By Shahnawaz Alam
During the first Lok Sabha elections held in 1951-52, there was resentment against Muslims in some sections as they believed that the Congress should not have created a secular nation. They opined that with the creation of Pakistan as a Muslim state, India should also have become a Hindu state. These sentiments were naturally high among the refugees who faced violence during the partition and had migrated to Punjab and Delhi from across the border.
Despite the prevailing circumstances, Congress was expected to win the elections without any challenge but within the party existed a faction that believed Nehru should not discuss secularism in his speeches to avoid upsetting Hindu voters.
Nehru, however, refused to compromise with his principles for which he was jailed for 14 years under British rule. Fearless and stubborn as Nehru was, began his election campaign from Ludhiana, Punjab, where a large number of Hindu and Sikh refugees affected by violence committed by Muslims in Pakistan sought refuge. With the election poster featuring the symbol of two bulls with Nehru’s face, Congress sought votes in the name of progressive and secular rule.
People who were, back then, advising Nehru to avoid propagating secularism considering the electoral gains and losses are the ones who now criticize Sonia Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge for not participating in an RSS-sponsored event in Ayodhya.
However, Congress, neither then nor now compromised with its ethos. If it were a mere election machine devoid of any historical burden, It would have. This history driven ideological commitment is its main strength that threatens BJP despite being in its weakest position in electoral terms.
The RSS – Jan Sangh – BJP has always faced a crisis of historical and moral
legitimacy when compared with Congress and other parties, though it may be lead a government with a substantial majority. it is always haunted by the reality that it does not truely represent the imagination and history of India. To overcome this, it continuously tries to get approval of legitimacy from the same Congress and Nehru by creating rumours, whom it hates the most.
Here are three examples
First, in an interview addressing question about the historical opposition to the national flag by the RSS, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat told that during the Lahore session of the Congress in 1929, when the tricolor was unfurled with the demand for complete independence (Poorn Swaraj), the flag failed to open and unfurl. It was only when a youth from the RSS was called who climbed the pole and opened the knot that helped in the successful hoisting of the flag. The RSS is using this rumour to get ‘desh bhakti’ approval from a historical Congress event.
The second rumour revolves around the invitation sent by the Nehru government to the RSS for the Republic Day parade of 1963. The truth is that due to the India-China war, there was a state of national emergency and only a small battalion of soldiers participated in the parade. The occasion was converted into an open people’s march in which more than one lakh people participated. No organization or group was officially invited. Nehru himself walked with a group of MPs. RSS saw this as an opportunity to get a clean chit from the charges of assassinating Mahatma Gandhi and also siding with the British during the freedom struggle. Some of its members participated in the open march. Interestingly, no newspaper took cognizance of it.
Till now, whenever in need, RSS uses this fake Nehru tag for acceptability, the latest being former President Pranab Mukherjee’s visit to it’s headquarters in Nagpur.
The third rumour of gaining an approval certificate from Nehru is both humorous and popular. It involves Nehru allegedly telling Atal Bihari Vajpayee, “You will become Prime Minister one day.” Now, there is no mention of this in any biography of Nehru, the memoirs of those who lived and worked with him, his collected works, or the numerous books written by officers, officials, and journalists who worked and followed his every step.
Certainly, Nehru would not have whispered this in Vajpayee’s ears that no one else listened. Nehru, who considered the Jan Sangh as a fascist organization posing a threat to Indian democracy, could he have ever wished for a member of a fascist party to become the Prime Minister?
In reality, two reasons explain this rumour. First, ‘adjusting’ Atal Bihari Vajpayee in the category of eloquent speakers like Nehru so that he may get some serious ears and creating an image of him as the ‘right man in the wrong party’ among anti Congress and non-BJP lot. When Vajpayee became Prime Minister for the first time in 1996, this
rumour was spread to gain legitimacy for his Prime Ministership as Nehru ‘blessed’ (ashirvad prapt) man for the job.
No matter how strong the RSS and the BJP become, Congress’s approval is essential for it’s acceptance in national life.
Therefore, there was an attempt to anyhow drag the Congress president and the Nehru family onto the stage on January 22. A large section of the media and few leaders within the Congress, who weigh and view politics in terms of electoral gains and losses were put in the game.
However, after 72 years, by not going to Ayodhya Congress took the same stand that Nehru had taken by going to Ludhiana. History has proven Nehru right. Future will prove Kharge and Sonia Gandhi right.
***
(The writer is UP Minority Congress President) Contact – 6394007831,9415254919