Background

Rajiv Malhotra recently conducted an interview with present Railway Minister Piyush Goyal, the last part of which was released earlier this week. When enquired about government stance of freeing Hindu temples from state control, Piyush Goyal imperiously put the blame on Hindu community for mismanagement of temples.

As expected, the interview received scathing criticism and outrage from Hindus which led Rajiv Malhotra taking the video down. If the resentment against such remarks wasn’t enough, the deletion shifted the criticism from Piyush Goyal to Rajiv Malhotra with some criticising him acting as a puppet of present ruling party. I wanted to share the original video which was reuploaded by someone unofficially, but unfortunately that too has been taken down by Youtube on charge of copyright infringement on complainby Infinity Foundation.

Once the apathy of BJP towards Hindu issues were patently exposed, in a freshly uploaded video which can be accessed here, Rajiv Malhotra Ji struggles to vindicatePiyush Goyal for his inconsiderate comments. In his defense, he recites a pretty dubious and skeptical excuse that it was his fault that he asked such questions to railway minister and he should have rather put such questions to cultural minister.

Argument trivialises the issue

The argument that this question should have been asked to the cultural minister seems to give an impression that freeing Hindu temples from government control is a minor and irrelevant issue that it finds itself restricted with one ministry. Such major issues of nationwide importance are not impeded within the echo chambers of particular ministries. This is a mockery and insult to Hindus who consider the issue as a vital and strong foundation for Hindu Renaissance. One is very sure that Rajiv Ji understands this very well and so he should refrain from making such excuses for defending the impotency of a political party.

Argument undermines stature of portfolios held by Piyush Goyal

Furthermore, this argument undermines the significance of Railway ministry, Finance Ministry and Ministry of Corporate Affairs (the last two portfolios were held by Piyush Goyal earlier). These are immensely paramount portfolios which are generally part of the Cabinet, a body comprising of top ministers and is the highest decision making body in the country. The cabinet is the effective policy-making organ of the Government. It is the main driving force for the governance of the country. Even ministers who are not part of Cabinet cannot act on major policy decisions of national importance without seeking advice from the Cabinet. The excuse could have been valid for small ministries but fails to explain the apathy of a person who has held major portfolios.

Defence underestimates position of Piyush Goyal within BJP

The unwarranted vindication even underemphasizes the position of Piyush Goyal in the BJP. He is in the national executive of the party and has been the national treasurer of the party. As per Piyush Goyal’s website, “He also headed theBJP’s Information Communication Campaign Committee and oversaw the publicity and advertising campaign of the party including the social media outreach for the Indian General Elections 2014.” The high ranks which Piyush Goyal holds andthe influence that accompanies it not just fails to explain his disdain towards Hindus but reinforces suspicion on BJP’s Hindutva credentials. In of his comments in the same post where the video was shared on Facebook, Rajiv Ji writes, “Lets separate personal opinion/competence from official institutional policy”. This is akin to expecting Libertarians sitting on politburo of Communist party to further Marxist ideology.

Conclusion

Itis pertinent to note here that the outrage and displeasure among Hindus doesnot stem from one isolated comment by Piyush Goyal. Hindus have been expressingtheir disapproval towards BJP for its indifference to core issues whichseparate them other parties since a long time now. The insensitive comment by Piyush Goyal has just been inferred as a logical answer to the question which Hindus have been asking since long that “Why doesn’t BJP even talk openly about core Hindu issues let along addressing them through State power?”.

High positions in BJP are occupied by such persons who even though may not have outright contempt for Hindu dharma but are utterly indifferent to it and belong to the same branch as those Congressmen parroting Hindu Muslim composite culture. Such an approach by a party which is considered as their “savior” by Hindus is even more menacing since it will lead to very subtle and devious annihilation of Dharma. In other words, the effort required to confront a threat is indirectly proportional to the easiness of its perception.

Rajiv Malhotra is an acclaimed and prominent person in Hindutva circles. He has contributed immensely to the modern Hindutva movement through his scholarly works. A person of such stature and pre-eminence is expected to be objective when evaluating those on whose shoulders the responsibility of freeing Hindus from Statebondage lies. Such unwarranted and frivolous remarks in defense of blatant mocking of Hindu issues by a highly ranked Minister not just imperil broaderHindu movement but also imbibes a sense of smugness in ruling dispensation.

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