New Delhi: The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) has called for a review of the definition of “minorities” in India, arguing that the “changing demographics” in some states and the “decreasing” Hindu population warrant such an intervention.
In the latest cover story in its Hindi mouthpiece Panchjanya, the RSS questioned the concept of a minority in India and its implications on the right to equality and the principle of a secular state.
Right-wing columnists also justified the recent amendments in school textbooks by the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT), the rising “threats” of a separatist movement in Punjab, China’s renaming of villages in Arunachal Pradesh and how the rupee can “replace” the dollar as a global currency.
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Hindus are becoming ‘minorities’, says RSS
Is the concept of a minority coming in the way of the right to equality and the principle of a secular state? That’s the question that RSS’s mouthpiece Panchjanya contended with in its cover story.
In its piece, the RSS worried that Hindus were turning into minorities in states such as Assam, West Bengal, Bihar, Kerala, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh.
For context, the last official census in 2011 showed that Hindus account for nearly 80 per cent of India’s population.
“Who will be called a minority?” the words on the cover read. “Everyone other than the majority or a neglected section due to the lack of effective numbers? What’s its definition, what are the standards? What will happen to the facilities if there is a minority in the central list and a majority in the state list”.
In a series of articles, Panchjanya cited examples of districts where Hindus are allegedly becoming a religious minority.
“Muslims are now the largest community in Assam. The Muslim population explosion has changed the demography of at least nine districts in the state where Hindus have become a minority. In four decades, the Muslim population in the state increased by 10 per cent to 34.22 per cent, while the Hindu population decreased by 11 per cent to 61.46 per cent,” one report claimed. It is unclear how a 34.22 per cent population share makes Muslims the largest community.
Another claimed that in West Bengal, the Hindu population in eight districts has “decreased up to 3 per cent”. Hindus have also declined to 28.44 per cent in Jammu, it claimed, adding that the demographics of Bihar, Kerala, Punjab, and Uttar Pradesh are also “fast changing”.
NCERT ‘right’ in removing Mughal history
In his opinion piece in Dainik Jagran, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Hriday Narayan Dixit addressed the controversy that broke out after NCERT dropped some content on the Mughals from their textbooks as part of their “rationalisation” exercise.
What is the point of glorifying the Mughal Empire, the former Uttar Pradesh assembly speaker asked in his piece, when its central idea is “a tale of religious supremacy and humiliation of Hindus”.
Dixit also backed NCERT’s decision to remove references to Hindu Right-wing organisation’s involvement in the assassination of Gandhi and the subsequent ban on the RSS.
“Children are the future of India. It’s dangerous to teach them distorted history. History lessons should be composed carefully. The decision of NCERT is important from this point of view. After all, what is the point of teaching children about American dominance in world politics, when it is just an idea,” he said in the piece.
“The hatred of Gandhi by alleged Hindu extremists is also a fiction and not a historical fact. It is absolutely right to remove these sections,” he added. Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated by Nathuram Godse, a member of the Hindu Mahasabha, on 30 January 1948.
VHP on Khalistan
In an editorial in its fortnightly magazine Hindu Vishwa, the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) blamed the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) for the “increasing instability in Punjab”. Khalistan, the editorial said, was once again raising its head in the state.
“Many journalists, social workers and politicians were afraid Khalistani terrorism could increase in Punjab after the Aam Aadmi Party came to power and this is proving to be true today,” the editorial said. “There have been talks of the current chief minister having a soft spot for Khalistan since his days as a Member of Parliament.”
Khalistanis’ support and involvement and AAP’s “cooperation” in the farmers’ protest in Delhi has already been revealed, the editorial claimed.
“The chief minister of Delhi has also been accused of supporting Khalistan,” the VHP alleged. “Sidhu Moose Wala, Shiv Sena leader Sudhir Suri, Deep Sidhu, and the Ajnala incident — this is similar to how in the 80s, militancy began in Punjab after such killings and violent incidents,” the report said.
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Ram Madhav on ‘Chinese deception’
RSS ideologue and former BJP leader Ram Madhav said that China’s rechristening of villages in Arunachal Pradesh was the continuation of a deceptive claim based on concocted maps.
On 2 April, Beijing announced that it would “standardise” the names of 11 villages in Arunachal Pradesh. The map accompanying this list showed these places as part of south Tibet.
In his opinion piece in The Indian Express, Madhav argued that throughout history, China had never had any significant contact with Arunachal Pradesh.
“Never in known history did Arunachal Pradesh have any remote contact with China,” Madhav wrote in his piece. “There was never any Chinese presence there, nor was there any familiarity between the two peoples. Tibetans from Lhasa used to travel to Kolkata via Sikkim and sail onwards to mainland China. At most, the Monas of Tawang spoke Tibetan, but a few miles down the road, the Sherdukpens of Bomdila spoke a different dialect and hundreds of other tribes further to the east spoke languages that were closer to Assamese.”
The only time time in recent history the Chinese army came close to Arunachal Pradesh’s borders, he said, was during the final years of the Qing dynasty in 1910-12, when it entered Kham across what became the McMahon Line in the Walong area as part of a campaign to crush the revolt by the Khampas in eastern Ladakh.
“When the Chinese invaded Arunachal Pradesh in October 1962, they were extra-cordial with the locals and made special efforts to convince them about the greater racial affinity between them. Strict instructions were issued to the Chinese army against harassing the locals. Local people were not forced as porters, nor pressured for any other support,” Madhav wrote.
“When the airdropped Indian food supplies fell into their hands, the Chinese soldiers used to distribute them among the locals as a “gift” from their government. In spite of all these deceptive manoeuvres during the 49-day-long occupation, the Chinese couldn’t win over the hearts and minds of the people of NEFA,” he wrote, referring to what was then the North-East Frontier Agency.
But India must be alert to this cartographic deception, Madhav said, adding that it was through a similar deception in 1962 that China had annexed territory.
RSS chief on Kashmiri Pandits
Kashmiri Pandits will return to the Valley soon “on their own terms”, RSS sarsanghchalak (chief) Mohan Bhagwat said at a virtual event held to mark Navreh, or the Kashmiri Hindu New Year.
“We have been hearing they will be returning next year. They had to leave Kashmir for the eighth time due to the same fundamentalism. But, this time, they will return on their own terms,” the RSS’s English mouthpiece Organiser quoted Bhagwat as saying. “They will return as Hindus and Bharat bhakts with appropriate security and livelihood. If anyone would think of planning or repeating their migration, they will have to face dire consequences.”
Bhagwat, who is also reported to have praised 2022 film The Kashmir Files, said this wasn’t “a prediction but a statement” based on his calculations.
The reading down of Article 370 of the Constitution was a welcome move, the RSS Sarsanghchalak said at the event, according to Organiser.
“Jahan par hamara ghar baar tha, wahan par hamara ghar baar phir se hoga. Yeh jo apna sankalp hai us ki purti ke liye ab bahut din baki nahi hain (Where our home was, our home will be again. It will not take long to fulfil this pledge).
MCD unification law
In an editorial on the Delhi Municipal Corporation (Amendment) Act, 2022, Panchjanya blamed the current problems allegedly plaguing the Delhi Municipal Corporation on AAP. Delhi, it said, had never experienced such problems until the AAP’s takeover of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD).
AAP swept the MCD elections last December, dislodging the BJP.
The Delhi Municipal Corporation (Amendment) Act — passed by Parliament in 2022 — was aimed at removing “the throne of politics of anarchy”, the editorial said. The Bill reunified what were then three municipal corporations into a single entity.
“The government of Delhi is responsible for the increased problems for the three corporations. Delhi probably experienced such a problem for the first time after coming under the rule of the Aam Aadmi Party. The salaries of even Class IV employees, the most needy section of the corporation, were withheld,” the editorial said. “Due to non-payment of salaries to these people, the roads were covered with dirt when they went on strike. This was a shameful thing for the country’s capital and the Aam Aadmi Party was increasing it and was getting away with blaming it on the BJP.”
Calling the AAP anarchist, it said the party had no right to participate in lawmaking in Delhi.
“If you look at the big countries in the world, you will find that only the parliament has the right to make laws in the capital. No interference can be allowed in this,” the editorial said. ‘Especially those who call themselves anarchists — Delhi has seen their example very closely. They cannot be given the freedom to make laws for the capital at all”.
Rupee will ‘overpower’ dollar, says SJM
In his opinion piece in Dainik Jagran, the Swadeshi Jagaran Manch’s co-convenor Ashwani Mahajan said India is now trading in the rupee with foreign countries — a step, he said, towards making the rupee powerful in comparison to the dollar,
The ongoing Russia-Ukraine war is one of the reasons for “de-dollarisation” of the world’s most widely preferred reserve currency, he said.
“The first reason is the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war since February 2022. America and European countries say that Ukraine has been invaded by Russia, so all the countries of the world should cut ties with Moscow,” he wrote in his piece. “The US has not only imposed various types of sanctions on Russia but has also expelled it from the global payment system ‘SWIFT’. It is believed that due to the dominance of America and European countries in the payment system, Russia cannot be paid in dollars.”
As the use of the dollar internationally has begun to “decline”, India has started to reduce its dependence on it, he wrote.
“After the US and European countries used the payment system as a weapon after the Russia-Ukraine war, India started moving towards paying in rupees for Russian oil imports,” he wrote. “In July last year, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) allowed international payment settlements for imports and exports to be made in rupees. This is being considered the first step towards making the Indian rupee an international currency.”
India began to settle its payments with Russia in December, he added.
“Due to the efforts of the Government of India, banks of 19 countries, including England, New Zealand, Germany, Malaysia, Israel, Russia and UAE, have been allowed to settle payments in rupees by opening ‘Special Vostro Rupee Accounts,” he wrote.
(Edited by Uttara Ramaswamy)