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| Taliban at our door | | |
Atul Cowshish
For far too long they have either pretended it did not exist or just shrugged off the danger of creeping 'Talibanisation' of society, which comes from self-appointed custodians of religion, culture and all that and the sprouting groups of vigilantes and moral police. The result is that today forces which prescribe a retrograde style of life for all are able to trample upon individuals' freedom, physically assault those who do not share their views on 'culture' and 'propriety', and take law into their hands with breathtaking brazenness, apparently sure that they will not have to account for their criminal acts.
The mushrooming of 'Indian Taliban' would not have been possible had the law enforcing authorities been doing their job--of enforcing the law. However, for once the criticism of the law enforcing agencies looks unjustified when the unwritten rule is that in 'sensitive' matters the police will obey orders from their political masters rather than seek recourse to the penal code to book the errant citizens.
The attack on women in a Mangalore (Karnataka) pub at a time when the nation was celebrating the 60th Republic Day by nearly two dozen men, identified as members or supporters of the Sri Ram Sena, is an example of how these extreme right forces have been thriving without the fear of the law.
It is only about four months ago that the extreme right forces, part of the 'Hindutva' family, had terrorised the Christian community in parts of Karnataka while the state government dilly-dallied in protecting the victims, much less bringing to justice the criminals who burnt churches and assaulted Christians in the state. That must have been a clear signal for the 'Hindutva' forces that the BJP-led Karnataka government will protect them rather than the hapless citizens whenever there was a clash between the two.
Early last summer Karnataka had become a prized trophy for the BJP when it won the assembly polls and managed to form the first BJP-government in any southern state. The BJP was on cloud nine as it had penetrated South India, hitherto considered a difficult territory for it. But a few more Mangalore-type incidents and the BJP may well discover that its entry into Karnataka was a short-lived wonder of having found a foothold in South India.
The physical harassment of Christians in Karnataka had followed assaults on Christians in Orissa, a state where the BJP is the partner of the ruling coalition. It was also the state where an Australian Christian missionary was burnt to death along with his two young sons.
The tragedy is the so-called 'secular' chief minister of Orissa underplayed the danger that the 'Hindu Taliban' were posing to his state. If the chief minister thinks that his party, the Biju Janata Dal, will not have to depend on the BJP for remaining office or winning the polls in future then there is all the more reason for him to get tough with the extreme rightists in his state for the sake of his and his state's image.
Notice the manner in which the BJP government in Karnataka and the BJP in general have tried to 'distance' themselves from the shameful acts by the SRS supporters in Mangalore. Some quarters in the BJP tried to brush the matter off by linking the attacks on Mangalore pubs to extortion bid by some goons. Eve if true, does the Yediyurappa government in Bangalore approve of acts like dragging women out from a restaurant or a pub, attacking and 'molesting' them?
SRS has said in so many words that it sees nothing wrong in the strong-armed tactics used by its supporters in Mangalore who were defending 'Indian culture'. And what is one to make of this gem of a suggestion from 'responsible' BJP quarters that pubs that attract women clientele should hire their own security guards? Will maintenance of law and order be no longer the job of the police in Karnataka?
For the record the BJP 'denounces' these acts but with certain caveats. The BJP president Rajnath Singh is more keen to portray the Mangalore incidents as an attempt by the Congress and other 'secular' forces to 'malign' the BJP rather than ask his government to be firm in dealing with politico-religious outfits like the SRS and its sister concerns.
The SRS and its leaders in Karnataka were hardly repentant when they denounced their critics because they saw it all as a plan to run down the BJP government in the state. How is it that an outfit like the SRS speak so ardently for the BJP? Because they are all either part of one family, the Sangh Parivar, or derive their ideological support from a common platform.
The Shiv Sena may not be an intrinsic part of the Sangh family, but is there much to distinguish it from the Sangh Parivar's exclusive politics? In matters like upholding the values and 'culture' of the country and minority bashing the only difference between the Shiv Sena and the BJP is that the latter has for strategic reasons become a little caution in public pronouncements on certain matters. The BJP has to shun bluntness of the past in some matters because it would deprive it of the support that it would inevitably need from other parties to grab power at the centre.
The BJP would have undoubtedly dubbed any diatribe against Hindi-speakers in any part of India an anti-national act, but it cannot come down hard on its ally in Maharashtra, the Shiv Sena. The more unfortunate part is that the Congress-NCP combine that runs the state government in Maharashtra seems equally reluctant to take the Sainiks head on.
Ostensibly, the reason is that any strong action against the Sainiks will create a serious law and order problem in the state. But many would suspect that there is a secret understanding between the Sena and the present rulers in Mumbai that allows the former to carry out its narrow fissiparous agenda without any fear
Most Indians have always thought that Maharashtra was a state that led India in many spheres. They may be revising their opinion lately while the state is crushed between the extreme right forces and a pusillanimous ruling alliance that is too scared to annoy the Thackeray clan.
If the Shiv Sena requires a course correction, the initiative has to come from the BJP, a formal and old ally of the Shiv Sena in Maharashtra. It is for the BJP to tell the Shiv Sena and its franchises run by the family and friends of the Sena supremo, Bal Thackeray that their reprehensible antics are taking the country, not just Maharashtra, on the dangerous road of Talibanisation.
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