Riding the Hindutva buggy: President Kovind. The Hindutva lobby has been feverishly engaged in recent times in pushing its agenda of a new interpretation of history as it apparently believes that the wrong version has been taught for too long a period by the Nehruvians because of their previously privileged position in positions of power. It was time, therefore, to undo the earlier mistakes. Few would have expected, however, that this desire for change would be articulated by the highest constitutional authority in the land.
Ram Nath Kovind’s first speech as President was in keeping with his low-key personality.
He said all the right things about his illustrious predecessors, including Pranab Mukherjee, and also about Indian poverty and diversity and combining the “wisdom” of ancient Bharat with the science of contemporary India. Similarly, the village panchayats and a digital Republic were described as the “twin pillars” of national life.
This two-track approach was also evident in the references to Mahatma Gandhi, Sardar Patel and B.R. Ambedkar when the President was speaking of the years immediately after independence. However, the name of Jawaharlal Nehru, generally regarded as the architect of modern India, was missing from the luminaries mentioned by Ram Nath Kovind.
The curious omission could not have been inadvertent, especially when Deen Dayal Upadhyay’s name was mentioned in the same breath with Gandhi’s towards the end of the speech. Evidently, the aversion of the present dispensation towards the founder of the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty has grown stronger of late, considering that Narendra Modi had once spoken of Nehru in favourable terms in Parliament.
It may not be out of place to see in the blanking out of one of the famous persons of Indian history both before and after independence as an example of a key feature of the saffron brotherhood to rewrite history in accordance with its own distinctive perception of what the students as well as the people of India should know.
The Hindutva lobby has been feverishly engaged in recent times in pushing its agenda of a new interpretation of history as it apparently believes that the wrong version has been taught for too long a period by the Nehruvians because of their previously privileged position in positions of power. It was time, therefore, to undo the earlier mistakes.
Few would have expected, however, that this desire for change would be articulated by the highest constitutional authority in the land.
While lesser functionaries like the state-level ministers may declare that the title of “Great” be attached to the name of Maharana Pratap and not to Akbar because it was the former who won the battle of Haldighati according to the saffron camp, it is odd for those much higher up in the official hierarchy to display the same bias.
It is known that between Nehru and Patel, the latter is the Sangh parivar’s favourite. Not surprisingly, the President referred to the first Deputy Prime Minister’s sterling contributions towards unifying the country in the turbulent post-partition years. Similarly, he mentioned Ambedkar as the principal architect of the constitution.
While all of this is in line with the standard account of the immediate post-independence years, the silence on Nehru is strange, to say the least. It is all the more strange since the President had a special word of praise for Upadhyay, whose name is even less known outside the parivar than of V.D. Savarkar and M.S. Golwalkar.
The fact that this is Upadhyay’s birth centenary year is not a sufficient reason to place him on the same pedestal as the Father of the Nation.
Arguably, the new President can be said to have begun his tenure on the wrong footing by displaying a partisan bias. Even if the speech was written by the government, he could have edited it to make it more statesmanlike.
Right in the beginning of his speech, Kovind recalls his predecessors and says: “I am conscious I am following in the footsteps of stalwarts such as Rajendra Prasad, S. Radhakrishnan and A.P.J. Abdul Kalam and my immediate predecessor Pranab Mukherjee, whom we address out of affection as ‘Pranab Da’.”
In the next sentence, he refers to the Independence being the result of efforts by thousands of patriotic freedom fighters led by Mahatma Gandhi.
“Later, Sardar Patel integrated our nation. Principal architect of our Constitution Bhimrao Ambedkar instilled in us the value of the republican ethic,” he said, making no reference to first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru or any other Congress leader of that era.
Kovind ended his speech citing the vision of Mahatma Gandhi and Deen Dayal Upadhyay. “We need to sculpt a robust, high growth economy, an educated, ethical and shared community and an egalitarian society, as envisioned by Mahatma Gandhi and Deen Dayal Upadhyayji.”
“These are integral to our sense of humanism. This is the India of our dreams, an India that will provide equality of opportunities. This will be the India of the 21st century,” he said in an apparent reference to the concept of integral humanism propounded by Upadhyay at the Bharatiya Jana Sangh conference in 1965.
Earlier, making history as the first occupant of Rashtrapati Bhavan from the BJP, President Ram Nath Kovind pledged to always follow the basic mantra of the Constitution to ensure justice, liberty, equality and fraternity.
Elected to the highest constitutional office last week, Kovind was administered the oath of office by Chief Justice of India J.S. Khehar at a brief but glittering ceremony in the Central Hall of Parliament before a gathering of MPs, Chief Ministers and diplomats.
Taking oath in the name of God, Kovind pledged to “preserve, protect and defend the Constitution and the law” and devoted himself to the services and well-being of the people of India.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, ministers, opposition leaders including Sonia Gandhi and former Prime Ministers Manmohan Singh and H.D. Deve Gowda attended the event.
At the end of over three hours of protocol and formalities on a rain-marred day, the new President accompanied his predecessor Pranab Mukherjee to the latter’s new abode — 10 Rajaji Marg — after his warm farewell at the Rashtrapati Bhavan.
In his speech, Kovind hailed the vision of Mahatma Gandhi and Sangh icon Deen Dayal Upadhyay and said there was a need to build India as “an economic leader as well as moral exemplar”.
“For us, those two touchstones can never be separate. They are and must forever be linked.”
Recalling his humble beginnings from growing up in a mud house in an Uttar Pradesh village, Kovind said he has had a long journey.
“Yet this journey is hardly mine alone. It is so telling of our nation and our society also. For all its problems, it follows that basic mantra given to us in the Preamble to the Constitution – ensuring justice, liberty, equality and fraternity and I will always continue to follow this basic mantra.”
“The key to India’s success is its diversity. Our diversity is the core that makes us so unique. In this land we find a mix of states and regions, religions, languages, cultures, lifestyles and much more. We are so different and yet so similar and united.”
21st century India will be in conformity with its ancient values and compliant with the fourth industrial revolution, he said.
“There is no dichotomy there, no question of choice. We must combine tradition and technology, the wisdom of an age-old Bharat and the science of a contemporary India.”
He said as the gram panchayat must determine India’s consultative and community-based problem solving, “the Digital Republic must help leapfrog developmental milestones”.
But nations were not built by governments alone.
The government can at best be a facilitator and a trigger for society’s innate entrepreneurial and creative instincts. Nation building requires national pride.
“We take pride in the soil and water of India. We take pride in the diversity, religious harmony and inclusive ethos of India. We take pride in the culture, heritage and spirituality of India. We take pride in our fellow citizens.”
Saying each citizen was a custodian of India’s well-being, Kovind said the armed forces that protect the borders were nation builders.
So were police and paramilitary forces that fight terrorism and crime as well as farmers, scientists, nurses, doctors, entrepreneurs and artisans.
India believed in the principle of one world.
“It is appropriate that the land of Lord Buddha should lead the world in its search for peace, tranquility and ecological balance. India’s voice counts in today’s world. The entire planet is drawn to Indian culture and soft power.
“The global community looks to us for solutions to international problems – whether terrorism, money laundering or climate change. In a globalized world, our responsibilities are also global.”
He said India had achieved a lot as a nation but the effort to do more, to do better and to do faster should be relentless.
“What must also bother us is our ability to enhance access and opportunity for the last person and the last girl-child from an under-privileged family, if I may put it so, in the last house in the last village. This must include a quick and affordable justice delivery system.”
Kovind said people needed “to sculpt a robust, high growth economy, an educated, ethical and shared community, and an egalitarian society, as envisioned by Mahatma Gandhi and Deen Dayal Upadhyay.
“These are integral to our sense of humanism. This is the India of our dreams, an India that will provide equality of opportunities. This will be the India of the 21st century,” he said, in an apparent reference to Upadhyay’s principle of integral humanism. (IANS)