Carried out all over Germany especially in
University towns, the act presaged decades of illogical censorship and
maniac, linear control of culture that destroyed German modernity and
the country's 2000 year old intellectual-cultural heritage. Thus,
fascism destroyed both tradition and modernity-old and new-humanism and
liberalism-religion and agnosticism-in one stroke.
Persecution, Dictatorship and Totalitarianism Like
Mussolini in Italy before him, Hitler went on to suspend Germany's
Parliament, declare dictatorship, end freedom of press, personal and
religious liberty, and the right to form political parties. Communists,
liberals, agnostics, atheists, Catholics, Protestants, gypsies,
believers, non-believers, housewives, working women, prostitutes, even
children-anyone even suspected of not falling in line with the
fascist-Nazi ideology-was either killed or sent to concentration camps.
Double standards were such that a homosexual with Nazi beliefs was
allowed to thrive-but homosexuals of other ideological persuasions were
declared deviants, not worthy of existence as human beings.
Irrespective
of whether they supported or opposed Hitler, Jews were stripped of
citizenship rights, hounded and killed-often in state sponsored gas
chambers-in numbers crossing the six million mark (
The Holocaust).
World War IIInitiated
by fascists and their irrational-fanatic lust for arbitrary,
bloodthirsty power over "lesser" and "rival" nations-especially western
democracies and socialist-communist countries-World War II claimed
between 50-73 million lives (
World War II).
Western
nations like England, France and the USA joined hands with communist
USSR in order to defeat fascism. In fact, principally, Hitler was
brought to his knees by reverses on the eastern front when his
blitzkrieg failed to break the morale of USSR's Red Army. Under Stalin,
the Red Army began the counter march from Moscow to Berlin, liberating
many concentration camps victims-or what was left of them-in Auschwitz
and other centres (
Auschwitz concentration camp).
Never
before, not during Mongol invasions, or the Crusades, or several wars
of the 18th and 19th century, had the world seen massive killings of
innocent men, women and children, ordered calmly, inside closed doors,
in rooms and over tables, in a juridical-clinical, phased mode. Fascists
outdid Attila the Hun and Changez Khan-who were at least warriors with
medieval code of honour-in unleashing savagery and barbarism through
modern technology and creating the world's only State based on genocide,
to describe which political scientists are still struggling with
concepts.
RSS and HitlerHitler
justified colonialism and British rule over India. In the 1930s, he was
admired by quite a few anti-communists and anti-liberal figures. MS
Golwalkar, the RSS chief from 1940 to 1970 was one of them. In 35/43
page of `We or our nation defined', a 1938 tract, Golwalkar wrote:
"To
keep the purity of the race and its culture, Germany shocked up the
world by her purging the country, of Semitic races - the Jews. Race
pride at its highest has been manifested here. Germany has also shown
how well-nigh impossible it is for races and cultures, having
differences going to root to be assimilated to one united whole, a good
lesson for us in Hindusthan to learn and profit by..."
Golwalkar does not stop here; pages 47-48 and 55-56 openly threaten Muslims:
"The
foreign races in Hindusthan must either adopt the Hindu culture and
language, must learn to respect and hold in reverence Hindu religion,
must entertain no idea but those of the glorification of the Hindu race
and culture, i.e. of the Hindu nation and must lose their separate
existence to merge into the Hindu race, or may stay in the country,
wholly subordinated to the Hindu nation, claiming nothing…….not even
citizen's rights..."
I hate to make comparisons-it reflects
poorly on India. But truth-however ugly-has to be told; this much
Mahatama Gandhi has been able to inculcate in us writers. Isn't it
incredible that what Saadhvi Rithambara and Babu Bajrangi type figures
threatened Muslims with-the stripping of their citizenship rights in an
imagined Hindu Rashtra-respectively-during LK Advani's Rath Yatra for a
Ram temple in Ayodhya and the 2002 Gujarat riots-was not part of some
extreme right-wing fringe? Rithambara and Bajrangi both took their
lessons straight from a mainstream RSS leader like Golwalkar! What a
discovery! No difference between Golwalkar, Advani, Modi, Rithambara and
Babu Bajrangi! What do so-called sophisticated and `liberal' leaders of
the BJP-and their intellectual-right wing apologists like Swapan
Dasgupta and Tavleen Singh-have to say now in their defence? Will they
come out openly and admit that they support a convict like Bajrangi who
waxed eloquent over ripping open a Muslim mother's womb-and that he felt
like Rana Pratap committing a heinous crime-on camera-in the Aaj Tak
expose?
Till date, the RSS has not refuted lines written by
Golwalkar. On the contrary, they form part of the core RSS ideology. It
has become a fashion with some BJP figures to fudge and try to bypass
Golwalkar's views on Hitler by saying that `he (Golwalkar) changed his
thinking, and why don't you look at the good done by RSS etc'; in a
previous article (
Omissions and commissions of the RSS led Sangh Parivar...and the letters of Sardar Patel),
I dwelt at length about RSS' terrorist activities from the
assassination of Mahatama Gandhi to involvement in 1947 anti-Muslim
pogroms with active British assistance. This sordid saga includes RSS'
role in several anti-Muslim, anti-Sikh, anti-Christian riots in the
post-Independence era, the murder of innocent men, women and children
during the 2002 Gujarat riots, and bomb blasts of Malegaon, Modassa,
Samjhauta Express, Mecca Masjid and Ajmer Sharif Dargah. In the same
article, I also challenged the RSS to provide an iota of evidence of
their involvement in the Indian freedom movement. I am still waiting.
Arun Jaitley Vs Markandey Katju When Arun Jaitley first raised objections to Jutice Katju's OP-ED article in the Hindu (
All the perfumes of Arabia),
people thought that the BJP leader was exercising his democratic right
to disagree with an opinion. But no-Jaitley went on a tangent, accusing
Katju harbouring a pro-Congress political agenda, holding a biased view.
Jaitley even attacked the constitutional institution of Press Council
of India (PCI), headed currently by Justice Katju.
People were
astounded when Jaitley asked for Justice Katju's resignation from the
Press Council of India (PCI), on grounds that the PCI was listing
grievances only against non-Congress Governments. Jaitley of course
conveniently forgot that Justice Katju had intervened in several cases
in Maharashtra and other Congress ruled states whenever an issue of
restrictions to free speech came up.
What got Jaitley so worked
up? Justice Katju's write-up in The Hindu criticises Narendra Modi,
asks questions about his role during 2002 Gujarat riots, and casts
doubts on his achievements in Gujarat, especially in the sphere of human
development. So many intellectuals have punctured Modi's vibrant
Gujarat to an extent that even pro-Modi Gujarati bureaucrats refrain now
from belting out statistics at the drop of a hat. Beyond a modicum of
doubt, it has been proved that except for opening Gujarat for loot by
foreign and Indian big-business interests, Modi has done nothing special
in improving the living standards, health, hygiene and physical well
being of the vast majority of Dalits, Adivasis and OBCs in his state.
Modi
has his defenders. Articles praising him have appeared innumerable
times in the Indian Press. But no Congress leader stood up and demanded
the resignation of an intellectual from a position he/she holds just
because something got published in Modi's favour.
Jaitley
apologists say that as the PCI chariman, Justice Katju should not have
aired his political views. Press Council chiefs and people holding
similar posts have time and again spoken out on what they feel
politically. There has been never been an argument on this issue.
Several other intellectuals have also written against Narendra Modi-including on Times of India's edit page (
Gujarat: Myth and reality).
But Jaitley or other Sangh-BJP leaders never really attacked these
figures or asked for the resignation of Bhalchandra Mungekar, the author
of the afore-mentioned TOI edit page piece, from a post he holds
currently-why was Justice Markandey Katju singled out for such
treatment?
Liberal Hindus Vs HindutvawaadisThe
answer lies in the method to Jaitley's madness. As an educated fascist,
Jaitley knows that Justice Katju belongs to the liberal spectrum which
believes in the ideology of Mahatama Gandhi and Jawahar Lal Nehru, and
respects BR Ambedkar, Sardar Patel, and Maulana Abul Kalam Azad. As a
retired Supreme Court judge, Justice Katju also carries a lot of
prestige. He has adopted a consistent position on communalism and social
justice. He enjoys huge support amongst liberal Hindus.
The BJP
does not fear Muslims, leftists, socialists and English-speaking
liberals, as much as it fears liberal Hindus. Justice Katju is a
Kashmiri Brahmin. He is also a Sanatan Dharmi. Secretly, RSS regards
Sanatan Dharmis as the main enemy. This is because RSS' politics
revolves around creating the myth of a divine Hindu race. And then
declaring itself as the true representative of that race-in short, RSS
might have a few confused-brainwashed Sanatan Dharmi followers. But RSS
can never claim the sole leadership even of upper caste Hindus till it
appropriates control of what constitutes divinity among Hindus-whether
Brahmins, Rajputs, OBC or Dalits-or Sanatan Dharma leaders-of various
Shankaracharya Peeths-Akhadas and Maths-of the Hindu religious order.
In
2001 and the ongoing 2013 Allahabadh Kumbh Mela, followers of
traditional Hinduism or Sanatan Dharmis came to blows with
Hindutvawaadis on several occasions. Sources close to Shankaracharya
Swami Swarupanand-and the Naga Baba ascetics of the June Akhada-told me
in confidence that RSS-VHP-BJP shady characters-some of them
criminals-played a role in conjunction with the Samajwadi Party during
the recent stampede which killed more than 50 people in Allahabad. At
present, this is merely, an allegation. But since human lives are
involved, it is worthy of investigation by an impartial body. It does
seems that the `underground' SP-BJP alliance has been flourishing in UP
after the 2012 polls-several riots during the current SP regime bear
testimony to the unholy nexus.
Fascist threat in IndiaPeople
should wake up-Jaitley's attack on Justice Katju should not be looked
at in isolation. Digvijaya Singh, the Congress general secretary,
rightly said that Jaitley owes Modi his Rajya Sabha Sabha seat-and by
attacking Katju, Jaitley is returning the favour. Singh also went on to
elaborate Sangh Parivar's fascist mind-set, which rarely tolerates
dissent (
Digvijay Singh slams Jaitley’s remarks on Katju).
The
Jaitley-Katju spat represents the beginning of an open fight between
Hindutvawaadis and liberal Hindus, a real life drama that will unleash
with full fury in the 2014 elections. Indians have to decide whether
they want a India where Bajrang Dal and Sangh Parivar activists go on a
rampage attacking liberal Hindu, largely upper caste, judges,
professors, media heads, senior journalists, respected
intellectuals-members of the Dalit-OBC intelligentsia-as well as
esteemed women personalities in social life-and the like; or they would
like a peaceful India where the rule of law, liberty and freedom of
speech and religion prevails. If voted to power, fascists will launch a
smear campaign against modernity, pluralism, diversity, democracy and
liberalism. As under Hitler, women will suffer the most under
fascist-Hindutvawaadi rule.
Since they supported the British in
the pre-Independence era, RSS inspired forces will not hesitate to
undermine Indian sovereignty in the interests of US led western block.
Historically, xenophobic-fundamentalist-
fascistic nationalism has always
favoured the big over small, domination of superpowers over regional
powers. Liberal-left nationalism on the other hand, usually fights in
the interest of the people and the country.
Modi's developmental
model excludes benefits to OBCs, Dalits, the middle and the small
peasantry, Adivasis, organized and unorganized labour, small and medium
businesses, entrepreneurs, and the lower middle classes whether Hindus
or Muslims. Under the Indian fascist utopia, people are supposed to
remain bogged down in inter-religious or inter-ethnic conflicts while
big business corporate interests loot precious Indian resources in
Indian tribal and forest regions, displace peasants in the name of
development and muzzle all voices that disagree-a fascist victory in
2014 would imply an end of India's 5000 year old civilization and
culture.
Five years of NDA rule failed not only to build the Ram
temple; apart from unscientific posturing on `Vedic Mathematics'-that
too inconsistent-the BJP led government made no effort to highlight the
great scientific-philosophical-
cultural-artistic-moral-
political
achievements of Indian society before the advent of Muslims. On the
contrary-the NDA regime-including senior leaders like Murli Manohar
Joshi-persecuted Gandhians and liberal Hindus-and forced several
Gandhian institutes-to shut down. Many erstwhile VHP-Bajrang Dal
members-and former MLAs like Pawan Pandey-one of the prime accused in
the Babari Masjid demolition case-left the BJP in disgust after seeing
the moral degeneration of Ayodhya based BJP leaders such as Vinay
Katiyar.
If nothing else-this-the deliberate neglect of the very
Hindu heritage the Sangh Parivar claims to protect-should persuade
people to see the other side of the Sanghi moonlight. Who is going to
stop Hindutvawaadis from burning Vedas, Upanishads, Puranas,
Mahabharata, Ramayan, Arthashastra, Kamasutra-as well as ancient,
medieval and modern Indian works on science, art and humanism-if they
are in power and a wave of puritan-paranoia takes hold of their
political persona?
Is there a Hindu race and nation?RSS
uses terms like `Hindu race' and `Hindu nation'-of course both these
terms have no rational-scientific basis. There is no one Hindu-Aryan
race-and surely no Hindu nation-the Vedas and Puranas mention nothing of
that sort-Puranas use `Bharat' to denote a shifting, geographical
entity.
Even rational RSS sympathisers concede that different
castes and tribes living in India-peoples of a modern
nation-state-welded in its present form initially by the great Mughals,
then the colonial British, and finally Independent India's State
power-consist of men, women and children of diverse racial origin. The
concept of a single, dominant `Hindu race' is not only false-it is
dangerous as it allows any small group to lay claim to that status and
then use it to suppress democracy and the vast majority of the Indian
people.
Puranas mention different kingdoms, not a `Hindu
nation'-this does not mean that the idea of India did not exist in
ancient times. It just did not exist the way the fascists want it to
exist-Mughals carried forward the initial efforts of empire building by
Mauryas and Guptas-and beginning from the 1857 war, the Indian
Independence movement gave a modern, nationhood status to that idea.
Violence and FascismThe
other aspect of course, is the use of violence for political ends,
something that all fascists exercise to attain power. After all, even
the most reverent Narendra Modi supporter concedes that the extremely
violent Gujarat 2002 riots made possible the rise of their self-styled
Hindutva icon. Fascist violence carries an abnormal strain-it reflects a
mind-set that is sadist, inherently cruel and cowardly-as well as
eccentric-whimsical-in the ugly sense. Killing babies and children and
raping women has always been a special fascist prerogative. If some day,
a crazy bout of psychosis grips a fascist in power, he can also sever
facets of the fascist-big business alliance. Hitler persecuted
businessmen also because they had some remote Jewish connection or the
colour of their hair was not to his liking. True horror stories from
Gujarat-of capricious mistreatment of even well placed individuals by
Modi-will start appearing only after BJP's defeat in the state. Don't be
surprised if suddenly, a Sangh Parivar leader takes a disliking to
Ratan Tata or Cyrus Mistry for being Parsees, or to Kumar Mangalam Birla
for his hair style or to the Ambanis for not contributing enough to
fascist coffers-once unleashed, weird politics of paper tigers carries
untold destruction.
