Daily Times

A ‘sham-e-ghariban’ has befallen on our jihadis, fasadis and Islamists with the anointment of Ajay Singh Bisht as Utter Pradesh’s (UP) chief minister. Like our Tahirul Qadri, who started his journey as a ‘maulvi’ and showed great progress by soon becoming a ‘maulana’, then a ‘professor’ and now an ‘allama’, fortune has always been his companion. His father wanted him to be a mathematician but the son was a ‘visionary’. After doing his bachelor’s in mathematics, he became a priest and made his niche in politics.

Just like the realm of films gave Yusuf Khan the identity of ‘Dilip Kumar’, the realm of religion and rajneeti (politics) has given Ajay Singh Bisht the identity of ‘Yogi Adityanath’. In 1998 (at the age of 26), he was the youngest lawmaker of the 12thLokSabha. Just like our Chaudhry Nisar, Yogi never loses an election. While Nisar won eight times in a row, Yogi has five consecutive wins to his credit. He is just 44 and Nisar is 62!How far he could have gone if he were a mathematician?

Yogi’s counterparts in Pakistan — the self-proclaimed protectors of the two-nation theory who have also deployed themselves on the borders of Islam — are in a state of shock. With the decisive victory of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the UP, they look at Indian democracy and secularism as ‘endangered species’. They are cranking out columns, press releases, statements and social media updates to inform the world about the evils that Yogi-Modi duo would inflict on India that would ultimately lead it to the brink of destruction. In 2013, their bête noir was Narendra Modi. In 2016, the bugbear was Donald Trump and now it is Yogi Adityanath. Our hardliners are always looking for a pet peeve to keep their followers united just like states that need permanent enemies to keep nations united.

Modi, Yogi and Trump are our extremists’ problem for amusing reasons. They vociferously claim that the first two names are venomous for Nehru’s secular India and the third is baneful to Washington’s democratic America. They want the people of the two countries to stage a coup against them in order to save the future of democracy and secularism. But see what is their 24/7 sermon: Democracy is haram (forbidden) in Islam. Secularism is kufr (disbelief). Pakistan was created only for the Muslims. The non-Muslims should either embrace Islam or pay jizya (per capita yearly tax historically levied by Islamic states on non-Muslim subjects.)

The irony is that such weird views are also subscribed and propagated by the mainstream political parties like Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI). On March 23, PTI’s lawmaker Ali Muhammad Khan said, there was no place in Pakistan for secular people. The country is only for Islamists. In this backdrop, what’s wrong if Yogi wants India to be a Hindu rashtra (nation)?

When Hafiz Saeed says that Pakistan was carved out in the name of Islam, he says it in the capacity as one of the non-state actors. But Yogi or Modi have ascended to the throne through the same democracy that our ‘Yogis’ want the Indians and Americans to uphold. What’s wrong if Yogi says: ‘Mother Teresa was part of the conspiracy to Christianize India. Hindus were converted in the name of doing service and then converted.’ This is precisely what our clergy keeps telling us in the Friday sermons, through the media statements and in the Jihadi rallies. Hafiz Saeed’s so-called charity outfit Jamatud Dawa runs a publishing house under the title ‘Darul Undlus’ which has published a plenty of literature against missionaries.

Yogi simply sounds like our ‘pundits’ when he says that those who want to avoid Yoga and Lord Shankar can leave Hindustan. (By the way, yoga is one of the finest workout and probably the best exercise for mind. I have cured my three health issues with it that had no treatment in medicine.) I have attended hundreds of Jihadi rallies and always heard Jihadists saying that they will kill 100 Hindus if the latter would kill one Muslim in Kashmir. What’s wrong when Yogi says, if one Hindu girl is converted, we will convert 100 Muslims girls? One of the most favorite rituals among our clerics is to marry the Hindu girls through forced conversion into Islam. The provincial government of Sindh tabled a bill to outlaw such conversions but could never turn it into a piece of legislation due to the fear of the ‘faithful’. The central government has yet to table such a bill!

The tablighis would go door to door to tell you to grow your beard, shave your moustaches and keep your trouser at least six inches above your ankles. That’s how a Muslim can distinguish himself from the infidels who are bound to become the fuel for the hell’s fire. What’s wrong if Yogi wears a saffron chogha (monk-like attire) and shaves his head? He talks of building a temple on the land where stood once the historical Babri Mosque. His contemporaries in Pakistan have occupied temples and converted them in private mosques. They have built a mausoleum for a murderer like Mumtaz Qadri where the gullible masses worship him as a ‘martyr’ and aashiq-e-rasool (the lover of the Prophet Mohammad, peace be upon him.)

Be it Modi or Yogi — none of them are ‘Jesus’. They never passed themselves off as Gandhi, Mandela or Edhi. Their conviction is not peace, tolerance and respect for all. They are not torchbearers of humanity and justice. Their mind has infinite deposits of hatred and resentment. Only a twisted mind like Yogi Adityanath can advocate the ‘mission’ of exhuming Muslim women and raping them. Such people, who should ideally be languishing in an asylum than leading a nation, do nothing except fanning extremism on the other side of the border where lives a hostile neighbor!

Modi-Yogi politics will provide a tremendous impetus to our religious bigots for grooming 100 Modis against one Modi and 100 Yogis against one Yogi. Don’t we love to compete and outperform India in every field — sometimes alone, sometimes with the help of friends sweeter than honey or the ones under a temporary house arrest these days!

The writer is a freelance journalist and researcher based in Islamabad.Yamankalyan@gmail.com