thatthereare severelimitsto howtolerantandseculara
caste-based, god-intoxicatedsocietycanbe. Thatis the
first point.
DIVIDENDS OF COMMUNALVIOLENCE
Thesecondpointis thatwe haveseenoverandoveragain
sinceabout the mid1980sthatcommunalviolencepays
veryhandsomecultural andelectoraldividends. The
killingof thousandsof Sikhsin the nation’s capital served
to unitethe Hindu nation anddeliveredto the Congress
the largestnumberof MPsit haseverhad.TheRamjan-
mabhoomimovementwasunleashedto detachthat
HindumajorityfromtheCongressandwinit for the
SanghParivar. After aboutfive years of agitation, which
included homeopathicdosesof violence,the BJPjumped
fromtwoLokSabha seatsto 85 in 1989. Aftertwomore
yearsof rathyatrasandriversof blood,it roseto 120
seats.Then,in thefirst electionafterthedemolitionof
the BabriMasjid,it wona pluralityof seatsin Parliament,
with161 MPs,andevenformeda short-livedgovernment
at the Centre.
Giventhisrecord,it wouldbe politicallyfoolishfor
the Sanghto giveup the communal violencethatcomes
so naturallyto it. I mightaddthatModiwasa minor
figurebeforetheGujaratkillingsof 2002.Afterthose
killings, he andAmitShahwereunstoppable,first at the
SEPTEMBER28, 1938:Italy’sBenito Mussolini(left) with Germany’sAdolfHitler, just before the Munichconference.As of
1920 the ItalianLeft was incomparably strongerthan the fascists.Yet, threeyears laterMussolini was in power,and by 1926
his power had becomeabsolute,with the Left decimatedas a politicalforce. In this context,AntonioGramsci asked himself,
whatis it in our historyand societythat has led to such easy victory for fascism and such easy defeat of the Left?
APState levelandthenat the federallevel.Electoral arith-
metic mayleadto temporarysetbacks nowandthen,but
on the whole, the SanghParivar hasbeengainingpower
andprestige sinceabout the mid1980s.
It is not onlythatthe RSSandthe BJPhavegonefrom
strengthto strengthin federalas wellas Stateelections,
buttheyhavealsosucceededin alteringthe verytemper
of the nation sociallyandculturally. Indiais nowa much
moreHinduisedcountry thaneven20 years ago,andthis
appliesas muchto the saffronyuppiesas to richpeasants
andevenlowercastesin largepartsof India.
Forinstance,the[A.B.]Vajpayee government tried
to introducea beefbanin its early daysbutretreated
hastilyin faceof theuproarin Parliament; theModi-
Shah governmentwasableto implementit withoutany
consequentialopposition.TheRSSis ableto implement
much moreof its agenda.Thenewgroups of leaders,
Modi to [Yogi]Adyanath,aremuchmorecrudeand
bloodthirstythanVajpayeeor even[L.K.]Advani,who
hadspent a longtimein Parliament as members of a
smallpartybefore theirrisebegan.AndI neednoteven
comment on the disarrayof the opposition.In short,the
worstelementsof the RSShaverisento powerprecisely
at thetimewhentheBJPis at theapexof its electoral
strength.Whyshouldtheygiveup thetacticsthathave
brought themthispower?