A term often thrown around in media these days is ‘Hindu Nationalist’. And when that doesn’t do the job enough, it is garnished as ‘Right Wing Hindu Nationalist’. Media, especially in the West, wants everybody to believe that a billion Hindus are a backward, xenophobic race that wants to wipe out anything non-Hindu. (For the purposes of this essay, I’ll occasionally use the term Hindu). In India, this made-up externally-imposed term is peddled as Hindutva by the media, and thereby expected to be condemned, punished, and eradicated.
Foreign (Marxist, communist, etc.) inspired and proxy-controlled definition of Hindutva has become an issue of frustration of dharmics, both in India and globally. Dharmics expect the rest of the world to understand Hindutva as they feel and live it. Not how it has successfully been distorted by the puppet english-educated ‘secular’ elite with a hangover of the colonial mindset.
A Paradoxical Republic
The emergence of nationalism over last couple of decades has recently become a sore point. The second half of last century was a period of political hijacking in post-colonial India. The newly independent nation was finally gathering itself back. Political leaders got busy building a country they aspired for. The newly independent citizens were happy to see their own leading them. There was a sense of relief, respite, and pride that swept the newly independent nation. Amidst this euphoria and excitement, the unprepared nation never really got the chance to have a dialog about the right system of governance and political setup. Centuries of colonialism and its deliberate disenfranchisement had rendered millions in poverty. The poor and the marginalized were glad to have an independent nation and trusted their own leaders in the immediate post-imperial era. The British educated and inculcated Indian political elite that lead the independence movement, on the other hand, saw themselves as the new masters in charge of the nation. They were now in control of the nation’s destiny. This new elite politically purged any indigenous thought and leadership with the savvy of the British, and 25 years later by imposing a Soviet-styled ruthless national emergency. Independent India slipped into Indira Gandhi’s dictatorship. What was once proudly declared to be a republic, ended up being a paradox where the people and their representatives were marginalized, and one family controlled its destiny.
In the name of secularizing the country, which never actually had a problem of the State being controlled by the Church, the government for decades continued to rewrite history and concede to the religious demands of the minority, especially the muslims. Through various programs and policies the majority (dharmics) was ignored. National educational curriculum was oriented to suppress the rich and long pre-Islamic and pre-colonial history of India. Leaders of independent India perhaps feared that an awareness of India’s glorious past will make the future generations resent the invaders (muslims and British) and result in an unstable republic. Newly independent India followed a suppressive information propaganda model, which the British, Germans, and Soviets had followed before but failed at sustaining.
With monopoly over information lost and the propaganda exposed, the country is only now re-discovering its rich and glorious past. India, the richest economy of the world up until just 500 years ago, was almost economically stripped and wiped out by the British. India’s tradition of pluralism was attacked by 700 years of incessant Islamic persecutions and proselytization. This is a difficult period of history that Indians are openly talking and debating. One of the most advanced and peaceful civilizations on the planet for almost a 1500 years being plundered and thrust into instability is a distressful narrative for modern post-Nehruvian India to bear. The lost opportunity of almost half a century of independent India has become a favorite national lamentation. Half a century of rule by a single (Nehru-Gandhi) family and its governing ideology, which looked at the West for answers, has resulted in an unstable and paradoxical republic.
The Growing Incongruence
India after its independence declared itself to be a secular republic, where all were to be treated equal. This independence, as is the prevailing opinion, was achieved as a result of the nation coming together for a common purpose – to drive the British out of the country. The expectation after independence was to not only to reclaim the Indian identity from the hands of the imperialists, but to also build a republic rooted in its heritage. The identity of a new independent India was supposed to be an extension of Gandhi’s rallying cry – non-violence, pluralism, and swaraj. The result 50 years later, however, was drastically different. Weak political leadership resulted in the rise of Islamic fundamentalism. For the muslims, homeland (vatan) took a backseat to their community of believers (ummah). Islamic bodies and adherence to Islamic code superceded the institutions of the newly formed republic. Different marriage laws, a parallel education system of madrasas, and Article 370 in Kashmir are just a few example of it. Political Islam and Islamic fundamental identity continued to expand unchecked to the detriment of the nation. This rise of Islamism proceeded not only unabated, but often aided by militant tactics. Fast forward 50 years – Indians in the new information age are now beginning to notice that India is succumbing to a new global phenomenon of Islamization. To make the matter worse, India with its billion dharmics (Hindus) has also become the play ground of the expanding global, but primarily evangelical Christian movement.
In contrast to the colonial and conquest-led control of India, the not-so-overt religious conquest of India is much more threatening to the dharmics. The active evangelical and Islamic proselytization is not going unnoticed.
Dharmics have realized that India with its Billion has become the new battle ground for the Islamic ummah and the Christian kingdom of God. This battle between the Islamic jihad and the Christian Armageddon holds no respect for the dharmics, their history, traditions, and values. If fact, it is the polar opposite – a concerted effort to convert the so called Hindu jahaliya (Islamic concept) and the Hindu sinners (Christian concept) to establish on the earth the kingdom of Allah and God. India has become the new theater for the evangelicals and those who aspire to establish Dar-al-Islam (a muslim world).
There is a growing resistance in India, by dharmics, to the foreign religious influences that often preach and practice violence. This resistance by the masses, which is dubbed as “nationalism”, is raising its voice against the growing incongruence between India’s harmonious and mutually respectful heritage, and the foreign-funded, divisive, ideologies that swear allegiance to traditions and leadership that sits thousands of miles away in other parts of the world. India is no doubt witnessing a rise of nationalism. It is a defensive movement – a reactionary nationalism.
धार्मिक छवियाँ 