Supreme Court Bench led by Rohington Nariman in its wisdom has asked for a Constitution Bench on a PIL on the issue of age old prayers being held in the numerous Kendriya Vidhyalayas across the country for more than 50 years. The prayer, “ॐ अस्तो मा सद्गमय…” has come under the scrutiny after someone filed a PIL calling this prayer a violation of the Secular principles laid down by the Constitution.
This is not one off judgement which rankles the Hindus but is seen as a series concerted efforts by various players to dilute the core of the Indian Nation. The core of Indian Nation resides in the Ancient heritage, in its culture, its customs, its traditions, its way of life as ordained by the bond of Sanatan Dharma, which has sustained the nation for Millenniums. The degradation of Hindu and Hinduism coincided with the Independence when ancient Bharat was divided into two by the British as a parting gift to the Two People recognised by their Faith, ie., Hindus and Muslims.
Muslim leadership in years preceding the independence has vociferously advocated for a separate home land for Muslims as they believed that Hindus and Muslims cannot live together, as they were Two Different People. Muslims were rewarded with Pakistan as the new home while the founding fathers of India post Partition without taking the will of the People, declared Secularism as the founding principle of the new Indian Nation. In fact, any referendum was assiduously avoided by the Congress which though had failed to stop the partition was still handed over the power the departing British. It is a well known fact that if the then interim government of Nehru had proposed referendum, the people would have gone for a Hindu Rashtra, a Theological State as the principle of foundation of the new India.
The first assault on Hinduism was the rejection of Vande Matram as the national anthem as it according to some was communal in its tone and tenor, it repudiated the secular ethos of the new India. Nehru tried to maintain a balance by declaring it as National Song and Jan Gan Man as the National Anthem. Interestingly, Jan Gan Man was composed by Gurudev in commemoration of the visit of the British Monarch to India. But, since the Muslims in the constituent assembly had opposed, our Secularism prevailed and we adopted Jan Gan Man, a song of slavery. The Constitution in its Directive Principles has stated Cow Protection and to stop killing of Cow, however, even after 70 years of independence and 68 years after India was declared a Republic, we still haven’t been able to put a complete ban on Cow Slaughter in the country.
The firing on protesting Sadhus led by Karpatri Ji Maharaj on the issue of Ban on Cow Slaughter by Indira was telling the majority Hindus that their feelings are subservient to the sentiments of the minorities. Interestingly, the top Court has very sedulously avoided any issue which has the potential to upset the sentiments of the minorities, Muslims or Christians but has absolutely no compunction in entering the religious domain of Hindus. It has gained prominence in recent years in general and ever since Modi government, a supposedly Hindu Nationalist government was sworn in particular.
SC has involved itself in most frivolous PILs which have been instituted by partisan political players, by certain NGOs who profess to believe in equality, in Secularism, are nothing more than malcontents who have been marginalised by the present dispensation. The fat cheques have stopped, the free squatting on prime properties in the capital has been stopped, this was the prime mover of the Award Vapasi stunt at the start of the Modi government term. The Intolerance Debate similarly was a product of manipulations by the same set of malcontents. After trying hard to defame the government, the same set of activists, political players directed their ire towards the most basic and the strongest pillar of India, its Dharma, the Sanatan Sanskriti, Hinduism.
We often see and hear statements by the same set of people, of opening up our Temple donations for state expenditures, of taking control of Temples to fund Secular institutions, there are instances where donations by Hindus have been used for Madarsas and Christian institutions. The concerted campaign of utilising Padmanabha Swami treasure was led by the same set. It didn’t stop at merely using Hindu donations for secular purposes but they started a campaign to demean Hinduism per se by presenting customs and traditions with a jaundiced eye, a deliberate attempt to create a perception that Hinduism and Hindus are dogmatic and orthodox bordering on fundamentalism and radicalism.
Then started the onslaught on our institutions, our religious places, our traditions and our way of life. Partisan elements were propped up by various antiHindu forces to question age old traditions of the Dharma. Shani Shingnapur was the starting point of this inflection, a rag tag group of women wanted to desecrate the shrine against the traditional way of worship. Interestingly, the Courts came to the fore and allowed women to climb up the forbidden shrine. It hurt millions but Court had decided and the government of Devendra Fadnavis did not want to take on the Court, as the court had invoked the issue of gender discrimination. This emboldened the lobby which was instrumental in demeaning Hindus to launch yet another campaign, this time on the holy Sabarimala shrine of Ayyappa. The PIL was filed by a group of people who never wanted to go pay their obeisance to Lord Ayyappa, none of the women who were litigants ever visited Sabarimala but became party to this PIL. The SC in its wisdom opened the hallowed precincts of Lord Ayyappa to everyone, including the age group which was banned by tradition for centuries.
Sabarimala has captured the imagination of the masses in whole of South, it is seen as a an attack on the Faith and the Beliefs of the People. It has the potential to upset the cozy camaraderie between the Lobby and the Higher Judiciary in India. State government wanting to appear more than Secular has unleashed the might of the State to overawe the protesters. Shani Shingnapur, Sabarimala are in fact an extension of the experiments carried out by the SC its judgements on Jallikattu or Sallikattu, an ancient form of Bull Sport and Dahi-Handi. Having measure of the protesting abilities of the Hindus, SC started taking on the more basic customs and traditions of the Hindu Society.
Everything has a past, the rejection of Vande Matram has led to rejection of Bharat Mata, some even find the National Anthem objectionable and it does not involve the Muslims alone, even some Christians do not sing the National Anthem as it is supposedly against their religion. The history of independent India is a story of slow and steady suppression of anything remotely resembling Hinduism, the fact that there are tomes being written on the difference between Hinduism and Hindutva by the so called Secularists is evidence enough of the inherent bias that Secularism suffers from. A nation mauled by centuries of killings, rapes, conversions by Islamic invaders was forced to adopt Secularism as the Guiding Principle of its Founding especially in view of the damning fact that Muslims had by force seceded and formed a country only for the Muslims, where other minorities were less than second class citizens. Founding of the Islamic Republic Of Pakistan had settled the issue with respect to the nature of Indian State but the wishes of its people were suppressed and a Secular Republic was proclaimed in India.
The onslaught is not just institutional or judicial but there is a subterranean and very effective machinery at work which is working overnight to change the character of India, to change the religious demographics, in effect, turning Hindus into a minority in India. Though, many have challenged this theory but statistics offer an interesting insight into the changing demographics, while the Hindu population has decreased by more than 6% since 1951, there has been consequent increase in population of Muslims to the tune of 5% and Christians 1% but the true picture lies in the term called Psuedo and Crypto Christians, whose population is in range of 2-3%, these are the ones who do not report the change in religious status. The change is clearly visible in the demographics of North Eastern states of Assam, Bengal where the Muslim population is 34% and 30% respectively, in Kerala where Hindus are less than 50%, ironically, Kerala is called God’s Own Land, the famed Parshuram Kshetra.
The Right To Education is yet another discriminatory legislation which raises concerns about the Legality and Constitutionality of the Act which clearly has separate clauses of implementation. SC in its profound wisdom has exempted the minority establishments from the ambit of Act while forcing the Majority established and run institutions to follow the Act in toto. Simply put, Hindu run institutions must provide the mandatory 25% seats to the backward sections of all Faiths but Muslim or Christian Missionary run institutions are exempted from the Act. This has led to a dire situation where the majority Hindus find it almost impossible to effectively run their institutions and schools. While Muslim and Christian schools are thriving for the simple reason that they do not have to share the burden of the Weaker Sections of society. The proliferation of Missionary Schools can be seen even in hitherto unknown areas. The writer has seen it in the educationally backward districts of Jalore – Sirohi of Rajasthan. The poor tribal population is the target of these schools is a forgone conclusion.
In such stifling environment where there is a collaborated effort by various sections of judiciary, media, NGOs, the so called Civil and human rights groups to undermine anything Hindu has gripped the majority Hindus with a siege mentality. Unfortunately, the present government which is in its last few months hasn’t been able to do anything about this situation, especially as it is supposedly a Hindu Nationalist Government!
