'The day the power shifts, they will run across to the other side.'
The call for genocide of the entire 120 million Muslim population in India has sent shock waves within the country.
The Narendra Damodardas Modi government has so far not uttered a word of condemnation of such hate speech.
"The present government is following a trajectory which is deeply destructive because they have adopted this mistaken notion that if they can unify country under one identity, we will become powerful.," Dr Ajai Sahni, executive director, Institute of Conflict Management tells Rediff.com Senior Contributor Rashme Sehgal.
The concluding segment of a two-part interview:
You have a former naval chief and a former army chief warning about the consequences of what can happen.
What has happened to the Pakistan army. We can see our future over there? The Pakistan army has been radicalised in the name of Muslim identity politics.
Here we are seeing a whole progressive radicalisation of insitutions in the name of Hindu identity politics.
And this whole thing of how they have power so they should think differently.
No, They wanted power only to impose this ideology into play.
The RSS have always wanted to seize power to impose this social order where Muslims have second class or no status.
The Muslim League wanted a Muslim nation where non-Muslims are made second class citizens.
The present government is following a trajectory which is deeply destructive because they have adopted this mistaken notion that if they can unify country under one identity, we will become powerful.
These nationalists think Modi is doing a great service by bringing everyone under one identity.
How can anyone ask for genocide of 120 million people and be allowed to get away with this?.
They are idiots. Their time will pass.
Ninety nine per cent of the people who comprise part of the Hindutva brigade are opportunists.
The day the power shifts, they will run across to the other side.
The BJP has got a lot of cakes to distribute. Money is pouring in from all kinds of shady systems they have created.
People who have been bought will walk out.
The ideological support to the BJP is very small. All those talking about genocide, want in reality to become heads of their mohallahs so they can make a little money.
The Hindutva brigade also wants to disband the Constitution.
The RSS have from the start rejected the Constitution.
They said it is an imposed Constitution, it is a derivative constitution (British) that was not aligned with their values.
This Hindutva brigade has caused great harm to us.
Globally, India was regarded with great admiration till a few years ago. Today I see no positive reportage at all.
On every global index, we are dropping. Our country is becoming more inequitable. Very clearly, all this is not sustainable to our national interests. If we are lucky, it will turn around soon.
If we are unlucky...
Then we are on a slow slide to hell and possible disintegration.
These people will then have played a key role in the disintegration of our nation.
Let me give you another example. Everybody thought Islamic State (ISIS) was this global, dominant power.
These Islamists went about filming mass executions, showing people's heads being cut off.
Lynching people on the street may give you the illusion of power, but State power is not based on these petty operations.
State power is based on a complex chain of capacity and capability.
The military industrial complex is based on science and technology which is based on our educational system.
This in turn is based on the people's standard of living and that depends on the population profile.
Our profile is only worsening, then how can we become a great power?
The minute real power comes into play, the situation changes radically.
The Taliban took over Afghanistan, but now they are standing with a begging bowl in their hands before those very people they were fighting against.
India is a nation of continental proportions and continental complexities.
And these people are trying to run it with three simple reductionist philosophies.
Their intellectual capabilities are contemptible. All they think of is how they can gain more power. But that will fade away because what matters is how you run the country.
But Pakistan has survived.
We are not going to disappear. But is what Pakistan is today the future we want for ourselves?
Is that why we keep limping along like them.
We were talking about emerging as a great power.
Sadly, whatever capacities we had to emerge as a great power have been destroyed in the last few years. Modi believes in a complete personalisation of of power.
We are going back to the rajah-rajwada system. These are pre-modern systems.
Do you see more communal riots as a consequence of this?
Violence and intimidation works. Minorities can be easily suppressed. We can again look at Pakistan for this.
They have riots on the minority by the majority population. Once there is an atmosphere of intimidation, the minorities will fall into line. We will see organised riots against minorities.
Today we have violent Hindus entering Muslim mohallahs and beating up and killing them. No institution of the State comes to their rescue.
Feature Presentation: Aslam Hunani/Rediff.com
