The Hidden Agenda of Modi: Not So Hidden

The BJP led alliance victory has at least assured one thing. No longer can Muslim Indians be accused of living off a policy of official favoritism and appeasement. The Hindu nationalists had always relied on this issue in their electoral strategy. Now they are in power and they can easily stop all such schemes and programs they felt were created to appease Muslims. Moreover, with a clear majority of its parliamentarians, the Modi government is in a position to do what it had always asked the Congress governments to do, i.e., implement universal civil code, amend article 370, and abolish special privileges given to minority institutions. Above all, the Hindu nationalist lawmakers have the ability to take care of anti-nationalists, non-patriotic foreign agents and traitors from places their leadership had described as bastions of terrorism. As the prime minister of the country, Modi now has the privilege to learn firsthand about those Muslims who he always thought believed in the division of the world into Darul Harb and Darul Aman with India being defined as the former.

No doubt development would be the priority. But behind this screen, there is a three-tier agenda that the Modi government would likely to implement as the whispers from RSS and hardcore BJP inner circles suggest.  Through social media forums, internal memos and literature distributed during and after the election as well as speeches delivered to homes and smaller gatherings away from the glamour of the media, one can easily figure out the social engineering that is likely to take place in the next five years under Modi, if the government survives its tenure.

RSS and BJP views of Hindus and India interchangeable. They are inclusive. Others that exist in India may be Indians, but their status is less than those who profess Hinduism as their dharma (way of life). Sikhism, Buddhism and Jainism can be defined as part of Hindu society as they are indigenous. Islam and Christianity are imported religions and they cannot be considered part of Hindu civilization unless their adherents renounce their faith.

So when Modi government talks of national development or national policy, we must understand it as referring to Hindu development and policies favoring Hindus.  During the next five years, the BJP would ensure that such policies are formed and implemented in the name of Indian nationalism. India has always allowed a section of people living outside the periphery of mainstream culture as the plight of Dalits suggest and if Muslims replace them as neo-Dalits, no one is going to shed tears.

The real strength of the BJP is over 5 million RSS workers who are disciplined, and loyal. These workers would ensure that the Modi government policies are popularized in public and projected as the best in the interest of the nation.

Public Positions

The main task that the Modi government would start implementing from day one is the appointment of RSS and BJP supporters of non-competitive places in various departments of the public sector. This would mean appointments of individuals considered loyal to RSS and BJP in film censor board, higher, secondary and elementary education boards, bureaucracy, law enforcement agencies, intelligence agencies, research institutes, universities, courts, etc. In a span of five years, all those who may be considered liberal or secular or supportive of a plural society would find their way out, replaced by those who may still use the same clichés but serve the interests of their ideology. They may find their way in various echelons of government under the façade of secularism. Thus from textbook writings to film production to university and college curriculum, things would notice slow but steady changes.

Development

Through legislation and public funds, companies, and corporations supportive of BJP and RSS would have opportunities to maximize their financial gains. They would determine the labor laws, minimum wages, working conditions and the pace of development. They would develop policies of hiring and firing and decide who would move up from those sections of society who support RSS and BJP agenda. In states where non-BJP government rules, through economic incentives, their opposition would be minimized and climate for an economic alliance would be created.

Hindutva

The RSS and BJP would implement its Hindutva agenda very meticulously avoiding the publicity. Before touching the Rama Mandir issue, the party workers would focus on rural areas, especially in places where minorities are in insignificant numbers. With law enforcement agencies turning blind eyes, many of these communities would be lured back into Hinduism thus changing the demographics of these areas. After all, RSS and its supporters believe that Muslims and Christians were Hindus forcibly converted to their new religion and it is the duty of every Hindu to ensure that the lost sheep are returned to their flock. This would happen in a subtle and organized manner. None of these two communities are organized to even have data about their scattered folks in rural areas. Very few of these communities have actually been approached by Muslim groups in the past 66 years of independence. The majority of them are not even aware of the true dimensions of their faith. All they know is that they were born in Muslim families without realizing the meaning of being a Muslim.

How to combat the Modi Agenda

RSS and BJP are organizations created by people and strong leadership. Muslims can also create strong organizations and leadership. Their leadership must have a vision, a vision of the whole of India not of their party, or community or sect. This vision must be based on the concept of human dignity, of each and everyone and not on the notion of Muslim superiority or supremacy.

The vision must be backed by a grassroots organization, an organization that reaches to the last Muslim living even in the remotest area.

The vision must be popularized through education, an education that does not make a distinction between religious studies and social and natural sciences. An education that is value-based on preparing Muslims to serve humanity through improving their own living conditions. A vision that promotes peace and harmony and that inspires Muslims to forward-thinking.

The education should be imparted through improving existing educational institutions that can adopt a new curriculum based on objective analysis rather than historical claims to subjective negative thinking.

There should be grassroots education movement starting from angan wadi (pre KG schools) and elementary to institutions of higher learning.

Resources

Indian Muslims have tremendous human and material resources. The community runs over a million grassroots madrasas and other similar institutions through its own resources. It also has a strong ally in Muslims, of Indian origin who have settled overseas. Through the combined resources of indigenous and overseas Muslims of Indian origin, Muslims of India can certainly create a new path for them.  But they would need a leadership that is sincere and dedicated to India and the community and those values of Islam that promote peace, human progress, fellowship and human dignity. There is no point in trying to settle issues pertaining to factional and sectarian differences. They are worldwide issues and Muslim Indians alone cannot solve them overnight. What they can do is to ensure that even the weakest of their community is given an opportunity to live with dignity.

The time to act is now, otherwise, it would be too late to respond to the new challenges that would emerge in the next few years. There are many Muslim groups in India and each is busy doing something. But, in general, their program is not beneficial to either Muslims or the country. With the exception in southern and eastern India, especially in Assam, Muslim Indians, by and large, have not created a vision for themselves of India. All they have are some emotional slogans and historical clichés. But a nation does not rise on the basis of clichés and slogans. It rises on the strength of its own will to change it.

Boko Haramis! Who are they?

Boko Haram has created a humanitarian disaster by abducting over 200 girls with the intention to sell them as slaves. It is a group that claims to be Islamic, yet in the eyes of most Muslims, it has nothing to do with Islam. It claims to be a saved sect blessed by God and it believes in the supremacy of the Sharia under the domination of men only authority. Who are Boko Haramis? What are their ideas? Have a look at the article.

In the Northeast Nigerian city of Maiduguri, one year after the September 2001 al-Qaeda attack in the US, Mohammad Yusuf, who has been part of a group known as Shabaab since 1995 with Mallam Lawal as its leader formed what in the local Hausa language now is known Boko Haram, the Congregation of the People of Tradition for Proselytism and Jihad or Jamāʻat Ahl as-Sunnah lid-daʻwa wal-Jihād. Yusuf was later killed in a fight with the Nigerian army. Baku supporters accuse that he was captured alive, but tortured to death by the soldiers.

Since its establishment, the group has claimed responsibility for killing over 10,000 people, Muslims and non-Muslims alike. It now has three splinter groups that are active in Borno, Adamawa, Kaduna, Bauchi, Yobe, and Kano.

The ideas of the leadership are influenced by a deceased Nigerian preacher Mohammed Marwa (died 1980), best known by his nickname Maitatsine, a Hausa word meaning "the one who damns" and refers to his curse-laden public speeches against the Nigerian state.

Maitatsine  was originally from Mawra in northeastern Nigeria at one time part of Cameroon. He moved to Kano, Nigeria in about 1945, where he became known for his controversial teachings on the Qur'an. He claimed to be a prophet and a Mujaddid in the image of Sheikh Usman dan Fodio.  He rejected the hadith and the Sunnah and regarded the reading of any other book but the Quran as kufr. He rejected Prophet Muhammad and projected himself as a prophet. He spoke again the use of modern electronic gadgets as well as means of transportation such as bicycle etc.

Boko Haramis want to establish a sharia state in Nigeria. It wants to eliminate the influence of the Western world in the country and the region. The group does not interact with other Muslims in general and are ready to kill anyone who is opposed to them.  The group believes that it is a saved sect. As a privileged group, it is prohibited to study western education. It is against the establishment of schools, especially girls’ schools. Even though the group is opposed to Saudi Arabia for its westernization, it accepts the edicts of scholars such as Ibn Taymiyyah to promote their use of violence. Salafis are opposed to the group.

Little is known about the group’s finances. Who gives them resources to buy arms and ammunition? Who supports them financially? Why are able to use modern electronic gadgets to communicate with different groups in the world? What is the literature they circulate among them and who prints them?

What is clear is that their understanding of Islam is built on two notions: self-religious superiority and male chauvinism. Since they believe that they are already a saved sect, they can do whatever they want without being questioned by the divine either here or on the Day of Judgment. They believe that non-Muslims have no rights, and they deserve to be killed for preaching their faith. They believe that modernization is, in fact, westernization and both are bad for Muslims. They want to live in a world where they as men can dictate their terms upon all others and where women and children serve as their slaves. They describe all other Muslim sects as either kafir or murtad (apostates) whose murder is part of their religious duty. They believe in slavery, the subjugation of woman, destruction of places of worship belonging to non-Muslims as well as Muslim deviant sects. They believe in having multiple wives and concubines. In their view, such women can be obtained through armed jihad against deviant Muslim groups. They believe in marrying their daughters at an early age. They quote the verses of the Quran and ahadith to justify their position on slavery, the status of women, rejection of modern education and the use of violence.

Obviously, their understanding of Islam is based on an ideology that has tribal as well as juristic roots. It relies on an understanding of the Quran that calls for perpetual armed struggle against those who think differently from the group claiming to be a saved sect.

Even though the group does not admit to being ignorant of the message and meanings of the Quran, its ideas are not different than what was practiced in Arabia in pre-Islamic times. The group has revived all pre-Islamic ideas while using Islamic terminology.

Boko Haram is not the only Muslim group in the world that can be identified for having such ideas. There are many who view the Quran and Sunnah as a license to promote violence and terror to achieve their goals. How to convince such people that Islam does not promote violence and terror is where the real challenge lies in Muslim intellect.  Obviously, the existence of such groups demonstrates the failure of Muslim intellectuals to meet the challenge effectively, yet the efforts must continue at all levels, political, military, social and more importantly the theological.

Why are Hindus Voting for Modi?

Dinesh Narayanan writing in the May issue of http://www.caravanmagazine.in/reportage/rss-30?page=0,7 Reveals the following.

“In January, I went to meet Shyam Pandharipande, a former journalist who grew up in an RSS family, at his sixth-floor apartment in Nagpur. “I joined the RSS before I joined the school and I completed my RSS training before I graduated from college,” Pandharipande told me. He recalled a revealing episode from his third year of the Sangh’s officer-training camp, in 1970, the last step in becoming a full-time RSS worker. During a question-and-answer session, a volunteer asked Yadavrao Joshi, then the head of Sangh workers across all of south India, “We say RSS is a Hindu organization. We say we are a Hindu nation, India belongs to Hindus. We also say in the same breath that Muslims and Christians are welcome to follow their faith, and that they are welcome to remain as they are so long as they love this country. Why do we have to give this concession? Why don’t we be very clear that they have no place if we are a Hindu country?” According to Pandharipande, Joshi replied: “As of now, RSS and Hindu society are not strong enough to say clearly to Muslims and Christians that if you want to live in India, convert to Hinduism. Either convert or perish. But when the Hindu society and RSS will become strong enough, we will tell them that if you want to live in India and if you love this country, you accept that some generations earlier you were Hindus and come back to the Hindu fold.”

The Hindutva candidate, Narendra Modi is confident of his victory. He is certain to cross the electoral finish line to bag more than 272 seats to form the next Indian government. There are still many unknown factors in the election and the victory is not as certain as Modi and the media wants everyone else to believe. However, one thing is certain. Modi's election as prime minister of the country may not have serious implications for India, but it certainly has serious implications for the minorities especially Muslims and Christians. The world does not care if India is a Hindu nationalist or secular state as long as the world and those who manipulate it get a piece in the development pie of India. To India's majority, secularism is not the issue as long as their national pride is in high spirit. The national pride, no matter what one may say, is built on Brahmanical ethos a culture presented in the name of Hinduism. There is a constituency of secular Indians who are concerned about the rise of Modi and they would speak loudly, but fascist forces have the ability to silence them one way or the other. India under Modi should be prepared to witness this.

But the brunt of Modi's presence in the national government would be borne by Muslims and Christians mainly. Probably, the Christian community might get some reprieve because of the growing influence of the American dollar. American Christian evangelists would play a part in standing up for the dignity of their Christian community. But Muslims would not find much support in the world for the ordeal they might go through. The strategy of Modi would be simple. Declare Muslims as terrorists and deal with them as terrorists and no one would come to their rescue. Amnesty and human rights watch might issue a few statements but who cares. It is the community at the grassroots level that would suffer from discrimination. Of course, everything would be done in a legal way. There would be poster Muslim men and women who would sing the praise of Modi, but the majority of the community would suffer because not only Modi but those who support him have a vision of an India where Muslims must be marginalized at all cost. 
Modi has mobilized his partisan crowd, more motivated than ever before to cast their votes for him or his party candidates. Why?

Is Modi charismatic? No, he does not possess the quality of a leader who can make people laugh or cry and make them change their perspectives.

Is he a great orator?  NO, he does not have the skills of an orator. His facts are wrong, his delivery is poor and his choice of words is lousy.

Is he a great scholar? No, he does not even know the basics of even Indian history. If he were contesting the election in any European or North American country, he would have already become a laughing stock among people.

Is he a development guru? No, The development he is talking is what any municipal corporations or city council can do.

Is hi anti-corruption? No, he is reeking in corruption as he is the poster boy of multinational corporations and big businesses who know how to legalize corruption.

Is he pro-people? No, it was in his state that the people belonging to a religion than his own faced the worst violence in independent India and the members of the Modi government were involved in the genocide.

Then, why he is pulling big crowds? Why does the media talk of a Modi wave and why a good number of people are voting for him?

1. He represents an ideology that on the basis of its hatred towards Muslims, Christians and other minorities want to create a nation that gives priority to those who believe in this ideology.

2. He represents an organization that is the most organized and the most disciplined in the world today and that has a cadre to bring out its supporter in the street at a short notice.

3. He presents the face of a leader who is willing to do anything to fulfill the ideological dreams of his supporters.

A substantial number of people are supporting him because they believe that

1. Modi is the only guy who can stop the so-called appeasement of Muslims. It is an irony that some 30 percent of India's jobs and political offices are reserved for people who are identified as scheduled castes and scheduled tribes who are listed by the Hindu religious hierarchy as Hindus. They do not talk about appeasing Hindus. Rather, they refer to Muslim appeasement on the basis of a myth that they themselves have created.

2. Modi is seen as the only one who can engineer the genocide of a people and can get away by manipulating evidence and coercing and suppressing witnesses.

3. Modi is seen as the only guy who has the capability to use violence in the name of maintaining law and order to teach minorities a lesson.

4. Modi is seen as the only politicians who can bring back the old Brahmanical domination by reintroducing Hindus laws in a secular way within the constitutional framework.

5. Modi is a religious fanatic and he wants to create a Hindu Rashtriya based on the notion of RSS and his supporters feel that India can only prosper when it asserts its Brahmin identity.

6. His supporters view Muslims as anti-India. They consider Muslims traitors and enemies of Hinduism politically and socially. They think they have the best chance to get even with Muslims if they elect Modi.

But one must also remember, that history is not often dictated by the known, but by the unknown. Modi and his supporters might have their plans, but the history is capable of unfolding many unknown factors that might pose new challenges to India.