Hindutva Lab 2.0
BJP-ruled
Karnataka is on a dangerous path of radicalisation. Rana Ayyub traces
the scary distortion of an entire society
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IS
KARNATAKA the new Gujarat, the second “laboratory
of Hindutva” for the BJP and the broader Sangh Parivar? As the BJP government
in the state enters the final year of its first term in power — it had earlier
ruled in alliance with the JD(S) — that disturbing question comes up again and
again. Behind the morality and hypocrisy, the humbug and corruption that the
BJP establishment in Bengaluru has been charged with is a harder, harsher
truth: the scary distortion of an entire society.
Two weeks ago, the
so-called ‘porngate’ controversy rattled the country, when three BJP ministers
were caught in the Assembly watching a pornographic clip — later explained as
the recording of a woman being raped — while the House was in session and
discussing poverty. While that controversy claimed the headlines, it also
forced the RSS and its affiliates in the state to hurriedly cancel plans of the
extended session of the Hindu Shakti Sangama. A Hindu show of strength, as the
name implies, the Sangama was supposed to be held across the state after the
opening convention in Hubli. Chief Minister DV Sadananda Gowda turned up in
Hubli, wearing the RSS trademark khaki shorts — perhaps the first time a chief
minister has been seen thus clad at a public event. If pictures tell a story,
this one spoke volumes of the saffronisation of Karnataka.
The Sangama may
have been interrupted by the Sangh Parivar, embarrassed and still recovering
from the shame of porngate. Nevertheless, as TEHELKA travelled through
Karnataka, spending a week journeying from urbane Bengaluru to northern and
coastal Karnataka, what became apparent was that right-wing Hindu attacks on
Muslims and Christians were now a regular feature. This reporter came back with
accounts, incidents and testimonies that were so brazen, it was shocking.
Take a small
example. On 22 January, there was uproar in Uppanangadi, a hamlet near
Mangalore. Kalladka Prabhakar Bhatt, a senior RSS leader known for his
proximity to Sadananda Gowda and his predecessor BS Yeddyurappa, was addressing
a crowd and resorted to extreme and undignified imagery. “Lift the veils of
Muslim women,” Bhatt told the throng, “and glimpse what they have to offer.”
His listeners cheered; policemen listened too, but strolled casually, as if
nothing were happening.
Soon after, the local
minorities — a mix of Muslim and Catholic organisations — approached the
police, which reluctantly filed an FIR against Bhatt. Yet it refused to arrest
him, arguing there was no basis for taking him into custody. Rather, as if to
compensate, the local police then filed an FIR against the president of the
Muslim Central Committee, Mohammad Masood, under Section 153(a) of the Indian
Penal Code — “Promoting communal enmity between classes” — as well as Section
505(2) — “Making statements that create or promote communal enmity”.
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What was Masood’s
fault? He had called a press conference to condemn Bhatt’s despicable
one-liner. When contacted, Mangalore SP Abhishek Goyal suggested that there
were “grey areas” and the police would certainly “study” the case. While the
police was still studying the footage of Bhatt’s public meeting, the man
himself inaugurated the new building of the Mangalore Police Commissionerate!
Sitting with him in the VIP row was none other than the chief minister.
It was the sort of
moment and photo-op the media just waits for. Yet the presence of Bhatt so soon
after the unseemly incident found no mention in the media coverage of the
inauguration of the new building. It was almost as if there was a conspiracy of
silence. Only one plucky local newspaper broke the Omerta: Karavali
Ale.
At one time, Karavali
Ale was Karnataka’s most popular newspaper. Part of the reason it is
not any longer may have to do with the stance of its editor, BV Sitaram, who
has been one of the few voices in the state warning against the rising tide of
religious bigotry. For two decades, he has documented each and every communal
incident, big and small, in the state — and has suffered for it.
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In 2009, Sitaram
was arrested when a case was filed against him for defamation. Twenty-five
policemen turned up and surrounded him. “It seemed like they had come to arrest
a terrorist,” he exclaims. His fault was he had written about the exploits of a
local Bajrang Dal leader.
Sitaram points to
the newspapers stacked in his office. Picking up some of them at random, from
the previous month’s pile, almost every day one finds mention of an attack on
Muslims and Christians, on churches and mosques. Sitaram is distraught: “They
go around shouting ‘Pehle qasaai, phir Isaai’ — First butchers
(Muslims), then Christians.” According to official figures, a church has been
attacked almost once every 10 days in the past three years. In some cases, the
very presence of a Muslim boy with a Hindu girl has caused a riot.
The opposition to
Hindu girl-Muslim boy romance is part of a peculiar phenomenon that the Sangh
Parivar labels “love jihad”. This paranoia began in Kerala and alleges that
Muslim men are being trained to woo and then indoctrinate Hindu girls, to win
converts to Islam.
Bhatt is an
exponent of theories of love jihad. In December 2011, the Hindu Nagarika Samiti
held a massive protest meeting in Sullia, where Bhatt attacked the police for
its supposed anti-Hindu sentiment and spoke of how love jihad, terrorism and
cow slaughter were rampant in the state.
He was joined by
others, notably Satyajit Suratkal, regional convener of the Hindu Jagran
Vedike, who said: “Whenever the Muslims provoked us, we have given a suitable
response. If they want more, then there might be a recurrence of earlier
happenings. If the police join hands with traitors we will teach them a lesson
too.”
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Other speakers were
equally inflammatory. Some wanted cases booked against Sub-Inspector Ravi Kumar
and action to be taken against the SP and the ASP because of alleged bias
against Hindus. Soon all three officers were transferred. Ravi Kumar was
“shifted back” to his earlier posting in Puttur town a day after his suspension
was formally sought by the BJP district unit.
WHICH DIRECTION is
Karnataka taking? In many senses, it seems to be a replay of Gujarat, with a
shorter time-span. Like in the western state, there is a manipulation of class
and commerce for religious ends. In Gujarat it took religious riots beginning
with the bloody killings of 1969 — and extending from the 1970s to the 1990s —
for the Sangh Parivar experiment to mature. Karnataka saw a similar surge with
the Ayodhya movement in the late 1980s, and escalation with the Suratkal riots
of 1998, which killed 18 people. In the process, relatively peaceful Mangalore,
Suratkal, Bhatkal and Ullal became the fulcrum of the Hindutva movement.
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The rise of the Sri
Ram Sene, Hindu Jagran Vedike, Hindu Janajagruti Samiti, Sanathan Sanstha and Bajrang
Dal were part of this radicalisation project. So was exploitation of
socio-economic conditions, says Suresh Bhatt of the PUCL. The current communal
tensions in Dakshina Kannada and Mangalore have their roots in the region’s
rapid development since the 1970s.
Land reforms
created new spaces for different castes and communities to operate in and
compete with each other. Dominant social groups like Konkani Brahmins, Bunts
and Christians found opportunities in new ventures like banking, education,
tile manufacture and cashewnut trade. Many Bunts moved to Mumbai to establish
Udupi eateries.
As studies done by
fact-finding missions show, traditional backward castes like Mogaveeras and
Billavas, who were freed from dependent tenancy, moved into small businesses
like fishing. Here they had to contend with the Bearys, a Muslim community with
a sizeable (15 percent) presence in Dakshina Kannada, and a heavy concentration
in districts like Mangalore, Bantwal, Belthangady and Surathkal. All these
areas are today communally sensitive.
The Gulf boom of
the 1970s and the new industrialisation enabled the Beary community to prosper
in petty business (textiles and groceries) as well as mid-level ones such as
hotels and the spice trade. All this led to disgruntlement among the newly-empowered
backward castes. It created room for religious mobilisation.
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The Sangh Parivar
began by consolidating unemployed youth in the Billava and Mogaveera groups.
Neither have strong community organisations, and the Bajrang Dal and Sri Ram
Sene filled the gap. Billavas form a majority of Sri Ram Sene cadre and have
moved from being followers of Sri Narayana Guru to champions of Hindutva.
Mogaveeras have found a niche in the Bajrang Dal.
Using various
frontal organisations, the Sangh network infiltrated virtually every village in
these parts of Karnataka. All this preceded the actual coming to power of the
BJP by a good decade and speaks for the assiduous cadre-based skills of the
Sangh Parivar. In February 2006, the BJP entered the government as a junior
partner of the JD(S). In May 2008, it was in power on its own, having won the
mid-term polls.
IT WAS now
time for the great leap. The year 2008 was a take-off point for the Hindu right
in Karnataka. Once the BJP government was installed, it had a choice between
broad-based development of the state and consolidation of the Sangh structure.
Four years on, it’s obvious which path was chosen. In its first year itself,
the government had given evidence of its agenda. Bajrang Dal activists attacked
churches, with the administration scarcely taking stern action. The question of
whether the government would rein in extremist elements was answered in the
negative.
Then CM Yeddyurappa
and his home minister VS Acharya — who passed away earlier this week — made a
series of statements that sought to discount the extent and intensity of the
attacks. There were repeated references to “spontaneous anger” of ordinary
people allegedly due to conversions.
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The other action of
the BJP — and this was seen even when it was in coalition with the JD(S) — was
to withdraw cases filed against Sangh Parivar activists for inciting religious
hatred, under Section 153(a). One beneficiary of this was Pramod Muthalik of the
Sri Ram Sene. He shot to infamy shortly afterwards, following the pub attack in
Mangalore.
Many believe the
Sri Ram Sene went into decline after the pub attack. The BJP disowned Muthalik
even though the larger Parivar backed him. The TEHELKA sting operation (Rent
a Riot by Pushp Sharma and Sanjana, 22 May 2010) proved that far
from an army of committed ideologues, the Sene comprised hoodlums for hire. As
a senior IB official posted in Karnataka puts it, “The Sri Ram Sene, Bajrang
Dal and other fringe outfits are all offshoots of the RSS. But it conveniently
dissociates itself from them when it wants to.”
A glaring example
was the January incident in which five Sri Ram Sene miscreants sought to hoist
the Pakistani flag and implicate Muslims. The police caught them, but there was
a twist to the story. Investigating officials reveal that the RSS put pressure
on the state government to protect itself. The blame was put on the Sri Ram
Sene, but those arrested were apparently RSS cadre. This was hushed up.
Shiv Sunder, a political
analyst with Lankesh and one of the most clear-headed
observers in the state, says the police in Karnataka is not communalised,
unlike Gujarat, but is forced to look the other way. “But yes,” he says, “the
situation is similar. The Home Department has its own set of officers, mostly
from the OBC communities; the Brahmins, of course, don’t do the dirty job. At
this point of time, it won’t be right to call Karnataka the next Gujarat. But
give it five years, it will prove to be worse than Gujarat.”
It’s a chilling
thought.
Already neutral and
professional officers are feeling the heat. Two senior police officers have
asked to be moved to Central government postings because they cannot take what
is happening. DG (CID) Roopkumar Dutta is one of them. Sources close to him say
he has had run-ins with the chief minister and home minister. At one stage,
Governor HR Bhardwaj had to step in and ask the home minister how the
government could let an officer of Dutta’s stature feel compelled to want to
leave. Dutta’s hands are tied because he has been refused permission to act
against Sangh affiliates.
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WHO ARE the
lumpen Sangh activists being given protection? Rubina would know their type.
Only 22, Rubina is a convert to Islam from Bantwal, near Mangalore. In her own
city and her own state, she is a refugee, running from place to place to find a
secure home. She was born into a Brahmin family but turned to Islam of her own
volition, and married a Muslim man. Her idyll never lasted.
Rubina came to meet
this reporter covered from head to toe, scared of being recognised. Soon after
the wedding, her husband was picked up on charges of terrorism. While he was in
custody, the Mangalore Police barged into her house late at night. Inspector
Venkatesh Prasanna enquired about her husband, abused her for converting to
Islam.
With a child to
take care of, Rubina shifted to the city. She pleaded with TEHELKA that if her
case comes to light, she will be in trouble with the cops. “I can’t live in
peace,” she cried, “they ransacked my house, twisted my arm. I stay with a
friend. I’m worried about my child.” As Rubina said this, she wept copiously —
her tragedy as wrenching as it was obvious.
Rubina’s case is
typical of what the state authorities call “love jihad”. While the Karnataka
Police had told the high court in November 2009 that there was no case of love
jihad in the state, this was not enough for the BJP and the Sangh Parivar.
Despite absence of evidence, the love jihad paranoia continues to be whipped
up. Recently, Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister S Suresh Kumar called love
jihad a grave issue, and Home Minister R Ashok promised a new investigation. No
wonder, in the past three months alone, 18 Muslim men have been attacked,
presumably as love jihad suspects.
It is all so
blatant that Sangh Parivar functionaries take responsibility for such attacks
and insist they have government backing. Just a day after Bhatt’s vulgar
speech, this reporter met the Karnataka unit chief of the VHP, Jagadish
Shenava, and discussed his own hate statements against Muslims and Christians.
He was dismissive: “See, the BJP knows why it is in power here. It is because
of us, the RSS and the VHP. Whatever we do, we have their support. Do you think
we will let these jihadis run away with our daughters and sisters? We know how
to deal with them.” As Shenava spoke, a gun-toting security officer kept him
company. Asked about it, he laughed: “Oh, this is just to take care of the
jihadis, the state has given it to me.”
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People like Shenava
have every reason to laugh. While we were speaking in Udupi, a church was
attacked in the nearby hamlet of Hallangadi. In his complaint submitted to the
police, the pastor — who provided TEHELKA with video footage of the event,
showing Bajrang Dal members entering the church premises on 28 December 2011 —
detailed the attack but to no avail. The footage shows men in orange
headscarves invading the church premises, and abusing and hitting the pastor.
“If this is the police,” rues Pastor Prasanna, “where do we get help from?” He
has now written to the prime minister and the UPA chairperson for justice.
Local Christians went on a protest march on 22 January.
Why blame the
police? After the 2008 Mangalore church attacks, Yeddyurappa had called it a
“natural reaction to forced conversions”. Sadananda Gowda, the favoured child
of the Sangh Parivar, merely termed the incident “hearsay”.
“The problem is
beyond damage control,” says lawyer Nooruddin Ahmed, who has appeared for
Muslims accused in love jihad cases. “What do you expect of a state where the
chief minister has given a free hand to miscreants. Be it Yeddyurappa or
Sadananda Gowda, both are first Sangh members and then state administrators.
The Congress too has no interest in our issues. M Veerappa Moily, SM Krishna,
aren’t they aware of what’s happening?
State favours and
funds are being directed towards Sangh affiliates. In November 2011,
Yeddyurappa gave land in Bengaluru worth Rs 50 crore to six frontal bodies of
the Sangh Parivar. Next, the Karnataka government released several lakhs of
rupees by way of advertisements to a 2012 calendar published by Hindutva
organisation Sanatan Sanstha.
Expectedly, the
indoctrination project has reached the education system. Changes have been
sought in the curriculum. Social sciences textbooks of Classes V to VIII are
being rewritten with history retold to suit old prejudices. The state
government has allocated Rs 14 crore to publish these new textbooks for the
coming academic year.
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What do they
contain? The Class V textbook (Veda Kalada Bharata) says cow
slaughter was forbidden in the early Vedic period. The historical record,
however, suggests otherwise. Historians such as DN Jha have shown how the Rig
veda has references to beef eating.
The textbook
narrative runs parallel to the controversial Karnataka Prevention of Slaughter
and Preservation of Cattle Bill, 2010. The Bill, passed by the Assembly and
adopted by the Legislative Council, seeks a blanket ban on the slaughter of
milch animals and draught cattle. It is awaiting presidential assent.
With elections in
2013, the RSS and BJP plan to renew their agitation for a presidential approval
for the Bill. It is even more draconian than the controversial Madhya Pradesh
law because it extends the prevention of slaughter provision to not just cows
but also bulls, bullocks and buffaloes. “What do you expect the animal owner to
do?” asks political analyst Shiv Sunder, “in an ordinary situation, the farmer
would sell it, make money and buy younger cattle. Here he is not allowed to
sell his cattle. You are attacking his means of livelihood.”
A GREATER cause
for concern for Karnataka’s liberals is the attempt to inject communal
polarisation even in the cosmopolitan environs of Bengaluru, India’s IT hub. A
casual visit to the Satyam and Infosys complexes makes for some disturbing
observations.
Umesh Hegde (name
changed to protect identity) talks about the infiltration of the Hindutva
groups into the IT sector: “Initially, we were asked to come to the shakha to
rejuvenate ourselves and learn yoga. Within a month, my colleagues and me were
shown a map of Akhand Bharat, and told how Bharat needs to be cleansed of
Muslims. And believe me they have managed to find sympathisers.” In five years,
the number of RSS shakhas in Karnataka has gone up by 50 percent, helped by
public funds and facilities.
In his article, Hindu
Taliban Assaulting Freedom, Militarising Society, commentator Praful Bidwai
was prescient: “One can only marvel — if that’s the word — at the breathtaking
speed with which the Sangh Parivar has vitiated the social climate in state
after state. Within months of taking power in Karnataka, it has unleashed
savage repression and turned Mangalore into a Hindu Taliban bulwark, where
women are attacked if they go to a bar, where Hindus must not mix with Muslims,
and where there is no media freedom and free interaction among young men and
women. Karnataka has become the Gujarat of the South.”
The unfortunate
part in the process of communalisation of Karnataka has been the concurrence of
the media. Newspapers in Karnataka have encouraged the polarisation for
pecuniary benefits. For example, the Mangalore-based daily Hosa
Digantha has been accorded “state newspaper” status although its
circulation does not meet the required criteria. Its editor, Chudamani Aiyyar,
is an RSS activist.
While Gujarat
newspapers played up the supposed threat to Narendra Modi from Lashkar-e-Toiba
terrorists, Karnataka too witnessed such attempts. Rashid Malbari, an
underworld figure and regarded a foil to Hindutva gangsters like Ravi Pujari
(also from Karnataka), was put behind bars for allegedly plotting to
assassinate Modi and senior RSS men in Karnataka. Local dailies played up the
story just like they did in 2005 when Udayavani reported that
madrassas were hoisting Pakistan flags. It had to issue a retraction when the
police gave a clean chit to the madrassa. Other newspapers like Vijaya
Karnataka too sedulously promote the idea of Muslims and Christians as
“members of other religions”.
Come to think of
it, in Karnataka, so does the government.
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