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Writer's pictureFrancois Gautier

Hindu power and the (Hindu) resistance to change

One expected resistance to @narendramodi’s reforms – economic, social and judicial – from the Christian & Muslim communities, as well as the Marxists. No surprise here: same as during the time of the Vajpayee Govt, Christians have been busy at portraying themselves victims of “Hindu fanaticism”, so as to get India a bad image abroad, even though Mr Modi went out of his way to make them feel safe. Kashmir has festered since the @BJP4India came to power (Are the accused of the #Kathua rape guilty, or will they be cleared after three years, the way the Hindus accused in the Masjid blasts have just been acquitted?), a sure sign that the Muslim community in India is not that cooperative. Again we see that the Prime Minister made a lot of efforts to woo the Muslims, receiving the likes of @aamirkhan, meeting mollahs, etc. But many of us know that 95% of Indian Muslims will never vote for the BJP in the next elections. It is unfortunate that still today, most of the Indian Media and Intelligentsia, look at their own country through Marxist eyes, witha westernized outlook, that does not use Indian parameters – & as a consequence of their three centuries of colonization,their judgment springs from an inferiority complex that finds everything wrong – specially if it is Hindu.

But nobody expected resistance from the Hindus themselves, who stand to benefit most from a Hindu majority Govt, for which they voted in overwhelming majority in 2014, from the Brahmin to the Dalit. This resistance takes three forms. It’s firstly that cheating and corruption has become so ingrained in Hindus’ DNA, that it will take a long time to erase it. We believed that the Prime Minister’s demonization, Aadhar move and drive for transparency,would effect a change. But I see around me that Hindus continue cheating without blinking and any sense of guilt at all – I am not talking here about Christian guilt, but about a sentiment, as dim as it may be, that they are harming their country’s well being. It was all right to cheat when the socialist policies of Indira Gandhi taxed the so-called rich 90% – but today, Indians are not taxed anymore than in any democratic European country.

The other form of resistance is cleanliness. There may be some pockets where the Swaach Bharat is working – for a show to the PM, but I tell you, as I travel extensively throughout India, the country has even become dirtier since Mr Modi started his movement. Just go to the Old Delhi station and see the huge garbage on the track and people throwing without a second thought all kind of empty packages through the windows of their compartments. As the train starts its journey through UP, everywhere it’s an endless sight of plastic, garbage, mud and dirt. You think Delhi is better? You should have seen Lodhi Garden last Sunday: by 6PM it was littered with thrash and nobody even gave it a thought. It’s as if people go at it with a vengeance.

The third resistance of Hindus is indiscipline. Nothing symbolizes it more than the way Indians drive. I recently crossed Uttrakhand from Delhi – it’s crazy: people overtake you from the right or the left, on the highway innumerable cars drive confidently on the wrong side, coming at you with blazing headlights. If there is a jam, everybody will try to cheat by inching forward, creating even more confusion. This too is cheating and is deep-seated in Hindus. I Also went to Haridwar with my mother in law’s ashes. I saw coke bottles floating in the Ganges, plastic bags, trash.. On the banks, not only Pandits keep asking for money and loot shamelessly the family of the dead, repeating mechanically mantras without any heart, but also I noticed that some of their lackeys dive in the water, to retrieve the gold or the coins the dear ones have thrown. Nobody here can blame the Muslims or Christians – and it plays in the hands of Marxists who say that Hinduism is a devious religion – so sad. The Dalit community too, is falling prey to this indiscipline: it is being used again by the @INCIndia and is being split, so that a chunk votes for the Congress. It’s unfortunate and they should read again their guru, Ambedkar, who was a true nationalist and did not mince his words

People will say that all this cheating, tamas, indiscipline, is karma or fate, or indifference. But those who are in the spiritual life know that there are occult forces behind the scenes, that move men and make them do things without them being conscious of it. These asuric powers area gainst evolution, against change, and they are very active at the moment, particularly against Mr Modi and his endeavour to change of India. Anybody who has tried to transform himsel for herself, will have experienced this inherent unwillingness to change in human nature, this resistance to the Divine.

Finally is Mr Modi himself unconsciously resisting change? That’s a good question. Nobody can doubt his sincerity and his drive, working 18 hours a day and keeping on initiating new projects to improve the life of Indians and inject more dynamism in its economy and foreign affairs. But in Delhi, a huge bubble, far away from the rest of India, he seemed to have softened and lost the ear he had on the ground when he was CM of Gujarat. Many of his Hindu hard-core supporters who voted him to power, are disappointed, as he has not implemented any of the pledges he made, be it Article 370, the Ram temple, a common Civil Code etc. Also he seems to be a victim of the bureaucracy, both the high one, who keeps advising him to be prudent and moderate, as well as the middle one and lower one, who resist his changes as their power will diminish. We were witness to this bureaucratic phenomenon when my Foundation recently applied for a grant from the Indian Council of Historical Research for a symposium we organized on Sufism, in Delhi’s Indira Gandhi National Center For Arts, Janpath. There were 22 speakers, some of them coming as far as Iran and we videotaped all their speeches, as we knew ICHR wanted them. But no, in this age of electronic and Internet, they insisted on every speech being physically transcribed – and we still have not got the (measly) grant.

And this raises the question:are Hindus, the most tolerant religion ever in the world, who gave refuge to every persecuted religious minority in the world, from the Syrian Christians to the Parsis, from the Jews to the Tibetans today, going to miss on the great Renaissance Narendra Modi is trying to bring, because of their resistance to change? Are they going to put in jeopardy the survival of the last great Knowledge that can save the world – who am I, what happens when I die, what is karma, what is dharma, why God manifest Himself or Herself at different times of our history, using different names and different scriptures – because of their tamas?

The solution would be that Mr Modi will realize at some point that he is a prisoner of a system created by the Congress – the VVIP culture, that the BJP seems to have adopted so smoothly, the corruption in politics, and the immense power the bureaucrats have on India – and that he will try to break from all these shackles & bypass the bureaucracy to go directly to the people.Will he get re-elected in 2019? I think so, but he will not get the same kind of majority and might land-up with a coalition Govt, which will tie his hands. So NOW is the time to take hard decisions, Mr Prime Minister, when you have both majority in Lok & Raja Sabha. This could reunite the Hindu vote for you to get again majority in 2019.Know Sir, that the resistance to the Renaissance you want to initiate, also comes from Hindus, who still constitute nearly 80% of India and whose support is crucial. We wish to see again the fiery no nonsense Modi, who, in the true spirit of the Bhagavad Gita, will become the fearless warrior who fights – ruthlessly if needed – not only against India’s external enemies, the Chinese and the Pakistanis, but against the internal enemies, those Hindus at all levels – the poor who litter, the rich who cheat, the high bureaucracy, which always advises restraint ,and the lower corrupt bureaucracy which clings to its petty and corrupt power.

Francois Gautier

The author (francoisgautier.com) is the editor in chief of the Paris-based Revue de l’Inde (revuedelinde.com), the only magazine in the French-speaking world totally dedicated to India

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