CIRCUMVENTING the Election Commission's (EC) model code of conduct is the name of the game. Since the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) cannot campaign on the Hindutva plank nor entice the Hindu vote bank by taking to anti-minority rhetoric, the Sangh Parivar has roped in the Vishwa Hindu Parishad's (VHP) sadhvi brigade to go on a ' Gau Raksha Andolan'.
Vote to save the cow, the sadhvis say. Don't be cowed by the "pseudo-secular, pro-Muslim" forces that slaughter Lord Krishna's favourite animal, they urge. "Jai Sri Ram, Jai Gau mata, Jai Hindu," is their refrain. And they claim to be campaigning for "no political party in particular". But as they repeatedly launch tirades against the Congress, Janata Dal (JD), Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and "other pseudo-secular parties", there is no mistaking their intentions.
Indeed, neither the BJP nor its candidates are ever mentioned in the cleverly orchestrated speeches of the two firebrand sadhvis who are touring the country. They are "mobilising people for the Gau Andolan". That it's election time is a "strange coincidence". They have been at it for more than a month. Their mission, they claim, is to "save Gau mata" and reawaken "the Hindu pride". And the EC couldn't find fault with their cause, they assert confidently.
Sadhvi Ritambhara, 32, and Sadhvi Shiva Saraswati, 27, are at work. Thanks to extensively planned tour-schedules by the VHP, each sunrise sees them in a different part of the country. Preaching Hindutva and running down "Musalman and secular pakhandis". Narrating the plight of the cows that are allegedly being slaughtered to please the palates of Arab sheikhs. Warning against the establishment of "many, many mini-Pakistans in Hindu Bharat". Even charging Mother Teresa of helping people only to convert them to Christianity. Seeking to fan emotions against the Congress sarkar that has ruined the lives of Kashmiri Pandits.
Armed with arguable statistics and Vedic shlokas, their speeches are unashamedly unsecular. They whip up religious fervour as only ascetics can. And it's not long before trusting audiences respond to them. Fervent chants of "Jai Ram Janambhoomi, Jai Krishna Janambhoomi, Jai Bharat Mata Mukt Kashmir" rent the air.
"But why can't a Hindu ask fellow Hindus in Hindustan to say Jai Hindu?" argues Ritambhara in the capital. "Why has it become a sin? It surprises me no end to see the extent of damage this 'secularism' rubbish has wrought upon our patriotic zeal." The effort to equate Hindutva with nationalism continues. And if she hasn't been able to shame you into Hindutva yet, she reminds you of the threat of the "quick-breeding" Muslims in the country. She maintains that most Muslims marry more than once so that they can have many children and become a "majority". Never mind if Kumar Suresh Singh's authoritative work on the peoples of India proves that polygamy is practiced more by Hindus than Muslims. Confront her with these facts and she dismisses them as "secular statistics".
Shiva Saraswati exhibits the same disregard for facts and tries to reinforce the stereotyped Muslim image as she speaks to a gathering of railway employees at their workshop in Jhansi. "Hinduon ke liye to 'Hum do Hamare do' aur Musalmanon ke liye 'Hum Panch Hamare Pachees' (For Hindus it's 'We two Our two', for Muslims it's 'We five Our 25')," she says from a makeshift dais. She then actually asks Hindus to ignore the government's family planning programme and have at least four children—two for the family and two for the VHP.
Then, unrestrained by any consideration for the campaign code (since she "is not campaigning"), the sadhvi spews venom against all anti-Hindu forces. And electoral enticement begins. The Congress, JD and BSP are likened to the three domes of the Babri Masjid which must be broken if the "Hindu cultural slavery" is to end. "Kya Mulayam, Kya Kanshi Ram, Yahan to miya bhi bolega Jai Sri Ram (Who are Mulayam or Kanshi Ram, here even the Muslim will say Jai Sri Ram)," she swears.
The campaign of both the sadhvis is designed at making Kashmir a lesson in Hindu history. Ritambhara's speech at Delhi's Kamla Nagar chowk is no different from Saraswati's at Jhansi's Railway Workshop. Both aim at recreating the plight of the Hindus in the trouble-torn state. Warped logic has both blaming the "Muslim majority" for killing and turning out the "Pandits". And an aggressive Jagmohan, the BJP's candidate for the New Delhi constituency, they claim, is the only solution.
For the rest of the country, the sadhvis feel, Jagmohan clones should be elected to power. "Otherwise, Kashmir will recur all over the country," says Ritambhara, "and government after government will help them go to Haj and tax us for going to Kailash Mansarovar."
Should ascetics be preaching hatred for other religions? And isn't it unethical for avowed hermits to be prodding people into voting for one party or the other? And pat comes Saraswati's rehearsed reply: "We aren't against Muslims. We are battling anti-Hindu forces. And it's our duty as sadhus to protect and propagate our religion."
But such propagation of religion is frightening. It scares the odd-Muslim who can't help witnessing these sabhas, timed so well during the campaign months. Says driver Mohammed Iliyas of Jhansi: "I saw my friend applauding the sadhvi as she bad-mouthed the Muslims. And he saw me looking at him with disgust. Now things will never be the same. We'll always mistrust each other. One speech has changed things so much."
As it has for housewife Laxmi Goyal in the capital. After listening to Ritambhara at the ITO crossing, the 42-year-old mother of three sons, who admittedly never reads any newspapers, is convinced that Kashmiri Hindus have to be saved from the Muslims. "Maybe, it's time for Hindu mothers to teach their children to respect cows and temples. We need a generation that will not let Muslims take over Kashmir."
The sadhvis' campaign is clearly increasing the communal divide. But it has escaped the EC's attention. Even as its army of observers monitor the campaigns of political parties, the VHP's Gau Raksha campaigners manage to cock a snook at the model code of conduct with impunity.
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