‘Congress Is Muslim Party’: BJP’s Dog Whistle Won’t Work If It Keeps Avoiding Hindu Issues Like The Plague

On 14 July, Prime Minister Narendra Modi took the Congress party to task for a reportedly loose comment made by party president Rahul Gandhi in a closed-door meeting recently. While addressing a rally in Azamgarh, Modi said, “I read in the newspaper that the Congress president had said that Congress is a party of Muslims, and there has been discussion on this for the past two days.” Whether or not Gandhi was quoted accurately, any politically conscious Indian knows of the acute minoritarianism unleashed by the Congress party during its decade-long rule. The party’s politics and policies were aimed at appeasing its minority vote bank at the expense of Hindu interests as well as national security.

So, it didn’t surprise anyone that Gandhi said what he is reported to have said. “I am not surprised as when Manmohan Singh was PM, he had said that Muslims have the first right over natural resources,” Modi added. He was quoting former prime minister Manmohan Singh from his address to the National Development Council (NDC) of the Planning Commission on 9 December 2006.

If one reads the speech in full, it is clear that Singh was referring to the need to give a set of secular schemes, including those benefiting minorities, priority over other set of schemes of the government. But misreporting and Prime Minister Modi’s inaccurate rendering of the speech notwithstanding, the United Progressive Alliance government did classify a host of minority-only schemes in education and skill development as “core of core” schemes which are indeed given top priority in the allocation of government resources.

But Modi in his defence can say what United States President Donald Trump once said, “The facts are true, the news is fake.” (Read Nassim Taleb for gaining a better understanding of the phrase.)

If we talk facts, there is enough data out there for people to conclude that “Congress is a Muslim party”. But how justified is Prime Minister Modi’s dog-whistling in this regard?

Far from justified, it is hypocrisy squared.

Yesterday (18 July), the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, the most important decision-making group in the government, approved the extension of assorted minority-only scholarship schemes worth thousands of crores for a period of three more years. These were actually supposed to lapse with the culmination of the Twelfth Five-year Plan in 2017-18.

What is the principle here? On the one hand, the Prime Minister mocks harmless statements of Congress leaders in favour of minorities, and, on the other, gives approval for the continuation of harmful sectarian schemes favouring six national minorities, started by the Sonia-Manmohan duo. Calling out soft bigotry is immaterial if you are going to implement hard bigotry with missionary zeal.

The funny thing is, one of these “core of core” schemes favouring minority students, who have the first claim on the nation’s resources, was opposed tooth and nail by Narendra Modi when he was Gujarat chief minister. He had refused to implement it in his state because it was communal in nature. The matter reached the High Court and, later, the Supreme Court. In both cases, the Gujarat government lost, but it put up a brave fight, standing up for its principles of non-discrimination in distributing public goods.

Only the Prime Minister can explain why he has changed his views so dramatically.

And that’s not even it. On 13 July, the Supreme Court of India exempted minority colleges affiliated to Mumbai University from following the government’s policy on providing reservation to the Scheduled Castes, Tribes, and Other Backward Class, citing Article 15(5), which extended reservation to the private higher education sector, but kept the institutions run by the minorities out of its ambit. Reason? Because Article 30 gives them the right to administer institutions “of their choice”.

It’s been six days and one hasn’t heard a single statement from a minister or any influential Bharatiya Janata Party Member of Legislative Assembly, or Member of Parliament, or Chief Minister, or party president expressing concern over the loss of thousands of seats in minority colleges that the Dalits and the backward class wouldn’t be able to access now. One can understand the opposition’s silence as for them rights of minorities are above those of the backward Hindus, but what’s stopping a supposedly Hindu party from even registering a hint of disagreement with the court’s ruling? Why can’t the party get itself to bring an amendment to change Article 15(5) in the name of Dalit welfare? After all, it was not added to the Constitution by Dr B R Ambedkar but piloted in 2006 by the politician Arjun Singh.

This July has been taxing for the Hindu community. As if the surrender on these two issues by the executive wasn’t bad enough, a siege is being laid in the judiciary too.

First came the Puri Jagannath Temple case, where the apex court asked the temple administration to consider allowing non-Hindus inside. To add to this, an outrageous report by the Puri district judge on how to administer the temple better is being discussed and parts of it will probably be implemented if the Supreme Court agrees.

The interference of the executive in temple administration was bad enough, now the other arms of the state are also make an intervention.

Still, not a squeal of protest is heard from within the government. The Supreme Court has ordered it to form a committee and submit a report on the matter. If it wasn’t for this direction, the government probably wouldn’t have shown any interest. The Culture Ministry’s silence on the matter speaks volumes. It is only on account of Indic Collective’s intervention that the ministry will be forced to involve itself actively in discussions on this issue.

Yesterday (18 July), the issue of women’s entry into the Sabarimala Temple came up in the Supreme Court. So this year, both Puri Jagannath and Sabarimala Temples are in the dock. Last year, it was Shani Shingnapur. Before that, Dahi Handi and Jallikattu were being censured or regulated by the courts. Not a year goes by without the courts or some ministers passing moral directives on either Holi or Diwali.

But the only party that Hindus count on to fight for their interests can’t seem to care less. It’s stumbling from one assault to another on Hindu interests with audacious nonchalance.

Why can’t someone in the party – just anyone – in this esteemed group of 350+ MPs, 1000+ MLAs, 20+ CMs, governors, and NITI Aayog rise to the occasion and announce that the party will not stand for unprovoked interference in the internal affairs of the largest community in the country? Why doesn’t someone dare to suggest that Hindu religious festivals and traditions will be put in the Ninth Schedule of the Constitution – away from the predatory eyes of those who hide behind Constitutional Articles but whose only intention really is to chip away at Hindu customs year after year? Why can’t someone declare that Sabarimala and Puri Jagannath aren’t tourist or public spaces that they should have the same rules for everyone?

A Dahi Handi or Jallikattu participant can complain about the lack of safety norms. A menstruating woman wouldn’t ask for entry into Sabarimala if she respects the tradition of the temple and deity. Only those with ‘skin in the game’ have the locus standi to complain against the customs and traditions of the community.

Either the BJP doesn’t care or has no clue on how to be a Hindu party in 2018. In both cases, it’s the Hindu society which stands defrauded. The BJP’s Hindu symbolism is limited to temple photo-ops and indulging in dog-whistle over cow slaughter, outrage over Owaisi, hounding Aligarh Muslim University just to stick it to them instead of opposing the concept of minority status in principle, and so on. The party will soon run into the problem of diminishing returns. If it wants to remain, primarily, a party of all Hindus and win their votes, it will have to stop avoiding Hindu issues like the plague.