Dr. Javed Jamil
Yogi spent Rs 195.89 crore for the grand Diwali celebrations in Ayodhya. Of this, Rs 133.70 crore has been sanctioned by the Union government.
When some leader even holds an Iftar party in Ramadhan, Hindutva Brigade feels hurt and wastes no time in declaring it “Muslim appeasement” worthy of utmost condemnation. But the all-out pampering of Hindus is a sign of secularism and justice for them. But they are right in using the word “appeasement” for what is usually done for Muslims in their country. They only get what can at best be called “appeasement” to make them feel that if nothing substantial can be done for them in accordance with their needs, at least their emotions can be appeased through some occasional “gifts” of hollow words. Pampering of course is reserved for the Hindu community and the maximum part of it is reserved for certain sections within Hindu community.
Yogi Nath has come up with another proposal to build a 100-metre tall statue of Lord Ram. An Indian Express report says,
“The Yogi Adityanath government plans to build a “grand statue” of Lord Ram on the banks of the Saryu river in Ayodhya as part of its plan to showcase “Navya Ayodhya.” The proposal was presented to Governor Ram Naik as part of the state tourism department’s initiatives to promote religious tourism.
The government’s slideshow put the height of the statute at 100 m but some officials said that wasn’t final.
According to a press communique released from Raj Bhavan, Principal Secretary, Tourism, Awanish Kumar Awasthi made the presentation.
…The communique stated that the statue will be build at Saryughat after clearance from the National Green Tribunal….Also part of the plan is a Ram Katha gallery on the banks of the river, a multi-purpose auditorium in the Digambar Akhara premises and various public utility services. For this integrated development of Ayodhya, the state government had sent a detailed project report (DPR) of Rs 195.89 crore to the Tourism Ministry at the Centre and the Ministry has so far provided Rs 133.70 crore to the state.”
Whatever Yogi does, nobody dare ask him, if he is a Hindu first or Indian first. And there is indeed no need to seek an answer, as the true answer is known to everybody. (Personally, I am not against Government spending on religious sites provided it covers all communities.) Yesterday, in his speech he talked of innovating all the sites of Hindu religious importance in the state.
The truth is that not only specific Hindu pampering has always been there, the policies of almost all the governments in the past and present have benefitted Hindus hugely more than minorities and again mainly a few Hindus castes among Hindus.
The forces of Hindutva want to ensure that nothing substantial is done to help Muslims recover from its huge backwardness. Hindutva Brigade seems to derive pleasure in the alienation, backwardness, helplessness and fear of Muslims.
For them, doling reservation to 50 pc Hindus is no appeasement of Hindus, making all schemes that benefit upper caste Hindu corporates is no appeasement of Hindus, celebrating Yoga Day as a national event is no appeasement of Hindus, making special arrangements for Hindu pilgrims, giving almost all the party tickets to Hindus, giving daily statements to please Hindus and harass Muslims, changing educational policies to inculcate what they call Hindu cum Indian culture, giving only copies of Gita to foreign Presidents – all these are not Hindu Appeasement. If the Government plans Smart Cities, Small Villages, FDI retail moves, even Bank and Insurance schemes—all these percolate to benefit the corporates, almost all of whom are the upper caste Hindus.
Yes, they are right, ideally it should not be called appeasement; it is in fact total surrender and total apportioning of all benefits to Hindus. And again doling of few cosmetic benefits to Muslims can only be called political appeasement and no substantive assistance.
All these concerns about “Appeasement” of Muslims, and to a lesser extent about the schemes favouring Dalits and OBC Hindus, emanate from the desire to continue the centuries-old domination of Upper Caste Hindus. In the remote past, Kshatriyas ruled with the help of the intellectual power of Brahamins and the Money power of Vaishyas. Then Brahamins started ruling the country with the help of the money power of Vaishyas and the Muscle power of Kshatriyas. More recently, Vaishyas have taken the reins in their hands turning democracy into Corporatocracy, with the help of the intellectual power of a section (not all) of Brahamins and the muscle power of Kshatriysa. This is the most dangerous phase because when the money rules, morality soon gets cremated with full
The list 0f 100 richest Indians (Forbes List) is enough to show how Vaishya community has already monopolised India’s wealth, and to perpetuate it, they will of course try to use politicians, media and bureaucrats.
Not only the consumer industry is largely controlled by the Baniyas, even education industry is dominated by them. The mushrooming of tens of thousands of Private institutions of all kinds in the country has introduced another kind of Reservation — the Reservation for the Rich, which again hit the Muslim community in a big way because less number of Muslims is likely to be able to pay the exorbitant fees that good private institutions demand. Privatisation has also benefited Upper Caste Hindus on business front in a big way. Through them they earn huge money and get their children highly educated. And of course they get most of the jobs in private companies.
There was huge political and social response to the Implementation of Mandal Commission Report in 1990s and the media was abuzz how this would be a grave injustice to the students who do not fall in the reserved categories. But the rapid industrialisation of education has seen no mass movement against it because the big business (read baniyawaad) is involved and it supports the rich (most being Upper Caste Hindus). No one is arguing that the policy of promoting private institutions in the country has resulted in virtual reservation of the rich. The ones who can afford to pay the fees can get admission in management, technical and other professional courses in reputed private institutions even if they have less than 60 per cent marks in Intermediate. Those who cannot afford cannot get admissions even if they have more than 80 pc marks. These institutions develop partnerships with major companies and their products get good placements. Again this reservation of rich is hitting the Muslim community in a bigger way than others because it is poorer than others. With lesser percentage in private institutions, their percentage in private sector services is going to further decrease.
The role of Baniyas is also getting increasingly high in politics. While Congress had more Brahamins than Banyas, the BJP and its sister organisations are now being driven by the Baniyas. It is they who are running the BJP show. Hindutvavad is nothing but a movement that seeks economic and political hegemony of Baniyas through polarisation of politics on communal grounds.
From what has happened at Ayodhya, it now seems clear beyond doubt that Ram Mandir Movement is already underway in a renewed form. Having failed on the economic front, this is the only plausible way to ensure victory in 2019.
Disclaimer: These are personal views of the author
Dr Javed Jamil is India based thinker and writer with over a dozen books including his latest, “Muslim Vision of Secular India: Destination & Road-map” and “Qur’anic Paradigms of Sciences & Society” (First Vol: Health), “Muslims Most Civilised, Yet Not Enough” and Other works include “The Devil of Economic Fundamentalism”, “The Essence of the Divine Verses”, “The Killer Sex”, “Islam means Peace” and “Rediscovering the Universe”. Read more about him at http://www.worldmuslimpedia.com/dr-javed-jamil. Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/javedjamil2015; alsohttp://javedjamil.blogspot.in/. He can be contacted at doctorforu123”yahoo.com.