Right must embrace equality

If you believe political pundits who as recently as 2011 were writing its obituary, the Indian right-wing is enjoying its high noon. Going by election results over the last five years that has resulted in the preponderance of the political right in government, this is valid. In addition to the national government, BJP, the preeminent political vehicle of the Indian right, is governing by itself or with allies in fifteen states across India, from Jammu & Kashmir to Andhra Pradesh and from Maharashtra to Assam and Arunachal Pradesh. Never in independent India's seven decade history has the right-wing enjoyed such a wide political footprint.

On parameters of economic growth as well as welfare delivery, BJP-NDA governments have demonstrated their superior performance, with a governance philosophy that is rooted in pragmatism rather than ideology. Hard infrastructure sectors like power, railways, port development and roads are seeing creditable execution and steady reform.

For the first time since the Atal Bihari Vajpayee era, privatisation of state-owned companies is back on the Union government's policy agenda. Most notably, the brazen rent-seeking and corruption for which Congress-UPA brought infamy on itself and on the country seems to have been eradicated. Prime Minister Modi has shown unprecedented guts by announcing his government's decision to cross the Line of Control and hunt down terrorists in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.

But there is something missing. Narendra Modi was elected on the promise of sabka saath, sabka vikas. One of the defining moments of the 2014 general election campaign was when Sonia Gandhi issued a joint appeal with New Delhi's Shahi Imam to protect secularism, even as Narendra Modi refused to wear the Muslim skull cap. It was a stark contrast — Modi took the position that as a practising Hindu, he could not wear an Islamic religious symbol only to be deemed electable. He boldly refused to pander to Muslim sentiments, while those who promised new politics, the likes of whom included IIT-educated engineers Arvind Kejriwal and Nandan Nilekani, donned the skull cap to court the minority vote bank. As Gujarat chief minister, Narendra Modi, in contrast with other BJP chief ministers, had turned down religion-based scholarships funded by the Union government on the grounds that religious discrimination in government welfare was unacceptable.

On the campaign trail, Modi distinguished himself as one who stood for individual rights when he spoke of his personal right to practise a faith of his choosing, even as he simultaneously reaffirmed the constitutional rights afforded to all citizens of India, including minorities. This is the record on the back of which Narendra Modi took office as prime minister.

Unfortunately, his government's record in securing equivalent individual rights for all citizens has been weak so far. Much of this has to be with the minefield of pernicious and illiberal legal-constitutional provisions planted by Congress party governments over the decades that, in an Orwellian turn, have institutionalised religious discrimination in the name of secularism.

For example, the 93rd Constitutional Amendment, which expanded reservations to all educational institutions except those run by minorities, brazenly discriminates against Hindus. Following Indira Gandhi's playbook, who defiled India's constitution repeatedly through the 1960s and 1970s because her draconian diktats were struck down by the courts, the Congress-UPA government amended India's Constitution in 2005 to discriminate against Indians who were Hindus after it lost in the courts.

At the same time, the Modi government has done well to speak for the rights of Muslim women by asking the Supreme Court to abolish the practice of triple talaq. The Law Commission is seeking public opinion and has begun a process of stakeholder consultation on the Uniform Civil Code, a stand that the Indian right has championed since Jan Sangh founder SP Mookerjee's days.

It is plainly obvious that all these efforts favour stronger individual rights and equality for all Indian citizens. Yet, the self-described "secular-liberal" establishment is stoutly against such equality. The path to achieving this equality, through appropriate legal-constitutional reforms that will be necessary to overturn Orwellian "secularism" entrenched over decades, will not be easy as a powerful political-intellectual alliance of collectivists and religious conservatives is making great efforts to hold India back.

Just as Muslims and other minorities must be afforded the increased personal liberties that Hindus enjoy, Hindus too should be allowed to run educational institutions freely and be given administrative control of their places of worship, both liberties that their "minority" compatriots enjoy. It is unconscionable and antediluvian that the Indian state should continue to make arbitrary distinctions between individual citizens based on the religion or group identity of the citizen.

If Narendra Modi strives ahead on this arduous road, even as the "secular-liberal" intelligentsia offer sophist arguments in opposition, he will go down in history as the prime minister who not only accelerated India's economic rise, but also as the leader who made the nation more socially equal.

The author is co-founder of the India Enterprise Council.