2 "Presenting" the Past
rendered South Asia the most dangerous place in the world. India and
Pakistan were suddenly pushed back to the perverse politics of the 1930s
and 1940s, marked by the two-nation theory, communal fervor, and a high
level of anxiety, compounded this time by the added dangers of nuclear
annihilation.
Back at square one, many Indians were afraid that the 1940s nightmare
would start all over again. After all, the BJP-led government was talking
about a uniform civil code for the Hindus and the minorities, abolition of
the special status for Kashmir in the Indian constitution, building the Ram
temple at Ayodhya, and so on. The BJP-led government began to imple-
ment its programs slowly but steadily, while denying vehemently that it
had any hidden agenda.
Quite thankfully, the BJP did not have an absolute majority in Parlia-
ment and was forced to work with its coalition partners. And the onerous
responsibility of being the ruling party and maintaining the law and order
in the society did force the party to proceed cautiously. While this nonab-
solute power weighed the BJP down, the fact of being in power stimulated
the other Hindutva outfits to go faster on their fascist program. The BJP
itself was caught between the reality rock and the Hindutva hard place.
Accordingly, the party would switch its stand on issues abruptly, and the
BJP-led government would shift position on policy matters constantly.
What appeared to be an internal tug-of-war was, in fact, an in-house
strategy for misleading the opponents and persisting with the hidden
agenda.
THE "HINDU" HISTORIOGRAPHY AND HINDUTVA
FASCISM
One of George Orwell's famous lines in 1984 holds a peculiar relevance
for the Hindutva political program in India: "Who controls the past con-
trols the future; who controls the present controls the past." The Hindutva
forces had political power at the Center briefly in 1977 as part of the Janata
Party government and then in two coalition governments between 1998
and 2004. But they have always had a shadow government running par-
allel to the Indian state with a clear ideology, program, and well-charted
strategy to switch tracks at an opportune moment and reinscribe a whole
new "Hindu-sthan." They have been dauntlessly manipulating the social
machinery with an eye to control the past, the present, and the future of
Indians.
The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), founded in September 1925
by Maharashtrian Brahmin Keshav Baliram Hedgewar and long sus-
pected of complicity in Mahatma Gandhi's assassination, is the leader
of the pack, known these days as the Sangh Parivar (Sangh family). The
RSS has 48,329 shakhas (branches) in 33,758 places (as reported in its Pra-