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Hamlet’s words - “Words, words, words” - have several meanings in politics full of sound and fury. Words define moments and ideologies. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s choice of an ideologically incompatible word in his Independence Day speech stumped both political pundits and ingratiating influencers. He cut a new ideological swathe by coining the term ‘secular civil code’ (SCC).
He declared, "Laws that divide our nation based on religion and foster discrimination have no place in modern society. Therefore, I assert that it is time for the country to demand a secular civil code…. numerous orders have been issued, reflecting the belief of a significant portion of our population - and rightly so - that the current civil code resembles a communal civil code, one that is discriminatory." He lamented that India, after trailing 75 years of a ‘communal civil code’, must gravitate towards a secular one.
Modi loves a good dust-up. If a nationwide uproar or support for his newly fabricated narrative was his aim, he got it in spades. Confusion was sown with the seeds of hybrid hauteur that sought no outside validation or consultation. The staunch Sangh Parivar brigade is struggling to understand the import of the new SCC.
Ever since the RSS floated the Jan Sangh and then the Bharatiya Janata Party, the saffron brigade has been fighting election after election on the plank of implementing a uniform civil code (UCC). In its manifestos, UCC and the abrogation of Article 370 were non-negotiable commandments.
Meanwhile, the opposition, whose cornerstone is secularism, sees the PM’s sudden romance with the word as a reflection of his diminishing power to dictate India’s political discourse. A verbal twist by the Numero Uno of the world’s largest political party restoring public credibility to secularism has raised questions about his motives.
During the BJP’s parliamentary campaign, its top kahunas portrayed UCC is the only national unifier. By targeting the trope of minorities getting special rights, the BJP has regularly wielded UCC as the most powerful tool to polarise the narrative along religious affiliations. Now, Modi himself has called for a debate about a secular versus a communal code without going into the details. Neither he nor his ministers nor party pooh-bahs have revealed the SCC’s contours, leaving diehard Sangh parivar members afloat in an ocean of confusion.
Where there is inscrutable intention, inventive interpretation is inevitable. Modi’s adversaries feel that such secular sass silences not only allies TDP and JD(U), but also the Congress: a strategic double whammy.
Since the PM no longer wields the power of mathematical majority, the phrase was a canny combination committed to retaining his agenda-maker image. By affirming that India needs a public platform for serious secular excogitation, Modi has given a temporary burial to one of the BJP’s super-strident but unachieved commitments to its cadre. The BJP-ruled Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh, UP and Haryana have either passed legislation on the UCC or announced their intention to do so.
RSS big cheeses have been urging various stakeholders at internal meetings to act on it ASAP. BJP insiders call the secularism swipe as a Modi masterstroke to consolidate his position in the short run, and wrest back control in the long haul. Hence, it makes sense that his government, which has been forced to dilute or withdraw many of its initiatives, is thinking of having the cake and eating it too.
Work on drafts had begun way before the elections, since the BJP was expecting a massive mandate in its favour. Alas, after introducing the bill to dilute the Wakf Board Act, the government referred it to a joint parliamentary committee because of strong opposition from NDA partners. It has decided to allow lateral entry of domain experts for the third time in government. Modi had to man up and take a U-turn.
The outcry against lateral entry in babudom stemmed from the recent UPSC advertisement seeking applications for 45 positions from “talented and motivated Indian nationals for lateral recruitment” to the posts of joint secretary, director and deputy secretary in 24 Union ministries. Inexplicably, the ad, while ignoring caste-based reservation, retained a special status as “all posts are suitable for persons with benchmark disability (PwBD)”. Numerous cases of fraudulent recruitment under PwBD have been popping up like spider webs in the ideological ruins of hope.
Inviting prominent domain experts from the private sector to serve in government was the brainchild of Niti Aayog, which has recruited a large number of young professionals without any reservations. Since 2018, 63 officers have been recruited directly sans reservations.
Since the BJP enjoyed a complete majority and the opposition was in the ICU, Modi didn’t face roadblocks against opening up government. But Mandate 2024 has diluted the saffron colour of the establishment. Allies are asserting themselves on issues that are ideologically more important to their agenda.
No sooner had the ad appeared than came the pushback—ironically, not from the Congress, but from its own numerically smaller allies. Chirag Paswan, LJP president with five MPs, cried wolf and demanded a roll-back. Precedent shows him following his father Ram Vilas Paswan’s political strategy of retaining his vote bank and influencing decision-making. Paswan Sr had forced V P Singh to implement the Mandal Commission recommendations over the advice of senior party leaders and allies. Singh fell from grace a couple of months later. But Paswan survived for many more years.
Paswan Jr isn’t the only BJP ally to oppose lateral induction. JD(U) and a section of the TDP advised Modi & Co to withdraw the advert. LoP Rahul Gandhi blasted the BJP for distorting constitutional provisions, posting on X: "Reservation of SC, ST and OBC classes is being openly snatched away by recruiting through lateral entry on important posts in various ministries of the central government. Yet the BJP and its admirers went to supporting the move and amplifying it on social media.” Within hours, the minister of state for personnel affairs, Jitendra Singh, instructed UPSC to withdraw the notification. For the first time, the sarkar was invoking social justice rhetoric to walk back its own decision.
Modi’s USP has been his unshakeable belief in the virtue and potency of his decisions. Recanting under pressure or fear was never an option. The last three months of NDA’s third term sees a partial Modi metamorphosis. His believers are consoling themselves that his experiments with Mao’s dictum—‘one step backward and two steps forward’—is an indication of their idol playing safe at present to claim a powerful tomorrow. Even if it means a compromise with ideas and ideology that has given torque to the engine of Hindutva’s only monarch. Modi is only adding fire to the fuel of secularism, having made it the burning issue of the day. From the ashes rises the phoenix.
Prabhu Chawla
prabhuchawla@newindianexpress.com
Follow him on X @PrabhuChawla