The betrayal of Hindus by BJP-RSS and intellectual collusion of the BJP-RSS ecosystem

This article was co-authored by Saswati Sarkar, Shanmukh, Dikgaj.

In a series on ethnic hatred in the BJP-RSS ecosystem, we have recently shown that the leaders and the base of the same have derided Bengali intellectuals for turning Communists/Leftists and anti-Hindus. Through ethnic decomposition of an extensive list of more than 400 intellectuals who have assumed explicit anti-Hindu and pro-left positions through different concerted activities, we have shown that the Bengalis neither comprise the majority of these intellectuals, nor the only over-represented group as compared to their share of the populace. This quantification shows that there is no ground for singling out Bengali intellectuals for leftism and anti-Hindu activities, and hence such targeting can be characterized as ethnic bias. But, perhaps more importantly, this work constitutes the first data-driven analysis of contemporary intellectual collusion with religious imperialism in India, with an overt focus on the Congress-Left intellectual ecosystem. The focus was guided by the fact that the political and ideological affiliation of most of the contemporary Indian intellectuals is Congress or Left. Yet, with acquisition of political power, a community of intelligentsia loosely affiliated with the BJP-RSS ecosystem is emerging (despite the pronouncements of Hindu scholar Sitaram Goel: “ The RSS is the biggest collection of duffers that ever came together in world history)’’ [75]. Some of them have been in BJP-RSS’ sphere of influence for long, some others have jumped ship from Congress-Left with change in power equations in Delhi. Many of them have been appointed to different Governmental offices, statutory bodies, Parliament, advisory roles, sympathetic media units, while the rest grace conferences and symposia the ecosystem organizes (eg, the annual India Idea Conclaves, Indic Thoughts Festivals etc). In this piece we examine if their choices differ in any fundamental manner with those of the Congress-Left intelligentsia, that is, if collusion with religious imperialism is endemic across intelligentsia of all hues, or it is limited to the Congress-Left ecosystem.

Towards the above end, in Section A we document the various moves of the BJP governments at the center and the states which have irretrievably damaged the Indics, by economically and politically discriminating against the people and violating their freedom of religion and assaulting their history. In Section B we show that the intellectuals of the BJP-RSS ecosystem, many of whom have variously benefitted from the governments in power, have either architected some of the above moves, or have condoned them by praising the architects of the moves or through their silence . Thus, they have behaved identical to the Bengali and other Congress-Left intellectuals whom they publicly demonise. Hence, it may be safely concluded that intellectual collusion with religious imperialism in India is instituted by the nature of the state, rather than choice of political ideology or attributes of birth such as ethnicity.

Section A: The Anti-Hindu activities of the BJP governments at the center and state

We now document the various anti-Hindu activities of the current BJP governments, both at the center and various states. The BJP-RSS base have agitated over the lack of activity of the Modi Government on various legislations brought in by the previous Congress Governments, which have put Indics at a significant disadvantage, such as Right to Education Bill, or control of Hindu temples. The apologists of the Government have pointed to their lack of numbers in the Rajya Sabha. We therefore list somewhat lesser known, but just as detrimental (if not more) anti-Indic moves that the BJP governments instituted by commission, rather than by omission, both on the executive and the legislative front. It is worth noting that the current President and the Prime Minister, the Chief Ministers of all the BJP-governments, important Union Ministers like Nitin Gadkari, the current BJP President and rising stars of the BJP like Ram Madhav, whose activities we would document here, have been lifelong RSS men (except Vasundhara Raje Scindhia, who has been in BJP, just not in RSS, throughout her political career). Only a few like Himanta Biswa Sarma and Mukul Roy have been recent imports from other parties. Thus, our documentation of the betrayal of Hindus reflects as much on BJP as on RSS.

Section A.1: BJP Governments’ inhuman persecution of Indic refugees who have been subjected to religious persecution by Islamists and Christianists

We show that the BJP Governments have persecuted the Indic refugees throughout India, from the North East to the North West.

In 1997, Indic Bru or Reang refugees had fled to Tripura from religious persecution by the Christian majority in Mizoram. Around 35000 refugees now live in different camps in North Tripura per official figures (unofficial sources give a much larger number) [97]. In 2014 itself, the Tripura High Court had described the situation in the camps as “ridiculous’’. Each adult in the camp was eligible for an allowance of only Rs 5 per day and 600 grams of rice. Minors get even less – Rs 2.5 and 250 grams of rice. People in the camps still have little access to potable water and medical services [97]. The Modi Government has been pressurizing these hapless refugees to return to Mizoram. In 2017, the Bru Displaced People’s Forum had filed an application in the Supreme Court stating that it feared that the Union and the state governments of Tripura were trying to “force the Brus back to Mizoram without either proper security or proper rehabilitation” [97]. On March 27, 2017, the Supreme Court decreed that only people who wanted to move back should be asked to go, and status quo was to be maintained otherwise [97]. Undeterred by the Supreme Court judgement, the BJP Government accentuated its persecution of the hapless Indic refugees. From July 2017, the refugees has been denied even the meagre daily cash assistance they have been entitled to; they have submitted a memorandum to the Modi Government demanding a better deal from the Center [98]. The memorandum notes that erratic distribution of foodstuff has caused severe hardships and the students could not appear in the final examination in December 2017 as the parents could not pay examination fees, because the financial assistance to them have been discontinued [98]. From October 2017 onwards, these refugees have been starving due to irregular distribution of relief rations, and casualties have been feared on that account [95]. On November 7, 2017, the Assam Sentinel has reported “Centre may withdraw the Internally Displaced People (IDP) status of over 30 thousand Reang refugees staying in six North Tripura camps for last two decades, if they refuse to repatriate to their ancestral home at Mizoram. Withdrawal of the IDP status will mean immediate discontinuation of free ration and other facilities that they are now enjoying in the camps and rehabilitation facilities once repatriation is announced by the Centre. Joint Secretary to the Union Home Ministry Mahesh Kumar Sringla, who visited the camp two days ago, made it clear to the refugee leaders that the Centre is firm in its decision and asked them to begin preparation for repatriation by January next’’ [94]. In February 2018, the BJP Government had been seeking to “physically’’ repatriate these refugees to Mizoram, which has been stalled by Supreme Court [96]. In effect, the Modi Government is compelling these refugees to return to Mizoram and perhaps be forced to convert to Christianity to survive, or face physical violence. In contrast, to appease the Christian majority of Mizoram and Nagaland, the Modi Government has been announcing multiple sops for Christians, eg, 1) a Rs. 70-crore project for the beautification of churches and religious institutions of Meghalaya under the larger Swadesh Darshan Scheme [82] 2) free trips of Christians to Jerusalem if voted to power in Nagaland [67]. While PM Modi boasted during his election campaign in Meghalaya about rescuing Christian nurses (who were largely from Kerala) from Iraq, he omitted the plight of the Indic Reang refugees in the neighborhood [82].

In the 2014 parliamentary and Assembly elections, the BJP had promised to grant citizenship to the refugees from West Pakistan currently living in Jammu [90]. Over 1.5 lakh West Pakistan refugees who have been living in camps since 19 have not been given Permanent Resident Cards in the state of Jammu and Kashmir [91]. Over 90 per cent of these refugees belong either to the Scheduled Castes (SCs) or Other Backward Classes (OBCs) [90]. Thus in both the elections in 2014 the SCs and OBCs had voted overwhelmingly for BJP in the Jammu region and the party had won all all Assembly seats and Lok Sabha seats there [90]. Subsequently, BJP has formed a coalition Government with PDP in Jammu and Kashmir. And, it has not only not fulfilled its promise, but has allegedly initiated the process to delete the names of West Pakistan refugees from the list of beneficiaries getting subsidised ration under the National Food Safety Act (NFSA) [91]. Tara Chand, a West Pakistan refugee has stated, “We have been told bluntly by the authorities that from this month our names have been deleted from beneficiaries’ lists as refugee families do not have Permanent Resident Certificates (PRCs),” and
“Without any notice, we were asked to submit our ration cards to get them updated. Now we have been asked to produce PRCs to be included in the list” [91]. In contrast, the BJP has provided all amenities and facilitated the stay of the Muslim Rohingya refugees from Mynamar in and around Jammu, these refugees had been settled in Jammu during the Congress rule [92]. They find Jammu and Kashmir as a safe haven for their survival [93]. Around 5,700 Rohingyas are living in Jammu and Samba districts as per official estimates [93]. Indian Army camps are surrounded by colonies of these settlers, and intelligence agencies have shown that terrorists who stormed the Sunjuwan Army camp on February 10, 2018, had received local support [92].

Similarly, although during his 2014 election campaign, Modi repeatedly promised to grant citizenship to Hindu refugees who had fled to India from Bangladesh, he has not acted on his promise yet [105]. The BJP Government at the center or the PDP-BJP Government at the state of Jammu and Kashmir have done nothing to rehabilitate the Kashmiri Pandit refugees in the Kashmir valley, who had fled from religious persecution by the Islamists in the valley.
Lastly, the Indic refugees fleeing Pakistan have had little to cheer about. The government’s indifference to their plight and their well being has been recorded. Since 2011, more than 900 Pakistani Hindus have been living around Delhi, in inhuman conditions, more than 20 are often squeezed in one room. Contrary to their claims of granting Indian citizenship to 4,300 Pakistani nationals during 2014-15, a RTI query has revealed that only 289 Pakistani Hindus were granted Indian citizenship in this period [121]. While the Modi-Government promptly accorded Indian citizenship to the Pakistani-origin singer, Adnan Sami, many disillusioned Hindu refugees have been returning to Pakistan, having been denied Indian citizenship. In 2016, 100 such families have returned to Pakistan [122].

Section A.2: BJP governments’ perpetration of and connivance in atrocities against Indics

The BJP Government in Haryana used lethal force, killing 39 Indics through direct shots fired by police for mob-violence [5]. PM Modi had immediately indirectly condoned the police excesses by selectively condemning only the mob violence in his tweets and noting that he is himself monitoring the law and order situation : 1) “The instances of violence today are deeply distressing. I strongly condemn the violence & urge everyone to maintain peace’’ 2) “The law & order situation is being closely monitored. I reviewed the situation with the NSA & Home Secretary’’ 3) “Urged officials to work round the clock to restore normalcy and provide all possible assistance that is required’’ [54]. In a couple of days after the incident, he reiterated his support for adoption of lethal mob-control measures by stating in his periodical “Man ki Baat’’ address: “In my address from the ramparts of the Red Fort, I had said that violence in the name of faith will not be tolerated, whether it is communal belief systems, whether it is subscribing to political ideologies, whether it is allegiance to a person or customs and traditions. No one has the right to take the law into one’s own hands in the name of one’s beliefs’’ [55] . BJP general secretary in charge in Haryana later announced with a smiling face that the government was ready to beat the agitators badly, and has been targeting to kill 40-50 among them [5]. Earlier, during Modi’s tenure as Gujarat Chief Minister, the Gujarat police brutally lathi-charged the VHP activists for vandalising a painting exhibition of Pakistani artists. Videos reveal that elderly workers were struck by the police on head. VHP leader Pravin Togadia had claimed that many activists were “pinned to the ground and kicked in the stomach’’. [46] Bajrang Dal convenor in Ahmedabad, Jwalit Mehta, was picked up at 2:45 AM on Raksha Bandhan day which is a major Hindu festival [46]. Similarly, in 2012 MP police had foiled the bid of local Hindu activists for taking out a Saraswati Palki Yatra on the day of Vasant Panchami, by refusing permission, and conducting massive preventive detentions and perpetrating brutal physical violence on those who still took out the rally [48], [49]. In 2013 MP police had arrested and brutally beat up Mr. Navalkishore Sharma, the National Convener of ‘Bhojshala Mukti-yadnya Samiti’ and his activists who have been fighting for Hindus’ right of performing ‘puja’, and demanding that Muslims should not be allowed to read ‘namaz’ on the day of ‘Vasant-Panchami’ in ‘Bhojshala’ [47].

In contrast, the MP police remained a mute spectator when Muslims took out huge rallies in Bhopal and Indore, threatening to kill if necessary, and demanding death by hanging of a Hindu activist, Kamlesh Tiwari, for some of his remarks on the Prophet of Islam [50] [51] [52] [53]. The Maharashtra police under the BJP Government there capitulated in the wake of AIMIM protests over Taslima Nasreen’s visit to Aurangabad, and turned her back from the airport [57]. The BJP Government in center however uses non-lethal pellet guns on stone-throwing Islamist mobs in Kashmir [4]. In November 2017, it has advised the J&K Government to declare amnesty for first-time stone-pelters, and the J&K Government run by a coalition of PDP and BJP has approved withdrawal of cases against 9730 people involved in stone pelting [56] [70]. Now, the BJP Government at the centre is considering advising amnesty for repeat offenders involved in multiple incidents of stone-pelting [56].

The BJP Government at the centre have not even taken note of the stabbing of 65 year old Hindu Bengali, Karthik Ghosh, by an Islamist mob in Basirhat [2], but the Union home minister has issued statements assuring strict punishment to the killers of Akhlaq, a Muslim lynched by a Hindu mob in UP , and has sought report from the UP state government on the issue [1]. It also watched in silence when the Samajwadi Government in UP incarcerated Kamlesh Tiwari, by invoking the draconian National Security Act, for several months for some remarks on the Prophet of Islam [3]. Further, in the case of a student who was accused of insulting Islam, BJP leader and minister Babul Supriyo had gone as far as demanding stringent punishment for him [127]. He also defended his fury on the unhappy teenager claiming that the punishment was due because the teen in question had brought disrepute to the BJP.

The BJP has further refused to ban the Popular Front of India (PFI), despite a recommendation to ban the PFI by the NIA in September 2017 [112]. Further, the BJP Karnataka Government itself, in 2009, refused to ban either the PFI or its affiliated organisation, the Karnataka Forum for Dignity (KFD) [113]. Its home minister, VS Acharya, had specifically ruled out any ban on either the PFI or its affiliate, the KFD, in 2009 [113]. In 2011, it was mulling a ban [114] after the KFD’s involvement in kidnapping and murder of many Hindus, but did not do so. In 2012, the Kerala Government submitted in the Kerala High Court that PFI was SIMI (a banned organisation) reincarnated [115] and implicitly recommended that the Centre ban it (though it did not do so itself). Nevertheless, despite the PFI’s involvement in numerous atrocities on Hindus and slaughter of Hindu activists, the Modi Government has, thus far, refused to ban the PFI. Further, it may be remarked that even after the NIA recommended a ban on PFI in September 2017, the Maharashtra Government allowed the PFI to hold a rally in communally sensitive Aurangabad in October 2017 to spread the message that Dalits and Muslims are both victims of Hindus, thus increasing the danger of communal tensions [116].

The army is the lifeline of Indics in Jammu and Kashmir against continuous onslaught by Islamists. BJP governments have been repeatedly undermining the army there. In 2014, while campaigning for BJP in Srinagar, the Prime Minister publicly undermined the army, which is unprecendeted since the army reports to him. The Indian Army had then accepted responsibility for accidental shooting of two Kashmiri teenagers. The Prime Minister claimed political brownie points over this incident, stating: “It is the first time that the Army owned up to the mistake of gunning down two innocent youth in a press conference and action has been taken against those who opened fire. This had not happened in the last 30 years. Ye Modi sarkar ka kaamal hai. Ye mere nek iradon ka saboot hai.” [71]. Thus, he reaffirmed that the Army had erred before and had not accepted its earlier errors. Note that this is quite consistent with the line separatists and human right activists have taken that the Army routinely violated human rights. And, BBC immediately applauded Modi for acknowledging that Indian Army was trigger happy [73]. The PM may certainly apologize for the Army’s unintended excesses as he deems fit. What is however unacceptable is that a political authority would assume credit in public for disciplining his Army, and more so appeal for votes on that count. As we wrote before, “Such avoidable choices leave open the nagging question whether due process in the Army was bypassed for political expediency of the ruling party. A good leader should, in fact, assume the blame accorded to the institutions that report to him. How are the subordinates expected to trust a political authority who insinuates in public the same accusations its detractors are hurling at it? Shouldn’t earning the confidence of the institutions that report to the Prime Minister be his foremost priority? It is for these reasons that no Indian premier since Jawaharlal Nehru had publicly undermined India’s defense institutions.’’ [72]. Thus, in quest of political power, Modi has initiated a brand of politics where the Army would be dragged in by political parties for competitive denouncing for a few votes. This has inflicted enormous damage on an invaluable institution. More, recently, the PDP-BJP coalition Government in Jammu and Kashmir has lodged an FIR against Indian Army, naming Major Aditya of the Indian Army, for deaths of some civilians in a counter-insurgency operation [68][69]. Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti has confirmed that the FIR was lodged after due consultation with the Union Defense Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman, of the BJP Government under Modi [68]. Mehbooba Mufti has said: “After the killings I immediately spoke to the defence minister and she was very positive. She told me that I should take action if any carelessness or anything wrong has happened. It’s after that we registered an FIR and ordered a magisterial inquiry’’ [69].

Section A.3: Sacrificing Indics through Foreign Policy

In the land boundary agreement with Bangladesh, it was decided to exchange the 111 Indian enclaves in Bangladesh and the Dahargam-Angarpota enclave for the 51 Bangladeshi enclaves in India. This move basically led to abandoning approximately nine thousand Indian Hindus in these enclaves to their fates in Bangladesh [11]. Given that the Bangladeshi state has an abominable record of treating Hindus, these Hindus have essentially been abandoned to discrimination and far worse. It is pertinent to note that the exchange of these enclaves does not in any way aid the fencing of the border with Bangladesh, which renders the betrayal even more abominable.

The BJP Government at the center has looked on in silence as neighboring Bangladesh and Pakistan have been persecuting Hindus [10], in contrast to different Muslim nations forcefully champion in international fora the real or imagined cause of persecuted Muslims in Palestine and Kashmir. Even more, BJP MPs like Roopa Ganguly and BJP-appointed Governors like Tathagata Roy have declared that the Hindu minority in Bangladesh are safe, but “feel’’ insecure [123] [124], denying the persistent persecution faced by Hindus in Bangladesh, and current Bangladeshi premier Sheikh Hasina’s complicity in it [10]

Section A.4: Border Fence with Bangladesh

In the home ministry report of 2015-16, the total fenced length of the Bangladesh border has reduced from 2828 kms in 2014-15 [p. 36, MHA report 2014-15, [12]] to 2710 kms in 2015-16 [p. 41, MHA report 2015-16, [12]], with most of the missing fence in Tripura and Mizoram. In 2016-17, the total fence rose to 2731 kms, increasing by 21 kms in the year p. 42, [74]. It is important to point out that the total fencing on the Bangladesh border has reduced during the Modi Government by 97 kms. Also, the border fence length reduction is not due to the Indo-Bangladesh Land Boundary Agreement. Most of the land swaps were in Bengal, while the fence has gone missing in Mizoram and Tripura. Finally, in all the years it has overseen the Bangladesh fence, the length of the boundary fenced by the Modi Government is the least amount fenced by any government in three years since 2003-04 [12].

Similarly, the length of the border roads on the Bangladesh border, vital for patrolling, has reduced from 3774 kms [p. 37, MHA report 2014-15, [12]] to 3560 kms [p. 42, MHA report 2015-16, [12]], with the border roads lost mostly in Tripura and Mizoram. In 2016-17, the border road length rose to 3596 kms p. 42, [74], with a net loss of 178 kms border roads lost. Given the importance of the border fence and border roads for securing the demography of India from illegal Bangladeshi encroachments and Modi government’s own promise to curtail the menace of illegal immigration, the disdain seems unconscionable.

Section A.5: Violating the religious freedom of Indics

The Vasundhara Raje Government in Rajasthan demolished 65 temples (and 8 Muslim shrines) under the pretext of executing development projects such as the Ring Road, Jaipur Metro, road widening and beautification of the city. The previous Congress Government had demolished around 32 temples on the same ground [14]. Again, the Raje Government has issued advertisement for auction of temple lands, potentially undermining lakhs of small temples/deities, primarily in the rural areas and small villages [15], continuing policies of previous Congress and BJP governments in Rajasthan that attached vast amounts of temple lands exposing them to encroachment by land mafia [16]. Not only in Rajasthan, but also in Gujarat during the regime of Modi as chief minister 80 temples or their encroaching boundaries were razed to ground [17].

In Madhya Pradesh, Hindus have been denied the permission to conduct continuous puja even on auspicious occasions of Vasant Panchami in their holy Bhojshala temple citing objections by Muslims [18]. Similarly, the JD(U)-BJP coalition Government in Bihar had banned immersion of Durga idols on the day of Muharram [19] (as did the TMC Government in West Bengal [20]). In Ranchi (Jharkhand) too, the BJP led government issued instructions to complete the immersion of the Durga idols by October 1 [106], to avoid clashes with the Muharram processions.

Further, it must be remarked that the Modi government, under its watch, has seen the funding for Christian NGOs indulging in conversion of Indics rise from Rs. 13,000 crore in 2012-13 to Rs. 17,000 crore in 2015-16. [128]. In fact, the rise in funding for NGOs has been continuous, rising to Rs. 15,299 crores in 2014-15 and to Rs. 17,773 crores in 2015-16 [129]. The funding for the year 2016-17 was at Rs. 13,750 crore as on 30 December, 2017 [129] and is likely to rise higher over the next few months as more returns are filed over the first few months of 2018. The final figures for the year 2016-17 are likely to be known fully by August 2018. That missionaries indulge in conversions using all possible means is well known; that the Modi sarkar has observed with indifference the total amount poured into conversion of Indics increase by over 33% under its watch is an indication of the seriousness, or lack thereof, with which they view the issue.

Section A.6: Increased public-funded economic benefits for non-Indics and reduction in benefits for Army personnel

Modi Government had promised to bring in true secularism and end all sops to minorities. But, rather than delivering justice for all and appeasement for none, as it had promised, the government has gone in exactly the opposite direction. In 2018, the Modi Government has increased the budget for minorities by a whopping 62%, which constitutes the largest ever increase in the Union Budget for Minority development [65]. Times of India reports about the increase as follows: “For the first time, Rs 2,453 crore has been allocated for seven new schemes for education empowerment. It includes Rs 980 crore for pre-matric scholarship, Rs 692 crore for post-matric students and Rs 522 crore has been allocated for professional and technical courses. Rs 153 crore has been allocated for Maulana Azad national fellowship for minority students. Free Coaching and allied schemes and interest subsidy on educational loans for overseas studies has also been introduced. Funding for special programmes for minorities including skill development and livelihoods has been increased.
Union government sponsored schemes are pegged at Rs 2975.10 crore, against Rs 12.93 crore in the previous budget. While Hajj subsidy has been withdrawn by union government, under a special programme for minorities Rs 84 crore (same as previous year) has been allocated for provision is for Haj Management in India and Saudi Arabia. Another major development in the budget that could unlock an estimated Rs 50,000 crore worth of assets has been Funding for computerisation of records and strengthening of states Waqf boards has been increased by Rs 8 crore. “Computerisation of waqf boards would lead to increased revenue and transparency in functioning of the endowments. The schemes introduced in the budget would be implemented soon,” said Madhya Pradesh Waqf board chairman, Shoukat Mohammed Khan.’’ [65]

The Modi Government has instituted `progress panchayats’ for minorities [13]. These panchayats are exclusively devoted to the minorities and the move is in effect execution of the thesis of the previous UPA Government that the minorities have the first right to the resources. And ironically, they have been launched in the very areas where it is Hindus that are the minority and are rapidly shrinking in population. One needs only check the census for the Hindu demographic collapse in Mewat and the Northern parts of Alwar and Bharatpur (Hindu population share fell by approximately 4% between 2001 and 2011 in both). As such, sops to the local majority against a rapidly shrinking local minority can only accentuate the collapse of the Hindu population.

The Modi Government has increased the authentic share capital of the National Minorities Development Corporation from 1,500 crore to ` 3,000 crore rupees [21], its first budget has provided a higher allocation of Rs 3,734.01 crore for the ministry of minority affairs while announcing schemes for skill upgrade of minorities [23]. It has tripled the funds for the Madrasas [22], outlaying 100 crore rupees for the modernization of the Madrasas [23].

The Modi Government has announced free coaching for religious minorities aspiring for IAS [24]. We learn from a Government of India site, “Government of India, Ministry of Minority Affairs is implementing the scheme Nai Udaan- Scheme for Support to Minority Students for preparation of Main Examination, who clear Prelims conducted by Union Public Service Commission, Staff Selection Commission, State Public Service Commissions. The objective of the Scheme is to provide financial support to the minority candidates clearing prelims conducted by Union Public Service Commission, Staff Selection Commission and State Public Service Commissions to adequately equip them to compete for appointment to Civil Services in the Union and the State Governments and to increase the representation of the minority in the Civil Services’’ [84]. The Modi Government has also announced the Naya savera scheme to prepare the Student of minority communities for competitive examinations, so that their participation in government and private jobs improves. The scheme provides financial support for free coaching to minority students in selected coaching institutions. The competitive examinations within the purview of the scheme includes (1) qualifying examinations for admission in technical/ professional courses eg, engineering, medical, law, management, information technology etc., language/aptitude examinations for seeking admission to foreign universities and (2) examinations for recruitment to Group ‘A’ , ‘B’ and ‘C’ services and other equivalent posts under the Central and State governments spanning public sector undertakings, banks, insurance companies as well as autonomous bodies. Specifically, UPSC competitive exams, State Public Service Commissions, the Staff Selection Commission (SSC), Railway Recruitment Boards (RRBs.) , Banking Services Recruitment Boards etc for Group A, B and C posts, Officers’ Grade examinations conducted by Banks, Insurance
Companies and Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) are included within the purview of the scheme [85]. In fact, while Modi was the chief minister of Gujarat, Gujarat had emerged as the state with the largest number of Muslim cops posted in police stations, with 10.6% of police men being Muslims, which was higher than the proportion (9.1%) of Muslims in the state’s population [25]. Along with Odisha, Gujarat became the only state where the percentage of Muslims in the police force was higher than in the general population [25].

The Modi Government has also announced the Shadi-shagun scheme which provides a wedding gift of Rs. 51000 to graduate Muslim women [26]. Many other schemes have been launched only for religious minorities, namely “Garib Nawaz Skill Development Centre”, “Usttad”, “Nai Manzil”, “Nai Roshni”, “Seekho aur Kamao”, “Padho Pardes”, “Progress Panchayat”, “Hunar Haat”, multi-purpose “Sadbhav Mandap”, “PM’s new 15 point programme”, “Multi-sectoral Development Programme”, “Begum Hazrat Mahal Scholarship” for girls, etc [83]. The “Padho Pardesh’’ scheme provides interest subsidy on educational loans for overseas studies for the students of the minority Communities [86]

The Modi Government has announced setting up of 5 Universities for students from the minority communities, and 40% of the seats there would be reserved for Muslim girls [62].

While the Modi Government has made much noise about implementing a Supreme Court directive on slashing subsidies for Haj, it has offset the move by inducing airlines, both India’s national carrier, the Air India, and other airlines, to significantly reduce airfares for Haj pilgrims flying to Saudi Arabia [125]. The fares have been reduced by 18-49%. The resulting loss of revenue of Air India amounts to indirect subsidy for Haj. One can only conjecture about the benefits the government has accorded to other airlines, including those based in Saudi Arabia, for materializing this reduction.

The National Commission of Minorities, whose members have been appointed by the Modi Government [61], have recently proposed setting up a Christian University along the lines of Banaras Hindu University and Aligarh Muslim University [60]. The Union Tourism Minister KJ Alphons of the BJP Government has announced a Rs. 70-crore project for the beautification of churches and religious institutions of Meghalaya under the larger Swadesh Darshan Scheme [82]. In contrast, the Modi Government has been denying ration and other relief material to Indic Reangs of Mizoram who have been forced to flee to Tripura from religious persecution by the Christian majority there; the refugees are now starving in Tripura [94, 95, 96]. Note that in Meghalaya, the Indic population has fallen from ~70% in 1951 to ~25% in 2011, with the Christian population rising from 24% in 1951 to 70% in 2011. The Indic tribals are in full retreat everywhere among the major tribes, with only Hajong and Rabhas living on the Assam border retaining their culture and religion. Recently, the Seng Khasi Indic tribals were denied funeral permission for a tribal elder by the Christians [107], but their plight has no resonance in the BJP. And, during his election campaign in Meghalaya, to cater to the communal sentiments of the Christian majority there, PM Modi has specifically mentioned the religious denomination of the nurses his government has rescued from Iraq, indicating perhaps greater priority his government accords to religious minorities rather than Hindus [82]. He did not comment on the plight of the Indic Reang refugees who are being starved by his government in neighboring Tripura. Also, BJP has recently announced that it would arrange for free trips of Christians to Jerusalem if voted to power in Nagaland [67].

At the states, Tripura BJP has recently donated Rs. 5 lakhs to Madrassas.

In contrast to the largesse for religious minorities, the Modi Government has effectively decreased budgets for military spending and benefits for army personnel.
First, over the budgets that have covered the full span of the Modi government, the defence budget has on an average increased by less than 7 % a year. The allocation for defence has gone up by less than 6 % in the budget for 2018. Considering inflation and large increases in pay because of the Pay Commission, the capital budget available for buying weapons has decreased in real terms. The defence expenditure is down to 1.5 % of the GDP, from 1.8 per cent in the terminal year of the previous UPA government. Currently, the non-pension component is the lowest since the 1962 border war with China. And, India faces a visibly more aggressive China. India’s military advantage vis-a-vis Pakistan has been eroding. Note that maintaining the defense allocation at 1.8 per cent of GDP would have allowed acquisition of badly needed war equipment. [64].
The Defence Ministry has been seriously considering capping the educational expenses paid to the children of ex-servicemen in accordance with the recommendations of the 7th Pay Commission. A letter dated September 13, 2017, issued by the Department of Ex-Servicemen Welfare, has already capped the fee for tuition and hostel at Rs 10,000 per month. Navy chief Admiral Sunil Lanba has also written to the Defence Ministry requesting a review of the decision of imposing an upper limit on the reimbursement of education of children of martyrs or of those disabled in action. Rajya Sabha MP Rajeev Chandrasekhar, Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh and former army chief and Minister of State for External Affairs, General V.K. Singh, have also urged the Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to not cap the total expenditure towards tuition fee and hostel charge at Rs 10,000. Around 3,400 children of armed forces personnel have likely being impacted by the decision. Recall that the scheme for government bearing the cost of education of ex-servicemen’s children was announced on December 18, 1971, two days after the Pakistani forces surrendered in Dhaka at the end of the India-Pakistan war [63].

Recently, Union minister of Road Transport and Highways, Shipping and Water Resources, Nitin Gadkari, has announced, in presence of Western Naval Command chief Vice Admiral Girish Luthra that “not an inch” of land would be given for Navy housing in South Mumbai. This was in response to the Navy’s objection to a floating jetty plan at Malabar Hill in South Mumbai, where a floating hotel and seaplane service are planned. Gadkari said, “Actually, Navy is needed at the borders from where terrorists sneak in. Why does everyone (in the Navy) want to stay in South Mumbai? They (Navy) had come to me, asking for a plot (of land). I will not give even an inch of land. Please don’t come to me again,” and that “Everyone wants to build quarters and flats on south Mumbai’s prime land. We do respect you (Navy), but you should go to the Pakistan border and do patrolling.” Gadkari specifically wondered what the Navy has got to do with the Malabar Hill area which has official residences of Maharashtra governor and chief minister. The implication here is that the Navy needs to toil at the high seas while politicians would live at affluent neighborhoods which would see cutting-edge urban development. Note that South Mumbai is home to a sizeable presence of the Navy and houses the headquarters of the Western Naval Command, and the naval residential quarters at Navy Nagar in Colaba [66].

Section A.7: BJP Governments’ alliance with Islamists, Christianists and separatists

The BJP justifiably accuses the Left and the Congress of sympathising with the `Bharat ke tukde tukde’ gang that has been on the rampage in many places. It is, however, interesting that the BJP has no problems making deals with Christianist terrorist groups, separatists and Christianist parties in the North East supported by the NLFT and the Islamist groups like the PDP. In Nagaland, the Modi Government has signed a deal with the NSCN (IM) group [120], which has many forcible conversions [41], among other far more heinous crimes, to its credit. The government has refused to release the details of the deal [30], despite it causing immense heartburn in Manipur. Similarly, the BJP has no problems trying to ally currently with the IPFT [31] which has been accused of links with the terrorist group, NLFT, in Tripura [32]. Its own MLA, state level minister and powerful leader of the North East, Himanta Biswa Sarma, was accused of ULFA links, was once booked under TADA and was supposedly involved in the murder of the Congress leader Manabendra Sarma [36], [38]. Similarly, the BJP has aligned with the Christianist parties of Nagaland like NPF. The NPF chief ministers have disavowed all sympathy to the Heraka and declared themselves good Christians [39]. Heraka, it may be mentioned, is a reformed Naga traditional religion, and was the faith of Rani Gaidinliu, among other resisters of British imperialism in Nagaland. Never one to err in its messaging, the BJP has sought to adopt her as its icon for the North East, but it does not hesitate to ally with those who disavow any allegiance to her indigenous faith [40]. Similarly, in Jammu and Kashmir, the BJP has allied with the PDP, whose founder orchestrated a massive, organised assault on the Hindus of Kashmir Valley in 1986 pp. 496-497, [35], [33]. It is significant that while in coalition with the BJP, the PDP MLAs even today refer to the slain Islamist terrorists of the Kashmir Valley as `martyrs’ [34]. Finally, the BJP has also allied with another former separatist Sajjad Lone in Kashmir and had offered him a cabinet position in Jammu and Kashmir [45].

BJP also has close ties with fanatic Islamists in West Bengal. Imam Barkati of the Tipu Sultan Mosque in Kolkata had previously issued fatwas against Taslima Nasreen, Salman Rushdie, Tarek Fateh and Narendra Modi. He had recently warned of Jihad against India if it is declared a Hindu state [59]. He is known to be close to Mukul Roy [58], who has switched to BJP from TMC amid much fanfare, in the presence of Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, BJP chief Kailash Vijayvargiya and Rajya Sabha member of Parliament Swapan Dasgupta [126]. Barkati has proclaimed Mukul Roy as his elder brother and his Guru [58]. Barkati is also close to BJP’s Cabinet minister in charge of minority affairs, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi and BJP leader Shahnwaz Hussein [58]. There is recently strong speculation in the political circles in West Bengal that Barkati is headed towards BJP [58]. Incidentally, Barkati had been close to CPIM while they were in power, had subsequently moved over to Mamata Banarjee and had received her patronage. CM Banarjee had recently fallen out with him after his Jihad warning, and the Tipu Sultan mosque decided to sack Barkati as the Imam.

Section A.8: Demographic challenges confronting the Indics throughout India

Given that the BJP-RSS base proclaims BJP as the solution to all challenges the Indics face today, it needs to be emphasized that the Indics face the same demographic challenges in BJP-ruled states as in those not ruled by the BJP. In Jharkhand, the percentage of Christians since 1991 (since when BJP has been strong in the area) has risen sharply to 4.32%, whereas it was decreasing during the 1951-1991 period. The growth of Christians in Santhal Paraganas is ~280% [109]. Similarly, the growth of Christians in Gumla and Simdega has been high, with Simdega now being an Indic minority district. The growth of Christians has, similarly, been extremely high in neighbouring Odisha, where the BJP-BJD alliance was in power between 2000-2009 [109]. The Christian population in Gajapati, Kandhamal, etc has been skyrocketing compared to the pre-1991 period [109]. It is, further, important to mention that the Hindu population in the Upper Doab in Western Uttar Pradesh is collapsing faster than nearly any other place in India (outside the NE states) [110], roughly on par with the worst illegal-Bangladeshi hit districts like Dhubri and Nagaon in Assam and worse than any district in Bengal. The situation is similar in Mewat in Haryana, where BJP and its allies have been in power often since 1996. In the Mewat part of Rajasthan (parts of Alwar and Bharatpur districts), the Hindu population is collapsing rapidly, with tehsils registering as much as 5% collapse every decade since 1991 [111]. Finally, it might be remarked that the districts of Kasaragod (Kerala) and Kanyakumari (Tamizh Nadu) that have seen a strong BJP-RSS presence are the very districts that are losing Hindu population more rapidly than the neighbouring districts like Thiruvananthapuram and Kannur, where the Left is strong and the BJP-RSS is weak. It is of some further significance that the conversions are fewer in Left ruled regions like Tripura (one of the two states in the North East, where tribals are mostly Hindu, with the other being Sikkim), and Kerala (most conversions occurred in Kerala during the Travancore and Cochin state times, and not afterwards, when the Communist parties started ruling). Similarly, the Manipur valley which had a long history of Leftism, is still mostly Hindu, with very few conversions, while the remainder of Manipur has been totally converted. Further, the tribal areas of Bengal, where the Left has been strong, have seen very few conversions compared to the neighbouring districts of Jharkhand, where the BJP, JMM and the Congress have been strong [108]. Similarly, the coastal regions of Andhra Pradesh, where the Left’s presence is marginal, have seen many conversions, while the Telangana region, which had a strong Naxalite movement, has had far fewer conversions.

Section A.9: BJP Governments’ assault on history and culture of Hindus

PM Modi, while running a full-majority BJP Government at the center described, in his address to a four-day conference in Delhi of Sufi scholars from about 20 countries, the spirit of Sufism as “voice of peace, co-existence, compassion and equality” [88], which contradicts the documented record of multiple atrocities the Sufis perpetrated on Hindus [89]. He also pronounced that Indian Muslims “reflect the timeless culture of peace, diversity and equality, of faith of our land. They are steeped in the democratic tradition of India, confident of their place in the country and invested in the future of the nation.” [88]. Such generalizations omit the innumerable atrocities that fundamentalist elements among Muslims, which comprise of a considerable section of the Indian Muslim populace, has perpetrated on Indics in all regions in which they constitute local majority, be it Kashmir valley, Assam, West Bengal, Kerala, coastal Karnataka. Multiple militant and terrorist organizations have existed among Indian Muslims, eg, SIMI, Indian Mujahidin, PFI, etc. In the same regime, President Ramnath Kovind lionized Tipu Sultan [6] despite documentary evidences of his launching massive religious atrocities on Hindus [27][28][29].

In an apparent attempt to control pollution, the Supreme Court of India had banned the sale of firecrackers before Deepavali [104], but it had refused to interfere on religious customs of other religions repeatedly. For instance, no ban has been imposed on causing unacceptable levels of noise pollution by blaring Azaans on loud-speakers of mosques five time every day including early mornings, nor on slaughter of innumerable animals on Eid which is definitely a large-scale cruelty on animals and pollutes the environment because streets neighboring the slaughterhouses are often flooded with blood of the slaughtered animals. No ban has been imposed on the sale of crackers before Christmas and New Year, nor on the sale of Christmas trees before Christmas whose preparation leads to destruction of plants. Yet, BJP’s Union minister Dr. Harsha Vardhan welcomed the ban related to Deepavali in a sequence of tweets (which he had to delete subsequently due to outrage on Social media among BJP’s fan-base) [104]. Dr. Harsha Vardhan has not commented on the noise and environmental pollutions brought on by the Muslim and Christian festivals listed above.

In April 2016, the non-Kashmiri students of the National Institute of Technology at Srinagar hoisted the national flag at their campus. Subsequently, the police of the PDP-BJP Government of Jammu and Kashmir assaulted them and snatched the flag from them [99] [100]. Rather than protecting the basic rights of the students to hoist their national flag, lifelong RSS man and currently National General Secretary of BJP, Ram Madhav, admonished them for turning political instead of quietly pursuing their studies: “ They are in the Valley only to pursue their academic careers; they are not there to pursue politics.’’ [101]. He implied that the students should not have tried to hoist the national flag at their campus and defended the Governments’ actions: “ The central government and the state government — both are doing their best to ensure their (students’) security. But the larger issue is: None of us should try and do anything that will further the problems that they are facing and also disturb their academic career. The NIT has been there for several years in the Valley. Several new institutions are coming up. We have sanctioned an AIIMS in the Kashmir Valley. What will happen to AIIMS tomorrow if this narrative goes on?The security part, the government will take care (of). But remember, protecting the academic careers of the students is also important. We are committed to that also. We want to secure their academic career.’’ [101] Seeking to defend the anti-India sentiments of the Kashmir valley, Ram Madhav added that Kashmir was not the only place where the National Flag was not welcome, it was equally unwelcome in Bastar and Dantewada of Chhattisgarh and Manipur [101]. Then Union Minister of HRD Smriti Irani had asked all the Central Universities to hoist national flag everyday on their campuses, but had refused to ask the same of NIT Srinagar administration, on the ground that it was a state subject [103]. More than 1000 non-Kashmiri students left the NIT campus, fearing threat to their life [102], goes without saying that the BJP Government at the Center and the PDP-BJP Government at the state did nothing to allay their legitimate concerns.

The present government has got a legislation passed that permits the construction of buildings up to within 100m of historically vital sites, under certain conditions. Ironically, it was Congress MP, Dr. Shashi Tharoor, who has objected to the legislation. He has pointed out that the discovery of Ram Janmabhoomi temple evidence would have been hampered had constructions been allowed till within 100m of the disputed structure. Indeed, the government has prioritised construction, as may be seen from [119]. “Setting aside opposition to the bill by Congress MP Shashi Tharoor and RSP MP NK Premachandran, minister of state for culture Mahesh Sharma said banning construction in the prohibited areas was adversely affecting various public works and developmental projects of the central government. “Moving away from party lines, members have supported the bill,” Sharma said, responding to concerns raised by members during the debate on the Bill.’’ [119]. Consequently, the government has endangered the heritage of the Indics in its eagerness to facilitate mercantile endeavors.

Section B: The Intellectual Collusion of the BJP-RSS ecosystem

We now examine the response of the intellectuals in the BJP-RSS ecosystem to their political patrons’ betrayal of Hindus.

Some of the intellectuals have architected the betrayals documented in the previous section. The President’s speech that has lionized Tipu Sultan would have been scripted by the President’s press secretary, who is currently Ashok Malik, an eminent member of the BJP-RSS ecosystem [7]. Some others have exhorted the BJP to institute further betrayals. For example, R. Jagannathan, the editorial director of Swarajya Magazine has repeatedly suggested that the problem of illegal immigration of Bangladeshi Muslims to India is best solved by giving the illegal immigrant visas and legalising them [76]. He has argued for free immigration from Bangladesh, so as to facilitate economic development [76], [77], [78], and has called for naturalisaton of the illegals, who have `lived long’ [77] and [78]. Note that the legalisation of the illegal immigrants will lead to their eventual naturalisation as citizens. Even if the illegal immigrants are denied citizenship, their children will become citizens. Thus, not only will legalisation of illegals, not redress the demographic collapse of Hindus in Assam, it will exacerbate the same.

Parts of the ecosystem have perpetrated assaults on Indic history, without apparent direct intervention by the Government. Swarajya Magazine’s positions are mostly supportive of those of BJP at the Centre and at different states. Three of the four members of its editorial advisory board can be described as follows: 1) a RS MP nominated by BJP (Dr. Swapan Dasgupta), and (2) two high appointees of the BJP Government at the centre, Manish Sabharwal, appointed as RBI Director, Dr. Surjit Bhalla, appointed as the member of the Economic Advisory Council. More often than not, its views appear to be those of an unofficial mouth-piece of various BJP governments. Swarajya Magazine has repeatedly sullied the name of Shyama Prasad Mookerjee, who has innumerable contributions in securing the interests of the Indics, by awarding in his name former separatists and those alleged of murder and grave corruption charges [37]. The inaugural Shyama Prasad Mookerjee award, in the year 2015, went to Sajjad Lone. As we have documented in [37], Sajjad Lone is the son of Abdul Ghani Lone, who became a minister in the government of Jammu and Kashmir, subsequently became a separatist, and eventually was assassinated by rival separatist gangs. Sajjad Lone is married to Asma Khan, daughter of the Pakistan-based separatist JKLF leader Aman-ullah Khan. Sajjad Lone has frequently participated in mainstream TV debates in capacity of “a separatist leader”. During the Amarnath agitation in Jammu, which started when the Congress-PDP coalition government cancelled the temporary allocation of land for Amarnath pilgrims, Sajjad Lone made several derogatory remarks about Jammu in TV debates. For instance, he asked Arnab Goswami (Times Now), “Are you comparing the agitation in a few Mohallas in Jammu to that of a Pan-Kashmir Agitation?” Then, as the agitation gathered steam, he unabashedly told Rajdeep Sardesai (CNN-IBN) “We should give one and half district to Jammu and live peacefully.” In Barkha Dutt’s programme, he dismissed Jitendra Singh as, “the land row is settled, all that is to be settled is Azadi”, and wanted Jitendra Singh’s mike to be muted. [37] Thus, Lone unequivocally stood for the separation of Kashmir from India. In 2017, the award went to another controversial politician, namenly Himanta Biswa Sharma. He was accused of ULFA links, was once booked under TADA and was supposedly involved in the murder of the Congress leader Manabendra Sarma [36], [38]. On July 21, 2015, the BJP had itself released a booklet at a meeting of party MPs in New Delhi with the title ‘Water Supply Scam 2010 in Goa and Guwahati’, in which it had alleged that Himanta Biswa Sarma, was a `key suspect in the scam related to a Guwahati water supply project [43]. During the BJP regime, Sarma’s residence was searched by CBI in connection to the Sharda scam and he had to appear before its crime branch for a probe [44]. Pradyut Bora, the former director of the IT-cell of BJP, had written about Sarma to Amit Shah that “Shri Himanta Biswa Sarma was a student leader of the All Assam Students’s Union (AASU). During this time, he also became a money-collector for the outlawed ULFA (United Liberation Front of Asom). Caught by the police while on an extortion drive, he was rescued by Congress Chief Minister Shri Hiteswar Saikia who made him join his Party. Now this young man, who once shouted Khed, Khed, Bangladeshi Khed (Chase, Chase, Bangladeshi Chase), started parroting Chief Minister Saikia’s statement that there are no Bangladeshis (illegal migrants) in Assam. This person is today the owner of a newspaper, 3 television channels, and countless benarni properties in Guwahali; possibly Assam’s richest politician. He has also been named in the Sharada scam and questioned by CBI. During the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, Shri Sarma had made an inflammatory speech in an election rally that it is not water, but the blood of Muslims that flow through the water pipes of Gujarat. In response, the then Party Prabhari for Assam, Shri SS Ahluwalia, announced in Guwahati that all pending cases would be opened against Shri Himanta Biswa Sarma. I wonder what has happened to Ahluwalia ji’s pronouncements? Today, far from being prosecuted for the cases against him, I understand that you are considering inducting him into the BJP. I am flabbergasted. Wasn’t Shri Sarma the person former Assam Governor Gen SK Sinha was referring to when he said. “I don’t want to name, but everyone knows that a former ULFA person is a member of the Cabinet in Assam.’’ Please lot us know what great virtue do you see in Shri Himanta Biswa Sarma. apart from winning elections by hook or crook, that you are considering inducting him into the Party? Is he going to be BJP’s paradigm of a model Karyakarta? Or do the considerations of whining elections make you overlook a person’s antecedents completely?’’ [87]

Many of BJP-RSS’ intellectuals have supported BJPs’ excesses and discriminations against the Indics. For example, while BJP Government in Haryana killed 39 Indics agitators from the Dera in cold-blood, through direct shots aimed to kill, BJP-leaning journalist Gaurav Sawant posted, on a celebratory note, a video that showed how police were shooting to kill the agitators, not shooting to get them out of violent actions:

gaurav_sawant_tweet_1
The intellectuals of the ecosystem extend patronage to media units, like NDTV, that have shown pronounced anti-Hindu bias and are under scanner for alleged financial corruptions and irregularities. Examples include:

Some others have commended various operatives of BJP-RSS who have executed many of their betrayals of the Indics. For example, Ram Madhav has been managing the affairs of BJP in Jammu and Kashmir and in the North East, which is where many of the betrayals have been instituted. He also wields significant clout in the BJP-RSS intellectual ecosystem. And, many of the BJP-RSS intellectuals have showered lavish praises on him. Consider Senior journalist Kanchan Gupta’s tweet below:

In North East, Himanta Biswa Sarma has been playing a leading role in sealing different alliances of the BJP, many of which are with outfits with a record of Christianist and secessionist activities. Like Ram Madhav’s, Himanta Biswa Sarma’s stars are on the rise in the BJP-RSS ecosystem, perhaps on account of their electoral successes, albeit through unholy alliances and “hook or crook’’ as somewhat more principled Pradyut Bora would put it [87]. Now note how Kanchan Gupta has applauded him:

Yet, as we have shown, and as Mr. Gupta very well knows that Mr. Sarma has undergone repeated volte-faces on the issue of illegal immigrants in Assam, depending on the political color he chooses at different times, which are in turn closely correlated with which regime can protect him from certain pending cases. In the recent threats to the current Tripura CM, Mr. Manik Sarkar, a deportation to Bangladesh or West Bengal [117], [118] – its hard to believe that the two of the three places designated by Mr. Sarma for Mr. Sarkar are not based on the latter’s ethnicity. Specifically, the above is an instance of blatant ethnic attack on Mr. Sarkar, which is perhaps a result of Mr. Sarma playing to the BJP gallery, where bias against Bengalis predominate. The willful ignorance Mr. Gupta shows of the antecedents above, may well be his investment in his political future; regardless it squarely falls within the purview of intellectual collusion.

Former President of WB BJP, and current BJP-appointed Governor, and lifelong RSS man, Tathagata Roy, who has authored several books, have on one hand abused Hindu Bengali refugees as chuhas for preaching Marxism and Secularism, and on the other hand supported falsehoods uttered by BJP MLAs in favour of Muslims:

Tathagata Roy’s creative justification for the above falsehood has been that politics is about “being all things to all men’’ and “ 2 and 2 sometimes make 4 sometimes 22 sometimes don’t even make sense’’:

tathagata_penn_tweet_2
Last, but not the least, the bulk of the intellectuals have remained silent while the ecosystem repeatedly betrayed Hindu interests. For example, none of these eminences have objected when a leading scholar of Hinduism, Koenraad Elst, was asked to leave a conference of the ecosystem for stating certain politically incorrect, but theologically grounded facts on Islam. It was the same story (including for the Kannadiga and the Keralite members of the ecosystem) when RSS man President Ramnath Kovind lionized Tipu Sultan [6] in his speech delivered during the regime of a single-party-majority BJP Government at the centre, though Tipu Sultan had butchered the Hindus in Karnataka and Kerala.

We finally note some exceptions to the above norm of intellectual collusion that we have seen in the BJP-RSS ecosystem. Rajyasabha MP nominated by BJP, Dr. Subramanian Swamy have been strident on the issue of the FIR lodged against the Indian Army. He has generally also taken strong exception to the GoI’s ignoring of corruptions, if not on all the issues of discrimination against Hindus that we have flagged above. Further, Prof. Hari Om, who was once associated with the BJP for a long time, is now out of the BJP and is doing an excellent job documenting the various betrayals of the Hindus of Jammu. His documentation of the travails of the Hindus of Jammu have been a mix of on ground information of the woes of the Hindus of Jammu and politico-legal examinations of the various positions of the BJP, both at the centre and at the J&K state level.

Section C: Conclusion

The reality of the ecosystem becomes evident from the following tweets of Kanchan Gupta:

Kanchan Gupta has been part of the BJP-RSS ecosystem for a long time, his values, journalistic abilities have surely not altered in a few years. What has, however, changed is his stature in BJP’s Darbaar, he has been marginalized in BJP-RSS’ power structure ever since Modi assumed power. Hence so his esteem has plummeted in the worldview of other eminent intellectuals of the Darbaar too. As for Kanchan Gupta (and despite our strong disagreements with him on multiple issues in the past), it does appear that he has compromised relatively less with core values, among the intellectuals in the BJP-RSS’ Darbaar (he has tweeted against BJP on the credible speculation that Islamic fundamentalist Imam Barkati may join BJP, and has also highlighted on multiple occasions the plight of the Hindu victims of various different riots and other instances of Islamism in West Bengal); this may also explain his marginalization. An individual’s true persona is often revealed through his choices not associated with professional compulsions – we get a glimpse of his connection with his roots through one of his poignant apolitical writings recalling his childhood in Shantiniketan: “Sitting in a cane chair on the verandah of ‘Krishnakali’ you could see the monsoon clouds gathering in the late afternoon sky. First they would lazily roll in, turning the pale blue sky grey. Then they would suddenly begin to rush in; large inky blue-black clouds would darken the sky within minutes. At that magical moment between the gathering of the clouds and their bursting into rain the egrets in the paddy fields would take flight, presenting a fascinating study of white birds against a black backdrop, captured in many Bengal water colours. Soon it would begin to rain, first large drops then a fine, sharp, seemingly incessant downpour. The red earth of Birbhum would turn into a rust-coloured mush. Dragonflies would take cover beneath shimmering leaves and drenched birds would shuffle on the branches of the trees, looking miserably pitiful. From somewhere would waft in the lines of Tagore’s song, “Bahu juger opar hotey ashaadh elo…” The gathering gloom of a wet evening, the moist air laden with the smell of rajanigandha, firangipani, hasnuhana and kadam blossoms, would fetch with itself a strange, haunting melancholy. Every time it rains in the hinterland of western Uttar Pradesh, where I now live, virtually on the edge of urban civilisation, I am reminded of monsoon in Santiniketan. Memories come flooding in, along with the melancholy.’’ [81]. Yet, it is his own personal rejection that rankles him enough to tweet against a fellow-intellectual and a fellow-pursuant of the BJP-RSS ideology (if there is one), and against a fellow-intellectual. He has remained silent when several of them, including many of his close acquaintances, have spewed the venom of ethnic hate against his own ethnicity – the Bengalis, although not on his timeline on Twitter. He has objected when members of the base have abused him on his ethnicity, but never when one of his peers undermined whole ethnicities (at least to our knowledge) outside his specific Twitter domain. In particular, he has remained silent when Tathagata Roy abused Hindu Bengali refugees for fleeing from East Pakistan like chuhas, he has also commended Himanta Sarma, who has a deeply troubling past; although he is a direct descendant of the Hindu Bengalis refugees who fled religious persecution in East Pakistan and is privy to their tragedy and pain [81]. If this then is the priority to self over a collective that one of the better denizens of the BJP-RSS ecosystem accords, one can conceive the extent of the compromise of those who have scored higher in betrayal indices, and have accordingly been accommodated in high echelons of the power structure of the BJP-RSS.

The story of the BJP-RSS intellectual ecosystem is therefore an encore of the story of the Bengali and other Congress-left aligned intellectuals who betrayed the respective Hindu masses. Yet the BJP-RSS ecosystem portrays the latter as deracinated demons. Is this because the former see their own reflection in the latter? Too close to home perhaps. Or may be because the latter have been eating what the former perceives as their lunch, that is, its a competition for perks, rather than clash over values. Or may be it is a diversionary tactic through creation of a whipping boy to distract from the betrayal of the Hindu masses by their political patrons, and distract from their own intellectual collusion, by exploiting latent ethnic biases in their base?

Regardless, the tragic reality of today’s India is that intellectuals of all hue, view their scholarship (to the extent the term can be used for them), not as a tool of public-service, or even a device for expression, but as a pathway to power. They can accomplish that goal only through political patronage, as they have no mass base and can not win elections on their own. Their positions of power, be it Governorship or Rajyasabha MP or advisory positions in Governments, or appointments in statutory bodies, or even the fame associated with Ministers releasing their books, have to be conferred on them through the good graces of the government in power. They naturally wait for the crumbs that the party in power they are aligned to can bestow on them. Trained to utter what their political bosses want to hear, they parrot only what their political bosses expects them to, regardless of its digression from uncontestable truths. Hindu interests come secondary to individual interests. When asked to bend, they crawl, as Advani had once so pithily summed up the conduct of the India media during emergency [8]. And, they follow the typical “Darbari’’ (courtier) culture, whereby the esteem they accord to individuals depend not on values, intellectual abilities, but on proximity to the current seat of power.

In contrast, collusion is far more limited among the limited set of intellectuals who have largely remained outside the political patronage structure, either by their conscious design or amalgamation of circumstances precipitated by their inability to compromise. On the Hindu side, Sitaram Goel has authored several brilliant books exposing persecution of Hindus by Islamists. He had also provided several perceptive critics of RSS, and saw through “The RSS is leading Hindu society into a trap from which it may not recover” and “Hindu society is doomed unless this RSS-BJP movement perishes’’ [75]. Abhas Chatterjee has provided an intellectual foundation to a Hindu nation [80]. It is Koenraad Elst who has repeatedly articulated in his columns and other public utterances, theologically documented, but politically inconvenient truths on Islam, as also betrayals of Hindus by the BJP-RSS government. On the left side, Suniti Ghosh had documented mercantile collusion with the British, in three scholarly books (India and the Raj, The Tragic Partition of Bengal, and the Indian Big Bourgeoisie), while he was marginalized by the Communist Party. Samaresh Bose had authored literary gems in Bangla on folk Hinduism after (informally) disassociating himself from the Communist Party in which he had once officially belonged. Aroup Chattarjee, the lone Indian to catalogue evidence exposing fraudulent conduct of the organization of the internationally renowned nun, Teresa, is of leftist persuasion, but has remained outside the leftist political ecosystem [79]. Thus, the redress for intellectual collusion is not rampant anti-intellectualism, rather a vibrant intellectual space that is insulated from political patronage.

References
[1] http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/strongest-action-against-those-who-disrupt-harmony-rajnath-singh-on-dadri-lynching/article7733844.ece
[2] http://www.hindustantimes.com/kolkata/hindu-man-dies-in-west-bengal-violence-clashes-erupt-in-basirhat-again/story-O1j8VjMqPCdgSdCYQRyVVJ.html
[3] http://indianexpress.com/article/cities/lucknow/anti-prophet-remark-up-govt-invokes-nsa-against-kamlesh-tiwari-family-to-move-allahabad-high-court/
[4] https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/crpf-sends-new-ak-plastic-bullets-to-kashmir-to-reduce-usage-of-pellets-1759910
[5] http://indianexpress.com/article/india/if-we-had-to-beat-them-badly-we-would-not-a-single-civilian-died-on-aug-25-only-followers-anil-jain-4825832/
[6] https://www.ndtv.com/bangalore-news/tipu-sultan-died-a-hero-president-kovind-says-scripted-alleges-bjp-1766979
[7] https://www.outlookindia.com/newswire/story/journalist-ashok-malik-appointed-press-secretary-to-president/972536
[8] http://www.countercurrents.org/nayar020809.htm
[9] http://www.business-standard.com/article/current-affairs/hindu-minority-in-bangladesh-are-safe-but-feel-insecure-tripura-governor-116122200435_1.html
[10] https://swarajyamag.com/world/bangladeshi-hindus-less-than-5-percent-very-soon
[11] Shanmukh, Saswati Sarkar and Dikgaj, “Examining the Indo-Bangla Land Boundary Agreement’, http://indiafacts.org/examining-the-indo-bangla-land-boundary-agreement/
[12] http://mha.nic.in/annualreports
[13] http://www.abplive.in/india-news/modi-govts-progress-panchayats-for-minorities-10-points-422834
[14] http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-others/vasundhara-raje-pacifies-rss-with-promise-to-reconstruct-the-temples/
[15] https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Temple-deities-are-minors-can-they-own-land-SC-to-decide/articleshow/49876924.cms
[16] https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/jaipur/Land-mafia-eye-temple-property/articleshow/3442522.cms
[17] https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/80-temples-demolished-in-Modis-capital/articleshow/3706244.cms