Mr Asaram, Mohan Bhagwat all the same….

Why am I saying Mr. Asaram and not Asaram Bapu as he likes to be called? In all the tweets that have been doing the rounds, the one that struck me as being the most outstanding was the one from Barkha Dutt: “Mr Asaram – for I think we cant insult the Mahatma by calling you ‘Bapu” – someone needs to pray for you. First to get a brain. Then a heart”. Well said Barkha. Such pseudos as Asaram cannot be called Bapu at all. Another tweet from a friend called him “Besharam Bapu”, which pretty much captures what most liberals feel about this man.

But really, what’s the difference between Mr. Asaram and Mohan Bhagwat, the chief of the RSS? Both represent the same fraternity of 17^th century Hindu orthodoxy. Both have lacs of followers who think similarly. Both believe India should call itself a Hindu country and Hindus must dominate. Both believe in regressive dogmas. Both denigrate women, and believe they are subservient to men. There is no difference at all. So why are we so surprised with this statement from him?

What is relevant here is that as moreand more saffronites are emerging from the woodworks, their political spout of – the BJP – is getting more and more embarrassed. Here was an opportunity for the party to grand-stand. Demand extreme punishment for all rapists. Speak up in feigned anger on behalf of half the population. Etc etc. But suddenly, and with no intimation, the party’s “backyards cadre” has started to put their foot in their mouths. The BJP faces a double whammy, because it cannot publicly even criticize such elements, fearful of offending its core supporters.

Ravi Shankar Prasad of the BJP and his cahoots (spokesmen and women) could said nothing when their ideological boss, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat, made some really atrocious statements on women a couple of days back. Even the usual liberal voices like Jaitley and Swaraj were silenced.

But today, they have understood that “enough is enough”. If they don’t do something now, the party may well have to write itself off. So, much as they feel uncomfortable in opposing Mr Asaram, they have decided to ask him to withdraw his statements. But the moot point as a tweet from @thecomicproject says “When someone like Asaram Bapu withdraws his statement, it does not mean he or his supporters have changed their minds”. The problem is with the mindset of these people. How will Ravi Shankar Prasad change that?

I wonder if this is just the trailer of what a BJP ruled country could look like. Is it any surprise at all that Mr Asaram comes from what I call the Hindu kingdom of Gujarat which is ruled by the Hindu Hriday Samrat, the redoubtable Narendra Modi??? Gujarat is full of such godmen. They all have similar mindsets, and if they got the chance, they would like to take the country back to some imaginary days of Hindu glory. They are waiting for Narendra Modi to take over as the PM. As Modi ascends the Delhi throne, they will themselves ascend onto the national scene. Ladies – be sure about this. Such religion based political parties actively spawn bigots like Asaram. Asaram is not an accident. He has been encouraged by the political environment of Gujarat. If it’s the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt that has recently succeeded in replacing the liberal Egyptian culture with a hard-core Islamic one, it will be such Hindu parties that will take over our liberal country.

Equally regressive of course is what the Jamat said. That there should be no co-education schools. These dimwits should understand that it is only more social interactions between the two sexes that will reduce crimes, not less. The more you isolate the girls, the more the ignorance of the men; and the less the respect they will have for the women.

The real truth is that there is no difference really between godmen like Asaram, ideological bodies like the RSS, VHP, Bajrang Dal, and political parties like the BJP. They are all extremely regressive in their thinking. The Delhi rape has only made all this come out. In a way, what’s happening is good. As more and more of such people speak, more and more of them get exposed. And the real truth emerges….