(Dabholkar, Pansare, and, to a lesser extent, Kalburgi) are presented as classic figures in the tradition of the Enlightenment, promoting rational thinking to fight Hindu superstition, and the hierarchy of caste.
Dabholkar was a Doctor who sponsored a bill against black magic and fake 'healers' which was passed after his assassination in his native Maharashtra. He belonged to a long established 'Rationalist' tradition in India.
Pansare was a Communist politician though of declining influence. Kalburgi was a Lingayat who favored separation from the Veerasaivas.
It is likely that they were killed because they were easy targets who, nevertheless, had enough prominence to generate publicity for the perpetrators- thought to be influenced by a self-proclaimed God-man who used to work in the UK as a hypotherapist.
All this has nothing to do with Narendra Modi. The murders occurred under Congress rule. Yet Asokan titles his piece 'Looking for 'Reason' in Modi's India'. Yet, it is scarcely reasonable to blame a politician for things which happened under his predecessor.
Similarly the following incident occurred before the BJP came to power in Uttar Pradesh. A man was, probably falsely, accused of stealing and killing a calf, and then his family was attacked. But, this sort of incident has been common since much before there was any BJP or RSS.
In the second section Patwardhan visits two places that have become infamous for religious violence. He speaks to the family of Mohammad Akhlaq, a Muslim man who was lynched by his Hindu neighbors in the village of Dadri, Uttar Pradesh, for the alleged crime of consuming beef (this crime sparked huge protests)By contrast, Gujarat was firmly under the BJP when the Una atrocity occurred-
Later, with the Dalit parliamentarian Jignesh Mevani, he travels around Gujarat on an inspiring civil disobedience march sparked by a gruesome incident in the town of Una, where seven Dalit men were beaten in public for skinning a cow carcass.
What was the BJP's reaction? The CM resigned, though citing old age. 4 policemen (all high caste) and all the perpetrators (except perhaps two Dalit boys) were charged and the trial has been expedited. Mevani did well out of this atrocity but he is still only a Legislator, not a Parliamentarian. Rajesh Chudasama kept the seat at least partly because the BJP pulled out all the stops in placating Dalits in the constituency.
It is plausible to suggest that the BJP is behind attacks on Muslims- because only 8 per cent of Muslims vote for the BJP. It is not plausible to suggest that they will tolerate attacks on Dalits because they need their votes and, in any case, their Hindutva ideology requires the elimination of this invidious distinction.
This is the central problem with Patwardhan's film. Its narrative contradicts common sense. It is reasonable to believe that Trump is against Mexicans, it is unreasonable to believe he is also against New Mexicans or Hispanics in Florida. Similarly, to say Modi is anti-Muslim is plausible. But to say he is also anti-Dalit is crazy. His party will become un-electable.
Asokan next writes something yet more absurd-
The final section is set at two premier Indian universities. Here the Hindu right’s fear of rational thinking is given its purest expression. At the Jawaharlal Nehru University in Delhi, the BJP’s student wing harasses progressive students and teachers who question the basis of Hinduism and its caste order; at Hyderabad Central University, they launch a smear campaign of such ferocity against the Dalit students’ association that a brilliant scholar, Rohith Vemula, is driven to suicide in what has been labelled an “institutional murder.”JNU is a bastion of the senile Left which is incapable of rational thinking. Its 'jhollawallahs' are a godsend to the BJP. Why? They are similar to the 'circular firing squad' represented by the fringes of the Democratic Party. Their antics get a lot of media exposure and generates a huge backlash in favor of the BJP. Look at Kanhaiya Kumar- the JNU's rising star. He helped the BJP to gain the Begusarai constituency by splitting the Opposition vote.
What about Rohith Vemula, who blamed both the Communists and the Ambedkarites for his suicide? His grievance was that the Left wanted to use the Dalits for their own ends while the Dalits would not recognize him as one of their own because his Dad was OBC. Moreover, he had given up a STEM type subject- which could have got him a well paying job on the basis of his skill-set- for Sociology, which is useless and where his belonging to the wrong caste meant he couldn't become a Kancha Illiah type icon.
Even when he'd done what every sensible student leader does- viz. bash up his opponent- he had not gained money and prestige as an extortionist because his opponent had gone running to his Mummy who had filed a court case against him! To do well, he'd need to actually kill a few people and spend some time in jail so as to gain recognition as a 'made man'. But, what the poor fellow actually wanted to do was write books like Carl Sagan! No wonder he killed himself when the payment of his stipend was held up. Still, his Mum and brother got Government jobs out of it. Incidentally, JNU is located in Delhi which is not ruled by the BJP. Vemula too did not study in a BJP ruled state.
Asokan says Hinduism is very evil and represents a threat to Democracy. Perhaps he is thinking of Tulsi Gabbard. The fact is India is a Democracy only because it is so largely Hindu. Why? Well, we need Democratically elected politicians to slowly change our personal laws and institutions. If this does not happen we get trapped in caste restrictions. Wealthy people can defy these but the middle sort are afraid to be the 'first mover' in breaking a taboo because of the risk of ostracism. That is why we have a Tardean mimetics mediated by Parliamentary elections. Hindu Law itself says that tradition overrides Scripture when it comes to Laws and Conventions. However, these can change where there is consensus that the 'best people' are changing the relevant 'achar' (righteous behavior).
Asokan says- 'On the whole Vivek leaves little doubt that political Hinduism is a dangerous threat to Indian democracy. In scene after scene, we witness how dogma is manipulated by cynical godmen and politicians, and how in turn the forcefield of faith pushes us to indulge our worst instincts. This menace isn’t new—in fact, it has been building for decades. To understand the rise of modern Hindutva, we have to look at Patwardhan’s older films.'
Patwardhan is an old fashioned sentimental ;useful idiot' to the Communists who thinks 'Religion is the opium of the masses'. He does not understand that Communism is the enemy of Democracy. In India, it was too cowardly or weak to actually kill off all opposition and establish single party rule. Furthermore, in the mid-Nineties, the CPM politburo refused to let Jyoti Basu become Prime Minister for some silly ideological reason. It then doubled down on the Comintern's failed 'Popular Front' strategy of the Nineteen Thirties and ended its 'Long March through the Institutions' in near total Political Oblivion.
Asokan, despite his Indian name, is completely ignorant of India. He writes 'In a narrative poem written in Sanskrit a century later, Tulsidas popularized the idea that this town is the birthplace of Lord Ram—who, until then, was not really a major Hindu god.'
Wow! This guy can't even look up things on Wikipedia! No wonder his 'looking for 'Reason' in Modi's India leads him to a senile cretin like Patwardhan!
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