Minority Appeasement has become a persistent problem in the Indian political landscape with most political parties claiming to be “secular” and offering all manner of electoral sops, exclusively for the minority communities. The concept of Secularism as it is understood in today’s context, came about in the Western world in response to the Politics-Religion nexus, that often restricted the progress of nations in many ways. Secularism was proposed and propagated to specifically keep religion out of politics and political parties out of religious affairs. Yet, this concept, over-used and misused in India, has done the exact opposite in our nation, thanks to the Congress party’s obsession with legitimizing its credentials as the founder of a peculiar type of secularism practiced only in India – a brand of secularism promoting religious interference, according precedence to the needs of the minorty non-Indic religions over those of the majority Hindus, even at the cost of cultural dilution and disrespect.
Among the most regrettable, arguably unforgivable mistakes of the Congress party’s father-daughter duo Nehru and Indira, was the sacrifice of a strong, distinct and proud Indian culture rooted in Hindu beliefs and ethos, at the alter of a peculiar Indian brand of secularism, that bends over backwards for minorities, at the expense of the poor and needy within the Hindu community.
The Congress and other “secular” parties have ensured the death of the actual meaning and purpose of Secularism and its proper place in administrative affairs. Almost all parties pander disproportionately to the perceived grievances of Muslims and Christians while taking the votes of the Indic-religions (Hindus, Sikhs,Buddhists,Jains, indigenous tribal belief systems) for granted. The fact that the Hindu vote is divided on the lines of caste regional differences, specific sects etc has made the problem worse over the decades.
Ironically, secularism for electoral gains, is embraced even by the supposedly “godless” Communists in India! Secularism as it was and is practiced in India, is the biggest disservice to Indian culture inflicted by the Nehru-Indira clan. It has undoubtedly caused irreparable damage to the preservation and nurturing of the Hindu way of life. Minority appeasement is no longer limited to the original culprits- the Congress and its allies. It has now spread to almost all political parties in India. All parties that follow the strange Indian brand of “secularism” indulge in it, sometimes to their own detriment. A curious case in point, is that of the Andhra, Telangana regional party- the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) currently led by Chandrababu Naidu.
The TDP leader has always been known for his focused development agenda, reforms in administrative practices and encouraging private enterprise yet he felt pressured to play a strong and vocal minority card during the 2019 state elections. Admittedly, the TDP had always declared itself a “secular” party with a fair share of Muslim and Christian supporters but Naidu took everybody by surprise when he openly requested the minority vote in the 2019 elections, based on a cache of significant minority appeasement schemes. Many complained he was risking it by crossing a line he had chosen not to, in his earlier campaigns and ministerships.
Observers and analysts were of the opinion that Naidu was pressured to go down the path of heavy minority-pandering, in order to combat a new, unexpected resurgence of interest in Andhra towards the newly formed YSRCP party, led by Jagan Mohan Reddy, who is a fourth generation christian.
Jagan’s sister and his brother-in-law “Brother” Anil, a converted christian and an evangelist with a missionary zeal had campaigned for him and reportedly appealed to all the crypto-christians in the state to vote unanimously for him, in return for protection of christian interests.
Many TDP supporters were disappointed with Naidu’s loud and unabashed attempt to attract the minority vote. While some claimed to understand the political pressure he was under and pardoned him for an unusually high level of minority appeasement, others squarely blamed him for his lack of courage in toeing the same line as most parties and withdrew their support.
Naidu’s strategy vis a vis the minority communities failed, as did his risky decision to part ways with his previous alliance partner, the BJP. He lost both the Hindu vote as well as the minority vote, which went to Jagan’s YSRCP party. Interestingly, after a drubbing in the 2019 elections, Naidu is now projecting himself as a pro-Hindu leader and at times, appears more vocal about Hindu issues like temple affairs and lower caste reservations, than even the local BJP leaders. He is also trying to mend relations with the BJP and appeal to the broader Hindu community. Will the TDP’s new strategy result in electoral dividends in the 2024 state elections ?
Some Hindu community leaders are still fuming at Naidu’s 2018-19 brazen attempts at garnering the minorty vote. Naidu’s 2019 poll sops included large financial aid packages to churches and an assured SC status to converted Christians. Here are a few of the sops he had offered ahead of the 2019 elections, clearly amounting to a heavy dose of minority appeasement as well as his posturing towards one community to the exclusion of all others.
In 2018-19, the TDP government had sanctioned Rs.38.36Cr for Construction/Repair of Churches. It sanctioned ₹58 lakh for construction and repair of toilets in Churches through a GO RT408 on 29.11.2018.
Minority appeasement is not limited to a particular Political Party.
In 2018-19, TDP led AP Govt sanctioned Rs.38.36Cr for Construction/Repair of Churches by passing 54 GOs.
It even sanctioned Rs.58L for construction&repair of toilets in Churches through GO RT408 on 29.11.2018 pic.twitter.com/w2ncYK3rRD
— Legal Rights Protection Forum (@lawinforce) November 28, 2022
Chandrababu Naidu, who participated in a Christmas celebration organized by the State government heaped praises on Christian missionaries saying “Christian missionaries served great for education and health. We saw Mother Teresa, how she served society.”
The Telugu Desam Party chief in 2018 said, “Our government has spent ₹250 crores for Christians in these four years. We will fight for giving the SC status to converted Christians and till then we will support you. I assure you to develop Guntur general hospital with six acres of additional land.”
On the developmental work undertaken by the state government, the Chandrababu Naidu said that the Andhra government has provided full economic support for the construction of churches in the state.
Adding to this he said, “For a Christian Bhavan, we gave two acres land and ₹10 crores. Now, we are allotting additional six crores as per your appeals. We will provide full economic support for the construction of churches even without contribution.” He also said that he will give 24 December as an optional holiday. He further went on to offer sops saying that the government will provide ₹50,000. for the marriage of Christian girls and spend ₹100 crores to develop burial grounds for Christians.
Earlier in 2015, while participating in the foundation laying ceremony of “Christian Bhavan” in Guntur district, he had proposed the creation of a cabinet sub-committee to monitor and protect land owned by various Christian bodies.
Naidu had also said that converting to Christianity would bring about an ‘overhaul’ in the ‘socio-economic’ conditions of people and henceforth, the government would offer a Christmas “Chandra anna” Kanuka (gift) to mark the festive occasion.
So, contrary to the popular perception that only the YSRCP goes out of the way to woo the Christian minority in Andhra, the TDP is equally culpable of minority appeasement.
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