Amit Kushari, IAS (Retd)
Narendra Modi’s coronation as Prime Ministerial candidate of BJP has finally happened last Friday. The BJP President, Mr Rajnath Singh who had so far been unable to build consensus on this issue in the BJP parliamentary board which has 11 active members ultimately succeeded in getting a consensus decision, except that the BJP patriarch, Shri L.K.Advani dissented. Two other members, Sushma Swaraj and M.M.Joshi who were not favourably inclined to the proposal earlier have now agreed with the consensus decision. So far Modi had been projecting himself as the development giant (vikas purush) of Gujrat. He has been actively wooing the Muslims to bring them into the BJP fold. Recently in a rally Modi was seen surrounded by Muslim women in burqas and men wearing skull caps. But recent opposition by Mr Advani and Sushma Swaraj has forced him to seek shelter and protection from the RSS. The RSS gladly gave him their blessings and announced their support for Mr Modi’s Prime ministerial ambitions. However, there were 4 strings attached to these blessings. Modi had to assure the RSS that if elected Prime Minister he will try his best to to protect and promote the ambitions of the Hindus. First, he will have to make all attempts to build a grand Ram temple at the disputed site in Ayodhya. Secondly, he will have to protect cows and ban beef eating. Thirdly, he will have to abolish article 370 of the constitution which grants special status and autonomy to J&K. Last, he will have to give India a uniform civil code — thus nullifying the controversial Muslim civil code which allegedly gives a second class status to Muslim women.
All these conditions put forth by the RSS cannot be taken up at all unless BJP, Shiv Sena and Akali combine gets around 350 seats (2/3 rd majority) since constitutional amendments would be involved. This is next to impossible under the present conditions. Even in the best scenario BJP cannot get more than 170 seats, Akalis won’t get more than 5 and Shiv Sena won’t get more than 20. So the pro Hindutva group cannot cross 200 seats at the most in the Lok Sabha.
Narendra Modi knew very well that RSS demands cannot be achieved easily,so he gave them a vague assurance which actually means nothing in reality.
However, is it true that Narendra Modi can really do nothing on those 4 assurances? Contentious issues can always be solved by building consensus through goodwill and mutual co-operation. Constitutional amendments and court judgments will not be necessary then. If banning beef in India hurts the sentiments of Muslims and Christians and some categories of Hindus of Southern India, the Muslim sentiments could be taken care of by banning consumption of pork simultaneously. India could export cattle and pigs to South East Asian countries, like Vietnam, Singapore, Thailand, Burma and Philipines where there is great demand for beef and pork. If some Hindus object to exporting cattle then only pigs could be exported. If a grand Ram Temple is constructed in Ayodhya, a grand mosque should also be constructed within a thousand yards of the temple and in between the mosque and the temple a multi speciality hospital should be constructed where both Hindus and Muslims as well as everyone else could get the best medical treatment. No sane Hindu or Muslim would object to such a proposal. Nor would any court object to it.
Now coming to the enforcement of uniform civil code, this has to be done with the concurrence of all the Muslim women of India, because it is the Muslim women who are perceived to be the worst sufferers because of the Shariah laws. This perception could be entirely wrong as it is quite likely that Muslim women may not support abolition of Sharia laws. Before enforcing uniform civil code Mr. Modi has to conduct a referendum on this issue where only Muslim women will come out to vote, unaccompanied by their husbands, sons, fathers or brothers. If this referendum shows that Muslim women of India are against the Sharia law then uniform civil code could be considered. If otherwise, Modi should leave the Muslim women to their own fate and advise RSS to stop worrying about them.
Now coming to abolition of article 370, even this could be solved through good will. Article 370 could be abolished easily in the districts of Samba, Kathua, Jammu, Udhampur, Rajouri, Reasi, Ramban and Leh. In all the other districts of J&K article 370 should not only be retained but it should be strengthened much more so that Muslims do not have any apprehensions. In other words J&K has to be trifurcated before tinkering with article 370. This would leave Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs overjoyed. Akali Dal would be the happiest. To do this Narendra Modi must have a proper understanding of J&K and its aspirations. By simply abolishing article 370 by a constitution amendment could put India into a great turmoil. Nothing is impossible to achieve if one has a firm determination to achieve it by entirely peaceful means—by understanding each other’s aspirations.
The author is former financial commissioner (J&K)
Feedback to the author at 09748635185 or amitkus@hotmail.com
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