Yes, Mr Modi, Last 10 Years Are ‘Trailer’ of What’s in Store for Muslims if…

Football, cricket, hockey or even kabaddi, whatever game the match may be of, Prime Minister Narendra Modi descends on the field and starts playing rugby, a sport in which his adversaries are not proficient enough. There is now no one left who can't understand this strategy of Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Initially, it was thought that BJP was confident of winning a fresh mandate on the plank of development, as the PM himself was mouthing the slogan of 'Modi's guarantee'. But he has probably realised that the public are not in a mood to swallow his 'guarantee'. So, he has taken to playing the sport of rugby in politics, i.e. frightening the majority Hindus by raising the bogey of ‘threat’ from the minorities, especially Muslims.

 Modi has been saying that Congress, if brought to power, would distribute the wealth of the nation among Muslims. Raising the issue of child birth among Muslims, he has attributed the liability of increase in nation's population entirely on that community. By saying that the ‘mangalsutras’ (gold ornament of married women) of Hindu ladies would be snatched, he has tried take provocative divisional tactics to the lanes and bylanes of the country. It is difficult to assess the impact this would have on voting, but one cannot rule out fears of some evil fallout.

During the election campaign, it's difficult to distinguish Modi from any isolated Pakistani politician who raises a hue and cry over Kashmir. It's not new for Modi or BJP to use the weapon of Pakistan bashing for garnering votes. Modi, some days ago, even accused Pakistan of trying to make the Congress ‘shehzada’ or prince (read, Rahul Gandhi), the prime minister here. 

 That the accusations of Modi regarding the Congress manifesto are ill-conceived becomes clear if one goes through the document. Yet, it's an age-old strategy of Hindutva forces to spread the fallacy of “Hindus are in danger and Muslims are the cause’.

Former Chief Election Commissioner S Y Quraishi, in his book, The Population Myth, has clearly shown, quoting official statistics, that Muslims are not averse to adopting population control measures, which is apparent from the birth rate within the community. That Muslims would soon outnumber Hindus is simply based on false propaganda.

 Modi and his ilk also paint themselves as patriots and the Opposition as ‘anti-national’. This time round, the PM has bracketed the entire Muslims community with the Opposition, and even indirectly referred to them as “infiltrators”.

 Besides that, the PM, while doling out statistics of his performance over the last 10 years, has repeatedly said: ‘Yeh to sirf trailer hai, trailer’ meaning that this was only a trailer. If he gets another mandate to rule at the Centre, his real screenplay, rather game plan, would become apparent. However, it's not difficult to anticipate what will unfold, when we take a close look at what transpired in the 10 years of his regime.

 The language used by the PM targeting Muslims while attacking Congress, clearly shows that though he talks about 'Sabka Sath', but he actually doesn't want the support of the community. Two years ago, this was stated more clearly by Yogi Adityanath (BJP leader and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister) during the Assembly elections. Such desperate attempts at religious polarisation are totally unprecedented, especially when the PM himself is making such statements. 

 The way Muslims are being belittled and scorned during the poll campaign, and keeping in mind the record of the past 10 years of BJP rule, show what dark hours are awaiting the largest minority community in India. One of the steps may be to deprive them of minority status or, to award such status to Hindus in selective cases. 

 While attacking Congress on the issue of appeasement of minorities, BJP president JP Nadda has complained that Sachar committee's (established by the Manmohan Singh government) report (published in 2006) was made to create an impression that the condition of Muslims was worse than that of Dalits.

 The Sachar committee report showed that Muslims were not first or second, but virtually third-class citizens in the country. Even before the report’s publication, the then United Progressive Alliance government introduced a very important step for the Muslims in the field of education. They enacted the National Commission for Minority Education Institution Act in 2004. Before that, the Narasimha Rao-led Congress government enacted the National Commission for Minorities Act in 1992. Based on the said Act, national as well as state- level minorities commissions were formed. Even before that, Congress-led governments provided assurances of rights and privileges to Muslims and other religious minorities by creating a Ministry for Minority Affairs. 

 Incidentally, one BJP MP has approached the Supreme Court demanding abrogation of all such facilities. It is noteworthy that after the apex court’s Ayodhya verdict, the Hindutva forces have chosen the court as one of the ways to implement their pending agenda. Notable among these are the controversy surrounding the Gyanvapi Mosque and the Shahi Eidgah Mosque in Varanasi and Mathura, respectively.

 In the petition filed by BJP leader and lawyer Ashwini Upadhyay, there are two demands: one seeks abolition of the Ministry for Minority Affairs, Minorities Commissions and Minorities Education Commission. Second, if the first demand is not met, that Hindus of the nine states and Union territories be given minority status. These are Punjab, Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Lakshadweep, Jammu & Kashmir, Ladakh and Manipur.

The petition asserts that Hindus are minorities in 200 districts. Upadhyay demands that the criteria for determining minorities should be defined afresh. In states and districts where Hindus are less in number, they should be given the privileges meant for minorities. The BJP’s Assam Chief Minister has favoured this claim.

 Some experts on Constitution and administration feel that if the government goes ahead on this, the minorities, who constitute majorities in those states, may lose their minority status. And, in that event, the possibility of being denied the facilities and privileges received as minorities cannot be ruled out.

 The Modi government has asserted that the right of determining minorities status is vested with the Central government. Hence, if the court does not agree with the assertion of the petitioner, the apprehension of meeting Upadhyay’s demands by bringing a Bill in Parliament cannot be precluded. Although, in the said case, the Union government, in an affidavit placed before the Supreme court, has said that issue of granting minority status for Hindus is a state matter, and in states where their number has gone below other communities, the issue needs wide consultations with state governments and other stakeholders, as the exercise has far-reaching sociological and other ramifications.

 According to 2011 Census, the Muslims are in majority in the three districts in West Bengal -- Murshidabad, Maldah and North Dinajpur. The way BJP is campaigning that Hindus in the three said districts would become eligible for privileges specified for minorities. 

 The same Census reports enumerated Muslims to form 34.22% of Assam's population. The Muslim majority districts there are Dhubri, Goalpara, Barpeta, Marigaon and  Bongaigaon in lower Assam, Nawgaon and Darrang in Central Assam and Hilakandi and Karimganj in Barak Valley. In the preceding Assembly elections, the BJP’s performance was not satisfactory.

 The saffron party feels that if Hindus are awarded minority  status in those areas, they would additional benefits of reservation in employment and education, and the same would provide the party political advantage in the long run. 

 The apprehension of depriving the Muslims from facilities and privileges is not limited to the public interest petition by Upadhyay.  Last year, in the face of Assembly elections in Karnataka, the then BJP government in the state removed the clause of 4% reservation in state government employment for Muslims. After a few days of that decision, Union Home Minister Amit Shah declared in an election campaign in Telangana his party's intent of removing reservations for Muslims, if voted to power.

 Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's promise of a caste census and his slogan of 'jitna abadi, utna haq' (rights of reservation in proportion to caste-wise distribution of population) have been termed by PM Modi as an ‘attempts to harm the interests of the majority community.” This is because he is probably aware that once the quota for OBCs (Other Backward Classes) is enhanced, additional benefits would accrue to Muslims.

In many states, including West Bengal, Muslims are in majority in the OBC list prepared on the basis of economic yardsticks. West Bengal BJP's OBC Morcha has already moved the Calcutta High Court demanding rejection of the existing state list in this regard.

 Hence, if the Modi government gets a renewed mandate, the possibility of snatching the facilities and privileges of the minorities, including Muslims, and distributing the same among Hindus cannot be written off totally. He has been especially targeting Muslims.

In the states of Kerala, North East and Punjab, Modi has refrained from targeting Christians and Sikhs. Though it has become clear that none of the minorities are safe, as seen during the farmer’s movement, with the ‘Khalistani’ narrative pushed by BJP, and from incidents of persecution of Christians in Manipur by forces inspired by the Hindutva camp. 

Seeing the increasing trend of religious conversion Buddhism in PM Modi’s own state, Gujarat, the BJP government there has issued a notification making it compulsory for Hindus willing to convert to acquire prior permission from the government.  The lines of German pastor Martin Niemoller are now very relevant:

First they came for the Communists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Communist

Then they came for the trade unionists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a trade unionist

Then they came for the Jews
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Jew

Then they came for me
And there was no one left
To speak out for me

The writer is a senior journalist and author, and former senior editor in the Times of India group. The views are personal.