The writer is a syndicated columnist and a former member of India’s Rajya Sabha
People were, of course, indignant over Narendra Modi’s remark that the Bangladeshis should pack up their luggage and leave before May 16, the day when the election results will be announced.
No one wants Modi to be India’s prime minister. His tirade against Muslims makes the Bangladeshis believe that they are in for a rightist Hindu state as their neighbour in place of a secular democratic polity. More than that is their fear that Modi may spoil the proximity the two countries have enjoyed since New Delhi’s assistance in their liberation struggle.
The trip to Dhaka also gave me an opportunity to step back and assess our elections. I see the induction of religion in politics. Modi and the BJP have played the Hindu card to polarise the multi-religious and multicultural country. The harm they have done may be irreparable. The dream of our forefathers that India after independence would be pluralistic in tone and tenor despite its Partition on the basis of religion does not seem to be coming true. Modi has been successful in creating a cleavage between Hindus and Muslims, something which we had successfully thwarted since independence in August 1947.
I have no doubt that the poison injected in the body politic of the country would one day disappear. But in the meanwhile, the nation would have to face an environment of mistrust and estrangement. Liberals — declining in numbers in both the communities — have a serious battle ahead of them. They have to work with more vigour to establish the supremacy of secularism.
Modi and the BJP could not have asked for a more propitious time. People want parivartan (change). The Congress, which has failed them in every field, whether in economic development or governance. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is only a recent phenomenon, confined to urban areas in the north.
Therefore, the vote polled by Modi and the BJP is a negative vote. The sterile 10-year rule by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has cost the Congress its re-election. Various scams which have come to light have harmed the party further.
Modi’s irresponsible speeches have helped the Congress to retrieve some ground. But its stand, spelled out by Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi, has put cold water on the possibility of an alternative with the regional parties. He has voiced strong opposition to the Congress leading the third front or supporting it.
The national Election Commission (EC), no doubt independent, has been soft towards those who have violated the poll code. Modi, for one, has even challenged the EC to try him for the speeches he has been making. By any yardstick, they evoke hatred for Muslims. The Commission’s reaction has been only legalistic even though it had the powers to disqualify him. This attitude of the commission tells upon the transparency of the polls.
The real bad news about election results is the demise of leftist forces. They could have kept a check on the fundamentalists and enhanced the chances of secular elements. In fact, that is the tragedy of political activity in the entire subcontinent. During my college days in the forties, it was said: if you are not a leftist by the age of 25, you should consult a doctor. This assumption got diluted as years went by. The rightists did not remain isolated. They worked hard and influenced the minds of the youth who are today dazzled by money and whatever promotes their career. Karl Marx is seldom read, much less discussed.
I am not surprised that the ideology of the Left did not figure in the poll campaigns. Even the avowed leftists did not talk of socialism or egalitarianism. They, too, have come to believe that in the environment of free economy and individual entrepreneurship, buttressed by the Manmohan Singh government during its 10-year regime, there is little room for the Left. The surprising part is the silence of the committed Marxists.
Still, the fact remains that the first general election in 1952 saw the Communists’ victory in Kerala. Later, West Bengal and Tripura in the northeast returned the red governments. Today, the Left is confined only to Tripura. Their number in the Lok Sabha has been coming down steadily. Apparently, their hold has gone down drastically.
My reading is that the leftists in India were so dependent on Moscow that they felt orphaned when the citadel of communism, the Soviet Union, caved in. The ideology of the Left received a heavy blow. The supporters in India were so disheartened that they practically withdrew from the fold, leaving the entire field to the capitalists.
In fact, the entire effort of the Communist Party of India and that of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) was directed towards stopping the BJP from coming to power. Knowing their own limitations, they were hoping to constitute a federal front of sorts by bringing the non-Congress and non-BJP parties on the same platform.
This is not a bad idea because both the Congress and the BJP are so immersed in corruption and communalism that their defeat is in the interest of India. Maybe, that is the reason why Rahul Gandhi has assailed the formation of the third front but that now is now longer an option.
Defeating communal and corrupt forces is essential, but no less important is the positive approach to push egalitarianism — the promise made during the freedom struggle. At present, both communist parties are distant from the basic philosophy of equality. For some reasons, they have come to believe that secularism will ultimately lead to socialism. How incorrect their assessment is can be seen from the call of chauvinism, which the regional parties have articulated. And most of them are so close to the corporate sector that they have not spelled out the role of public sector in the country if and when they share power. The scenario, indeed, is dismal.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 19th, 2014.
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COMMENTS (52)
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@G. Din: Ambika Soni is not a punjabi Hindu. She is a Christian.
@Ali Tanoli: Begali love india so much then why not they becomes one country after all it was india not too long ago. . Sir Jee, indeed Bangladesh was originally a pat of India and so was Pakistan. Mr. Jinnah did the Non-Muslims of the Indian Sub-Continent the Greatest of All Favours. . No Indian - of whatever Religious or Caste Origin - wants either Pakistan or Bangladesh to Re-Join India. By the Grace of God we Indians are now able to attain our ambitions if not every but most that count. . So please let Bangladesh and Pakistan find their destinies and India will find its own! . Cheers
While these hard core Modi defenders are quick to point out that all the Indian writers on ET are leftists, they should consider that almost all the Indian commentators on ET are hardcore right-wingers, tirelessly campaigning for Hindutva, and harbouring a strong aversion to Muslims and Pakistanis.
@Rakib: Narendra Modi never demanded a ban on cattle slaughter,although our constitution's directive principles of state policies(art 48) deals with discouragement of animal slaughter specially of bovine origin.as far as what Modi said vis a vis meat export,he was juxtaposing the Governments efforts in encouraging Cattle slaughter to those who rear cattle.similarly our constitution also talks about formulation of a uniform civil code,under article 33.
@lahore: "Sir, Thanks for these wonderful articles that you write on the tribune. Nice to see some 60′s energy still running high." That is the best left-handed comment on Kuldip Nayyar I have read in a long time. I am sure just as Muslims pine for 7th century AD, Kuldip pines for the 60's. Oh, what heady days! An utterly foolish demagogue, Nehru, gone berserk and strutting around on the vast Indian landscape as if there was to be no tomorrow and his flock with Kuldip leading the way. But soon that balloon was to be punctured by that spoil-sport Mao Ze Dung. The world turned upside down both for Kuldip and his mentor, the pretentious giver of "the Socialistic Pattern of Society"! The mentor did not take long to depart from this earth thereafter. It has not been the same ever since. Take a look at his picture. The morose face therein says it all
@Muhammad: Thanks for pointig out the truth. TNT was always right and Indians are now on the verge of admitting their mistake for not paying heed to the wise words of one true nationalist Indian called Mr MA Jinnah. He did what he could to save India but foolish Indian leadership insisted otherwise. Now , Indians's only hope rest with the good faith of Pakistani people honoring the premise of making Pakistan with great scrifices by accepting South Asian Muslims right to make Pakistan their safe,secured home. Hope Pakistan will take the leadership role and wont disappoint millions of Muslims whose heart, mind and soul reside in Pakistan as part of their true mundane and soul inheritence.
This might be a wake up call for secular and democratic forces of India. We have seen Republican Regan wining 47 out of 50 states where is he in the history? We have seen Labor Party decimated by Thatcher and the list goes on and on. In each case the losing party bounced right back as a clever and new newer party. May be it is time for the Indian left to modernize themselves and come into the 21st century.
KN need medical attention for dementia. He is 80 plus & time to retire. Old habit die hard. Please remove your green glasses.
@Ali Tanoli: Bangladesh merge with West Bengal? You are aware that West Bengal is part of India - right? Are you recommending a partial reversal of the TNT? What next Pakistani Punjab should merge with Indian Punjab?
Absurd. Partition has occurred. Those who wanted aseparate homeland on the basis of religion have it. They shpuld now live intheir homeland and not try to come to India as illegal Banladeshis are trying to do.
If Modi's stand against Bangladeshi infiltrators is wrong, what would you like him to do?
A.. Invite Bangladeshis to India?
B. Tear up the Citizenship Laws and the Foreigners Act to bits?
And how does that make him 'Secular'? PLEASE.
@Rakib: Ah so you mean only human progress made so far is in butchery then. Well I would beg to differ. There are other avenues to make human progress without killing the poor animals.
@Shiv: No, not secularist, but leftist. Do you see a common trend among authors on ET now?
@Rakib: Now that Modi has promised ban on cattle-slaughter & meat exports, a move that can throw thousands out of job, bovine progress is guaranteed.
Modi has already clarified in an interview with a news channel (I don't remember which one) that he will stop infrastructure subsidies for setting up abbatoirs that has catapulted India into one of the 3 biggest buffalo meat exporters in the world. His thinking is that cattle is a source of wealth to rural Indians and that encouraging short term gains will lead to long term ruin. He also said somewhat obliquely that he has nothing against the dietary habits of Indians or the domestic consumption of meat.
@muhammad because when you left for west Pakistan you forgot to take Biharis from there. Who are refugees there and have second class status. Who consider themselves Pakistanis and waiting for your govt to take them up. The Bengalis there do not consider them Bangladeshis nor views history kindly like the Biharis there. So you get it who's waving the flag there?
Begali love india so much then why not they becomes one country after all it was india not too long ago...
@Indian: Then why BD govt was compelled to ban the waving of Pak flag during recent T20 cricket world cup then took back the decision due to international criticism.
why dont Bagladesh merge with west bengal other wise swamp is hard to change.
Kuldip Nayyar belongs to a group armchair secularists who seek a pseudo moral high ground and appreciation from the Pakistani elite. He wants India and Indians to be like him, no matter that the neighborhood which he aspires for appreciation from is so different from his own ideas. He seems to be suffering from some sort of Stockholm syndrome. He says no one from Dhaka likes Modi - would the same Bangladeshis love a million illegal Indian immigrants in their country if that were the case? I guess he should now take the path of Vanaprasthashram - he is getting on everyone's nerves!
@Indian: Yes, we can watch Indian channels, the popular ones are Sony & Star Plus. The government has not banned any Indian channel. Even Pakistani channels show Indian plays and movies.
Lately the following mathematical equation is getting more and more salience: Punjabi Hindu (is nearly equal to) Punjabi Muslim (is absolutely equal to) a die- hard Muslim. This holds true for all the indicators a human being can be measured in. Kuldip Nayyar, Sapan Kapoor, Kapil Sibal, Ambika Soni, Jyoti Malhotra among others are all Punjabi Hindus.
Nayar is trying to please his muslim friends in Pakistan & Bangladesh. He is quietly forgetting the problems faced by hindus and other minority communities in Pakistan or Bangladesh. He is well aware that the Hindu population of Pakistan during partition was about 11% but it is less than 1% now. Where have all these Hindus disappeared? Psuedo secularist like Nayyar have no guts to point this to his Pak friends. He is conveniently forgetting this. Mr. Nayar rest assued Modi has come with a 15 year mega plan for India. He is going to stay here for another 3 terms. " Acche Din Ane waale Hei"
@jahangir chauhan there's a difference between indian Bengali Muslims who has ration card voting card aadhat card bank records than those who are illegal immigrants who fled their country for better opportunity and have settled in Assam mumbai Kerala Bengal and other states yet don't have these documents to prove they are citizens of the country or permanent house,electricity bills to prove they lived here since long. So we know the difference between indian Bengalis and illegal immigrants who steal our jobs. Even in Assam its weird, they speak different language-local to Assam yet Bangladeshis have started settling there and making them minority in their own land their there language culture etc.
I would also like Indian right-wing writers to write articles in Tribune along with Left-wing writers so that there is a balanced set of articles or else the left-wing righters should write balanced articles and not one-sided ones.
@Gratgy: He was not talking about immigrants who want to come down and settle in India and even that in Bengal which was historically one land for Bengalis from centuries old but talking about those who are already settled there and living there lives peacefully and if he will forcefully expelled them then Bengalis of India will feel grudge towards him and his political style by bringing rift between East and West Bengal.
@rama: Jinnah*. though better call him Quid-e-azam.
@Shakir Lakhani: What about Indian news channels can you watch them?
There are 2 Two nation theories.
1.Two nations between India and Pakistan. 2.Two nations between Pakistan and Bangladesh.
Majority Pakistanis believe that 1. was right. Majority Bangladeshis believe that 2. was right. Some Indians believe 1. was right and all Indians believe 2. was right.
Someone should tell the author that Indian channels can be watch freely in Pakistan. In fact, in Musharraf's days a Pakistani channel was banned, but no Indian channel has ever been banned. So much so that "patriotic cable operators are not at all worried about showing Sony/Zee/Star Plus, etc but they have pushed GEO to very high slots so that it can't be seen by most people.
It is proved that two nation theory was right,is right and will remain right!
@nadeem I am glad too seeing the current state of your country OBL etc. worry about all those Shias and ahmedis now who are regretting TNT.
Leftism is an ideology group kept alive by violence in their respective states. The reason why it is dying in West Bengal is because Trinamool Congress is even more violent
First Kuldi Nayyar says Indians will not accept Modi, After Modi wins, he starts saying Bangladeshis will not accept Modi.
What next?? Will people from Timbuktoo also not accept Modi if he does not allow them to immigrate illegally??
Sir, Thanks for these wonderful articles that you write on the tribune. Nice to see some 60's energy still running high.
As the child of parents who migrated from Delhi to Pakistan in 1947, I have often wondered how things would have been - for me personally - had there been no partition. I would have been uncomfortable and most likely denied equal opportunity in an India decisively moving toward the Hindutva way of thinking. So even though I am a strong supporter of peace and normalization between the two countries, I'm glad - at least for myself - that Pakistan was born
@someone: (Human progress under threat…like how? Care to explain?)
First things first. Now that Modi has promised ban on cattle-slaughter & meat exports, a move that can throw thousands out of job, bovine progress is guaranteed. Humans can await their turn.
Sir if Bangladeshis wanted the right to enjoy India's resources they should not have divided the country in the first place. You cannot get a country in the name of religion and then feel entitled o push your poor to India to find jobs.To say 'no- one wants Modi to be the PM' at a time when he has got the largest mandate that any non-Congress party has ot in the history of independent India is absurd. If you meant no one in Banladesh - well the Indian PM's primary purpose is o improve life of Indians and it is their mandate not opinion of your leftist friends in Bangladesh that matters.
Secondly 14 % of India's budget goes to subsidies and yet you feel India is completely capitalists? Why do you thing left has been reduced to the current state in West Bengal? Because you have to create resources before you can distribute, after. Left finished distributing existing resources and drove out creators of wealth in he process from West Bengal - it had no source of wealth left to distribute. Soviet Union collapsed economically and that is exactly what happened to West Bengal. Even in Kerala where left often comes to power - the militant unionism has meant that Malayalis have to lieave Kerala to find jobs.
I don't understand one thing about Pakistan commentator, Zinah also vision multi culture pluralistic society, currently is the most intolerant society. You people correct you back and talk about the political situation in India. Stop pocking into India in the name of secularism
(During my college days in the forties, it was said: if you are not a leftist by the age of 25, you should consult a doctor.) Author
By the time I was in college the saying was:-If you are not a leftist at 20 you have no heart but at 40 if you still are one, you have no head!
Wow! mr. kuldip knows that indian news channels are ban in Pakistan but he has no courage to let the readers know that even Pakistani entertainment channels are not allowed in india..... so be wise to write about nations .........
The renowned writer is angry with indians, bjp and modi for winning elections.
Strange
Nayar remains as always, a dilettante supporting a deeply discredited philosophy, Communism. Its demise in India is a development whose time has come, a fact that is obvious to all but the most dyed-in-the wool reds. By remaining with his head buried firmly in the past as always, in this and other issues, this man is getting to be an increasingly irritating read. His kicking out of this and other publications is also a development whose time rapidly approaches.
Kuldip Nayyar has always been trite and boring. He became a little prominent because he opposed the emergency. After a few years sunk into well deserved oblivion.. Should this paper continue to inflict him on your readers?
one of the fascinating facts of this election whose aftereffects are yet to sink in for some people,is wiping out of what masqueraded as the Communist party of India.yes CPI bagged zero seats along with the likes of BSP,DMK,AGP,MNS,and NC.west Bengal went from bad to worse during the golden period of communism in India.nationalism has always been an anathema for commies,so nothing special in Mr Nayyar being unhappy with the new developments.but i fully concur with Cho Ramaswamy's view that -''if Left has got any future in India,than India has got no future left''.
Good riddance to a bad rubbish
@shivam saini: Human progress under threat...like how? Care to explain?
Kuldip Sir,
There was a time in the eighties when I was happy to read your articles. However, during the last few years, you have gotten shriller for all the wrong reasons. This article hits the pits when it comes to distorting truth. The BJP campaign was one of the least communal India has seen and you are venting your frustration at Modi coming to power, who is a villain in your mind.
Now, deporting illegal immigrants ( even if they are muslims !!) is the normal thing to do and every country tightly secures its borders against illegal crossing. It did not matter what Bangladeshi muslims think, what mattered is what is the right thing for India (in the elections). That you can not understand such a simple fact is because either you have opaque blinders or your over reaching need to look sickular. On a different note, since you were in Bangladesh, it would have be nice if you had explored about the minorities there ( hindus) being hounded, but then your blinders won't allow you to see or questions.
Sad to see you slide to new lows
So by Mr. Nayyar's conclusion, we should select a person to lead India if he is vetted by neighbors. Hmm...in that case should we not hold elections there to select Indian PM? And if that was the case, why did they even bother to get parted?
Thanks for the article. It's truly sad to see a hindutva party come to power. It seems like human progress is under threat
All these years, the Congress and the rest have played Secular card and have been polarizing the minority votes. India is secular not because of these fears, but the majority has accepted the secularism in their day to day life, so I do not think, crying owl on polarization of Hindu votes would change this situation. Articles like this would only alienate the neighbors, rather than doing any good.
Also, this is the first time a popular vote has been for positive role for the new government to perform, so how come a vote against corruption and indecisiveness be regarded as a negative one ?
Kuldeep sahib.. We can do away with your pseudo sickularism.. I have never seen you raise the real apprehensions of Hindus be in pak or Bangladesh, where minorities are not only apprehended but have their rights cut out.. And here you are with your imaginary issues and the pm hasn't been sworn yet.. And which left are you talking about, which didn't allow states like Bengal and Kerala to grow.. People of India have shown immense maturity this time and I am sure blabber mouths and attention seeking souls like you will slowly be chucked out of mainstream..
Once again Nayar blames Modi for being an Indian first. Why should India accept Bangladeshis who entered and continue to enter India. India has its own problems of unemployment without taking on these uneducated and unemployable people. Is it not Bangladesh's responsibility to look after it's citizens? It is fine for Nayar to agree with his friends in Dhaka but he has to be realistic. I give this article a zero mark.
The communists lost because they made a mess of the economy wherever they ruled. 30 years of communist rule in Bengal reduced it to its knees. Keralites do well only when they leave Kerala. BJP is about as secular or communal than any other party in India. Everybody fishes in troubled water when it suits them. India has had communal riots every 5-10 years under all parties of all stripes. 2002 Gujarat riots were the first time the perpetrators were identified and punished. The Judiciary, Police, Adminstration etc. all showed they can act independently and go after their Political bosses. India voted for Modi because he is by and large clean, he is proven administrator. He rose to power from a humble background honestly, through hard work, unlike those who pretend to be socialists but are actually hoodlums like Lalloo, Mulayam etc. What is wrong with asking Bangladeshis to go back to Bangladesh? Every country has a right to secure it's borders and keep out unwanted people.