A Religious Parliament

No doubt it was a religious parliament (or what they call Dharam Sansad) with a difference. There was no Swami Vivekananda to address an international audience. But there was Swami Yati Narsinghanand who organised the so-called ‘Dharam Sansad’ in Haridwar from December 17to 19, 2021. It was a grand occasion for Hindu Revivalists associated with right-wing Hindu extremist organisations, to spew venom against Muslims. Strangely enough, they didn’t bother about Constitution and openly gave a call for ‘Direct Action’ for the mass murder of Muslims. Swami Yati said at the Dharam Sansad, ‘Economic boycott against Muslims will not work’. He urged the Hindus to pick up arms. He promised Rs 1 crore to anyone who is ready to become a Prabhakaran or a Bhindranwale for Muslims. Anand Swarup Maharaj threatened to wage a war more ‘scarier’ than 1857 ‘if the government doesn’t concede the demand of creating a Hindu Rashtra through violence against the minorities. All this is an open violation of provisions of India’s Constitution and various provisions of the Law which prohibits spreading of Hate. Well, their call for genocide against Muslims borders on ‘inviting civil war’.

While poison was disseminated from Haridwar to the country and indeed all over the globe via social and other media the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) administration in Uttarakhand just looked on. In truth all this happened under the benign gaze of Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami who was recently seen paying respects to Yati Maharaj, the main architect of the Haridwar religious congregation.

For all practical purposes the country is heading towards a social catastrophe. Communalisation of polity goes on unabated. These religious bigots are determined to impose Bhagwa Constitution on the people. This hate meeting was permitted to be held on the eve of assembly elections in several states including Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh. The ‘idea of India’ is in a shambles.

For one thing this religious parliament was aimed at polarising voters in the crucial state of Uttar Pradesh where the BJP government of Yogi Adityanath is facing flaks from different quarters. Communalism is so deep rooted in Indian social environment that such provocations may lead to riots anywhere anytime. Then after every communal riot the Bharatiya Janata Party gains electorally. Civil society organisations are demanding immediate legal action against these people who are indulging in hate mongering. Sadbhi Annapurna, general secretary of Hindu Mahasabha at the same venue asked her supporters to organise mass murder of Muslims and yet the law and order machinery didn’t react.

BJP is a fascist outfit. And fascism means war—war against the oppressed, the minorities and women. There is every reason to believe that opposition parties have no desire to fight the BJP seriously otherwise they could have formed a broad united front against the saffron camp long ago, without allowing them to communalise political culture to such an extent that even open call for genocide doesn’t evoke much furore. They weigh everything in terms of elections and in the process lose their political credibility. Tall talk of secularism makes little sense unless they isolate BJP politically and ideologically from masses. And the Swami Yatis will flourish in this atmosphere of passive resistance.

Back to Home Page

Frontier
Vol 54, No. 28, Jan 9 - 15, 2022