Ghar Wapsi

Drunk with political power, the hydra-headed Sangh Parivar has gone berserk with spreading communal hatred against religious minorities with Goebbelseque persistence of lies and venomous intrigues. While flaunting ultra nationalistic rhetoric, it has been threatening the fragile fabric of the nation and pushing the country towards an inevitable civil war. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), its political outfit, catapulted itself to power at the centre by capitalising on the resentment of people against the listless performance of the corrupt and arrogant Congress Party-led United Progressive Alliance government, by dangling the carrot of development, with massive financing from corporate coffers. It has since been winning elections in state after state. Narendra Modi, the mascot of these victories, has been taking rapid strides towards the sell-out of the country’s resources to global capital, duly camouflaging the process with his unmatched theatrics for regaining the imaginary glory of “Mother India”. Surely he has brought acche din to the capitalist honchos, stockbrokers, wheeler-dealers, and the like, and of course, the upwardly mobile middle classes, but without an iota of improvement in the quality of life of commoners. Indeed, he has only compounded their existential anxieties.

The monkey brigade of the Sangh Parivar has been let loose to advance the project of communalisation and thereby invigorate the Parivar constituency. But besides the numerous named and unnamed Sangh Parivar outfits, even persons occupying positions in the executive of the state, like Smriti Irani, the Union Human Resource Development Minister, and the Foreign Minister, Sushma Swaraj, not to speak of some other BJP Members of Parliament (MPs), all of whom have made a mark with their irrational and absurd suggestions or moves. Irani’s Hindutva overtures, such as imposing Sanskrit in schools, are a persistent controversy, and Swaraj suggesting that the Bhagavad Gita be made a national scripture are ominous signs. The old saffron agenda – removing the special autonomous status given to Jammu and Kashmir (Article 370), bringing in a uniform civil code aimed at doing away with Muslim Personal Law, making voting in elections compulsory, etc – is, of course, in reserve. The head of the Parivar, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh’s (RSS) Sarsangchalak (supreme leader), Mohan Bhagwat, has already declared that India is “our” Hindu Rashtra and their aim is to convert all Muslims and Christians to Hinduism by 2021. He has commissioned his monkey brigade to accomplish this task, calling it ghar wapsi.