customs, cultures and usages, bask and breed under one sky. I am reminded of a famous Bollywood number, ‘Hai Preet Jahan Ki Reet Sada…’
Having successfully withstood incests and invasions, calamities and catastrophes, communalist and disruptive forces, at their worst, spirit of oneness and brotherhood in India is as agile as ever.
And amongst all parrot cries and chest-thumping about Hindu orthodoxy on the soil of civilization having flourished thousands of years ago on the banks of Sindhu river, we could not easily overlook the epoch-making crusade of Raja Ram Mohan Roy against ‘sati’ system, Jyoti Rao Phule’s fight against untouchability and caste-system in Maharshtra, Netaji Subas Chandra Bose’s concept of lingua franca and Uniform Civil Code, Nehruji’s tryst with destiny and stiff resistance to making of a ‘Hindu Rashtra’ in the backdrop of creation of Pakistan in 1947 and Gandhiji’s and Ambedkar’s contribution to the Indian socio-political scenario. Gandhiji’s gospels of Hindu-Muslim unity and egalitarian, socialist and a caste-free India continue to be trail-blazers for powers-that-be in our country. ‘Ishwar Allah tero Namm….’ continues to quiver the spirits of Indians, right from Kashmir to Kanyakumari.
Nonetheless, the torch of nationalism and secularism handed over to the people of India by Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, Mullah Hasrat Mohani and Rafi Ahmed Kidwai which was preserved and rather was made to sparkle with added grace by Dr. Zakir Hussain, Fakruddin Ali Ahmed & APJ Abdul Kalam, former Presidents of India. The bold rejection of Jinnah’s two-nation theory by these Muslim leaders was a living example for the entire world and a candid rejection of parochial politics in India.
And in the state of Jammu & Kashmir, Maharaja Hari Singh’s stance against child marriage, sati system and untouchability had been a source of inspiration and self-esteem. He opened up temples, public wells and schools for scheduled castes and had to face stiff resistance from Hindu clergy but he stood like a rock and banished all those Hindi fanatics while ensuring actual compliance of his orders on the ground. He as well as his ancestors successfully ruled this Muslim-majority state for more than a century until the powers-that-be in Independent India decided to hand over power in J & K to Sheikh Abdullah-led National Conference in 1947.
And again in J & K, the bold and forthright, Mirwaiz Mohd. Yusuf Shah, grandfather of Mirwaiz Umer, tooth-and-nail opposed Muslim Conference’s theory of ‘self-determination for Muslims in J & K’. The nationalist and secular out-turn of stalwarts like Bakshi Ghulam Mohd., Maulana Syed Masoodi, G. M. Sadiq and Syed Mir Qasim is also a living role-model for the posterity in J & K to emulate and inspire themselves.
All said and done, and despite all the constructive work done by these towering leaders, Gandhiji, at one point of time, had to face signature campaign by Shankaracharyas declaring him as non-Hindu. He even had to face assassination at the hands of radical Puritans. And so does two former Prime Ministers, Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi.
The brutal assassination of her mother-in-law and husband could not deter Sonia Gandhi to pick up the gauntlet and challenge these divisive forces on the political arena of India. And so does her son, Rahul Gandhi, who has off-late jumped headlong into the maelstrom of Indian politics while earning the sobriquet of ‘upsetter of apple-carts’ in Congress as well as on the Indian political scene. And till date both the mother and son have restrained themselves from power politics while refusing to accept any prime position in the government.
B. R. Ambedkar was so fed-up with this priestly orthodoxy in Hinduism that he had renounced Hinduism in last days of his life. J. L. Nehru, the architect of Modern India, was called a Satan as he had never been to a temple in his life. For all their departures from orthodoxy – Raja Ram Mohan Roy, Jyoti Phule, Gopal Krishan Gokhale, Ishwar Chand Vidya Sagar, Gandhi, Ambedkar, and Nehru were the tallest 20th century figures who tried their best to rid Hinduism of its ills and excesses, who worked most heroically to nurture the spirit of egalitarianism that the Laws of Manu sought to deny. The constructive work that they did constituted what India and Indianism is.
And not much surprising, these religious Puritans called Maharaja Hari Singh in J & K a ‘tyrant’, Sheikh Abdullah a ‘traitor’ and Tritons like Bakshi Ghulam Mohd., G. M. Sadiq and Syed Mir Qasim as ‘agents of Delhi’. But fact remains that tiring efforts by these towering personalities set the tone and tenor for setting of a federal, democratic and secular set-up in J & K which has kept Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh as one entity till now.
The million-dollar question which arises now is that does these eccentric outbursts of left-wings constitute the mood and pulse of India. Answer is a big no.
Modis and Geelanis cannot be allowed to muddle the atmosphere of India. Saner voices have to take better of their parochial sloganeering.
Forces that are still harping on the ‘perverted’ concepts of Hindu India and Muslim India have to be fought tooth and nail. Liberalism and modernity require a vision for future. A section of Hindus as well as Muslims may claim themselves to be liberal but have they asserted themselves? Have they ever spelt out any vision for the future which heralds uniformity in the society?
Antidote: ‘Garv se kaho hum Bhartiya hain’. And let the people of entire Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh unite to face challenges posed by such narrow-minded hawks.
Let’s hope and pray, the jinx breaks at the earliest. As the maxim goes, ‘the churning is always for the nectar to rise’
(The columnist practices law in the J & K High Court)
Trending Now
E-Paper
Follow our WhatsApp channel