It is not often that one gets to preview a nightmare, but India has that dubious fortune right now. Picture a country in which a civilised society's most fundamental choices are denied to its people ... (and) are made for them by a bunch of unaccountable, self-appointed guardians of morality, and imposed - on pain of physical intimidation and destruction of property - by roving gangs of ruffians with whom the entire apparatus of the state connives.

A nightmare, but this is not Afghanistan. It is .. Gujarat ... Welcome to the Hindu Rashtra. The dream of the RSS-led Sangh Parivar flourishes ... in Gujarat. The Parivar's political wing has been elected to power, government organs are in its control, and its multifarious affiliates are implementing without hindrance its agenda. As part of this design, non-Hindu communities are being intimidated and persecuted. But ... the real toll is of ordinary, law-abiding Hindus, who must follow diktats impinging on every aspect of their lives.

It is safe to presume that had the BJP formed a government on its own at the Centre (and, indeed, if it ever does so in future), such would be the pattern of life all over the country. It would subsume the organs of government to further the Sangh cause, while its affiliates would literally run riot on the ground.

BJP apologists might argue that it is unfair to blame it for what is happening in Gujarat ... To answer, one must hark back to the 1990-92 period, when the Sangh group used its Ayodhya campaign to build up an anti-Muslim hysteria in the country to the BJP's benefit. The parallels are striking.

Then, the Sangh outfits campaigned on the emotive issue of a mosque that had allegedly replaced a temple marking the believed birthplace of a favourite god. Today, they campaign on another emotive issue: alleged forcible conversions of "Hindu" tribals by Christian missionaries. In both cases, they question the patriotism of the targeted communities. Then, there was a political motivation: to counter the Mandal card of V.P. Singh. Today, it is the need to counter a seemingly resurgent Congress under Sonia Gandhi, Then, the aim was to physically destroy the mosque and reclaim the site. Today, it is to physically hound. out the church and reclaim tribals through "reconversion". Then, they argued that matters of faith could not be tried in the courts. Today, they say it is irrelevant whether the Constitution allows conversion.

Then, they presented different faces speaking to different audiences: Vajpayee, the soothing moderate, addressing Hindu liberals and non-Hindus; L.K. Advani, who rationalised emotions even as he sparked them off, mobilising the middle-class; Ashok Singhal, the spreader of hate, marshalling the foot soldiers, the sadhus and kar sevaks ... Today, from Vajpayee to Singhal to the firebrands stalking the streets of Ahwa, the tactic is the same.

Then, too, the Sangh floated new organisations like the Bajrang Dal and various sadhu councils to do its dirty work, and from which its top leadership distanced itself whenever it suited. Today, the Hindu Jagaran Manch serves that purpose in Gujarat.

Then, too, it attacked periodically, on occasions of symbolic or ritualistic significance. Each time the top spokesmen promised that nothing would happen, that the law would not be breached, but each time the foot soldiers got closer to the goal, and the Parivar extracted a bigger compromise. Today, the VHP has already won an offer from Christian organisations to talk about conversions ...

Then, the Parivar had a pliable administration under Kalyan Singh, today it has one under Keshubhai Patel ... Then, it attacked the English press and co-opted the vernacular. Today it has done the same in Gujarat. The one crucial difference is in the choice of community. With Muslims, the Sangh was able to touch a chord of bitterness and prejudice that brought, importantly, the so-called "respectable" middle-class to its side. Christians, in contrast, command much goodwill. The middle-class ... has largely benefited - or aspires to benefit – from Christian schools and hospitals, and has no collective memory of discord. The Sangh might just have miscalculated. The unprovoked attacks on Christian institutions and clergy, coming on top of poor performance of the BJP in government, might lose it the support of the middle-class. The test will lie in whether the saffron constituency' splits vertically - the established strata, with aspirations and a stake in harmony, desert and return to the Congress but the frustrated, jobless, rootless, marginalised segments fall for the propaganda and mobilise behind the Sangh.

In that case, the Hindu Rashtra will be upon us. And the next minority to be attacked will not be a religious community, but the liberal middle-class ... (Source: The Hindustan Times, 10 January, 1999)