DNA Edit: Fringe harming – PM’s social inclusive agenda can get easily derailed

In his very first speech after the spectacular victory in the 2019 general elections, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had spoken about the minorities being subjected to fear-mongering by opposition parties. He had also told his followers that the party and his government will work towards winning their trust in the coming days. He also said the jubilant workers to accept the victory in all humility. The fringe elements that exist in our society, however, are keen to derail the PM’s vision and agenda. Dr Payal Tadvi’s suicide in Mumbai, following alleged casteist harassment by upper caste doctors, a Muslim youth being targeted in Gurugram over wearing skullcap, Raja Rammohan Roy’s name being dragged through mud are precisely the kind of incidents that the PM has appealed against. 

Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party had hoped they will sail in Uttar Pradesh by joining hands and adding up the socially backward castes against the inclusive development narrative promised by the Prime Minister and the Bharatiya Janata Party. It is one thing for the electorate to vote in the development agenda. But when it comes to really adopting the mindset that the PM is talking about, a section of the society is still not ready for it. Dr Tadvi was harassed by her upper caste colleagues as they believed she didn’t deserve to be at the prestigious Dr BYL Nair Medical College. They believed she had benefitted from the reservation policy while the reality was that she had earned her seat by appearing for the National Eligibility Entrance Test. 

In Gurugram, while the incident itself is being debated, the way BJP’s MP-elect Gautam Gambhir was trolled for taking up cudgels for the Muslim youth is deplorable. The worst case has to be the social media bringing in disrepute Raja Rammohan Roy’s name who the whole of India remembers as the social reformer who helped India abolish the cruel sati tradition. If at all, Roy helped Hinduism establish as a religion that was ready to reform with time, unlike some of the religions that are still in the custody of their religious leaders and scriptures that became centuries ago. While a second term for Modi should ideally be construed as a mandate for continuing the work of development, for extremists, it is signal for upping the ante on their socially divisive agenda. These elements will provide easy fodder for the Opposition, however depleted it may have been, and is playing into its hands. 

In its first term, the BJP and indeed the Modi-led government had to face the wrath of Dalits following violence in Una, Gujarat. The PM had to intervene and deplore the anti-Dalit violence in unequivocal terms. It is for the BJP and the many state governments that the party runs throughout the country, to ensure that the rule of law prevails. The sign of a developed country is the strict enforcement of rule of law and equal justice for all its citizens. It is a line that India has stayed with and the BJP government in its second term needs to reinforce it vigorously.