‘Indians in fear, hesitant to raise voice against rights violations, saffronization; ‘Achche Din’ proves damp squib’

Bangalore: “The main threat that the country faces today is fear which is slowly spreading in people’s minds. It makes them hesitant to raise their voice against rights violations and Saffronization. This phenomenon is seen whenever a rightist political force comes to power. People are fed with concept of national security state in which the nation as defined by the Sangh Parivar becomes the only acceptable narrative. In such a system people of other religions and with other ideologies are put outside the pale of nationhood.

This concept is promoted by the agents of the “Deep State” made up of intelligence agencies, Hindutwa think tanks and biased media. This is part of corporatization of Indian state which started in the early 90s. When Babri Masjid was demolished then parallel to the destruction a neo-liberal capitalist system was introduced which also dismantled all those measures helpful to the poor. India became a land of robber billionaires.

The above views were expressed by Prof. P. Koya, Editor-in-Chief of Malayalam Thejas daily published from Kozhikode, Thiruvananthapuram, Ernakulam, Kannur and Kottayam with five Gulf editions. He was delivering a talk on the “Present Political Scenario” at Bangalore during the meeting of Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) wherein National Working Committee members along with presidents and general secretaries of various states of the party were present.

Continuing Prof. Koya said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is the symbol of all these. The Prime Minister goes around the world not only to boost his personality but also to join hands with dictatorships to suppress dissent and Islam in the name of fighting terrorism. His close friendship with Israel has high symbolic meaning. As he does this he supports corporate plunder of the country’s resources, he contended.

“It would be naive on our side to think that the Modi-Shah clique is against the antics of the Sanghi activists. Basically Modi is a Pracharak and looks the other way when Indian culture is forcefully Hinduised. Around 14 cultural institutions have been taken over by mediocre RSS activists”, Prof. Koya claimed.

The so-called mainstream political parties in India are unable to call the bluff because their leadership is mostly drawn from the same upper caste cultural milieu. New political movements like SDPI will have to build new political coalitions in which Muslims, Dalits, Adivasis and BCs will have a major role. They are the people at the bottom of the pyramid. They have to shake the system and rebuild it on the basis of equality and justice, he emphasized.

‘Achche Din Anewale Hain’ PROVES TO BE DAMP SQUIB
Meanwhile, Elyas Mohammed Thumbe, national general secretary of SDPI, who also addressed the meeting, said India under the rule of BJP government is heading towards more and more miserable conditions. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s so-called “Achche Din Anewale Hain” has proved to be a damp squib. The PM and his team instead of safeguarding the welfare of the people of the nation, devote time and energy to realize their Hindutva agenda. The socio-economic and foreign policies of the government accelerate the speed of strengthening corporates, rich and colonialists. BJP president Amit Shah’s statement “Achche Din may realize around 2025” sounds that the BJP government is playing “Development” card with the hidden agenda of “Hinduization or Saffronization of the nation”.
Elyas said, “One of the prominent achievements of SDPI is the public involvement in our campaigns, agitations and electoral politics. The reason behind this success is our effort to continuously educate the masses about the issues”.

India’s changed stance on Palestine issue

He lamented India’s changed stance on Palestine problem. He said that India abstained on a recent UN HRC voting on 2014 Gaza Conflict. On July 3 this year the United Nations Human Rights Council, (UNHRC), conducted vote adopting the Report of the Independent Commission of Inquiry on the 2014 Gaza conflict. The Report largely condemns Israel’s seven week long military operation into the Hamas controlled Gaza strip by killing more than 2000 people including women and children and wounding several thousand civilians. By abstaining from voting the Government at the Centre has shown that it has changed its policy in favour of Israel and against Palestine. The government is now maintaining very close ties with Israel which is continuously expanding its illegal settlement on the lands of Palestine and grossly violating human rights. India’s stance is the indication changed foreign policies influenced by the right wing BJP and its Hindutwa ideologies.

Saffronization of Culture

Elyas alleged that the BJP governments in the Central and States has been making all efforts to saffronize culture of the country by imposing Vedic gestures and traditions. Its recent manifestation of saffronisation was promotion of Yoga in the name of health and tradition. Recently the BJP governments in Madhya Pradesh, Haryana and Rajasthan have ordered the schools in the states to start mandatorily Surya Namaskar, Saraswathi Vandana, Chanting Bhagavad Geetha Shlokas and singing of Vande Mataram. HRD minister Smriti Irani has declared that ancient Hindu texts should be included in school curriculum. While the HRD ministry’s approval of creation of Bharatiya Shiksha Niti Ayog, (BSNA), which has been constituted by the RSS-affiliated Shiksha Sanskriti Utthan Nyas, is mandated to “suggest corrective steps” to “Indianize” the education system. Even Dinanath Batra – sent proposals to Irani after she assumed office, demanding a revamp of school curriculum so that “values and nationalism” could be inculcated in students. He said “NCERT textbooks will be rewritten according to the aim and objects of the nation so that it inculcates feeling of patriotism among children. Modernity is not westernisation. We want modernity with Indian base”. Batra has historically been the man behind the push for more ‘saffron textbooks’. He is the lead campaigner for RSS-affiliated Shiksha Sanskriti Utthan Nyas, (SSUN), and was the driving force behind reforms Murli Manohar Joshi introduced as HRD minister. In a secular and democratic country how can a democratically elected government order to exercise such kinds of religious exercises in schools? It is not a surprise that the BJP government is trying to promote such kind of Brahminical hegemony in the nation.

Rewriting Indian History

He said that this is the calculated agenda of RSS. As per the media sources Rashtriya Swayam Sevak Sangh-RSS is planning to piece together the history of over 670 districts and 600 tribal communities in the country. RSS is already undertaking a decade long project to produce a version of Indian history based on Puranas. “Purananthargat Itihaas’ is the name of the project baptized by Akhil Bharatiya Itihaas Sankalan Yojna, (ABISY), a RSS affiliate established the Bharatiya Puran Adhyayan Sansthan (Indian Institute of Purana Studies). It says there are 106 Puranas and not 18 which were spread different countries and libraries. Both BJP and RSS have denied working in tandem since the polls ended.

Widespread Corruption

Talking about corruption Elyas said it has spread its tentacles now even to food and education sectors. PDS Scam, Chikki (Candy) Scam, Vyapam Scam are the latest cases. Scam in the Public Distribution System (Food Distribution) to the tune of Rs.36,000 crores in Chattisgarh, and in supply of Chikki (candy) to school children to the tune of Rs.270 crores in Maharashtra which indicates that Indian political system has stooped to such a low level selfish motives that the politicians don’t even spare a single field.

Meanwhile, A book titled “365 days: Through a Thousand Cuts” authored by Afsar Pasha, National general secretary of SDPI, was released by the party’s national president A. Sayeed in a function.

The short book, Afsar Pasha claimed is an attempt to document atrocities against minority communities in India since Prime Minister Narendra Modi assumed power on May 26th, 2014 after a massive mandate of BJP-led NDA.