Saffronising beef

“We proudly speak about saffronisation, will continue to do so, and achieve saffronisation.”
— Karnataka Governor Vajubhai Vala
As Hinduvta thugs, intoxicated by a new wave of saffronisation, dragged and lynched Mohammad Akhlaque in the small village of Dadri in the outskirts of New Dehli, I started thinking about Modi’s grand design of a digital India, as he toasted with the big guns of Facebook and Microsoft.
Mohammad Akhlaque was one of the many victims of the interpretation of the beef ban in India. A few sane voices like Justice (r) Katju tried to cool down the temperament by reminding Hinduvta warriors that the “cow was just another animal” and “cannot be anyone’s mother”. He went on to say: “Are those people across the world who eat beef bad and only we (in the country) who don’t eat are saints and seers. What’s the harm when people eat beef… I too eat and … continue to eat further”.
But Modi’s India is already on a one-way ticket to the dangerous domain of saffronisation via Hinduvta. While corporate India had marketed the Modi Brand with a hope that he would usher in fast-paced economic development and the slogans of ‘Achay Din Aa Gaye’ were posted on every nook and corner, they forgot one thing – the RSS factor will derail Indian train before it speed ups.
And Modi has not been of much help, his handpicked ministers and governors reflecting a clear tilt towards the Hinduvta agenda. Whether it be firebrand BJP president Amit Shah or RSS ideologue Manohar Parrikar ruling the South Block and Rakhsha Mantralay, saffronisation is personified in every cabinet meeting and political discourse.
Saffronisation revolves around a new and aggressive version of history, culture, science and way of life. Swami Vivekananda is being touted as Plato and Socrates, and Indian history is being modified to accommodate the glorious past of the Mahabharat; unfortunately Indian history has been a history of 2000 years of foreign rule and it would take a while to make it seem otherwise.
The effects of saffronisation on Indian polity and psychosocial outlook are not only visible in rural India but also on social media platforms run by the middle class. There is a clear division of political discourse, with minorities (Muslims, Christians and Sikhs) on the one side and Hinduvta warriors on the other. The overt patronisation of saffronisation by state and union ministers and governors is so open that secular India is drowning in the noise and rhetoric of these ideologues.
Recently, the governor of Congress-governed Karnataka, Vajubhai Vala, who has RSS roots (and was handpicked by Prime Minister Narendra Modi) had this to say: “Swami Vivekananda, Dayananda Saraswati and other leaders held the saffron flag aloft and espoused Indianness. Their teachings gave character to India. Human beings reside in nations that have character; other nations merely have people living in them.”
The movement to ban beef consumption throughout India has had serious implications for minorities, especially Muslims. Millions of people associated with the meat trade found their lives devastated; this indirectly affected the leather industry as well. As per a New York Times report published in April: “Beef is consumed not only by Indian Muslims and Christians, but also by many low-caste Hindus, for whom it is an essential source of affordable protein. The poorest waste nothing, from beef innards to coagulated blood, while their religion pragmatically turns a blind eye. Low-caste Dalit Hindu students, and others, have organized beef-eating festivals to protest the infringement on their culture and identity.”
The Indian Supreme Court had to suspend the beef ban in India-held Kashmir as it was drawing serious reaction from the Muslim community, whose Eidul Azha was marked by tensions and protests on this illogical ban.
Saffronisation has penetrated science text books as well. One interesting revelation quoted by the Deccan Herald is that ‘Dronacharya from Mahabharata was a test-tube baby born 7,500 years ago according to the state’s class 9 science textbook for this year’. Similarly stories of space and aviation enterprises by ancient Indians going as far back as 7000 years (with the ability to fly at speeds exceeding Nasa space rockets) are gaining currency in the Indian science world.
The façade of false Hinduvta pride is making the lives of minority communities very difficult; if these ancient people had such amazing technology, why did India succumb to the rudimentary swords and spears of the many conquerors who colonised it for two thousand years of modern history.
Saffronisation in India could well be the start of the fragmentation of the Indian union as minority communities seek a breathing space devoid of Hinduvta oppression.
The writer is a defence analyst based at Lahore. Email: waqarkauravi@gmail.com