It seems sometimes that politics and logics do not go together.
If you take the present political situation in India, for instance, you find that the Indian Government’s investigative arm, the CBI, once upon a time a highly respected institution, is on the one hand going after the Chief Minister of one of the most flourishing states in India, while it closes its eyes to the wrongs that other CM’s of the Congress, or allied to the Congress, are openly doing.
It is totally illogic that in the same breath the CBI is requesting the judiciary to drop the case against Jagdish Tytler, who was seen by innumerable witnesses leading mobs to murder Sikhs, while it is going all guns blazing against Narendra Modi, who at the best was caught off guard when the riots in Gujarat broke in 2002, or at the worst delayed in calling the army. But did not Rajiv Gandhi do the same thing (“When a big tree falls, the earth shakes”, he said), after his mother was ruthlessly murdered, by her own bodyguards, whom she had trusted in spite of repeated warnings? A defenceless woman machine-gunned while lying on the ground. Rajiv also delayed calling in security forces: is not the anger of men always the same, whichever their ideology?
It is illogical that the hallowed legal instruments of Indian democracy are blatantly used to pin down the Chief Minister of the most lawful state in India, the least corrupt, the most prosperous, which impresses with its efficiency even non BJP tycoons, such Ratan Tata, when a Lalu Prasad was allowed to loot Bihar and keep it in the most desolate state, because he was an ally. It is illogical that, if they manage to unseat Mr Modi, the opposition in Gujarat will probably bring back the State to its earlier condition of corruption, disorganization and inefficiency. As usual, it will be the common man who will suffer.
Is it logic today that the Indian media, its intellectuals and even its government, only highlight the 2002 Gujarat riots, carefully omitting the fact that they were triggered by the cruel murdering of 57 Hindus, 36 of them innocent women and children, burnt like animals in the Sabarmati Express? Riots of that intensity do not happen in a day, they are a result of long term pent-up angers and a spark like the killing of Hindu brothers and sisters, whose only crime was that they believed that Ram was born in Ayodhya, is enough the ignite the smouldering fire.
Is it logical that only Mr Modi is targeted? But who went down in the streets in fury in 2002? Hundreds, if not thousands of Gujuratis, not only from the lower strata of society, not only Dalits, but also middle class, and sometimes even upper middle class! Should they also not be judged and condemned? But then it would be the whole of Gujarat who should be hauled to court, an ancient and noble race, who gave so much to India, including Mahatma Gandhi, and today is still exporting all over the world its upright and successful businessmen, to the US, for instance, where they own most of the motels. Nobody dares do that; it’s much each easier to target Mss Modi and Shah.
It is widely known that the dreaded Khalistan movement in Punjab was quelled in the 80’s by super cop KPS Gill in a ruthless manner by a number of ‘fake encounters’ which killed top Sikh separatists. This was done under a Congress Government, both at the Center and in Punjab. Rajiv Gandhi was the Prime Minister then. Why was he never indicted? Because terrorists have no law and they kill, burn, bomb, innocent people. And sometimes ruthless methods have to be used against them. Is it logic that Gujarat is indicted for one fake encounter?
Mrs Sonia Gandhi has no doubt proved that she is an exceptional person, a disciplined and honest leader and a devoted mother. But why is she going so single mindedly against Narendra Modi, using brazenly the Government’s legal appendages? Because, at the moment he seems to be the only alternative to her son, Rahul Gandhi becoming Prime Minister in the next general elections. That is pure logics, and we should give credit to Mrs Gandhi for her cunning and ruthlessness. She has given us a lesson in Realpolitik. Kautilya would have been proud of her and the BJP, who spent 5 years being goody-goody (and not using their power to go after Mrs Gandhi), should also reflect on its foolishness. For she has no such qualms against them.
Mr Modi is unfortunately a Hindu and today it is not good to be a Hindu in India, though Hindus represent 850 million here, a billion worldwide, one of the most tolerant, peaceful and successful communities in the world. Hindus are killed in markets, their temples attacked, their financial capital held to ransom for 3 days by a few men, Kashmir, the ancient seat of Shivaism, is allowed to drift away by the present government. Hindu’s spiritual leaders are also in danger today. Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, one of the most popular spiritual leaders, who has dedicated his life to the service of humanity and has never been heard to utter a word in anger, is the latest one to be under attack. Does the Indian Government understand that he has millions of followers and that their anger could be felt one day, along with the anger of the followers of other Hindu leaders who have been slighted in the last few years? If only the Hindus could become conscious of their numbers, as well of their economical and potential political clout! But they are hopelessly divided at the moment. Yet the truth is that Hindus, after lying low and having being at the receiving hand of terrorism for centuries, are getting angry: Gujurat was the first sign, the Christian belt of Orissa the second, and the Jammu Amarnath riots the third one. Hindus are passive, Gandhiji even called them cowards, but when they erupt, they erupt in fury.
It’s no good then to be a Hindu in Sonia Gandhi’s India. No, it is better to be a Quattrochi at the moment, who was exonerated by the CBI, which went to the extent to let him get away with the thousands of crores he had looted from India. Or even a terrorist, a murderer and a smuggler, like Sohrabuddin, from whose house in M.P., 40 AK-47 Rifles, as well as number of live Hand Grenades and Bullets were confiscated, who was declared ” Wanted” in Five States of India and against whom 40 crime cases were registered. Then you stand a chance to be protected by the Government of India, while those who have at heart their country’s integrity go to jail.
Like Sonia Gandhi, I am a born Christian. My father, a very good man, was a devout catholic; my uncle, whom I doted upon, was a parish vicar in Paris. But if you chose to live in India, as both Sonia and I have done, you have to become attuned to this ancient universal spirituality, which some call Hinduism and shed some of your Christian prejudices. You can retain the Christian values of compassion, charity and love which Jesus embodied, but you cannot take advantage of the traditional Hindu tolerance, reverence of women and respect for anything linked to the Gandhi name, to achieve so much power. It would be impossible in the US or France, predominantly Christian countries, for an ordinary elected MP, as Sonia is, to be the supreme ruler behind the scenes, specially if you are a Hindu.
Ultimately there is such a thing which in India is called ‘karma’: whatever act you do has a consequence – now or later; in this life or the next. Mrs Gandhi has achieved such terrifying power, a glance of her, a silence, just being there, is enough for her inner circle to act; she has subverted so much of the instruments of Indian democracy and she controls such huge amounts of unlisted money, that sooner or later this karma may come back to her under one form or the other.
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