How’s that, Me Lord ?

An incident involving the shoe throwing on Chief Justice by an advocate Dr. Rakesh Kishore is the vindication of the fact that how Hindus, since independence, have been struggling for their voices to be heard, drastically takes recourse to the means which is patently illegal, yet a potent instrument to raise the ever hibernating Hindu Consciousness in the polity. In other words, the incident gives voice to the otherwise voicelessness of Hindus in the polity.

Vivekanand Jha Ranchi: As I watched the circus jamboori unfolding, in the immediate aftermath of the shoe throwing incident on the Chief Justice, Justice B.R. Gavai, with opppsition making a beeline to raise the spectre of persecution of a Dalit Chief Justice, the proverbial ‘ Old wine in new bottle’ lain bared before me: how the opppsition enmasse, never allowed the collective Hindu Consciousness to gain currency in the polity. Worse still, the synchronising of the gory incident of mob killing of an innocent, Hari Om Valmiki, in Rai Bareilly, a Dalit, proved to be the bonanza for the opposition to make capital out of this double whammy. Ostensibly, the opppsition joining hands to give a Dalit angle to this whole incident, smacks of the fragility of the polity, where the fissiparous forces, every now and then, make their concerted efforts to sequester Dalits from the Hindu fold, so much so that Hinduism, an incoherent identity, engendered by its inherent contradictions, continue to raise its ugly heads as and when some mishap or casualty involving some dalit ever happens in the polity. Apt it is here to suggest the name of Rohit Vemula, a dalit student who committed suicide, sparking an outrage across the nation, providing fodder to the political parties purportedly engaging in the welfare of dalits. Apparently, the invocation of the name of Rohit Vemula was not to justify the unjustifiable, institutionalised discrimination prevalent in society, including academia, the fact should be noted that such incidents as that of Rohit Vemula taking his own life, due to adverse circumstances, was not the one off the cuff incident; in fact, plethora of such cases continue to materislise in day today life, when the so- called forward castes children too had committed suicides or killed in the colleges and universities because of the avalanche of odds they confront, negotiating which they feel, they have no wherewithal, resulting in their unfortunate deaths or suicides. But who know them? Who has ever bothered to even take a cursory look at those unfortunately youths? However, the incident involving Rohit Vemula, was sought to be blown out of proportion to win certain brownie points: to mischievously fish in the troubled waters, where the dalit sentiments were sought to be whipped to indict the prevailing caste syndrome in Hindu society; to disbolically persevere towards fragmenting the Hindu community by sequestering dalits from its fold, enabling the mass exodus of dalits from Hinduism, resulting in the complete emasculation of Hindu community.

Lawyer Rakesh Kishore, the man of Hindu renaissance.

Unequivocally, the incident of shoe throwing at the Chief Justice Gavai, had nothing to do with his dalit identity; in fact, the incident, irrespective of its being unsavoury in nature, where the institutionalised ethics and propriety were sought to be usurped, had its underpinnings in the voicelessness of Hindu Community reaching a crescendo, where making mockery of Hindu Gods and Goddesses not only in overseas, but in their own country, has become the new, distasteful norm. Unabashedly, the obiter dicta of the Chief Justice, disingenously commenting on hearing the Public Interest Litigation brought about by an activist, seeking the restoration of Lord Vishnu’s idol, ‘ Ask your deity to restore itself’, tantamounts to undermining the faith of a billion of Hindus. And see the underlying irony: There was hardly a murmur of protest from anyone, including the RSS or the Opppsition Parties, but then, when a venerable advocate of the Supreme Court, expresses his staunch resentment for his religious sentiments being hurt, all hell broke loose; the opposition are on the street, with the condemnation of the incident of Justice Gavai being undermined on account of his dalit identity, yet paradoxically, his mocking of Lord Vishnu in the open court, finds no mention. Significantly, the rot has been set in: Hindu Asmita is in real danger of losing its vitality if, even this tragic incident, where Hindu God, Lord Vishnu, is being openly derided upon, finds no overehelming support from hibernating Hindus, when their existential crisis is knocking at their door, it would be simply catastrophic for Hindu Asmita, for the glaring incapacity of Hindus to uphold the sanctity of their own Gods and Goddesses in their own country, will certainly pave the way for the greater humiliation of Hindu religion across the world in the near future.

The Chief Justice of Supreme Court, Justice B.R. Gavai being sworn in as 52nd Chief Justice of India.

In Ramcharitra Manas, the timeless stanza which, over time, has been losing its essence: ‘ Harihar Ninda sunai jo kana, hoi paap gaw ghat samana’.( He who listens to the criticisms of their Gods and Goddesses, commits the crime equivalent to killing the cow) Regrettably, the centuries of invasions and subsequent colonisation, had rendered Hindu Community bereft of its vitality as well as virility, with the sense of belonging to its inmost roots, had long ceased to exist. Further, Macaulay’s imposition of Anglicised wisdom at the expense of India’s prevailing Gurukul system, strangled Hindu’s vision of ‘ Swyambodh’. The culture of new english educated elites, who hated their own legacies and heritage, whereas prized upon the British legacy, contributed towards the degeneration of Hinduism in no ambiguous terms. Worse still, Raja Ram Mohan Roy’s virtually begging to Her Majesty government, for seeking the sunlight of British wisdom for the uncivilized Hindus, eloquently resonated with William Bentick, the then Governor General, who in complicity with Babington Thomas Macaulay, imposed English education in the country, leading to deracination of Hindus from their moorings. Unfortunately for the nation, the independent India, with far greater vigour and elan, institutionalised English as the solitary means to modernity, contributed towards the alienation of Hindu children from their roots. Thus, Hindu children, sequestered from their roots, seldom developed the robust mindset for preservation of their own cultural legacy with the same attitude as Muslims or Christians do. Worse still, the rise of Communists, in cahoots with Islamists, further cemented their nasty agenda of showing Hinduism in poor light. Or else, how could one justify depicting Chhatrapati Shivaji, the Saviour of Hinduism, as ‘ the mountain rat’, the pejorative designation given to the great Saviour of Hindu race by Irfan Habib, yet there was hardly a murmur of protest against him. In fact, the moribund Hindu community continued to remain in a perpetual hibernation, without showing the least awakening towards their own Hindu Consciousness.

Lawyer Rakesh Kishore, while interacting with media.

Lord Denning had laid down an important legal doctrine which subsequently became the part of jurisprudence, ‘ Be you however so high, law is still above you’. Ostensibly, the symbolism of a show being tossed at Justice B.R. Gavai, had no intention of berating or undermining the Constitution, as the opposition is striving to masquerade. Significantly in this context, lawyer Rakesh Kishore’s observation that he was left with no recourse but to hurl the shoe at Justice B.R. Gavai, by way of his expression of the profound sentiment of his being hurt by Justice Gavai’s highly derogatory and offensive remarks against Lord Vishnu, is to be considered in letter and spirit. Thus, the hurling of shoe at the Chief Justice, even though was a blatant infringement of law, nonetheless it was the clarion call for one and all: Hindu Gods and Goddesses are no longer to be messed up with; the beliefs of over a billion people, are not to be jeopardized on the pretext of immunity for judges to run down the gods and goddesses of Hindu pantheon. It is the time for Hindu awakening from their millennium old slumber, for their very raison d’ etre and summum bonum is in for the grave challenges from within as well as without. And, undoubtedly, Rakesh Kishore has become the man of renaissance in this Maha Yajna to awaken the ever- hibernating Hindu Consciousness.

Significantly, the comment of Sadanand Saraswati, the Shankaracharya of Dwarka Peeth, whose profound laments on B.R. Gavai’s derogatory comment against Lord Vishnu in the open court, warrants a serious consideration at this crucial juncture, especially when the enemies within as well as without, appear to be restless to break Hindus into pieces. The opppsition parties today are the biggest enemies of Hinduism, which leave no stone untutned, to give vent to their diabolical agenda of fragmenting Hindus, by sequestering Dalits from Hindu fold. The conspiratorial overtone of the slogan of ‘ Jai Bhim, Jai Mim’, becomes ostensible, when the humongous efforts are on to drive the wedge into Hinduism by setting dalits against brahmins. Whereas the sporadic incidence of discrimination might still continue to prevail, yet the situation of equality of all castes, purportedly has been gaining ground, with Dhirendra Shastri’s slogan of ‘ Jaat paat ki karo vidai, ham sab hai Hindu bhai- bhai’,( Let us bid farewell to caste and creeds, we all Hindus are brothers) is the need of the hour. Moreover, the opppsition’s Machiavellian endeavours to fragment Hindus and emasculate it, should be taken seriously by Hindus across the nation, as the diabolical agenda to weaken Hindus from all sides, has been going on to the full throttle. Significantly in this context, Justice B.R. Gavai’s wisdom in terms of sweeping aside the matter by offering his pardon to lawyer Rakesh Kishore, deserves kudos, for he too reslised that the matter should not be escalated as it has already dampened the spirit of majority Community, for deriding upon Lord Vishnu, was tantamount to mocking Hindu Belief System. Moreover, the statement of Rakesh Kishore that, could the Chief Justice dare to pass the same comment agsinst the God of any other religion, especially Muslims, when the entire world knows about the incidents afflicting Salman Rushdie and Nupur Sharma, was nothing short of a severe indictment of Chief Justice, who stands in the witness box today, for mocking Lord Vishnu in such derogatory terms, which was nothing less than a serious offence against Hindus. Thus no efforts of opposition to irrationally divide Hindus, by giving it a different twist, will succeed, for Hindus must prove that they are united and strong. Hence, the shenanigans of opppsition must be nipped in the bud. This will be the beginning of Hindu renaissance in the polity. And the man to take this most awaited renaissance forward is, Lawyer Rakesh Kishore.