By Justice Markandey Katju–
(Justice Markandey Katju is a former Judge, Supreme Court of India, and former Chairman of Press Council of India. The views expressed are his own)
Politicians want to attain and retain power. One can therefore understand their political compulsions when they give passionate speeches to attract votes. But then, everything has a limit, and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi crossed all limits last weekend when he gave a speech in Banswara, Rajasthan spouting venom against Indian Muslims, bringing the nation’s political discourse to a new low.
Modi said that the Congress party wants Muslims to have the first right on India’s wealth and resources. He quoted former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in this connection, but the truth is that Dr Singh never made that remark. What he had said was that the weaker sections of society, that is, the scheduled castes, scheduled tribes and minorities, have the first right on the nation’s assets and resources.
Modi also called Indian Muslims ‘ghuspethias’ (infiltrators). But Muslims constitute close to 200 million out of India’s population of 1400 million (14%). How can they be infiltrators? Over 95% Indian Muslims are local converts. And even those whose ancestors came from abroad were quickly Indianized.
For instance, the Mughal Emperor Babur, who invaded India in 1526, may have been a foreigner. But his grandson, Emperor Akbar was very much Indian, and could by no stretch of imagination be called a foreigner. Similarly, Indian Muslims and their forefathers have been living in India for centuries. How can they be called infiltrators?
Modi said the Congress party wants to take the gold of Hindu women and distribute it among those who have many children, implying the Muslims. He also said that the Congress will take away the ‘mangalsutras’ (the sacred necklace of marriage Hindu women often wear) of Hindu women, and give them to Muslims. This too was a provocative remark to incite hatred against Muslims amongst Hindus.
Opposition parties have strongly reacted to this speech. One may wonder why Modi went berserk and made such a venomous, hateful, malevolent speech against Muslims? The answer is that he seems to have sniffed the change in the political wind in India, and felt that power, which he has exercised since 2014, may be slipping out of his hands.
As mentioned in my article below, the Modi wave and Modi charisma have vanished, and the parliamentary election result on June 4 will show drastic reduction of BJP seats in the Lok Sabha, and may even bring about a coalition I.N.D.I.A. government.
This thought seems to have unhinged Modi’s mind. The speech, therefore, seems to be a last ditch effort to consolidate and galvanize Hindu votes in the next six phases of the ongoing Indian parliamentary elections, but I doubt it will achieve anything.
One is reminded of Hitler’s rants when the Soviet army was closing in on Berlin in April 1945.
