Though the majority of India’s population is Hindu, India never turned into a Hindu Pakistan, not in the last seventy years.
Andre Gide, a Noble Prize-winning French author had said, “A true hypocrite is the one who ceases to perceive his own deception.” I am reminded of the statement whenever I hear political leaders or intellectuals claim that India will become a “Hindu Pakistan” if BJP is voted back to power. Latest to join the bandwagon is Shashi Tharoor.
For long, it has been the obvious counter of the leftist-liberal against the right-leaning ideologies. After all, a democratic, progressive, modern Indian nation would definitely fear the idea of turning into a country where militarism and religious fundamentalism is rampant. Doesn’t the idea that we also might turn into a rogue nation like Pakistan frighten us? Of course, the conscience of any average right-thinking Indian reaping fruits of the freedom bestowed upon him by the constitution would be assaulted by the idea of “Hindu Pakistan”. But here is the truth, the bogeyman of “Hindu Pakistan” is as bogus as the bogeyman itself.
Those harbingering the Hindu Pakistan even today, seventy-years post-independence conveniently shove under the carpet the fact that India made a choice in 1947 to build a democratic nation on the basis of the constitution and not along religious lines as the bordering country did. The dystopian hypothetical future predicted by the likes of Tharoor also undermines the power vests with our diverse electorate. The electorate that includes a spectrum of diverse religions, faiths, castes, and creeds. Though the majority of India’s population is Hindu, India never turned into a Hindu Pakistan, not in the last seventy years. Even in future India will not turn into a Hindu Pakistan. And no, Mr. Tharoor cannot credit it to his own party or that of the “secular”, “liberal” alliances of his party but to the people of India.
What is exceptionally hypocritical about the statement is that Tharoor– who recently in his book claimed that Hinduism is inclusive and accommodates every idea, opinion; is prophesying an oxymoronic idea like “Hindu Pakistan”.
In fact, the incident highlights what is wrong with today’s political discourse. If Congress accuses BJP/RSS of appeasing majority and communalism, then Shashi Tharoor’s Hindu Pakistan comment too serves the same purpose perpetuating the belief that India can turn into a country that discriminates against its minorities. These warnings invoking the feeling of an insecure future among the minorities cannot hide the communal nature of the statement, even if it is nicely-worded.
In the last four years, with the significant rise in ideological right parallel to the rise of BJP, the Congress too has put the development issue in the pit and has adopted the path of appeasing. It is time that Congress and its leaders realize that voters do not want to hollow warnings of dystopia that holds no water but the solution to the developmental problem. Sadly, with current dispensation, Congress just seems mirror version of the BJP minus cow.
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