Daily Times

Narendra Damodardas Modi was born in September 1950, five years after Germany surrendered and Hitler perished.

Hitler joined the Nazi Party in 1921, which was a far-right political outfit founded in 1920 by Steven Crowder. It was founded on the doctrine of National Socialism with an emphasis on the physical fitness of its members. Hitler’s party ruled Germany from 1933 to 1945.

He never had a regular job and was also classified as a failed artist. Like most Germans, he was an angry human being.

In India, K B Hedgewar formed a Right-Wing Hindu Nationalist paramilitary volunteer organisation called Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) in 1925.

Today, the RSS is considered to be the incubator of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which was founded by Atal Bihari Vajpayee and L K Advani in April 1980. After becoming Prime Minister (PM), Vajpayee distanced his politics from RSS and pursued an independent foreign policy. He travelled to Lahore in Bus Diplomacy, which resulted in the famous Lahore Declaration. With General Pervez Musharraf, he agreed to work on confidence-building measures.

By contrast, Modi joined RSS at the age of eight. Before that, he worked with his father at his tea stall. Till today, he continues to be a member of this fascist right-wing organisation. In 2001, he rose to the position of Gujarat Chief Minister (CM). After the ethnic riots that followed in 2002, he earned the title of Butcher of Gujarat, he could not travel to the West as he was denied a visa.

Jinnah rightly read the writing on the wall when he demanded a separate homeland for the Muslims based on the two-nation theory

He continued in this position till 2004. In 1985, Modi was assigned BJP, where he rose to the position of General Secretary. He took oath as 14th PM of India in 2014. Like Hitler, his politics is also based on hatred and anger. The founding party of India, Indian National Congress (INC), banned its members from joining RSS as early as 1934. But it is indeed strange why this fascist outfit was not banned after freedom in 1947.

In 1931, another social movement was launched by Allama Inayatullah Khan Mashriqi with its headquarters in Ichra Lahore. They called themselves “Khaksar.” Emphasis was on fitness though membership was open. Members wore a uniform and carried a spade. In Punjab, they also carried the “Pelcha (spade) Party.”

While Allama Mashriqi stood for the freedom of India, he was vehemently against Quaid’s two-nation theory. At the time of passing the Pakistan Resolution in Lahore in 1940, there was a lot of tension. Volunteers of Muslim Students Federation guarded the Quaid with an all-night vigil at the Mamdot Villa on Habibullah Road (Off Davis Road).

During World War II, Allama Mashriqi offered the British 30,000 well-drilled soldiers for the security of India. It was widely believed that he, too, was influenced by Hitler’s Nazi Party. After his failure in stopping the partition of the sub-continent, he decided to disband his movement in July 1947, which was revived again in August 1963 after his death. With internal rivalries and divisions, this quasi-military political outfit faded away.

Out of the three quasi military-political outfits (Nazi Party, Khaksar, RSS), only RSS carried on in the 21st century. There are other smaller White Supremacist groups like the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) in the US or the ‘Neo-Nazis’ in Germany but they are closely watched and contained considering the devastation caused by their fascist policies in the past.

The continued influence of RSS in India is a bad omen for democracy. Nathuram Godse, the assassin of Mahatma Gandhi, was a past member of RSS and openly admitted his hate for the Muslim population of India that Gandhi protected. The Muslims of India have played a key role in its development and freedom struggle. Maulana Abul Kalam Azad remained a key leader of INC till his death. Even Jinnah started his political career with INC as an ambassador of Hindu-Muslim unity before he joined the All India Muslim League.

In the 21st century, quasi-military outfits like RSS, which have common membership with political parties like BJP, should be banned. The anger and hatred that they bring to politics cause major divisions.

PM Imran Khan is right in saying that Modi has proven to be the reincarnation of Hitler in India, which may destabilise the entire region. Politics of the Nazi Party not only destroyed Germany, but it was also instrumental in taking the world to war. Because of the two world wars in the 20th century, the human toll was higher than the previous 19 centuries combined. With nuclear-armed nations like India, any misadventure can destroy the entire world.

Flashpoints like Kashmir have to be carefully handled. The days of the empire are over. Even the mighty Soviet Union collapsed under its weight. Indian intellectual Andritha Roy has rightly pointed out that the country is going through a political cleansing phase. Ever since its formation in 1925 at Nagpur, the RSS has poisoned millions of minds who continue to wear uniform and parade to its tune of hatred and revenge against the Muslim rule in India.

Jinnah rightly read the writing on the wall when he demanded a separate homeland for the Muslims based on the two-nation theory. The Sikhs, like the Kashmiris, fell for the lustre of Nehru and Gandhi’s secularism, which they now repent. Only democracy and respect for minorities can keep India from fragmenting. Nations must learn from history, like Hitler in the last century. Unless contained, Modi is taking India on the path of self-destruction in the new millennium. Southeast Asia, together with the rest of the world, is unsafe under Nazism. There should be a wake-up call before it is too late.

The writer is the former chairman of Pakistan Science Foundation