Intolerance is by design: Varadarajan

Hyderabad: The second day of the two-day seminar on ‘Perils to and preservations of harmony and national integrity’, organised by the Hyderabad Collective in the city, threw up a rather interesting question. It is apparent to even casual observers that there is an extraordinary level of intolerance gripping the country. What if this intolerance and the subsequent assault on various freedoms enjoyed by people, and the government’s apparent inability to deal with the situation, is actually by design? This question was posed by journalist Siddharth Varadarajan, who tackled the issue of the ‘Assault on reason and higher education’ in an intense, hour-long talk.

“Never to my mind have we seen, since the Emergency, a government which is more wedded to ‘unreason’, irrationality, intolerance, secrecy and to philistinism than the current government being run by Prime Minister Narendra Modi,” was how Siddharth opened his rhetoric. “Reason, rationality, good sense, constitutional values in various fields are under sustained assault. Unless we speak honestly, frankly and call a spade a spade, I don’t think we’ll be able to deal with the kind of challenges the people of this country face.”

Siddharth then referred to several instances, ranging from Love Jihad to the Dadri lynching to Kanh-aiya Kumar’s arrest and Rohith Vemula’s suicide, and countless politicians making offensive remarks and going unchecked. He said it was likely the government was intentionally turning a blind eye to its MPs’ and ministers’ antics (in some cases) or trampling over the constitutional rights of its citizens.

“It was clear from the outset that there was going to be a subtext - regardless of the promises made before the election - in virtually everything the government was going to do,” he said. “A signal was being sent to all the different organisations of the Sangh Parivar that operate in the shadows to not worry about the slogans on which the election was won. They seem to have been told, ‘You will have your time in the sun. We do not expect you to give up your agenda, we expect you to pursue it. If possible we will try to facilitate your agenda. If not, we will turn a blind eye. But no interference will be placed on this agenda which was hidden from the voters.’

“This government was elected on the basis of aspiration of the young people in this country - the aspirations of a better life, of a better country. This government was elected on the basis of promises dangled in front of people,” Siddharth said. “Promises, 18 or 19 months into its tenure, it is quite clear that it is not going to be in a position to fulfil.

“So you need to temper people’s expectations. And what better way to make the people think about other things than to attack reason, rationality, debate, throw out scraps of divisive politics and diversionary issues from time to time amongst young people in the hope that one or two of these issues will ensnare them and make them forget what they elected this government to do?  “This is a logical, well-planned, well-formulated assault on reason and rationality that we are confronting. There is a plan. There is a method to this madness. There is no confusion in the upper echelons of the government. These are all moving parts of the same machine, a machine that is incapable of ‘Making in India’,” he said in conclusion.