Does New India Have a New Father?

A recent controversy stoked by the President of the United States of America (POTUS) Donald Trump and the Hindutva brigade’s response to it amplify their historical illiteracy and indifference towards figures from India’s struggle for Independence. Trump, while attending the Howdy Modi rally in Houston, said about Prime Minister Narendra Modi: “I remember India before was very torn. There was a lot of dissension, fighting and he brought it all together. Like a father would. Maybe he is the father of India.” 

Instead of being appalled, many leaders and supporters of Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) gave the distinct impression that they had been feverishly awaiting the praise and recognition of Trump (or any other powerful international figure). For, the Hindutva brigade has made the claim of Modi being “better” than Gandhi in the past. Anil Vij, a former minister in BJP-ruled Haryana, had to say: “PM Modi is a bigger brand name than Mahatma Gandhi for Khadi... Khadi is not patented in the name of Mahatma Gandhi.” He also said that Gandhi would soon be removed from currency notes as well. This is how Gandhi’s reduction to a pair of spectacles and mascot of literal cleanliness ever since the Modi government took over in 2014 should be interpreted too.

Any neutral observer of the politics of the United States (US) knows that POTUS regularly dishes out superlatives about the dignitaries he meets. Neither his guests nor ordinary Americans take this seriously. For instance, Trump recently called Australia’s Prime Minister Scott Morrison a “man of Titanium”, “a man of real, real strength, and a great guy”. 

Trump’s claim that Modi is akin to India’s “father” should have ended right there and perhaps it would have, had the Indian prime minister reminded him that Mahatma Gandhi, who led the anti-colonial struggle against the British, is the real claimant to the title. Of course, this did not happen. Instead, bhakts turned euphoric at Trump’s over-the-top endorsement. 

The American president has no qualms in giving the Right-wing fringe in his country a new respectability by celebrating its conspiracy theorists and meme-makers at summits at the White House. Meanwhile, the Indian Right lives in a make-believe world where its members allow themselves to imagine that Trump is part of their camp. They take his words as an endorsement because it helps strengthen their claims about Modi. 

BJP-backers have often called Modi the ‘father of the country’ and Trump’s words gave them the affirmation they desperately seek. In a televised debate with the political activist Kanhaiya Kumar, BJP leader Sambit Patra had said, “Baap hain Modi, humaare nahi, poore desh ke baap hain Modiji—Modi is all of India’s daddy. Just before the 2019 elections, All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) leader, and then Tamil Nadu minister for milk and dairy development KT Rajendra Balaji had haughtily pronouced Modi “daddy, our daddy, India's daddy” too. 

Therefore, from the point of view of Modi’s supporters, Trump’s statement is not idle banter, nor even a sarcastic jibe, nor is it just a reflection of his personality trait. 

This is no surprise, because from the Hindu Mahasabha to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the Right was completely aloof from India’s struggle for independence. What is surprising is that they have not learned to respect Indian freedom fighters even nearly a century later. For instance, after Trump’s remark, even a Central minister, Jitendra Singh, succumbed to his urge to pronounce Modi as Gandhi’s successor. Singh did so in coercive language, levelling the allegation that those who do not feel proud about the American president’s declaration do not  consider themselves Indians. 

The slighting of Gandhi close to the eve of his 150th birth anniversary—which the Modi government ironically plans to celebrate with aplomb—is irrelevant to the saffron brigade. Gandhi is being slighted by Trump and the Indian Right for it is Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose who, in his address on Singapore Radio on July 6, 1944, had addressed him as the father of the nation for the first time. Both Gandhi and his wife, Kasturba, were interred at the Aga Khan Palace in Pune in the wake of the Quit India Movement when Bose made this speech. Kasturba had passed away during her prison term on February 22, 1944. 

“Nobody would be more happy than ourselves if by any chance our countrymen at home should succeed in liberating themselves through their own efforts or by any chance, the British Government accepts your Quit India Resolution and gives effect to it,” Bose had said. “We are, however proceeding on the assumption that neither of the above is possible and that a struggle is inevitable. Father of our nation, in this holy war for India’s liberation, we ask for your blessings and good wishes.” 

To the Hindutva supporters, it did not matter that Trump’s praise had come when he finds himself embroiled in a serious controversy. A formal impeachment inquiry against him has been initiated in the House of Representatives in which he is charged with “betraying his oath of office and the nation’s security by seeking to enlist a foreign power to tarnish a rival for his own political gain.” This makes Trump the fourth president in America’s history being subjected to such scrutiny; and this enquiry could be just the tip of an iceberg of Trump’s commissions and omissions. 

It is becoming obvious that Trump’s record as POTUS (and his life before becoming president) is less than noble. “He has pressured a foreign leader to interfere in the 2020 American presidential election... He divulged classified information to foreign officials... He described white supremacists as ‘some very fine people’... He launched his political career by falsely claiming that the first black president was not really American... He has been accused of sexual assault or misconduct by multiple women...” The list is virtually endless. Trump is also known to tell “new lies virtually every week—about the economy, voter fraud, even the weather.” 

That praise from Trump can be seen as a compliment and not an insult, and spark elation among followers of Hindu Rashtra, is in itself telling. It suggests that questions of ethics do not trouble a large section of Indians anymore. This is perhaps a clear sign of New India’s having arrived. In this new India, mob rule has overwhelmed the rule of law, cartoonists are arrested under the charge of sedition for mocking leaders. This is a new India with new icons where vigilante killers are compared with India’s freedom fighters. 

To those who still harbour doubts about the intentions behind these substitutions, consider the dethroning of Gandhi from his pedestal and attempts to anoint Modi in his place. In 2017, the Modi government literally “ejected” Gandhi from the calendar and diary published by the Khadi Village Industries Commission (KVIC). Instead, pictures of Modi weaving Khadi in the same classic pose as Gandhi were featured on the calendar. 

Thus, whatever their formal claims might be, these seemingly isolated examples underline the saffron brigade’s unease with Gandhi. This is because Gandhi’s imagination of an independent India is at complete variance with their worldview of a recidivist Rashtra. Hence, the hunt for umpteen methods to unseat him with and place someone closer to their ideals on the same pedestal. This is why the campaign to glorify Gandhi’s killer Godse and to demonise Gandhi caught speed once the BJP came to power in 2014.

This relentless campaign is showing no sign of ending: Amruta Fadanavis, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadanavis’s wife and a subject of many controversies, raised a fresh storm on September 17 when she wished the “Father of Our Country @narendramodiji a very Happy Birthday...” on Twitter. Sadly for Fadnavis, this did not go down well. Twitterati reacted strongly to her description and offered her a few lessons in history. The page had almost turned on the tweet when POTUS’s statement shot into prominence.

Perhaps Trump is aware of the divisive debates that have repeatedly erupted in India since 2014 on questions related to the past. It is impossible to tell. What is clear is the desperation of the Indian Right that Trump the “serial liar” and “threat to America’s future” had to provide them with a fig leaf of a cover for their divisive and insubstantial politics. This will go on, of course, until they end up with a fresh coat of egg on their faces.

Subhash Gatade is an activist and social and political commentator. Views are personal.