Can reviving symbol of Bharat Mata with saffron flag unite India?

The issuing of coins and stamps in commemoration of the 100 years of the RSS is an expression of Modi’s servility to the parent organisation. It indicates that he seeks endorsement from the RSS to maintain power. His Independence Speech, the open letter on Mohan Bhagwat’s 75th birthday, and now the issuance of coins and stamps, testify to his desperation

In issuing stamps and tickets to commemorate the RSS’s 100th anniversary of its establishment, Prime Minister Modi has demonstrated his eagerness to appease the Sangh leadership. It also shows how helpless he is, that he cannot take any other path or strike a balance between the secular and democratic character of the nation and the pressure of the Hindutva forces. Many would remind us of his background as a Sangh Pracharak. Then, we should remember Atal Bihar Vajpayee. He was not only an RSS cadre but also its ideologue and worked as an editor of its mouthpiece. He demonstrated that a country like India needs a balanced approach. Vajpayee might have been under compulsion, as he had to keep his coalition together. Is Modi free from compulsion? No! He, too, has a similar compulsion to hold the National Democratic Alliance together. He, too, has allies such as Nitish Kumar and Chandrababu Naidu, who have professed secular ideologies. Atal must be credited for his belief in democracy, which is why he respected different ideologies. He bowed to the verdict of the people and refrained from attempting to manipulate it. He did not yield to pressure from Hindutva forces despite the aggressive leadership of the BJP. People remember leaders such as LK Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi, Uma Bharati and many others. The RSS and the Hindutva forces were looking up to them for implementing their programs.

The reasons why Hindutva forces remained subdued during the Vajpayee era require some elaboration. Of course, politics was yet to lose all of its ideological energy, deriving from left and democratic ideologies. The Left had a massive presence in West Bengal, Kerala and Tripura. Active rights groups were voicing their opposition to state-sponsored authoritarianism. The judiciary, the Election Commission, the CAG and other institutions were free from pressures. Above all, the media was almost free.

Thus, if we draw a parallel, we can only conclude that it was not the compulsion of the coalition politics that drove Vajpayee to accommodation. The post-independence Indian state, based on the ideology of Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru, compelled him to function in that manner. Vajpayee believed in and respected the arrangement. He undoubtedly persuaded the masses to accept the ideology of Hindutva, albeit democratically.

The current scenario presents an entirely different picture. The RSS lost its patience very soon, sidelining its LK Advani when he wanted to become another Vajpayee. Modi was an obvious choice. He had demonstrated his mettle as a leader who could quell dissent and make institutions subservient. It was a change in strategy and abandonment of the path of democratic transformation to Hindu Rashtra that made Modi the choice of the RSS. He allowed the Hindutva forces to expand and usurp power. However, it was not enough. There was a Nehruvian state that was obstructing the free run. The hate speeches were not yielding the desired results, and people were not ready to buy the saffron nationalism. The consent could not be manufactured in favour of a saffron state. There was only one way to do it: to capture the existing state through manipulations. Modi chose this path. This is evident in the actions of the ECI and the slow pace of hearings in the Supreme Court regarding the SIR in Bihar.

The issuing of coins and stamps in commemoration of the 100 years of the RSS is an expression of Modi’s servility to the parent organisation. It indicates that he seeks endorsement from the RSS to maintain power. His Independence Speech, the open letter on Mohan Bhagwat’s 75th birthday, and now the issuance of coins and stamps, testify to his desperation. He ignored the demands of the time and chose to behave as a Sangh Pracharak. When India, as a nation, needs to demonstrate its secular credentials and allegiance to democratic principles, it is taking a regressive path by showing its adherence to a saffron ideology.

This is the first time Bharat Mata, with a saffron flag, has appeared on an Indian coin. Is this not a revival of an obsolete symbolism? The symbolism has a colonial origin and has been later transformed into a Hindu symbol by individuals working for the colonial masters. People know how Bankim Chandra used Vande Matram to decry the Muslim rule. The Bharat Mata image produced by Avnidnra Nath Tagore had a different message.

“Bharaf Mata ki jai. Whose jai then did we shout? Not of that fanciful lady who did not exist. …Surely our jai is for the people who live in India, the many millions who live in her villages and cities. I told them, and the answer was pleasing to them and they felt that it was right.

“Who are these people? Surely you and the like of you. And so when you shout Bharat Mata ki Jai you shout your own as well as the jai of our brothers and sisters all over Hindustan. Remember that Bharat Mata is you and it is your own jai,” Nehru had told a crowd of peasants in 1936 while he was on a nationwide tour. Why did he redefine the symbol? Obviously, he was fighting for a united India where no religion would have any dominance. We can imagine how the Muslim League was trying to portray the freedom struggle as an attempt to establish Hindu rule, where Muslims and other communities would have to live as second-class citizens. By reviving an old symbolism, Modi has reiterated his preference for communal politics in which Pakistan and Muslims are the central points in the political discourse.

The outcome of this sectarian nationalism is that sensitive parts of India is in turmoil. We have troubles in Manipur and now Ladakh is facing unrest. The situation in these territories only falsify the claim of Prime Minister that the ideology of the RSS can unify the nation. The RSS and the BJP need to grow and abandon an ideology that led to the vivisection of Bharat Mata.

(The author is a senior journalist. He has experience of working with leading newspapers and electronic media including Deccan Herald, Sunday Guardian, Navbharat Times and Dainik Bhaskar. He writes on politics, society, environment and economy)