Perils of the soft Hindu card

The violence during Ram Navami and Hanuman Jayanti celebrations underscores the dangers of the soft Hindu card which has Opposition leaders foregrounding their Hindu identity and projecting themselves as ldquogood Hindusrdquo in contrast to the ldquobad Hindusrdquo who comprise the Bharatiya Janata Party leadership It is presumed that the innately noble people of India will rally behind the Opposition to vanquish the BJPThe soft Hindu card has repercussions for Muslims The most severe of these is that the card has disabled the Opposition from countering the violent targeting of Muslims by the Hindutva brigade enjoying state patronageThe soft Hindu card subliminally tells Muslims to not be provoked by insulting slogans as were chanted during the recent religious processions get beaten or lynched have their community members tossed into prison on fake charges watch their establishments demolished and take in stride their demonisation by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and its affiliatesIt is in the interest of Muslims to show forbearance it is argued for Opposition leaders cannot publicly mobilise people against Hindutva lest they be perceived to be ldquoantiHindurdquo This charge they would invite in case they even speak up for Muslimsmdashand thus risk losing Hindu votesIndeed the soft Hindu card is merely an electoral strategy not a political or philosophical intervention It holds out an unsaid promise to Muslims that once nonBJP parties come into power they would be protected from Hindutva Till then Muslims must stoically suffer and continue voting for the OppositionOccasionally though Congress leader Sonia Gandhi will write about the ldquovirus of hate and divisivenessrdquo damaging the nationmdashand Rahul Gandhi will hit out at the RSS The Congress was among the 13 parties to recently issue a statement expressing horror over religious violence The motherson duo takes the moral high ground against Hindutva Congress state units play the soft Hindu cardTake Chhattisgarh where Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel inaugurated the first phase of the Ram Van Gaman Project on Ram Navami His government also held a Ramayana recital competition In Madhya Pradesh Kamal Nath issued an order asking Congress leaders to organise Ram Katha recitals worship Lord Ram on Ram Navami and recite Hanuman Chalisa on Hanuman Jayanti Observe how Congress leaders refuse to take an unambiguous position on the hijabhalal controversy in KarnatakaThe Nationalist Congress Party of Sharad Pawar one of the 13 signatories is a member as is the Congress of the ruling coalition in Maharashtra which has its chief minister regularly insist that his party represents true Hindutva the CMrsquos son will be visiting Ayodhya next month Outside the group of 13 Telangana Chief Minister K C Rao speeded up the completion of the Rs 1200crore Yadadri Temple perceived to be his response to the BJPrsquos astonishing performance in the 2020 Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation electionThen there is Akhilesh Yadavmdashbehind whom Muslims consolidated in the recent Assembly elections in Uttar Pradeshmdashwho is palpably reluctant to use the Mword This angered Muslim leader Azam Khanrsquos spokesperson into pointing to Yadavrsquos ingratitude to the community Mayawati blamed Muslims for her partyrsquos defeatFew have gone as far as Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal to prove their ldquogood Hindurdquo credentials After striking out the Missue from the list of topics to speak on he famously recited the Hanuman Chalisa on a TV channel in 2020 took to visiting the Hanuman temple and his party recently organised Sundarkand path on Hanuman Jayanti For all their Hanuman bhakti Aam Aadmi Party leaders lacked the fearlessness to step into Jahangirpuri as communist leader Brinda Karat did so spectacularly to stop bulldozers from flattening the establishments of those accused of hurling stones at the Hanuman Jayanti processionKejriwal will say he cannot stop communal violence because the Centre not him controls the Police a line nonBJP leaders also take in states where they are not in power They should read political scientist Ashutosh Varshney whose study shows that interethnic civic associational groups such as peace committees are a bulwark against communal violenceOnce the architect of peace committees the Congress refrains from putting these in place fearing the party would be tagged proMuslim and antiHindu This is also true of other parties Their inaction testifies to their dubious belief that Hindus are irredeemable Hindutva radicals disinterested in social harmony Better to court than change them Better not to be a Brinda KaratWith some exceptions nonBJP leaders have repeatedly proved AIMIM leader Asaduddin Owaisirsquos thesis rightmdashthat they do not speak up for Muslims because they presume the community will out of their fear of the BJP always vote for them They may call Owaisi a BJP stooge but are they even deserving of Muslim supportViciously targeted by the BJP and abandoned by the Opposition the flame of hope among Muslims just about flickers Once it is extinguished the Muslim elite would likely wing abroad The young may take to the streets to demand equalitymdashand get battered Many would withdraw from the democratic process or become radicalised which can take several expressions Remember then to also blame the Oppositionrsquos soft Hindu card which has created a political ambience conducive to Hindutvarsquos riseThe writer is a senior journalistSend your feedback to mailbagmiddaycomThe views expressed in this column are the individualrsquos and donrsquot represent those of the paper