The fringe is becoming the mainstream. The cult could soon become the culture. All around us — from the daily dose of media that we consume to the fabric of our daily lives — are signs that opinions that were once voiced only in the shadows or behind closed doors in whispers are being enunciated openly, with gumption, and often as a marker of things to come. Newest in this stream of bellicose nationalism is Union Minister of State Ananth Kumar Hegde’s comment that people who claim to be secular, without knowledge of their lineage, are confused about their identity.
The Constitution, it appears, is trapped between extreme religious nationalism and extreme minority appeasement efforts. The minister, while playing to the gallery, has added that those professing themselves to be secular barely know about their parentage but claim to be intellectuals. He also urged people to identify with their religion or caste, adding that while he respected the Constitution, it will “be changed in days to come”. Anyone who has read the Constitution — the bulwark of a modern, secular, progressive and scientific India — would know that Hegde really has little respect for the book. Had he truly been an ardent follower of the Constitution, he would have known that it doesn’t stand for a myopic India, riven by infighting and scarred by caste politics. The world promised by the Constitution is wholly unacceptable to those who consider themselves more equal than others.
Since Independence, fringe elements have always operated from the margins, sneakily and stealthily, poisoning the minds of innumerable Hindus using the plot of the demonised ‘Other’. Dramatic depictions of one’s nationality is now the new natural. One’s love for his nation is assessed on culinary habits. This is not the India that the champions of the Indian Constitution envisaged. India has had its share of riots and pogroms; of spilled blood and slit guts; of traumatised youth and disillusioned age. Not for this did the people speak in such a unanimous a voice as they did in 2014. Not for this was PM Narendra Modi given the reins of the nation. Fringe elements have been enthused, thanks to the electoral yield that the seeds of communal anger have borne them. Their happiness might not last for long.
Extremism of any kind is a tiger that cannot be tamed, one can ride it but in the end it is the beast that gets the better of the rider. One only has to look at Afghanistan to understand how terrorist organisations operating on the margins ride to power on the back of popular support, only to enslave the very people who vouched for change. Unlike Afghanistan, India’s constitutional edifice is not a pushover. It has been tested, strained beyond its limit, perhaps even broken temporarily. But history has shown that it has an uncanny habit of resurgence, of resurrection, and of an eventual triumph. The Constitution, Hegde should know, will not be shaken. Neither will the people.
