After BJP (an extension of RSS) came to power in 2014, the idea of converting India into a full-fledged Hindutva Republic was again floated by the RSS. As quoted by AG Noorani in an article in The Hindu, “Mohan Bhagwat The RSS Sarsanghchalak (Chief) had stated in February 2015, that the final hour for which RSS had waited for decades had finally arrived. He asserted that “the idea of Hinduism is the only idea which brings all together... Hindustan is a Hindu Rashtra, which is a fact. We are going ahead with this (idea). All Hindus have to be organized to make this nation great. When our country will become great that will benefit the entire world.”
Unfortunately the ‘Modification’ of Gujarat under the leadership of Naredra Modi had encouraged the fundamentalists and some terror groups affiliated with RSS that a fascist ideology could very well work in rest of India as well. Again referring to AG Noorani, “the RSS and its creature the BJP want to wipe out and demolish the secular state and erect a Hindutva state based on the fascist ‘Leader’ principle. It would be sustained by a society from which religious tolerance is banished as was done, one hopes momentarily, in Gujarat before and after the 2002 pogrom. This is the ‘Gujarat model’ which the RSS and its Pracharak Modi seek to replicate at the Centre. Not only will India’s democracy and secularism suffer, the India which the nation loves and the world admires will perish. The RSS is a menace to India; and not only to its minorities. The march of Hindutva from Gujarat to Delhi in 2014 Lok Sabha elections was repeated in Uttar Pradesh state elections in 2017 when the new poster boy of RSS Yogi Adityanath became Chief Minister of the largest state of India with almost 200 million population.
By awarding Bhopal constituency ticket to Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur in current elections, BJP created another controversy. Sadhvi is not only wanted in terror attacks against Muslims in Malegaon and at Samjhauta Express, but recently raised a storm by saying that Nathuram Godse (the killer of Gandhi) was a Desh Bhakt and will remain a Desh Bhakt forever. She is likely to win her seat.
Has Godse defeated the spirit of Gandhi? This is a million dollars question and will haunt India in decades to come. Looking at the drooping faces of leftists and liberals in India as the results started pouring down, it appeared that the common Indian has stamped the idea of Hindu Rashtra and it will be very convenient for RSS and BJP to move to next step by officially declaring India as a Hindu republic.
The greatest casualty of this election has been the Muslim, Dalit and Christian voter; bewildered, confused and divided, the minorities have been suffocated completely. Another trend during campaigning in Lok Sabha election was inability or fear of Congress and other secular parties to raise the voice for minorities, this appeasement of majority Hindu population has now become a standard pattern in all political discourse in India. Another major group to suffer badly is the ‘Left and Liberal’ segment of educated Indians, who was already labelled as Urban Naxal by the RSS-BJP cabal, this group who lost great names like Gauri Lankesh and Professor Kalburgi at the hands of RSS affiliated terror groups will be pushed into a tight corner.
The right wing media, aka Godi Media (nick name for Modi Media) fully backed up by corporate India has also played a major role in bringing back Modi to power, this time with more ferocity and fanfare. The larger than life image of Modi built over last decade has paid off and Modi cult appears to be assuming the face of a new Holy Deota or Awatar. Reportedly 7 billion dollars were spent on this election and most of it was funded by Corporate India and the candidates who will be talking of alleviating poverty.
One must give the credit of Modi’s victory to organization in BJP and RSS leadership’s ability to consistently pursue their political objectives through sustained hard work and networking. The number of BJP activists may be a secret, but their activities on Social Media as well as in the filed indicates that more than 10 million Saffron Sevaks or Sanghis were out in the field to motivate their voter and spread the message of Vikas`or development and Raksha (security).
Another major factor in the Post Truth politics and appeal to sentiments, rather than actual issues faced by common people. The Godi media anchors and opinion makers in print and electronic media and Saffron Bhakts or ‘Chaukidars’ on social media created so much of election fog that the common man remained oblivious of actual issues of demonetization, farmers suicide or poverty. An estimated one billion dollars was fed into media by corporate India to market Modi as the ultimate saint and a Mahapurush(holy man). Modi rallies were organized at grand scale, one example is the Varanasi rally and road show, which cost two crore Rs excluding the cost on entertainment and travel.
The last factor which caused the defeat of opposition was the inability of opposition to build a Mahagathbandhan or grand alliance, Congress failed to get out of its egoistic approach and could not go for seat adjustment or common candidates in critical states like Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Bihar and South India. Resultantly, Muslim, Dalit and OBC vote became divided between regional parties and Congress and their total tally failed to cause any major dent in BJP’s vote bank.
To conclude, Lok Sabha elections of 2019 will become a watershed for a new India, the contest between Gandhi’s ideology and Nathuram Godse has been decisively won by fundamentalist forces and India enters an unchartered territory of establishment of Hindutva Republic. The liberal India has been decimated beyond recognition and India’s march to Hindu Rashtra is reaching its destination, tonight the ghosts of Madhav Sadashiv Golwalkar,K B Hedgewar and Vinayak Damodar Savarkar will descend on the Rajpath, to congratulate Nathuram Godse for a job well done.