Are Hindus really the victims in India? Of what, asks Barkha Dutt

In the first episode of News Ka Juice, journalist Barkha Dutt questions the idea of Hindu ‘victimhood’.

Are India’s Hindus — nearly 80% of the country — victims?

Do Hindus get the raw end of the deal from the judiciary, media or Parliament?

Hindus are anxious, why is the mandir in Ayodhya delayed, asks BJP’s veteran Ram Madhav…

The Supreme Court is anti-Hindu, suggests Rakesh Sinha… RSS ideologue…

And Right-wing groups are now demanding a Hindu Charter of Rights…

Protesting what they claim is institutionalised discrimination

So, is Hindu victimhood real?

The short answer: This is nonsense.

The long answer: This is just politics.

———————————————-

Let’s start with Sabarimala.

Violent protesters brazenly defied a court order to allow women at the shrine.

Here’s what a leaked audio tape of the BJP state president confirms…

The party saw the issue as a golden chance and encouraged the priest to shut the shrine.

The Congress was no different. Its Kerala unit openly went against the court ruling.

So, when two major parties compete for the Hindu vote, who is the victim? The progressive rule of law… or Hindus?

———————————————-

The Right-wing says liberal secularists are hypocrites.

Let’s assume this is true.

But what about their own hypocrisy?

When the Supreme Court set aside triple talaq…

And called it illegal, unconstitutional and against the Quran…

The verdict was hailed as historic…

When the same court said the exclusion of women at Sabarimala is not an essential religious practice…

The court is branded anti-Hindu.

Imagine, if Muslim groups had defied the court on triple talaq — an abominable practice, of course — what would they have been called? Anti-National!

When the court restricts loudspeakers for azaan at 5 am — we talk about noise pollution

When the same court restricts Diwali firecrackers because of lethal air pollution, we say it’s a matter of faith

So, again, where is the victimhood?

And who is the hypocrite?

———————————————-

Finally, let’s come to Ayodhya.

The court’s decision to defer the hearing on the temple-mosque dispute…

Is, in fact, advantage BJP.

An issue with diminishing returns…

Has gained a brand new lease of electoral life…

And no one even remembers the Liberhan Commission any more…

Or the Babri Masjid demolition trial…

Or that Advani, Joshi, Uma Bharti, among others, are facing charges in the case.

The sweep of history has erased 1992.

In 2018, Hindus are not victims.

Hindus — or a section of them — are politically assertive. Aggressive. Emboldened.

Everything but victims.

———————————————-

Interestingly, the Charter of Hindu Demands…

To be handed over to the Prime Minister after 10 lakh signatures…

Does talk of mob lynching… except that it calls it a lie spread by the “beef and meat mafia”.

The charter makes no mention of…

Mohammed Akhlaq, Pehlu Khan, Zahid Ahmed — just some of the men murdered over false beef rumours.

It ignores the data: 84% dead in cow-related violence since 2010 are Muslim; 97% of these attacks were in the last four years says an India Spend report.

No, we are not a Hindu Pakistan or Hindu Taliban — Shashi Tharoor, I vehemently disagree…

But I also disagree, just as strongly, with the universe of WhatsApp in which Hindus are hapless.

Thanks to its own corroded practice of secularism, the Congress today is playing catch up with the BJP.

The inconvenient truth is this: Indian politics is now Hindutva versus Hindu Lite…

And Hindu victimhood is fake news.

See you next week for more News Ka Juice.


Also read: Barkha Dutt’s open letter to #MeToo critics Tavleen Singh, Seema Mustafa & Manjeet Kripalani