writer: Anshu N. Chatterjee
How does a country become a super power? India seeks this status and history shows that there are no set answers to this question. In our modern world, both democracies and authoritarian regimes have achieved this position. However, there is little doubt that somewhere in the equation is the ability to bomb the hell out of people without them being able to retaliate in the same manner. China, for example, is well on its way to becoming a super power precisely by employing its wealth on in acquiring more arms to protect its trade routes. In other words, the ability to produce or buy bombs is crucial.
India too is en route to super-power-dom as it expands its economy and defense simultaneously. In 1991, Manmohan Singh and other Indian technocrats engaged in the project of waking up the sleeping elephant/tiger, when the 2008 global slowdown derailed them. The general public felt the impediments to that growth lay mainly in corruption and terrorism. The government approved projects but often delayed licensing due to “special fees.” Also some felt that Maoists and terrorists from Pakistan were derailing India’s growth.
Based on this platform, in 2014, the BJP came to power promising growth by fixing corruption, and containing external interference and radicalism. Swachh Bharat was good for health both economically and literally. Some members of the populace also received demonetization well as a radical attempt to remove corruption that also provided the terrorists with access. Of course, ridiculous amount of illegal wealth is still apparent especially at weddings, but for a few months there was some optimism that the corrupt were taking a hit. Rumors suggest that some people lost up to 10% of their wealth. BJP was winning the hearts and minds of India’s business classes that sought some kind of change. Wagons circled around him. Some authoritarian tendencies became visible, but in order to become a super power, his supporters argued that some tough choices were necessary. Look at China.
Then, upon BJP winning the election in Uttar Pradesh, the PM appointed Yogi Adityanath to clean up corruption and end casteism. This appointment goes to the heart of the question; can religious extremists create super-powers? Thanks to media, we know Yogiji is a member of the RSS, an upper-caste, and the spiritual head of a youth organization whose main purpose is to stop love jihad and protect cows. He is a man who approves of revenge violence against Muslims, encourages threats on people who want to inter-marry, doesn’t care for Christian priests, and promises to build more temples including one on the Babri Mosque site. He more than represents what secularists fear BJP might be. He is the promise of Hindutva, a strong nation that will be never be divided again by “outsiders” as Indians still struggle to answer the question of how they became a colony of a small island somewhere. For Hindutva followers, the blame lies in the weakening of the nation under the Mughals.
Yogiji’s selection to head Uttar Pradesh left many secularists in shock. Some Indian moderates were confused as to why PM Modi picked him to lead Uttar Pradesh, away from development agenda. The answer is simple: for the Prime Minister, who is of the BJP, forming a Hindu nation is a priority. For those who were confused about Modi’s priorities, this should clarify things: he wants a corruption-free, clean, Hindu Nation that will be run by a danda. BJP has come to power in UP before, and at the center as well, but the coalition culture of India kept it moderated. In 2014, BJP’s landslide victory put an end to that barrier of moderation and now we have a Hindutva government at the center as well as one in UP.
How relevant is Uttar Pradesh as one of the poorer states in India? With 200 million people, UP is the largest state in the country; 20% of the population is Muslim who now live in a state that is at the center of defining what it means to be a Hindu nation. How are they going to react? Let’s all remember that this is where the drumbeats of the partition began. Radicalization of Muslims in this state is a problem for the whole country and people don’t radicalize for no reason. All this doesn’t matter because Yogiji's tough love will take care of the problem.
Some recent incidents illustrate where we are heading in defining the nation: an old Muslim man beaten up by gau rakshaks or a father beaten up as his son elopes with the a Hindu girl. Yogiji’s Yuva Vahini is also expanding, tasked with stopping love jihad. Rarely are Hindu boys beaten up for marrying Muslim girls because patriarchy doesn’t work that way. On the flip side of the same coin, conservative Muslim leadership denies that Muslims girls are marrying Hindu boys although we know there are several such marriages.
For those who are seeking to make India a global power, this is not the route to take. Investors don’t come to a country with radicalized populations heading towards insurgencies and violent uprisings. Islamaphobia might not be a problem as the U.S. stock markets illustrates, or China’s for that matter, but people throwing bombs is usually an issue for investors, as seen demonstrated in the neighboring Pakistan. The country is now reliant on the Saudis and the Chinese for its growth to a the point of being practically defense arm for the Saudis and a potential colony of China. Will Muslims of India feeling cornered, start riots if Hindutva activities continue? They might, as might some Hindus who don’t fit into the redefined Hindu nation. Can we continue to assume that Pakistan is always behind terrorism? They may be supplying arms but is every Indian teenager who throws a stone at a policeman a Pakistani?
