Tamil Nadu does not need this kind of politician nor his politics. H. Raja is an extreme example of India's own Alt-right phenomenon. If the national secretary of the BJP resident in the State were to be given a free rein, he would build a full-fledged Hindutva beyond what Mohan Bhagwat himself may have tried to define in the RSS convention last week. The state, with a history of communal harmony and very few problems in the coexistence of communities, could do without any new divisions being thrust upon it by leaders seeking to cleave society in order to gain a political advantage.
The Vinayaka Chathurthi processions have been going on for years with due attention paid to not let them spark tensions between communities with safeguards that have been worked out over time by the law enforcers. The police have a huge stake in seeing to it that the balance is not upset by any adventurous posturing during religious processions to bait a community. Minor incidents do take place when these processions cross places of worship. Of other communities, but peace has always been managed by leaders helping to keep that balance between emotion and fervour.
Given the history, there was little need for the BJP leader to imagine grievances about procession routes unless he just wished to stir things up. By using hate speech and decrying the entire police force as well as the judiciary, he was only inviting the wrath of institutions that are needed to keep the peace and sanity. He might, of course, have total contempt for the legal proceedings that are hanging over him now as politicians are not known to care for such procedures. This is the real pity as the politicians are too often the ones who care a fig for the very systems that they aspire to control when in power.
Brinkmanship is the only thing they seem to revel in and they will keep pushing the boundaries until and unless the law decides to put them in their place. But, as we have seen in several cases of hate speeches made, including those in the heat of elections, the judicial process can be so slow as to be self-defeating. Polit icians say worse things about each other, but those who wish to profit from cleaving society should be put in their place. If they have no fear of being locked away for a while, they will simply repeat their act when it suits them.
Tamil Nadu's communal harmony was always a matter of pride. Even the Babri Masjid demolition issue passed by without a life being shed in the state. I remember having to return to India through Mumbai and struggling to get a seat to Chennai amid the chaos then. There was not even a hint of tension in Tamil Nadu then despite the seriousness of what had just taken place. While there was turmoil elsewhere in the country, Chennai remained a haven of peace.
There may have been the Coimbatore blasts years later as a consequential, retaliatory event but two decades have passed since then and peace has generally prevailed even in difficult times. There are simplistic theories about the communal harmony in Tamil Nadu flowing from the shared language of Tamil. The togetherness runs far deeper than that. It hurts when politicians are bent upon destroying that so as to get a foothold in the state by raising bogeys.
The west of the State has picked up a bit of a reputation for subscribing to the Hindutva line of thinking. While it would be a legitimate political exercise for anyone to represent himself as fighting for the rights of the majority, as much as all other groups do for their own rights, it amounts to crossing a line if religion is used to split people who are living together. This is where the great danger lies and people like Raja keep on with their adventurousness regardless.
It is well-known that in the post-Jayalalithaa period, voices of protest, dissent and general demonstrativeness are getting shriller. We saw it even in the crass speech of an MLA elected on the ruling party's symbol bringing out in the open the internal divisions like Karunas did. He has been put away for a while now, with the State taking umbrage at his threatening the Chief Minister.
None should be allowed to go around challenging Constitutional institutions, threatening the State, etc. It is a different matter how the two speeches of Raja and Karunas have been viewed, with action already taken in one but only threatened in the other. We wait to see if the law will apply as much to both as it should.
