Fanning the fires of hatred
Speaking generally
By Chanchal Sarkar

ASHOK SINGHAL’s — and it should be presumed the VHP’s — views are frightening. There is absolutely no reason to think he has changed them one whit though the clamour all around, especially from the BJP, has made him take one grudging step back. There is also no reason to think that his party colleagues do not go along with his beliefs and consider that there is a "Christian conspiracy" within the country (and from without) to allure or press-gang Hindus into the Christian fold.

Because there is this hostility stoked up within, we see the open attacks on churches, convents and schools in Gujarat and other states. If the victims were all foreign missionaries then they would probably have decided to leave the country. The Indian Government has not been particularly friendly to or protective of, foreign missionaries anyway. But these are, almost all of them, men, women and children, of our flesh and blood. Many of them have given their lives to education and village upliftment.

Even now I doubt whether the Home Ministry at the Centre and home ministries in certain states will put themselves out to protect Christian missionary institutions and people. What the BJP government feels about this policy of the VHP-RSS is an enigma. Seeing the revulsion in the public, Vajpayee and some of his colleagues make clucking sounds but it could be said that they are play-acting or biding time till when they will no longer be hamstrung by ‘allies’.

About Vajpayee himself, there is a big question mark. Is he strong and decisive enough to influence not only his colleagues but the VHP-RSS as well? Once upon a time there was a claim that a member of the Jana Sangh could also have dual membership with the RSS. It was not agreed to at the time but there is nothing to prevent a BJP member being mentally very much hand-in-glove with the RSS.

Many of us have been subscribers to the view that Vajpayee is a liberal and good man who believes in the compositeness of Indian culture and life. But we may be mistaken and if Mr Vajpayee is a mask, a Hindutva man in a tricoloured shawl, then Christians, Muslims and Hindus who deplore fanaticism and narrowness are in for a difficult time.

I have not been able to figure out what to do. Our whole educational system has gone to pot. In village and small town schools the children are given no beliefs to stand up for. English medium schools teach a phirangi outlook on life. Justice Krishna Iyer says let the children recite the preamble of the Constitution every day. Will that do any good? I despair of how we are going to fight people who say that Mother Teresa and Amartya Sen are part of a global Nobel conspiracy.

Bigger than award

Many years ago when I was a leader writer on The Statesman I wrote an editorial on education and mentioned Rabindranath Tagore. The deputy editor, who was a somewhat timid Englishman, frightened of giving offence, made it "Dr Rabindranath Tagore" ! As if Tagore needed the Doctor. I was reminded of this by Jayaprakash Narayan’s posthumous Bharat Ratna. JP was bigger than the Bharat Ratna. He didn’t need it and had, in fact, once refused it in 1977 and it’s something of a farce to give it to him now.

At times the Bharat Ratna is used not to honour someone but to pamper and placate some political forces. This was the case with MG Ramachandran. Indira Gandhi, who has destroyed so many Indian conventions and institutions, thought of the MGR Bharat Ratna in order to have the support of the AIADMK. Today, JP’s resurrection may be to disarm the liberals in India who have been appalled by some of the policies and statements of the BJP-RSS-VHP.

Following the complex goings on in our parties, the high individual ambitions and the devious strategies is a difficult task. Some observers will tell you that the BJPis about to split, that the RSS is greatly incensed by the ‘compromises’ made by the BJP government. They will also say that there is great rift and contest between L K Advani and Vajpayee, with Advani working to push Vajpayee aside.

In this atmosphere perhaps was the Bharat Ratna for JP born, only a little less ridiculous than the offer to the memory of Subhas Chandra Bose. His family resolutely said no. JP does not have an immediate family else the response would surely have been no, no, no.

Among the political leaders we were left with after the first flush of independence, among the leaders who did not crave office, who tried to solve major problems through personal influence there was no one like JP. He looked tranquil and composed and his voice was gentle but JP was a man of immense courage , decency and determination. To have known him was a great blessing.

We are like that

When they have gone we tend to forget our colleagues. This is what I thought of the other day when I heard that Godfrey Jansen had died in Cyprus. Godfrey was a distinguished contributor to The Statesman and the Times of India, writing about the Middle East.

From All India Radio he had joined the information branch of the Ministry of External Affairs when that Branch still existed. After a number of postings, which included New York, Godfrey was sent to Beirut and there began his second life. He was sucked into the Arab world which attracted him enormously. When the time came for him to move on to another posting, he resigned the service and decided to make his living as a journalist and author in the Arab countries. For a good many years he was correspondent for The Economist of London and also wrote in India for The Statesman. Before all this he had written a definitive book on the Non Aligned Movement, starting with the Bandung Conference. The Economist connection lasted for long, the Indian ones seemed to fall away. Of course Indians and Indian papers are not much interested in the Middle East. A pity this because, as we see now, how vital the Middle East is. Godfrey was a stylish writer and had a great deal to communicate. In fact we have very few journalists who adapt themselves to a country, learning its language, culture, politics and so on.

The friend who gave me the news of Godfrey’s death bemoaned the fact there was not a line about him in any of our papers, not even in the papers for which he wrote with such distinction. But then we are like that.