Hindutva IN INDIA AND ITS INFLUENCE.pptx

HINDUTVA IS HARMING INDIA'S LIBERAL FACE

1. Hindutva: Dynamics, Characteristics and Implication for South Asian Politics Dr. Marium Kamal Assistant Professor Centre for South Asian Studies University of the Punjab February 27, 2021

2. Hindutva is ‘Hindu-ness’ Hindutva is a movement that reinforces Hinduism or Hindu nationalism, or cultural nationalism, or Hindu as a national cultural, religious identity, or Hindutva as way of life (Justice Varam ), Hindutva is not hostility to any organised religion nor does it proclaims its superiority of any religion to another or, as a manifestation of Hindu values or, it is an ideology that premised on otherization. Hindutva’s concept of ‘otherization’ inferiorizes a number of identities, as Dalit, liberals, Christians, feminists and most of all Muslims (Waikar, 2018). However, some Indians insist that Hindutva is primarily a cultural term to refer to the traditional and indigenous heritage of the Indian nation-state. This view holds that "even those who are not religiously Hindu but whose religions originated in India — Jains, Buddhists, Sikhs, and others — share in the same historical, cultural, and national essence. Those whose religions were imported to India, meaning primarily the country’s Muslim and Christian communities, may fall within the boundaries of Hindutva only if they subsume themselves into the majority culture.

3. Ideology of Indigenization Golwalker is one of the proponents of Hindutva, believed that India's diversity in terms of customs, traditions and ways of worship was its uniqueness and that this diversity was not without the strong underlying cultural basis which was essentially native. He believed that the Hindu natives with all their diversity, shared among other things "the same philosophy of life", "the same values" and "the same aspirations" which formed a strong cultural and a civilizational basis for a nation.

4. The Movement of Hindutva The term ‘Hindutva’ first appeared in the mid-1870s in a novel. As a political ideology, the term was adopted by the right-wing nationalist and Indian freedom movement activist Vinayak Damodar Savarkar   in 1923 [parallel to the Khilafat movement in the subcontinent]. For Savarkar , the Essentials of Hindutva are three main components: the common nation ( rashtra ), common race ( jati ), and common culture or civilization.  Later the ideology was adopted by Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), which is a national volunteer organisation was founded in1925, initially RSS was a socio-religious welfare setup to protect Hindus from conquest Muslims and Christians. RSS followed a rigid ideology of ‘Hindutva’, assassin of Mahatma Gandhi was a RSS volunteer [“For decades, Nathuram Godse was condemned almost universally in India. But RSS always regarded Godse as a patriot and Gandhi as a Muslim appeaser”]. RSS gradually built its political muscles in the decade of 50s under Congress dominance. Moreover, the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP), the Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) and other organizations, follow the same ideology, collectively they are called the Sangh Paruvar .

5. Politicization of Hindutva: External Challenge Horizontally, ‘Hindutva’ is a concept of Indian cultural, national, and religious identity part of the Indian heritage, but vertically it is associated with Hindu nationalism and Hinduism [anti-Muslim and anti-Christian ideology] Hindutva was found on the basis of Muslims’ abhorrence, RSS always saw Muslims and Christians as outsiders [who came as invaders and does not belong to the Indian subcontinent]. The ideological roots are built on the bitter historical continuities, which were further intensified by the partition consequences. Members of Hindutva groups are involved in instigating violence between Hindu an Muslims, forcible conversion, assaulting and murdering Muslim males, lynching Muslims for eating beef, anchoring Muslim’s history in the subcontinent, racism and marginalization of Muslims’ identity.

6. Broader Justification of Hindutva Secondly, according to some other sources that Indian religious extremism is due to Pakistan’s radicalization after the Soviet-Afghan war (1979) that extended the wave of religious insecurities to India, “over time, the failure of the Pakistani civil state has led Pakistan to cast aside its founding nationalism and enshrine a reactionary Islamic ideology within its security apparatus”. Therefore, any pro-Muslims or pro-Pakistan sentiments are technically unjustifiable, all policies have to be mend accordingly ( Danziger , 2020).

7. Internal Challenges to Hindutva Modi’s regime is the most regressive, violently anti-minority anti democratic regime that India has ever seen. Modi’s support was built on his reputation as a hard ant-Muslim leader who presided over the 2002 Gujrat carnage. This image gave Modi the support of the most viciously criminal sections of Hindutva vigilantes, many of whom might be on the fringes of even the RSS(Nigam, 2018). Hindutva members tries to displace the internal challenge posed by the cast question, namely the potential revolt of the lower caste on to the external enemy-the Muslims (Ni. Question of identity are now articulated alongside a powerful challenge to the symbol of upper class hegemony (Nigam, 2018). Indian society is undergoing a transformation that earlier generation had never witnessed. This transformation mainly locates itself in demolishing caste structure. The Brahmincal forces were the main beneficiaries of the Indian caste system. As caste is crumbling down, the Brahmincal forces feel that the earth under their feet and the sky over their heads are crumbling. It is with this feeling of loss of their selfhood, hegemony moral and political authority that they are making attempts to attach Dailtbhujan tradition ( Iiaiah , 2019).

8. Modi and Hindutva RSS and the ideology of Hindutva gained more control in the Indian polity during Modi’s reign, due to his own: 1) aggressive personality cult, 2) anti-Muslims sentiments, 3) radicalization, 4) muscular policy measures, and 5) jingoistic nationalism. Comparatively, BJP is more politically reactive than its predecessor government [Congress party] that ultimately challenged the traditional secularism and non-alignment policy of Nehru. Modi’s ascendance to power has voiced for an authoritarian ‘Hindu state’, with anti-Muslim and anti-Pakistan rhetoric. “ Bharatiya Janata Party politicians have long conflated Islam with Pakistan and patriotism with Hinduism”. The concept of ‘Hindu state’ is embedded in pre-partition politics, ‘Home for Hindus’ and ‘Greater India’ is one of the main agendas of BJP and RSS. Modi’s government is basically reshaping secular India to a principally Hindu nation. “India is not currently a Hindu state, but it is becoming less secular; while it is far from becoming authoritarian, it is becoming a more illiberal democracy.” Thus, BJP government’s strident ideology mirrors Pakistani ideological anti-Indianism and also validates the two-nation theory, supporting the notion that Hindus and Muslims require separate countries to coexist on the subcontinent, which was much awaited by Pakistan. ( Anklesaria Aiyar )

9. Thus! While India has not ceased to be a secular democracy, but the rise of Hindu communalism, erosion of independent institutions, aggressive nationalism, and misuse of laws to silence critics by both the BJP and non‐​BJP parties are retrograde developments for India. So far, the political indicators of Indian Liberal democracy are negative, due to Modi’s internal and external policy measures, reasons are as follows: 1) anti-traditional secularism: internal ethno-religious conflicts and riots, 2) anti-civil liberties: Muslim citizens are identified as internal enemies and second-class citizens, 3) stripping off article 370: human rights violation, continues curfew and detained Kashmiri leaders, 4) rise in aggressive Hindu nationalism, 5) rise of unemployment, 6) major clashes on the boarder, 7) anti- liberals and feminists, 8) farmer’s uprisings, 9) weakening of institutions , and 10) Covid-19 mismanagement.

10. Implication for South Asia More or less the future trends and scenarios of South Asia will remain same, any disturbance in the status-quo may change the geo-political mapping of the region. The ethno-religious diversity of the region is as much as colourful and vulnerable at the same time. The crises of religion and identity are very common, easily manipulated by the political elite of every state. Many states in South Asia are fighting the centre [India] for identity survival and ethno-religious freedom. However, the degree of crises varies from place to place and from group to group. Interestingly, beside the regional structural gaps, every South Asian state has its own internal socio-political cracks, which are often controlled by corrosive means, suppression, isolation, undue control, and lastly negotiation or compromise. Inspiring one potential group may lead to a series of unending detachments. Thus, the South Asian region is potentially volatile to its own internal structure. States are insecure from each other, trust-deficit is the main reason behind weak regional ties and economic connectivity.

11. Hindutva is not Hinduism Indeed, far from being a cohesive religion, what is today referred to as Hinduism has been defined as ‘conglomeration of sects’ ( Thapar , 1989). The problem that many of us have with Hindutva is not the Hindu aspect of it, it is the non-Hindu aspect of it, which involve a violation of the principle Ahimsa [non-violence] and Satya [ truthful in one's thought, speech and action ], a violation of all the notions of acceptance and the coexistence ( Tharoor , 2019) Concluding that Hindutva is a political project by BJP.