I wrote this piece last night and then lost it thanks to my own stupid fiddling with the computer. I was too tired to re-write it and thought I would make a fresh attempt next morning. Next morning, by the time I picked up my thread to start with the most recent Jahangirpuri riots in Delhi, things had moved quite rapidly. Five rioters had been charged under the draconian National Security Act and the local administration had moved in to use the latest arsenal in its sling, the bulldozers to demolish supposedly illegal constructions, mainly targeting Muslim homes and parts of the mosque which was at the heart of the violence three days ago. And this happened despite Supreme Court’s order to stay the demolition which continued well over two hours. Till the time one of the few brave political leaders Brinda Karat herself reached the site carrying a copy of the order and stood in front of the rampaging bulldozers. History will indeed also record who were the officials who despite the court order continued this vengeful drive and in full view of television cameras also showing it live. It was a mini Iraq war being telecast live to the homes of millions of supposedly gleeful nationalist homes. Khargone in Madhya Pradesh last week, Delhi today.

Television, judiciary, religious Mahanths (again sportingly giving public threats over mikes and in front of cameras to rape Muslim women or calling for genocide of Muslims), made viral through instant WhatsApp forwards giving them their fifteen minutes of glory, all in the name of the juggernaut of Hindu Rashtra which is now in its full bloom.

For those who thought that the spate will at least slow down if not stop after the elections in six states forget that the logic of ‘power for power sake’ knows no bounds, whether they are state elections or national two years down the line or even a local municipal or panchayat election. And there are plenty of elections to feed this hunger. Later this year Gujarat, (that prize possession where it all began) is going to face the elections, in Delhi the lust for power made the ruling BJP announce the restructuring of the entire local tier of governance, lest they lose control over it.

And when there is power for power sake, there is no room for anything else, where today’s other headlines like price rise being highest in decades or how 76 percent of the poor lost their jobs during the ongoing Covid pandemic, don’t matter anymore. What matters is the Trotskyan idea of ‘Permanent Revolution’, even though being used ironically for very opposite  ends of counter-revolution. And the idea is simply this, that never let people rest, think, take a break, keep them in a permanent state of movement, where they are not merely a passive witness to history, but have now become active agents of (regressive) change. A counter-revolution which asks of you, ask not what the nation can do for you, ask what you can do for your nation. And the least you can do is to applaud those marauding bulldozers, be part of the mob in front of every mosque shielded by police, flashing guns and trishuls, be a part of the grand March of History through umpteen Shobha yatras and Hanuman yatras. The recent violence in eight states during the last week’s Ramnavmi, or the nationwide juggernaut against hijab and Ramzan are just a few element of this ongoing revolution.

And the agents of change want more. And they won’t stop. And that’s the risk this regime is taking, fairly confident that they can calibrate this rampaging mob of unemployed, semi-employed, semi-educated youth (which some years ago was hailed as demographic dividend by the planners). Just three instances of history and one from mythology should be instructive. Indira Gandhi propped  a guy called Bhindrawale to browbeat Akalis. While he served the purpose, he also became too big for his shoes, got cornered on the orders of the government eventually taking down Indira with him. Rajiv Gandhi is said to have once publicly humiliated Prabhakaran in one of the meetings (at a time when everyone thought LTTE was propped by the Indian govt). We know what happened to Rajiv Gandhi. The last is even more instructive at a personal level. LK Advani is said to have publicly lamented the fall of Babri Masjid saying he could not control his frontal organisations. One doesn’t know the level of sincerity behind this statement. One surely knows the way history has ended up treating him in his own lifetime, not least by those whom he propped up as his mentees.

So, what’s the lesson here? Just one more story, this time from the Hindu mythology, the ruling party would do well to take lesson from. The story of the demon Bhasmasur, who, having got the boon of burning anyone he could touch, ended up touching his own head. As a student of history, I see a great hope in this apocryphal story.

p.s. a slightly different version of this piece appeared on TNS dated 24 April 2022