Till some months back, the Hindu zealots, the rogue progeny of RSS, used to issue diktats to identify Muslim traders and hawkers by writing their names on their shops and even issued decrees to Muslim vendors not to enter into areas inhabited by the Hindu and barge into the homes of Christians and churches seeking to know whether they had obtained the permission of the government to perform religious rituals and recite the Bible.

As if this was not enough they have now warned singers from singing bhajans which were sung by Mahatma Gandhi. This underscores their degeneration. RSS cadres and their leaders are known for their arrogance and violent reprisal. The communal riots since 1947 would reveal that most of the communal clashes and riots were engineered by RSS.

The Patna incident is not only a national shame, it also exposes the hollowness and duplicity of RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat. The Patna incident may look like a small and insignificant event. But one can be sure that Bhagwat knows the intensity and impact of this. This was nothing but a ruthless and reckless attempt to malign and insult Bapu.

Bhagwat must be feeling ebullient at BJP workers denigrating Gandhi. He might come out with the clarification that this incident is not any disrespect to Gandhi. But it is untenable. International fraternity knows that any event of paying respect to Gandhi is complete only after singing of this Bhajan. It is synonymous to the very existence of Gandhi and his ideals. Obviously BJP cadres wilfully insulted and denigrated Gandhi.

No explanation will be enough. It cannot be denied that Bhagwat has been primarily responsible for creating communal divide and polarising the Hindus with the slogan “Hindu in danger”. No sane person claiming to be an intellectual could stoop so low. Besides, it also underlines that he has no understanding of India’s political economy and agrarian relations during colonial rule.

Devi was invited to get felicitated at the event and the organisers requested her to sing a bhajan. She later told the media, “As we had gathered to commemorate Vajpayeeji, I thought it befitting to sing Mahatma Gandhi’s favourite bhajan 'Raghupati Raghav Raja Ram', but when I started singing the stanza ‘Ishwar Allah Tero Naam’ a section of the audience rose in protest. I had to stop singing immediately. What happened was unfortunate”.

Devi singing Mahatma Gandhi's favourite bhajan was not acceptable to the Hindu zealots. They forced her to apologise. Former Union minister Ashwini Kumar Choubey, who had organised the event along with the NGO Dinker Shodh Sansthan, said the incident “should not have happened” but the fact is the sordid incident happened. Around 50 BJP cadres and small-time leaders resorted to sloganeering. Shocked Devi had to apologise. Choubey along with the audience chanted "Jai Shri Ram" in full volume.

This brazen insult to Mahatma Gandhi did not move him. He did not even dare to pull up the zealots. For him, the Hindu bigots were more important than the Father of the Nation. Apart from Choubey, other BJP leaders present included Dr CP Thakur, Sanjay Paswan, and Shahnawaz Hussain. Bihar BJP spokesperson Kuntal Krishna said the RJD was behind the disturbances.

Reacting sharply, RJD chief Lalu Prasad remarked, “Sanghis and BJP people hate ‘Jai Siyaram, Jai Sitaram’ because it is in praise of 'Mother Sita'. These people are anti-women from the very beginning and with the slogan ‘Jai Shri Ram’ they insult half of the population, women."

Only former Union minister Shahnawaz Hussain mustered courage: “I had quoted Atalji during my address. He used to say, ‘Chhote Dil Se Koi Bada Nahi Hota (no one makes it big with a small heart). The protest against the bhajan was the height of intolerance. I felt too embarrassed and ashamed.”

In the rule of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Hindu zealots have gone berserk. They do not respect human values and the law of the land. With Modi in power they have specifically been targeting Muslims, secular people, followers of Gandhi and Nehru and members of India's minority Christian community. All these people are feeling besieged and under attack. There is no proper count of how many churches have been vandalised.

On December 24, RSS and BJP zealots ravaged a crib in Palakkad of Kerala. This has infuriated the Christians. The incident comes in the backdrop of BJP’s ongoing efforts to engage with the Christian community in Kerala. A day after Modi attended Christmas celebrations hosted by the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI) in Delhi, a senior Orthodox Church bishop in Kerala severely criticised the BJP. Metropolitan Yuhanon Meletius of the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church commented on Facebook, “There, they honour bishops and revere the crib. Here, they destroy the cribs. There’s a term in Malayalam for this.”

In Christian tradition, the crib is a central element of the nativity scene, symbolising the birth of Jesus Christ. The bishop’s remarks were aimed at two incidents in Palakkad district, where Christmas celebrations were disrupted at government schools. Christians, who make up about 24 million or 2.3 per cent of India’s population of over 1.25 billion, have expressed fear at the persecution. Even Julio Robeiro, a highly respected and renowned police officer had to say, "Today I feel threatened, not wanted, reduced to a stranger in my own country. I feel I am on a hit list. If tested, my DNA will not differ markedly from Mohan Bhagwat.” (IPA Service)