Beyond Babri & Ram temple: Activists point to ‘five processes executed by RSS using Modi’

Shivsundar said he remembered the 50 years of the Supreme Court in 2000. “The then Chief Justice of India was BN Kirpal. They released a book, Supreme But Not Infallible. The title conveyed that ‘Supreme’ is not incapable of making mistakes or being wrong,” he said.

However, he claimed that the speech of the present Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud on the 75th year of the Supreme Court had nothing that empowered the citizens.

Shivasundar delved into the five processes that were taken up systematically by the right-wing RSS, taking control of the country’s reins using Prime Minister Modi. He said “Modi is a symbol and not a person” for the RSS.

Also Read: Games of ‘Shivaji’, ‘Durga’, Doctor’s message and Hindutva pride

1. ‘Modi-fication’ of polity: The Republic of India’s Preamble guarantees all citizens the liberty of thought, expression, belief, faith and worship; equality of status and of opportunity and to promote among them all; and fraternity assuring dignity of the individual and the unity and integrity of the nation.

However, with calls for One Nation, One Language; One Nation, One Election; One Nation, One Political Party; and One Nation, One Leader, will be a blow to democracy.

“In the name of all these, authoritarianism and ‘kar seva’ are happening,” Shivsundar said.

2. ‘Adani-fication’ of economy: “It does not necessarily mean that there are only two crony capitalists who are benefiting from the government. There is a strata of corporate capitalists’ class which is using the state as an instrument,” Shivasunder said.

“Due to this, the direct loss to the state is around ₹5 lakh crore, which could otherwise be provided as subsidies to citizens and empower them. In short, the ‘Coporate-acy’ that has taken over Parliament is called ‘Adani-fication’,” Shivsundar explained.

Also Read: The story of Vidya Bharathi schools, RSS ‘Hindutva’ ideology and how its alumni benefit the BJP

3. ‘Arnab-isation’ of media: Today’s mainstream media and capitalists’ media houses have entered into an ideological collusion with the Union government. The interest of both the parties have merged with each other and there is a complete takeover of free media, Shivsundar said.

4. ‘Ayodhya-fication’ of judiciary: Referring to the Supreme Court’s Ayodhya judgement, Shivsundar pointed out that the arguments the government made and the court accepting them and ruling in their favour garner eyeballs.

“Without qualms, CJI DY Chandrachud in an interview to a news agency, PTI, said that this was the only judgement in the history of the Indian Supreme Court that was not only unanimous, but also anonymous – as no judges signed it,” Shivsundar claimed.

“The CJI also answered that there was a collective understanding and we want to send a message to the people of this country that it was the judgement of the court and not of individual judges. There was a collective thinking, it was no individual independent thinking,” he further stated.

“The majoritarian politics got a judicial licence,” he said. The activist-journalist also compared the hijab judgement with the Ayodhya judgement to establish that the judiciary has been revamped so that judgements are granted in favour of the Centre.

5′. ‘Ram-fication’ of the ‘Rashtra’: Prime Minister Modi stated after presiding over the consecration of the Ram temple that Dev se desh, Ram se rashtra (From deity to country, Ram to nation).

“When the state should keep equidistant from all religions, we have a prime minister who has declared that one nation-one dharma (religion),” Shivsundar said adding “Veer Savarkar’s book, Who is Hindu and What is Hindutva, which is the holy book for the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) states Ram was the Samrat (king) of Hindutva as he brought everyone under one aegis.”

These five processes have been systematically planned and executed. To stop it and reverse it, it would take at least two to three decades with much hard work, the participants opined.

Also Read: Opposition slams PM Modi for politicising Ram Temple inauguration

Republic Day Muted?

Activist and lawyer Maitreyi Krishnan delved into how a day of national significance,  26 January, Republic Day, was muted.

“Earlier on 26 January, we used to see the tri-colour everywhere. Was it the same this year? Certainly not. We could see saffron flags among tri-colours. One should take note that 22 January was chosen for the consecration of the temple for muting the Republic Day,” she said.

“This was the same day in 1999 when a mob led by Dara Singh attacked Graham Staines’s station wagon with Staines and his two sons Philip (10) and Timothy (6) inside the wagon. Chanting ‘Jai Bajarang Bali’ the mob set fire to the station wagon and all three were burnt to death. The choice of 22 January was not by chance but by design,” Maitreyi explained.

Maitreyi also took note of the judgements over the past nine years and found several of them to be “pro-Modi-Shah”. She highlighted a few cases like Justice Loya’s murder case. The timing of Article 370 was not a coincidence as it was coming four to five months prior to elections. The Sahara-Birla papers — the court said nothing was made out, and there is nothing to register an FIR or to investigate,” Maitreyi pointed out.

She also explained how judges look for context outside the Constitution: Quoting from vedic scripts, Manusmriti, or ancient laws to establish their points and deviate from the Constitution.

“They are packing the Supreme Court with judges that are breaking the Constitution and destroying it. No person critical of the government is being appointed to the Supreme Court. Justice Akhil Kureshi, a Gujarat High Court judge who had remanded Amit Shah to jail, was to be elevated to the Supreme Court. But they did not allow it to happen. They kept bypassing him,” she said

“Justice S Muralidhar, a Dehi High Court judge, as soon as he passed an order directing action to be taken in the CAA violence, was immediately transferred overnight to the High Court of Punjab and Haryana. In Karnataka, advocate Aditya Sondhi made out a legal case on why CAA is unconstitutional. He was recommended two to three times by the Supreme Court collegium to be appointed as one of the judges of Karnataka High Court, but the Centre would not respond,” she claimed.

“On the other hand, in Tamil Nadu, Victoria Gowri was elevated to judgeship. Prior to her appointment as an additional judge at the Madras High Court, she was a BJP politician. Her appointment as an additional judge to the Madras High Court created controversy after lawyers alleged that she gave hate speeches against religious minorities and petitioned the Supreme Court to withdraw her appointment. However, the Supreme Court upheld her appointment,” Maitreyi said.

Dr R Mohanraj of the Republican Party asserted that the SC/ST communities even now have no idea about what is happening in the country.

“In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the SC/ST communities were asked to work for the BJP and all of them worked tirelessly to ensure that it  won. After it (BJP) won, the communities returned to their routine protests for reservations. It was much later they realised that the Modi government had sold over 27 institutions where SC/STs had reservations, but the communities were unaware of it and they continued protesting,” Mohanraj said.

“A fear has gripped all community members. The only thing that comes to their head is to safeguard the Constitution,” Mohanraj added.