O

ne wonders what brought the BJP to power after a crushing victory over the Congress. Was it the economic growth that Gujarat made under Modi'€™s long rule? With Modi in New Delhi, every Indian was hoping for economic growth, more jobs and business opportunities. However, what is happening is the opposite.

The politics of hatred and communal strife is being fanned to woo the voters. It appears this BJP government'€™s mandate is to decide what can and what can'€™t be worn or who eats what.

India has always been proud of its secular credentials and freedom of choice as pillars of the constitution. But what the BJP and its mentors the RSS and Shiv Sena are doing is simply the manipulation of Hindu mythology and Vedas to advance their own agenda. Recently the RSS hit its countrymen with another hate-bomb, announcing that Vedas justify death for cow-slaughter. Then what about Lord Ram depicted as a non-vegetarian who used to hunt animals? Even the Vedas mention eating cows and other animals as a custom of that period.

Who doesn'€™t know that the slogans of Ram Rajya and Hindutva are nothing more than props to deceive the voters, the same as their counterparts in Pakistan propagate to change that country'€™s fate by implementing their sectarian agenda.

Modi may be a BJP leader, but as prime minister he has sworn to serve all Indians, not just extremist, hardline and prejudiced Hindus. For India, perhaps it is time to decide whether to go back to politics of the 40s wherein the myopic polices of the Congress led to the creation of Pakistan, or remain a secular country of a billion Hindus, hundreds of millions of Muslims, Christians, Sikhs and countless other minority faiths.

Modi should remember you can'€™t fool all the people all the time. You can'€™t ride the beast of hatred to stay in power, as once unleashed, it is not easily tamed.

Masood Khan
Dawn/ANN/Jubail, Saudi Arabia