http://www.geocities.com/akhandbharat1947/rightwing.html
India's Right Wing: Hindu Nationalism, or Plain Old Conservatism?
by Kannan Raghunandan
Editorial Note: In this article, Mr. Kannan Raghunandan seeks to
examine the stand of the BJP on various issues and arrive at a
conclusion as to whether the BJP is merely a right-of-center political
party, or whether it is "Hindu nationalist", as it is often
characterized, usually in a derogatory sense, by Indian and
International media.
Minority Rights
Successive governments in India have gone to great lengths to have a
strong minorities commission in India. However, they have been
studiously silent about the plight of the Pandit community in Kashmir.
Almost the entire Pandit community (about 500,000) has been ethnically
cleansed out of Kashmir since 1989. Why is the Minorities Commission of
India impotent with respect to the Pandits plight? Because they are
Hindus, and Kashmir is the only Muslim-majority state in India. In
addition, a special provision in the Indian constitution (article 370)
enables the state government to prohibit purchase of land, in the
Muslim majority area, by Hindus from other parts of India.
There are "hate-crimes" laws on the books in the USA. The interesting
issue is that such laws have been used both when white criminals have
perpetrated crimes on African-Americans, and when African-American
criminals have perpetrated such crimes on whites or Asian-Americans.
The argument that such laws should be applicable exclusively when the
perpetrators are white will not (and does not) fly. If politicians were
to suggest that hate-crime laws should not be applicable in inner
cities (which are predominantly African-American) especially when the
perpetrator is African-American, that argument will be rightly
dismissed as a dangerous double-standard. In addition, if the District
of Columbia or any of the major cities with a black majority population
prohibited real-estate purchases by non-blacks to preserve their black
majority status, would any responsible politician support such
policies?
The BJP is the only party which has consistently fought against this
double standard, of giving second-hand treatment to Hindus.
Incidentally, removing the special treatment which enables a Muslim
majority state to prohibit real-estate purchase by Hindus is one of the
three main "controversial" issues in the BJP platform. Should the BJP
be called "anti-secular" or "Hindu nationalist" for this?
Law:
No other democracy (for that matter, any other country) in the world
has different forms of justice for different people, depending on their
religion. Even Pakistan (Indias Muslim neighbor) and Indonesia (the
most populous Muslim country) have a uniform civil code. India is the
only country, where the rules of justice are different depending on
your religion! (This came about because an earlier Congress Party
government, to capture the Muslim votes, promised that Muslim men need
not pay alimony in case of divorce -- keep in mind that a big
proportion of Muslim women are not educated, and would vote as per the
diktat of the husband in elections. The Congress Party government which
at that time had a massive parliamentary majority, deemed it fit to
change the law after a decision by the Indian supreme court.
Incidentally, I have wondered why the so-called secular press and the
self-labeled fighters-for-social-justice in India and elsewhere have
not deemed it fit to call the Congress Party and others who support
such blatantly anti-women laws as "sexist" or "misogynists.")
If the Jews and Muslims in the USA demanded that the common-law should
not be applicable for them, but that the Torah and the Koranic laws,
respectively, should be applicable for disputes involving Jews or
Muslims, will it be given any serious consideration by any politician
or public figure?
The BJPs promise to bring a uniform civil code, which will be
applicable for the entire population, is the second primary reason for
the BJPs "Hindu nationalist" label. Is seeking uniformity, as opposed
to differential treatment based on religion, "anti-secular" or "Hindu
nationalist?" (As an aside, the very same pseudo-secularists who raise
a hue and cry about Muslim personal law are conspicuously silent when
it comes to criminal law. Nobody ever raised a voice about Islamic
Shariat punishments being applicable for Muslims convicted of criminal
acts. Sauce for the goose, sauce for the gander, right? But then,
Shariat criminal punishments are in general more severe!)
Education:
In India, minority educational institutions are governed by special
law. In general, they are subject to far less regulation even if they
receive a part or the whole of their operating budget from the
taxpayer. They are not subject to laws regarding hiring and firing of
employees, admission of students, or other operating activities (for
example, minority institutions ca
