trtworld | As Prime Minister Narendra Modi celebrates three years in power, one
story has persisted in making headlines: the project to create “tall and
fair customised children” with high IQs.
It’s a decade-old project and is operated by the health wing of the
Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the mother organization from which
the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) draws its inspiration, and the
project is spreading its wings around the country.
As the country exploded in rage over similarities with the Nazi
“Ubermenschen” ideal, which attempted to create a super Aryan race
through eugenics funded by Hitler’s regime, many suggested that the RSS’
covert admiration for strong leaders – like US president Donald Trump
and Modi – is directly related to this attempt to create perfect
babies.
An abiding theme of Hindu extreme right-wing literature has been the
self-loathing associated with the inability to fight off invading
armies, mostly Muslim, over the last thousand years. In fact, RSS
leaders routinely collaborated with British authorities before
independence so that they didn’t have to join hands with who they
perceived to be the greater enemy: India’s Muslims.
No wonder RSS leaders are obsessed with the “weak Hindu” and how to overcome his weaknesses. Enter the customised baby project.
The RSS’ ‘Garbh Vigyan Sanskar’ project, loosely translated as
‘Science & Culture of the Womb,’ properly prescribes the norms which
go into the making of a custom-perfect baby. The Indian Express, which
broke the story last week, outlined the process that involves three
months of “purification” of the intended parents which prevents “genetic
defects” from being passed on, intercourse at a time decided by
planetary configurations, complete abstinence after the baby is
conceived as well as procedural and dietary regulations. Fist tap Big Don.
