The old politics of hatred die hard


One would have thought that in 'secular' India, the land that owes so much to MK Gandhi, we should not see or hear about calls for violence. But the naked fact is India is run by BJP party, a fascist organization that epitomizes bigotry and intolerance against non-Hindus, and such divisive forces are winning all across India from west to east. In the east, bordering Bangladesh, lies the Indian state of Tripura where fascism has resurrected.
Lately, Tripura Governor Tathagata Roy courted controversy after tweeting a diary entry by Bharatiya Jana Sangh’s founder Syama Prasad Mookerjee that said “The Hindu-Muslim problem won’t be solved without a Civil War.”
On June 18, Roy tweeted, “Syama Prasad Mookerjee wrote in his diary on 10/1/1946: “The Hindu-Muslim problem won’t b solved without a Civil War”. So much like Lincoln!”
This soon invited sharp reactions on Twitter with some even accusing him of instigating communal violence calling for his sacking and arrest.
This is not the first time Roy, who identifies himself on the twitter profile as a “Hindu” and a “Swayamsevak” among his other professional qualifications, has courted controversy.
In August 2015, in one of his tweets, he had described people who had attended Mumbai blast convict Yakub Memon’s funeral as “potential terrorists” and said “they ought to be kept under surveillance.”
On March 23, he tweeted: “One exception (to Hindus running away) was Gujarat, 2002. I’m glad you appreciate what the Hindus did then,” says a report in The Indian Express.The sharp reactions on Twitter on his ‘civil war’ tweet later forced Roy to put out another tweet saying that he was quoting Mookerjee and not advocating (what he said).
“Instantly couple of dozen dimwits” trolled him for “advocating a civil war”, and that “I was quoting, not advocating,” he tweeted.
In another tweet, he said, “I was quoting a diary of 70 years back, pre-partition India. And it was prophetic. Because Jinnah unleashed that civil war 7 months later. And Jinnah won that civil war and got his Pakistan. That is ALSO something Dr Mookerjee predicted.”
Some correction of twisted history above is necessary.
Any student of Indian history knows about the toxic influence of SP Mookerjee who was a known fascist and architect for the division of Bengal, which led to Hindu-majority West Bengal to tie its fate with Hindu India rather than joining for a united Bengal confederacy with Muslim-majority East Bengal enjoying equal status with (west) Pakistan and India, as per Cripps Mission. Mookerjee was then the leader of RSS, the father of today's ruling BJP, and his politics was to have a Hindu rashtra at any cost. The failure of the Cripps mission ultimately led to the creation of Pakistan and India, purely on religious lines, although much favoritism was given to Nehru's India on demarcation of the border by the then British Governor General Lord Mountbatten (for reasons that are beyond the scope of this note here).
Tripura always had a huge Muslim population for centuries who are discriminated badly. Rather than creating an equitable society with minority rights what the fascist leaders of India are doing are stoking fear and animosity against the minorities, further intoxicating the situation. It is shameful!

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