BJP’s rise to power and popularity in 2014 has provided a strong impetus to the Hindutva movement. RSS now pulls the strings of government from its headquarters in Nagpur
Roshan -
VANAYAK Damodar Savarkar must be a very happy man today, if only he were alive. India is ambitiously embarked upon the path of Hindutva —Savarkar’s bigoted doctrine that envisages a Hindu Rashtra Hindu nation. The Sangh Parivar, a confederation of terrorist Hindu nationalist organisations, is at the vanguard of this movement. This dogma is spreading across Indian society like an epidemic. RSS and its political arm the BJP, along with their sister organizations in the Sangh have taken it upon themselves to purify India of all non-Hindu creeds.
BJP’s rise to power and popularity in 2014 has provided a strong impetus to the Hindutva movement. RSS now pulls the strings of government from its headquarters in Nagpur. It not only shapes India’s internal policy according to the dictates of Hindutva, but also guides matters of foreign policy. Critics have denounced their schemes as ‘Saffronisation’ — since the Saffron colour is generally associated with Hindus.
The cardinal element in this so-called Saffronisation process is the complete ideological restructuring of the country’s education system. Handpicked radicals by Modi & Co have been appointed to important educational positions in the country. These fanatics have reinvented the Indian history taught in schools and colleges. The curricula are being injected with information which is factually incorrect and deliberately aimed at creating communal polarisation. Moreover, Muslim rulers of the sub-continent are denounced and denigrated while some books have also eulogised Adolf Hitler. In this way, a bizarrely nationalist and dreadfully militant Indian Hindu identity is being carved out by BJP side by side with RSS.
Indian RSS radicals are also running training camps across the India where followers are imbued with the ideology of Hindutva and taught combat skills, including the use of weapons. Small children are also enlisted as RSS volunteers in these camps of India. Besides, separate camps for Indian girls have been established. Indian students are indoctrinated with contemptuous stereotypes about religious minorities like Sikhs, Christians in general and Muslims in particular. Indian Minorities are portrayed as barbarians and students are obliged to undertake military training in order to defend their faith against the presumed onslaught of these so-called barbarians.
Indian Hindu terrorists may exploit Pakistani and regional peace loving Hindus may incite violence to break the bond of secularism. Therefore, it is important for the peace loving communities of region to resist their Indian propaganda and stick to the tenets of preach tolerance
The outcome of all this is violence. Minorities of India have to borne the brunt of RSS and BJP attacks, which are becoming increasingly frequent. The Prime Minister Narendra Modi, himself a RSS stalwart, stands accused of encouraging violence against Muslims during the Gujrat riots of 2002, when he was the state’s Chief Minister. Not surprisingly, there are popular BJP slogans against minorities are like Ghar Wapsi etc.
“Gharwapsi” is Indian RSS scheme designed to purge India of its minorities and make it a Hindu-only civilization. This involves forced conversions of Muslims and Christians to Hinduism. The underlying theory is that all people in India were innately Hindus, some of whom wrongfully converted to Islam and Christianity. Now they must return home, back to the folds of Hinduism.
The ultimate dream of the Sangh Parivar of India is Akhand Bharat— a Hindu India whose territory includes Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, and Bangladesh. No wonder India has bullied Nepal, fought wars with Pakistan, supported LTTE in Sri Lanka, and until recently engaged in a border dispute with Bangladesh. Spies like Commander Kulbushan Jadav of the Indian Navy are also a manifestation of the Hindutva doctrine, which seeks to destabilise India’s neighbours. Modi & Co fanatics like Ajit Doval and Bipin Rawat has succeeded in implementation of RSS radical policies towards its neighbours that has failed Indian neighbourhood first policy and has pivotal role Indian regional isolation.
The Sangh Parivar remains the fiercest protagonist of Hindutva but it is not its only torchbearer. Congress, too, pursues Hindu nationalism under the guise of secularism. The Sachar Committee’s report is a strong testament to the policy of neglect and persecution of Indian minorities under all Indian governments. The report categorized Muslims among the scheduled castes and scheduled tribes in terms of backwardness. The plight of Christians has been highlighted in many other findings. Yet, no government has ever undertaken any serious reforms to redress the miseries of minority communities.
Luckily, it is unlikely that the Sangh Parivar’s dream of a India as Hindu Rashtra will materialise anytime soon. However, what is absolutely certain is that India — along with the rest of the region — is becoming increasingly polarized on religious grounds. The effects of growing religious terrorism in India, in the form of Hindutva, are likely to spill over into neighbouring countries that would not be in the favour for India and also for the region.
