Ringside View

Economist Column
Insurance Bill to woo foreign investor

1999
A possible turning point in Indian Politics

Ringside View
To everybody's amusement, VHP finds motives on Amarty's Noble

Loud Thinking
Ignoble Intentions

Thus the Sangh Parivar, the BJP's oxygen, is unmasked. One branch of this Parivar, Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) has linked Prof. Amartya Sen's Nobel Prize to a Christian conspiracy. First its President Ashok Singhal, then its Vice-President Giriraj Kishore have gone on record saying foreign money will now flow in our country for mass literacy and primary health care programmes, which Prof. Sen consideres key to development. According to them this money will ultimately help spread Christianity in our country !

No, not being out of their mind, they said so. In fact, it betrays their actual frame of mind. From its recently concluded nine-day long organisational meet, the VHP has indentified as many as fifty thousand villages in two hundred districts for its "Operation Hindunisation". To make this operation success the VHP volunteers will fan out in the villages so indentified to "Hindunise" the minorities, especially Christians and Muslims. They would not mind to "use force" if necessary, their resolution said.

Now one does not require to go far beyond to find out raison d'etre of Gujrat violence against the Christian community. Nor does one need to know why two VHP leaders, by a public statement had linked both Mother Teresa and Amartya Sen's Nobel Prize to a Christian conspiracy. Coming as it does on the close heels of Gujrat violence, nobody should take it as an out of mind product of VHP leaders. It is in fact their mind-set. Didn't their "Guru" Golwarkar had not stated, "Hindustan (meaning India) is only for Hindus …. Those who do not belong to Hindu nationality, religion, culture and language, they must live on the mercy of Hindus, otherwise they must leave the country." The VHP is only carrying his ideals which BJP leaders had cherished all these days.

But this costs heavily the BJP-led government at the Centre. Tough talks are going on inside the party, Which line it would pursue - hard or soft "Hindutva"?