Dharma does not lie in rule of majority faith but in moral force: Deendayal

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent comments about Muslims are consistent with party ideologue Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya who was open to the idea of Muslim induction in the Bharatiya Jan Sangh (earlier avatar of the BJP) provided they overtly oppose Jinnah's two-nation theory. In his writings and speeches, Deendayal (1916-1968) whose birth centenary year is currently being celebrated, said he was even prepared accept a “Muslim Leaguer (member of the party led by Pakistan-founder Mohammed Ali Jinnah) participating in post-independence Indian politics. "Woh bhi  Bharat  ka ek swatantra nagrik hai aur is prakar rajniti mein bahg lene ke liye puri tarah se haqdar hai (he too is a citizen of India and has full right to participate in politics)", Deendayal, a former Jana Sangh president, said, adding, “Lekin agar woh aaj bhi  do-rashtra ke sidhanth ka pakshdharta karta hai to mujhe nishchit roop se aapatti hai  (But if he is a still a believer in the two nation theory, then I certainly have objections)". Jinnah's two-nation theory had served as the basis of India’s partition in August 1947. Jinnah argued that Muslims and Hindus were "two separate nations” from every definition; therefore Muslims needed a separate homeland in the Muslim majority areas of pre-independence India. Modi, while launching the year-long birth centenary celebrations of Deendayal, told BJP National Council at Kozhikode, "Fifty years ago, Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya said, 'Do not reward/appease ( puraskrit) Muslims, do not shun (tiraskrit) them but purify ( parishkar) them'. Do not treat Muslims like vote ki mandi ka maal (vote banks) or ghrina ki vastu (object of hatred). Unhe apna samjho (regard them as your own)," Modi said. In mid-1967, Deendayal was asked at Raipur in a press conference about the number of Muslim members in the Jana Sangh. The then Jana Sangh chief replied, “We in Jana Sangh do not care to count the number of its members on the basis of religion. We do not make a distinction on the basis of religion. Jana Sangh is a nationalist organisation and does not care about its members’ religion or religious belief.” In spite of repeated queries, he did not give the names of Muslim leaders in Jana Sangh or the number of Muslims enrolled in the organisation. The Jana Sangh of Deendayal Upadhyaya's era and later years did have some Muslim presence. Writer Imdad Sabri used to represent the BJS in Delhi Metropolitan Council and rose to become the Mayor. Both Maulana Ikhlaq Hussain Qasmi and Sheikh Abdul Rahman served as vice-presidents of Jana Sangh units in Delhi and Jammu & Kashmir respectively. Anwar Ali Dehelvi and Begum Khurshid Kidwai had won several councillor elections on the BJS's ticket from Muslim-dominated Jama Masjid constituency. Kidwai had served as deputy mayor too.  Former Union Minister and BJP leader Arif Beg who died in Bhopal recently, had joined Jana Sangh in 1973. According to Deendayal, there should be complete freedom to practice religion but no place of faith in politics. “Jana Sangh ka manna hai har sadasya ko apne dharma ke anusar puja karne ka pura adhikar hai aur party ka isse kuch lena dena naheen hai. Sanatan dharma, Islam, Christian, Arya Samaj and Jain dharma ke vyakti ho sakte hain lekin hum kisi roop se is aadhar par unke beech bhedbhav naheen kar rahe hain (Jana Sangh believes that its members have a right to practice their religion. The party has nothing to do with it. Members can be followers of Sanatam Dharma, Islam, Christianity, Arya Samaj and Jainism, but we would not discriminate among them)," Deendayal said. In volume nine of Deendayal Upadhyaya Sampurna Wadmay (Deendayal Upadhya Complete Volumes), Deendayal wrote that while he viewed some elements in Hindu Mahasabha and Ram Rajya Parishad as “communal,” he does not consider these two outfits as “communal”  because they do not subscribe to the two-nation theory. Chaturvedi Badrinath, a former officer of the Indian Administrative Service who wrote extensively on Deendayal’s thoughts, claims the Jana Sangh leader advocated a thesis that dharma does not lie in the rule of the majority. For Deendayal, the concept of dharma was not ritualism or religion but a moral force that sustains and upholds. Chaturvedi Badrinath insists that Deendayal disagreed with RSS sarsanghchalak MS Golwalkar’s vision of the future of India as that of Hindu India. Disclaimer: The opinions, beliefs and views expressed by the various authors and forum participants on this website are personal and do not reflect the opinions, beliefs and views of ABP News Network Pvt Ltd.