Election victory was Opposition’s free gift to the Ruling Party when they ‘stubbornly’ chose to remain divided.  “United we win, divided we fall” is an ancient proverb. Fully knowing the validity of that axiom, and being able to measure that in the field, they determinedly opted to remain divided. Society must hold them fully responsible for the free walkover they gave to the Saffron Sovereigns. Their humiliation is not their election defeat; their ignominy was the vaunting of their self-interest in a period of national peril. Malicious people could ask, were they in the pay of the Ruling Regime? 

The greatest threat to India is not the imposition of Hindu Rashtra, it is the marginalization of ‘balanced thinking’ in civil society. And when it takes place at the heart of India, in the state with the highest population like the UP, unthinking masses are pressed onto a retrograde path and compelled to act as a drag on the entire nation. This is exactly what is happening. Evidently UP is not moving in the direction of Kerala, Kashmir or Bengal, as Yogi feared, for example, on the path of education, self-assertion and intellectual alertness. It still has a long way to go before it is even awakened to its most crying needs like literacy and basic health. 

Non-performance was the certificate that the Ruling Party proudly held up during the election campaign. Shankar Thakur swears, Modi’s BJP swam sturdily “against the tide of accumulated performance deficit”. The unanimous opinion is that Yogi won on hate speech, religious polarisation, and Hindutva supremacy assertion. 

Neither the weakening of the informal economy nor the rise of unemployment affected the UP votes. Where governance had failed most, they had better victory. The farmers’ protest or pain made no difference. All eight seats in Lakhimpur Kheri went to the BJP. Did the 80% close ranks against 20% at Yogi’s call? Or were EVMs changed, as Akhilesh feared, in places where the BJP had a poor chance of winning?   

Violence Rewarded 

After lengthy journeys in the country, V.S Naipaul wrote in 1990 in his “India: A Million Mutinies Now”: “The India of my fantasy and heart was something lost and irrecoverable”. There was profound sorrow in the heart the Nobel Prize winner, seeing the homeland of his ancestors in a distressing condition: community pitted against community, ethnic group against ethnic group. 

That is the situation that the present set of leaders seek to aggravate.  Public view is absolutely certain that the Modi-Yogi combine won solely on fear-mongering and community-polarising campaigns. Yogi is rewarded for treating 20% of fellow citizens (minorities) as enemies. People are made to think in this way: never mind joblessness or high prices, encounter killings of “enemies” will suffice. They (Muslims) need to be taught a lesson. You have provided us and our cattle adequate protection. Our votes are for you. The blinding of millions through the misuse of religion is the greatest tragedy of the era.

Yogi’s Sectarianism Rewarded

Nirad Chaudhuri in his “The Autobiography of an Unknown Indian” writes, “Hindus always advertised their sense being an aristocracy living among hostile and inferior aliens, being always in danger of being swamped by them, and being always under the necessity of defending society against their enemies.” This is the core anxiety that Adityanath Yogi seeks to keep alive in UP. He summarises his political programme after the elections with the tweet “Jai Shri Ram”! 

It is Yogi’s sectarianism that is rewarded. His shutting down of abattoirs and tanneries hit the economy of the Muslims. By closing down slaughterhouses he has impoverished Muslims and Dalits. By keeping them dependent on rations and freebies, he has closed the door to self-reliance, Atmanirbhar.  Anything like entrepreneurship is light years away. 

Now what we can look forward to is hearing of more extra-judicial killings. Bhaskar Phukan says, ‘encounter killings’ have become normal; they have come to mean nothing more than the “hurried action of the police”. Targetted and effective. The UP model is setting Assam police against drug-runners and Karnataka law-enforcing machinery against dissenters. 

Path to Arrogance 

After the battle of 80% vs. 20% is won, the centuries-old tussle between 15% (Brahmins) vs. 85% (non-Brahmins) remains: between traditionalists and reformers in earlier times, Mandal and Mandir in our own days. The Upper Castes’ basic demand is this: “Renounce your thinking power before age-old Brahminic wisdom”. 

The other day, Mohan Bhagwat was absolutely certain that students should not ask any questions. The matter under discussion was the location of the legendary Saraswati River. His insistence was that the issue was not for debate among historians; it was a matter of faith.  

Hindutva agenda is to turn myths into history. Education is to build up faith in myths. Now that roads are clearing for Hindu Rashtra, the danger is that irrationalities become unquestionable truths. And as political arrogance mounts, scholarly “self-glorification” takes wings: all ancient discoveries in India, all human wisdom in Indian sources!

As Anup Sinha says, “Might is right is the present international order”. And at the national-level, the use of coercive force and violence is justified in terms of “national Interests”. Violence against weaker communities is the “right” of the upper class. The interests of the rich and the powerful must be served. 

The fact that Gujarat had 3,796 rapes in 2 years and 61 cases of gang rape… usually of members of weaker communities… is statistic, not a tragedy. As Joseph Stalin said, “The death of one man is a tragedy. The death of millions is a statistic”. The message goes round loud and clear: be resigned to the present-day Karma, until you have atoned for it. 

Post-Election Evaluation Needed

Thus, as someone said cynically, the present election results lead us to a surrender to “aimless cattle and a goalless government”.  But Union Minister Dharmendra Prasad would not agree; he claims, “The massive mandate for the BJP across the states reflects the pulse of the nation”.  Madhya Pradesh Home Minister Narottam Mishra rejoices that Congress has been sent out for vanvas. And Modi announces that the present victory has determined the fate of the General Elections 2024. Be, then, resigned to your fates! 

Undoubtedly Ghulam Nabi Azad is shocked at the Congress performance. CPM is determined to fight against the “Hindutva-corporate regime”. Kejriwal goes to pray at the Hanuman temple at Connaught Place after his Punjab victory. He claims to be pro-Hindu, not anti-Muslim. Deeper loyalties are impossible fathom. There are people who argue that Rahul and Priyanka do not understand what the 21st century India thinks, but they agree that Congress has an all-India image.

Mamata blames Congress for not consenting to unity. But why did she need to go to Goa and divide the democratic votes there? Why did Kejriwal do the same? Why does Owaisi go round dividing votes? All the Opposition leaders will be held collectively responsible to history in 2024 if their self-interest will not allow them to come together and cooperate at the most critical period of Indian history. The 2022 blunder of dividing democratic votes cannot be repeated.

Alexei Lavrov had assured, “Russia is not for war”. But soon enough a Russian army, 190,000 strong, rolled into Ukraine. Today he says, “I do not think really that a nuclear war will start”. There is no way of predicting what he has in mind. White House warns against possible use of chemical weapons. Zelensky frankly admits that Ukraine has already lost 1300 soldiers and suffered a damage equivalent to $100 billion. Civilian loss is still to be accounted for.  Efforts for dialogue are continuously failing.  More and more weapons are moving into Ukraine from East European countries and other places, and the number of volunteers rising.

It was from this danger in Ukraine that Sr. Prema, the General of the Missionaries of Charity, wanted to rescue her sisters. She asked them to move to a safer place. We have reports from two Indian sisters, two Mizo heroines from Mizoram, that they have opted to stay back at their post in Ukraine. They want to suffer with the suffering people, if need be. Sr. Rosella had worked earlier in St. Petersburg, Russia, for 10 years. Sr. Ann’s appointment to Ukraine was also for 10 years. We ask the Lord to bless their courage and generosity.

Readers will remember that the BJP Government had suspended all foreign assistance to the Missionaries of Charity for some time, that their Government in Jharkhand had filed cases against several sisters with the sole intention of humiliating them, and that they had imprisoned one without the least streak of mercy. 

For everyone, there comes a time when Truth emerges and Values reveal their power. We hope that the elections of 2024 will do precisely that.