Has India Changed post 2019 Elections?

A man named Pertie called up Karan Thapar recently and said something very interesting after the results of the 2019 Lok Sabha Elections.  Along with his customary rant on Modi of course!

“Have you considered that beyond all of this — and I don’t disagree with any of it — is something much more profound and personal. It’s also very disturbing. This result is a verdict against people like you and me, in fact our whole class. It’s a verdict against people who, because of their birth and lineage, education or erudition, family contacts and influence, have come to believe they own this country and can run it as they want. Few of us were aware that India was seething with resentment. Modi recognised it and tapped into it. Today, it’s given him a two-thirds majority in Parliament.”

Karan Thapar’s claim, that Pertie agreed to before his self-indicting thoughtfulness, was about the Hinduization – synonymous in his mind with a “regressive situation” – of India and rejection of the “divine” Nehruvian way.

….it seems that right across northern and western India and large swathes of the east, the result reflects an acceptance of the Hindutva belief that India is essentially a Hindu country and that’s a distinct move away from the concept at the heart of Nehruvian secularism: that this is a land of multiple religions, castes, ethnicities, cultures and languages.

Even when the elitist Pertie agreed that they – he and the likes of Karan Thapar – had been living an entitled existence, he was still indulging in the same elitism – bashing the views contrary to his – that had landed them in that spot in the first place.

Yes, Indians have rubbished elitism and more importantly, entitlement.

But it is not just that.  There is more to this than mere self-indicting congratulatory analysis by the elites – who are suddenly making it into a class war.

The main central issue with their understanding – which incidentally strips their link to the reality stark naked – is that they have decided that their assumptions are correct and indeed the only truth.  They are like the pathological liars who have started believing in their own lies.  And their own narrative!  They are now self-constructed caricatures of their own making.

That Nehru’s way was nothing short of divinity is an assumption they preface every analysis.  That it promoted harmony or equality of faith – which should be central to secularism – is also an assumption, which has been shredded apart by the current generation.  Only those who have refused to even evaluate the historical facts honestly still believe in Nehru-the-divinity folk lores.  We have written about it here – read History Lies – Nehru was NOT the Father of Bhakra Dam, Sir Chhotu Ram was! and Congress Betrayal: How Nehru and Krishna Menon conspired against India in run upto the 1961 Indo-China War

You see, the lack of questioning of Nehruvianism out of reverence is no longer possible with the current generation.  They will question because dismantling the tradition of reverence is something that Nehruvianism excelled at!  And, this generation is the result of the greatest ideal of Nehruvian ideologues.  It’s just that – now THEY are the target of irreverence!

Nehruvian Secularism – fails on basic scrutiny

And, quite honestly, Nehruvianism has abjectly failed even basic scrutiny by this generation.  It was fine and dandy to a non-questioning brain and blind eyes, but if one sat back a bit and looked at things the way they were, Nehru had no clothes!  Proverbial of course (unless of course, he was clandestinely in Mountbatten chambers!) Let us see for ourselves.

Shankar (Manoj Kumar) was crooning to Shobna (Mala Sinha) in a 1962 Bollywood hit “Haryali aur Raasta”:

Ibteday-e-ishq mein hum
Saari raat jaage
Allah jaane kya hogaa aage,
o Maula jaane kya hogaa aage

A Hindu lover with no political ax to grind is trying to woo his beloved with an invocation to Allah.  That is subtle Nehruvian secularism was at play.

In yet another hit from 1966 titled “Teesri Manzil”, Anil (Shammi Kapoor) danced around Sunita (Asha Parekh) telling her in a high pitched song:

Aaja Aaja Mein Hoon Pyaar Tera
Allah Allah Inkaar Tera Hooo

Nehruvian Secularism yet again.

Hindu characters invoking Islamic faith while addressing their lovers.  No issues about the singer or musician, but surely the lyricist and the director knew the situation, didn’t they?  So, how did the words fit the situation?

One, however, has not seen a single Muslim character ever in a major Indian film singing to Ram or Krishna while expressing his love to his beloved.  Is that an over-sight?  Over a 70 years of oversight?!

Fact is that Secularism was defined with a motive.  It had favorites.  Some religious beliefs, criminals and victims were upholders of Secularism while others had the dice stacked against them.

As long as Nehru and Indira Gandhi ruled in their dictatorial way snuffing out all opposition to the narrative they wanted, people were made to believe what was needed, to push this Secularism.

The Shaming and Inferiority

But cracks had started appearing in the 1980s.  The problem was that the eco-system created by the Congress elites was too deep.  So, every Hindu ritual was a paakhand, (superstition) which made every kid feel ashamed of, for example, wearing a tilak to his school on Bhai Dooj growing up.  It was a norm for everyone I knew (including me), to wipe off the tilak before one reached the school!  Why?  Because people would think I was religious or worse, backward!

Such cultural shame was inculcated in a very careful way.  The only way to “fit in” was to tout the same inanities of Nehruvian Secularism that the elites had laid out for us.  Even when they either did not make sense or made you feel inferior!

It was Cultural Bullying with an air of moral righteousness.  Hindu-ness was bullied for the good of the Hindu himself!

Nehruvian Secularism, you see, was built from ground-up to be Hinduphobic in its very essence.

But why was a Hinduphobic Secularism pushed by Nehru?

In August 1928, Nehru Report signed by Motilal Nehru and others was prepared, where it talked about a joint electorate where every person had one vote.  This was severely criticized by folks like Aga Khan and other Muslims.  So in March 1929, Mohammad Ali Jinnah came out with his Fourteen Points which was tabled at a meeting of  All India Muslim League.   It was supposed to be a constitutional reform plan to safeguard the political rights of Muslims in independent India.

One of the main thrust was separate electorates.

Specifically, the point that professed this was –

Representation of communal groups shall continue to be by means of separate electorate as at present: provided it shall be open to any community, at any time to abandon its separate electorate in favour of a joint electorate.

And it was bolstered by the point which said that at any time the representation of Muslims in Central Legislature can be no less than one-third.

This was rejected by JL Nehru, who called it the “Jinnah’s ridiculous 14 points”.

However, the fear that Jinnah, Aga Khan, and other Muslim leaders had would continue to haunt Nehru as well.

What if Hindus voted to safeguard their interest?  Specially right after one of the most devastating religious disaster in human history?

In a time, where Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) came forward to help those who were being thrown out and killed in Punjab as Gandhi was busy experimenting with his own imagined moral values, those who came into India from erstwhile Pakistan could be beholden to RSS!  And its political successor – the Bharatiya Jan Sangh.  If that had happened (rather allowed to happen), it would be the death knell to Congress’ future.

So, what if Hindus were to seek safeguards?  What if Hindus were to realize that those who threw them under the bus as Punjab and Bengal burned were none other than the Congress leaders?

What if Hindus were to realize that those who ensured that they were prepared when hordes would come killing were the RSS cadres?

What if?

These were the ghosts due to which RSS was made into a state enemy.  And, its workers were persecuted openly.  Lies like “RSS was responsible for Gandhi’s assassination” were propagated.

That started the move to do in India by Nehru via distortion of culture and minds, what Jinnah had done via partition.

Hindus as Separate Electorate

A separate electorate.

Separate Electorate within India by alienating the indigenous ways via distortions, lies and elitism was the brilliant plan by Nehru in connivance with the Left, who were given a rather free reign to structure the national narrative.

In Nehru’s India – you could either be Modern or Hindu.  You could either be Secular or Hindu.

You could very well be Muslim and Secular, Christian and Secular, but

Hindu and Secular.  These two states of being were made mutually exclusive.

So, in Secular India, those who considered themselves as Hindus by faith were cast out as a Separate Electorate via deep mind games.

Hindus were urged to be either Modern or Secular and dump every part of their rituals, their scriptures etc.  Every information, every event, every piece of history was carefully orchestrated to sow shame and self-hate in Hindus.

How elites defined Us… until we all had a voice!

That was as long as the narrative-setting was in the hands of a few.  Where a few told the rest of us how we should be like.  Others – the rest of us – had no voice.  No say.  No platform to share our thoughts.

The editorial offices shunned any contrarian view.  The newspapers would refuse to report on events where Hindus were mass victims (like how Sadhus protesting for cow slaughter ban were fired at and thousands killed in Delhi by Indira Gandhi).  Historians who would even suggest researching on Hindu historical artifacts or religious monuments would be kept out of official committees and institutions.  Sanskrit was slowly and carefully devalued and destroyed.

And then Social media happened.

Everyone with a voice, piece of information and narrative got a platform.  A platform that would go to billions all over the world at the click of a button.

The odds were heavily against the new voices – cultural shaming and inferiority, lack of credible sources (most had been destroyed, replaced with just narrative based sources), and attack by the institutionally powerful (Barkha Dutt has been known to target bloggers by suing them into submission to remove content!) had to be contended with.

But as the platforms widened and became larger, so did the voice of the new generation.

So much so that Modi decided to run the 2014 campaign almost solely via the social media platforms.  Most of the mainstream media were against him.  And, therefore, he did not give many interviews there.  There was little that anyone could or would give him in mainstream India, except abuse and ridicule.

Yet, he created a campaign that was unusual in its appeal and reach.

He chose to be where the marginalized electorate – in terms of common voice – now lived.  The Social media.

And he won.  But more than Modi, the challenge to the old order won.  Hindus, who were shamed into being a “separate electorate” in normal life, were more than willing to be what they were using the anonymity of the social media platforms.

Anonymity broke the barriers down.  And those who had grown up wiping their tilaks on bhai dooj, no longer needed to fight that battle anymore online.  They batted for their inner self.  Of what they were.  Not what the Karan Thapars and Romilla Thapars had made us believe we were.

If Aryan Invasion Theory of Romilla Thapar was not just fake history but downright rubbish fiction then the social media activists said so.  And proved so.  With facts!

What required until then writing of a book to rival NCERT’s privileged writings, was now possible via detailed but fact-based blog posts.  Rajiv Malhotra, for example, did just that via his legendary blogs on Sulekha, the online Indian community.

Now Malhotra could take apart Thapar, without being put down by the NCERT czars who would not even allow his writings to get past the door.  Or the publishers who would fear government retaliation.

That is how we came to know about the Breaking India forces and the foundational difference between Hinduism and other faiths and what was being done in the name of Secularism to digest the indigenous ways.

One idea kindled many others.  One question lighted many more.  Soon, others came out and started asking questions.  On Subhash Bose and his role in independence, and his disappearance.  On the mysterious death of PM Shastri.  People like journalist Anuj Dhar.

The more the questions.  The more the curious minds assembled.  And unknown but credible sources hitherto hidden came out.   Scientific tools were used where facts and evidence had been destroyed.

The separate electorate was disappearing.  A Joint Electorate, that Jinnah and Nehru had fought against in their own devious ways, was taking shape!  To the extreme chagrin of the Nehruvian elites, even the carefully constructed caste lines were disappearing!  Hindus were voting as one.  The fear of Jinnah and his political twin, Nehru, were indeed coming alive.

Yes, India has changed.

India, now, has a Joint Electorate!!  That is what has made Karan Thapar and Perties irrelevant.  And elitism a curse.  Indians have a voice.  And a vote!

Featured Image – Prime Minister’s Office, Government of India