Union Culture Minister Mahesh Sharma's 'cultural cleansing' remarks could hurt BJP down the road

“We will cleanse every area of public discourse that has been westernised and where Indian culture and civilisation need to be restored — be it the history we read, our cultural heritage or our institutes that have been polluted over years.”

This is not a quote by Sadhvi Prachi, Pravin Togadia or Sakshi Maharaj, but an official policy statement revealed by the Union Culture Minister Dr Mahesh Sharma to The Telegraph.

The remark is particularly interesting because it follows last week’s three-day-long RSS-BJP meeting, also called the Sangathan-Sarkar co-ordination meet. Sharma was among those who was seated at the venue, dubbed ‘Madhyanchal’, throughout the course of this meeting. It’s an open secret that human resource development and culture were the two areas where the RSS thrust is greatest and and it keeps doing its bit to influence policies and appointments of the government.

The culture minister as quoted by The Telegraph as saying ,“We have 39 institutions under the Culture Ministry, including grand museums and the National School of Drama, but we have not been up-to-the-mark in presenting our Indian cultural heritage in a right way. We will totally revamp all these institutions after a detailed roadmap is prepared.” He seems to be completely unmindful of the three-month-long agitation at the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) over the imposition of a Parivar nominee — Gajendra Chauhan. FTII is under the purview of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. But there are lessons to be learnt.

Sharma, founder-owner of Kailash hospital in Noida, generally comes across as a mild-mannered mover in politics. He is a first time MP, and his his induction to the Union Council of Ministers in its first expansion surprised many within and outside the BJP. As did the additional charge of three ministries — Minister of State Culture (Independent Charge), Tourism (Independent Charge) and Civil Aviation — he was given.

A number of senior party members who had lost out to him in getting a ministerial berth went to great lengths to figure out how he could have made such an impact on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and party president Amit Shah, or what sort of influence he wielded in the Parivar, to make him one of the most important ministers at the Centre.

One of his most important policy announcements, that of an additional airport in Jewar, Greater Noida which is 40 to 50 kilometres from the existing Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi, recently fall flat. His senior in the Civil Aviation Ministry, Union Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju denied any knowledge of any such decision by his ministry. Later, in a response to a question asked during the Monsoon Session of Lok Sabha, Raju said there was no proposal to build an airport in Greater Noida. The two proposals for an airport near Delhi had come from the Haryana Government (for a cargo terminal at Rohtak) and another from the Rajasthan government (for an airport at Kotkasim in Alwar). The Akhilesh Yadav government is keen to develop the Agra airport.

Sharma’s supporters interpreted the minister’s actions to be related to the fact that since he represented Noida, he had to keep local interests in mind.

His profile on the Lok Sabha website refers to him as a “staunch follower of RSS”. An RSS activist said Sharma had close affiliations with the RSS, though not as strong as some others in the party.

He expressed surprise at hearing Sharma’s statement on the intended “cultural cleansing”, stating, “Sadhvi Niranjana Jyoti’s Ramzade statement cost us dearly in the Delhi elections and the list is long. The minister may be propounding what he or some others may think was the hardcore agenda of the RSS, but since they hold positions of responsibility, they should concentrate more on delivery without making unnecessary noise.”

The leadership, both in the government and in the party had come down heavily on loose cannons and took several corrective measures to contain them. But unlike them, Sharma is making a policy statement concerning his ministry. He may be stating facts at the moment, but they could just become too hot for the government to handle in the future.