AAP's ideological calisthenics amid politics of the absurd

AAP's Machiavellian moves to outmanoeuvre adversaries are dangerous as these push non-Hindu voices out of the conversation

The admirers of Arvind Kejriwal are gloating over his latest masterstroke. His demand of putting the images of Ganesh and Lakshmi on the currency notes of India has foxed the real votaries of Hindutva, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Its spokespersons have been forced to say that since India is a secular country, its currency notes cannot have religious
symbols. It has been compelled to bring back to the public discourse the word and the concept of secularism. We cannot forget that Narendra Modi, while addressing his party members after the election victory of 2019, had boasted that he had ensured that any political party did not utter the word secularism. Secularism was a dirty word. But now the word is back. Why, even media persons, who should be better known as the spokespersons of the BJP, are using this word to tell the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leaders that their demand is inconsistent with the secular schemes of the constitution of India!

Other political parties have reacted feebly. They allege that this demand aims to lure Gujarat's Hindu voters. Some TV anchors are upset that the AAP uses religion in elections. One can only laugh at this anger. A country where the moment of laying of the foundation of a Ram Temple is compared with the moment of August 15, that too by its Prime Minister, cannot complain when a simple request to put the images of Lakshmi and Ganesh on the currency notes is made. Is the invocation of Gods and Goddesses and Hinduism the preserve of the BJP? Should this practice not be democratised?

There are people who find this demand utterly absurd. But the AAP knows that absurdity defines Indian politics and society. A country which accepts the inexplicable move of demonetisation silently and is ready to believe the claim that the currency notes of Rs 2000 have electronic chips which can be detected by satellites even if buried 200 feet under the earth can be persuaded to believe any claim, however outlandish it might sound. It can be asked to bang thalis to support the government in its fight against coronavirus, and it follows the diktat. It has turned into a country where absurd claims can be made by the government to be accepted without any question.

Gradually we have been turned into soft-headed people. A people which can be led to believe that a bunch of students in New Delhi's JNU have formed a "tukde tukde gang" and are conspiring to break the nation. People are losing their ability to see things for what they are and comprehend and think about them clearly. Neither the media nor the educational institutions are willing to help the people in this direction. How can we expect them to do it? The All India Institute of Medical Science (AIIMS) is conducting a study to find out the efficacy of the Mahamrityunjaya jap on patients in coma. An IIT is researching to find the qualities of the panchagavya. Colleges at Delhi University are setting up gaushalas to conduct research on cows. It is this atmosphere which has given confidence to a politician like Arvind Kejriwal to make the demand to put Lakshmi and Ganesh on the currency notes as it would help the Indian economy and the people receive the blessings of the deities.

Add to it the cynicism that has also become a part of the nature of the Indian people. They know somewhere in their hearts that such claims are false. Made only to rouse them emotionally. And yet they are willing to fall for such claims. Have we not often heard the commentators or even voters saying that yes, there is inflation, unemployment, and there is every reason not to vote for this government but what to do? Something like Pulwama will happen, and we will get polarised. They accept that a
game is being played with them. But they are ready to play along. They are ready to get polarised.

The claim of Arvind Kejriwal has left his supporters crestfallen. How can an IITian indulge in such irrationality, they ask. Some of his earlier colleagues have expressed their dismay, saying that this was not the Arvind Kejriwal they knew and had worked with. They are wrong. Because the ''movement'' which established Arvind Kejriwal's credibility was a huge exercise in subterfuge and fraud. The claim of corruption that Arvind Kejriwal and his team made to discredit the Congress-led UPA government turned out to be false. His supporters found out that the demand for Lokpal was never sincere.

The truth behind the tamasha that was staged at Delhi's Ramlila maidan in the name of the fast unto death of Anna Hajare is yet to be told by those who were party to it. An unknown entity like Anna Hazare was brought to Delhi and presented as the second Mahatma. But that is a story to be told some other time. Here we mention it only to say that those who believed in the story of the gigantic corruption and Lokpal as the panacea for it should not find it bizarre that Arvind and his colleagues are now proposing that currency notes with Lakshmi and Ganesh will heal the ailing economy of India.

Some think that Arvind Kejriwal is forging a Hindutva that is not anti-minority. They say that he has been invoking a Hinduism, which is non-antagonistic. He has never spoken against Muslims or Christians. His non-participation in the Shaheen Bagh protests is defended as a smart move to make it impossible for the BJP to discredit him in the eyes of Hindus.

Even if we accept this argument which is ethically unacceptable, we need to find a reason for his decision to distance his party from the violence struck Muslims of Delhi in 2020. Not only did he not support the anti-CAA movement, but he denigrated it by saying that it was a conspiracy hatched by the BJP. He also claimed that he could have cleared the Shaheen Bagh roads occupied by the protesters had he controlled the Delhi Police. His support for the demotion and dismemberment of the state of Jammu and Kashmir is no benign Hindutva. His party tried to play on the fears of Hindus in Punjab. His party leaders lied unashamedly that India was turning unsafe for those who wanted to chant Jai Shri Ram. They falsely claimed that Rinku Sharma was killed for chanting Jai Shri Ram. This symbolic Hindutva is definitely anti-Muslim.

Recall Narendra Modi, as chief minister of Gujarat, claiming to speak on behalf of 5 crore Gujaratis after the 2002 pogrom, obliterating the existence of Muslims there. Similarly, Arvind Kejriwal and his colleagues claim to plead on behalf of 130 crore Indians to print the images of Ganesh and Lakshmi on the currency notes. He is clever enough to know that it would be difficult for non-Hindus to oppose this demand. The AAP is trying to paint India in Hindu colours which is not very different from what the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh wants to do. Present Hinduism as THE Indian way of life and force non-Hindus to submit to it.

The AAP has been making Machiavellian moves to outmanoeuvre or outplay its adversaries, including the BJP but what it is doing is dangerous: it is pushing all non-Hindu voices out of the conversation that India was supposed to be.

(The author teaches at Delhi University)

Disclaimer: The views expressed above are the author's own. They do not necessarily reflect the views of DH.