Mukul Kesavan: India's minorities feel threatened by BJP's majoritarianism

The flip side to Hindu consolidation is the political marginalization of minorities. I use the word minorities advisedly because the well-publicized failure of the BJP to win Muslim votes has been explained away as a form of false-consciousness peculiar to Muslims. The BJP’s explanation is that the Muslims have, yet again, been brainwashed by pseudo-secular propaganda into believing the worst.

But Muslims weren’t alone in their repudiation of the BJP. The Centre for the Study of Developing Societies’ polling data (which is the only access we have to estimates of community-wise voting), tell us that Christians were even more emphatic in their rejection of the party. According to the CSDS, 9 per cent of Muslim voters voted for the BJP and the equivalent percentage amongst Christians was even lower, at 8 per cent. Given the BJP’s refrain that Narendra Modi’s campaign was centred on growth and governance to the exclusion of all things sectarian, someone needs to explain why Christians didn’t respond to the universal economic rationality of the BJP’s message.

The simple explanation might be that India’s minority citizens felt threatened by the BJP’s majoritarianism. Five years ago, the BJP in Odisha justified and explained away violent attacks on Christians in Kandhamal district. Subramaniam Swamy, now chairman of the BJP’s strategic action committee, demanded in an article written as recently as 2011 the disenfranchisement of all non-Hindus (not just Muslims) who didn’t defer to their Hindu origins.

It follows, then, that the expectations raised by Narendra Modi’s campaign are mixed with foreboding, not just amongst Muslims and Christians but for those Indians who think that majoritarian politics is a bad fit for a diverse country and who dislike the BJP’s brand of paranoid nationalism. The BJP might, of course, mutate into an Indian version of the German Christian Democratic Union, a centre-right party mindful of the niceties of a liberal democratic republic, but given that the party is led by Narendra Modi and Amit Shah, it’s fair to say that this ‘remains to be seen’. In the interim it’s inevitable that the new government’s composition, its initiatives and pronouncements will be parsed for clues that might reveal its nature and its intentions.

The first signs aren’t reassuring. Modi had 71 BJP members of parliament in Uttar Pradesh to choose from for ministerial office and he chose to make Sanjeev Baliyan, the MP from Muzaffarnagar, a minister of state. Baliyan was accused of violating prohibitory orders and promoting enmity between communities during the riots in Muzaffarnagar in September 2013. Thus not only did the BJP win western UP on the back of communal rioting, one of the riot-accused is now part of Narendra Modi’s first ministry.

The BJP has argued that Baliyan was framed by a hostile state government and it should be noted that he hasn’t been convicted of a crime, but it’s worth remembering that Narendra Modi has form in this matter. Maya Kodnani, who was widely believed to have been involved in the killings in Naroda Patia in 2002, was made minister of women and child development in 2007, five years after the riots. She served for two years till her past caught up with her; she was convicted of murder and conspiracy to murder in 2012 and was sentenced to 28 years in prison. A Modi sarkar looking to put its sectarian past behind it, wouldn’t have doubled down on Sanjeev Baliyan; it would have waited for him to be exonerated of these serious charges before elevating him to ministerial office.

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1140529/jsp/opinion/story_18390475.jsp#.U4aBWdx_21A

http://www.dnaindia.com/standpoint/analysis-the-rss-blueprint-for-narendra-modi-1992165

Rashmun,

You are wasting your time. Just let the positive change, that is taking place in India, sink in. You will be happy in the end. Modi is the medicine that the doctor ordered. He has already started to transform governing. India (including the Aurangazebs) will be the winner.

Did Mukul Kesavan do some 'scientific' referendum among all the minorities or just working up his imaginations because he needs to earn his daily bread writing something for the 'leftist' publications?

Vakavaka Pakapaka wrote:Rashmun,

You are wasting your time. Just let the positive change, that is taking place in India, sink in. You will be happy in the end. Modi is the medicine that the doctor ordered. He has already started to transform governing. India (including the Aurangazebs) will be the winner.

i am willing to let bygones be bygones and give Modi the benefit of doubt. the objective in posting these articles is to encourage Modi and his supporters to keep making solid efforts at trying to win over a large section of his detractors.

smArtha wrote:Did Mukul Kesavan do some 'scientific' referendum among all the minorities or just working up his imaginations because he needs to earn his daily bread writing something for the 'leftist' publications?

from Kesavan's article:


But Muslims weren’t alone in their repudiation of the BJP. The Centre for the Study of Developing Societies’ polling data (which is the only access we have to estimates of community-wise voting), tell us that Christians were even more emphatic in their rejection of the party. According to the CSDS, 9 per cent of Muslim voters voted for the BJP and the equivalent percentage amongst Christians was even lower, at 8 per cent. Given the BJP’s refrain that Narendra Modi’s campaign was centred on growth and governance to the exclusion of all things sectarian, someone needs to explain why Christians didn’t respond to the universal economic rationality of the BJP’s message.

Rash
may be this mukul guy can explain why they did not vote for modi and not the other way around.

truthbetold wrote:Rash
may be this mukul guy can explain why they did not vote for modi and not the other way around.

From Kesavan's article:

The simple explanation might be that India’s minority citizens felt threatened by the BJP’s majoritarianism. Five years ago, the BJP in Odisha justified and explained away violent attacks on Christians in Kandhamal district. Subramaniam Swamy, now chairman of the BJP’s strategic action committee, demanded in an article written as recently as 2011 the disenfranchisement of all non-Hindus (not just Muslims) who didn’t defer to their Hindu origins.

Rashmun wrote:

truthbetold wrote:Rash
may be this mukul guy can explain why they did not vote for modi and not the other way around.

From Kesavan's article:

The simple explanation might be that India’s minority citizens felt threatened by the BJP’s majoritarianism. Five years ago, the BJP in Odisha justified and explained away violent attacks on Christians in Kandhamal district. Subramaniam Swamy, now chairman of the BJP’s strategic action committee, demanded in an article written as recently as 2011 the disenfranchisement of all non-Hindus (not just Muslims) who didn’t defer to their Hindu origins.

note the word might be.
let him be sure before others can invest time to answer his questions.

truthbetold wrote:

Rashmun wrote:

truthbetold wrote:Rash
may be this mukul guy can explain why they did not vote for modi and not the other way around.

From Kesavan's article:

The simple explanation might be that India’s minority citizens felt threatened by the BJP’s majoritarianism. Five years ago, the BJP in Odisha justified and explained away violent attacks on Christians in Kandhamal district. Subramaniam Swamy, now chairman of the BJP’s strategic action committee, demanded in an article written as recently as 2011 the disenfranchisement of all non-Hindus (not just Muslims) who didn’t defer to their Hindu origins.

note the word might be.
let him be sure before others can invest time to answer his questions.

note the words 'the simple explanation' and use Occam's razor.

"The first signs aren’t reassuring. Modi had 71 BJP members of parliament in Uttar Pradesh to choose from for ministerial office and he chose to make Sanjeev Baliyan, the MP from Muzaffarnagar, a minister of state. Baliyan was accused of violating prohibitory orders and promoting enmity between communities during the riots in Muzaffarnagar in September 2013. Thus not only did the BJP win western UP on the back of communal rioting, one of the riot-accused is now part of Narendra Modi’s first ministry."

 
I think he hit the nail on the head with this point; This move perhaps exemplifies his ulterior motives the best.

It is funny how seculars view point is so convoluted. 

Housing discrimination, muslim backwardness, gettos,  lack of jobs etc. After 60 years of congress rule , an opposition party wins.  Then the secularists asks how will you assure muslims ?  Then they will say muslims did not vote for you. What are you going to do for them? 

The same seculars who bad mouthed modi and asked muslims not to vote for modi are now asking modi to tell them what he is going to do for muslims? 

When are the seculars going to learn?

truthbetold wrote:It is funny how seculars view point is so convoluted. 

Housing discrimination, muslim backwardness, gettos,  lack of jobs etc. After 60 years of congress rule , an opposition party wins.  Then the secularists asks how will you assure muslims ?  Then they will say muslims did not vote for you. What are you going to do for them? 

The same seculars who bad mouthed modi and asked muslims not to vote for modi are now asking modi to tell them what he is going to do for muslims? 

When are the seculars going to learn?

Does the above mean that you consider yourself to be the opposite of secular i.e. a communal person.