Hindu nationalism
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Hindu nationalism is a nationalist ideology that sees the modern state of the Republic of India as a Hindu nation, and seeks to preserve the Hindu heritage. Although the concept of "Hindu Rashtra" (Hindu nation) has been used in slogans and pamphlets of the Sangh Parivar, the main group that promotes this ideology, it has not been clearly and unambiguously defined in any of their literature. They intend the term Hindu to be inclusive of the multiple traditions in India, including Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism. Hindu nationalism has played a crucial role in the recent history of India and that of Hinduism. It has its roots in the political and cultural expression of nationalism of the Hindu population of India as well as the contemporary revival of Hinduism. Critics of Hindu nationalism allege that Hindu nationalism is communalism and is against minorities.[1] However, the word nationalism does not have a negative connotation in India, as it does in Europe and North America; It is associated with several leaders of the Indian freedom struggle.[2]
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[edit] Historical foundations
[edit] Hindutva
The task of giving a nationalist tinge to Hinduism was first taken up by Vinayak Damodar Savarkar (popularly known as Veer Savarkar), a Marathi freedom fighter and one of the earliest Hindu nationalists. In his book Hindutva he defines a Hindu as:
| He who considers India as both his Fatherland and Holyland |
He thus defined Hindutva ("Hindu-ness") or Hindu nationalism as different from Hinduism in that it defines a Hindu nation, rather than a religion. The "Hindu nation" is conceived as including Indians belonging to semi-Hindu religions like Sikhism and Buddhism (whose sacred sites associated with the founders lie in India), but whether Indian Muslims and Christians also are included, is a point of debate within the Hindu nationalists. For Savarkar at least, they cannot be Hindus as long as the origins and sacred sites of their religions lie in West Asia.[3] Savarkar identified India as a Hindu Rāshtra ("Hindu nation") in terms of culture and heritage. It asserted that all of its people had in history adhered to Hindu religious values, and thus should be identified as Hindus not only as a religion but also as a nationality.
[edit] Renaissance
What was perceived as deeply offensive propaganda of Christian missionaries, a Westernization of many educated Hindus, forcible conversion to Islam and Christianity and rising resentment against the practices of untouchability by orthodox Hindus gave rise to the reform and revival of Hinduism by leaders like Dayananda Saraswati and Swami Vivekananda. The Arya Samaj was founded by Swami Dayananda Saraswati in the middle of the 19th century to revive Hindu society, which was entrenched deeply in the social schisms of untouchability, suttee, as well as poverty, xenophobia and illiteracy. The Samaj prescribed a return to the Vedas; they were monotheistic in their approach to God. Another 19th century revivalist was Swami Vivekananda. Vivekananda reestablished the ideals of the hindu religion which were rooted in the ideals of acceptance, tolerance, respect, truth and renunciation. He was the first modern seer or philosopher to opine that religion and science need not be at loggerheads, they can be synthesized. Vivekananda at the Parliament of Religions proved the supremacy of the multidimensional hindu religion, with its multiple paths to the divine unlike the parochial singular pathway abrahamic faiths. He was the supreme patriot sage of India, who was able to conceptualise the concept of a politically free India which included both Hindus and Muslims (Gandhi couldn't conceive the idea of a nation until 1929) Ramakrishna Mission he founded has grown into one of India's most important charities and community organizations.
Sri Aurobindo was a nationalist who was one of the first to embrace the idea of complete political independence for India, before giving up the struggle to adopt a life devoted to the mystical descent of the supermind consciousness. Both Swami Vivekananda and Sri Aurobindo are credited with having found the basis for a vision of freedom and glory for India in the spiritual richness and heritage of Hinduism. However, the universal and religious Hindu ideals of these individuals contrast heavily with the generally parochial viewpoint of some of the Hindu Nationalists. Swami Shraddhananda was another prominent individual who sought Hindu revival by converting Muslims in the Shuddhi movement; he was later shot by a Muslim fanatic. Madan Mohan Malviya, was a brahmin who founded the prestigious Benares Hindu University, the first modern university in India founded by an Indian.
[edit] The independence movement
In the Indian Independence Movement, the Indian National Congress was recognized by a majority of Indians as their representative in the struggle for freedom from the British Raj. The early Congress leaders like Bal Gangadhar Tilak wanted a free and united nation, with recognition of Indian heritage; and worked towards a consciousness liberated from foreign cultural and political intrusions. But owing to the separatist politics of the Muslim League, a different expression arose in the era that was specifically Hindu. Hindus desired freedom not only from European colonialism, but also wanted to avoid a return Muslim rule. Many Hindus harbored negative emotions as many great Hindu temples, monuments and communities had been savaged by pogroms conducted by Muslim rulers like Babar, Aurangzeb, Nadir Shah, Muhammad Ghori, Mahmud of Ghazni, Timur Lame and Ahmad Shah Abdali. Moreover, the atrocities which resulted in killings of more than 50 million Hindus and raping and enslavement of millions of women, and several thousands others who were forced to self immolate themselves when faced with the inevitable prospect of capture. Worse, the Muslims had no sense of Indianness in their blood. They were more interested in the events of Turkey, and reestablishment of the disgraced Ottoman empire's Caliph rather than India's independence. The separatist Muslim mindset fueled by the fires of certain inflammatory passages of the Quran, looked upon Hindus as their chief enemies and maintained aspirations for converting India into an Islamic nation. Unfortunate anti national leaders like Gandhi and Nehru kept on appeasing such gory thinking.
This freedom would not be achieved if Muslims were accorded special treatment, as they demanded.
National leaders like Bal Gangadhar Tilak instilled Hindu history, heritage and culture into Indian nationalism and politics during the Indian Independence Movement. Tilak and Gandhi connected with millions of ordinary Indians due to their espousal of Indian cultural values and traditions. But Mahatma Gandhi was NOT a nationalist. A pacifist to the core, in his autobiography, he is very clear that the most Indians could expect was dominion status. In his heart of hearts, he remained a loyal subject of the British empire. All his letters to British officials are undersigned "your humble soldier".........Gandhi participated in the Boer as a non combat personnel. In the first world war, he went through the villages of India to recruit soldiers for the British ignoring his cherished values of Ahimsa.
Tilak is credited with having founded the Ganesh Chaturthi festival of immersing the god, Ganesha's statue. The festival allowed millions of Hindus to congregate and celebrate their religion and culture. Gandhi transformed the Indian National Congress from an elitist organization of liberal, educated Indians to an organization committed to the service of the Indian masses, and empowered by the membership and participation of over 10 million ordinary Indians. His adoption of ahimsa, emphasis of Indian languages, Indian clothing and lifestyle, and Hindu religious values before Western influences and English struck a strong chord with India's masses.
Hindu sentiments firmly rejected Muslim political demands for separate electorates and reservations. They rejected the notion that Muslims deserved a large role in national life despite their numerical minority owing to their rich history in India, anticipating that such an expanded role would come at the expense of the natural Hindu majority.
Such sentiments led to the Congress rejection of the League's offer of coalitions in 1937: the League is said to have asked for its recognition by the Congress as the representative of Muslims. Congress rejected this idea due to its strict and natural adherence to secularism, and also to reject League demands for inflated representations in provinces it had won few seats in.
Though normally remembered simply as leaders of the freedom struggle, Lala Lajpat Rai, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, Purushottam Das Tandon, Srinivasa Iyengar, Sarojini Naidu and other Congress-men were amongst the first to express Hindu nationalistic sentiments and ideas. However, with Jawaharlal Nehru taking over the reins of the Indian National Congress, a policy of socialist secularism has been followed by the party, as opposed to the ideals of its early leaders, much to the chagrin of the Hindu nationalists.
[edit] Hindu Rāshtra
The ambiguous meaning of the slogan Hindu Rāshtra (literally, "Hindu nation"), often mentioned in texts on the Bharatiya Janata Party ("Indian Peoples' Party", part of the Sangh Parivar) has been summed up by one of its top leaders, Lal Krishna Advani, as follows. He starts by correctly pointing out that:
| The term Hindu Rāshtra was never used during the Jana Sangh days, neither had it ever been mentioned in any manifesto of the BJP[4] |
The BJP has never used the term Hindu Rāshtra.[5] In contrast with the BJP, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh ("National Volunteer Organisation", also known as the RSS, which forms the main arm of the Sangh Parivar) openly espouses the concept of Hindu Rāshtra, but RSS statements about this central concept are not much more forthright than Advani's. For example, in a book by H.V. Sheshadri, a senior leader of the RSS writes:
| As Hindu Rashtra is not a religious concept, it is also not a political concept. It is generally misinterpreted as a theocratic state or a religious Hindu state. Nation (Rashtra) and State (Rajya) are entirely different and should never be mixed up. State is purely a political concept. ... The State changes as the political authority shifts from person to person or party to party. But the people in the Nation remain the same. | ||
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—K.S. Rao in H. V. Seshadri, ed.:Why Hindu Rashtra?, p.24 |
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Rather than coming out with a blueprint of what new benefits a Hindu state will bring, Hindu nationalists instead assure the world that minorities will be protected and it will function as a modern democratic state.[6]
In this somewhat vague definition of a Hindu nation, a Hindu is connoted beyond just as an adherent of Hinduism. Some proponents have argued that even Muslim and Christian Indians are Hindus, as their ancestors were Hindu, and despite their religion, their culture and heritage is the same as that of India's natural Hindu majority. Many Hindu nationalists also prescribe to a vision of Akhand Bharat (United India), wherein the partition of India is reversed to found a nation based on what they consider as India's natural territorial extent in terms of the bonds of history, culture, economy and people.
Advocates of Hindu Rashtra contend that Hinduism's strong legacy of tolerance for diverse philosophies and reform movements, and the root idea of universal human brotherhood is the reason for the country's vibrant fabric of diversity, and thus every person, community and institution is perennially Hindu. In that sense, it is contended that the term Hindu in this case is a synechdoche for all indigenous Indian religions and philosophies. In that vein, some advocates of the "Hindu Rashtra" prefer to think of the concept as inclusive of religions that evolved in India (such as Sikhism, Buddhism and Jainism), and thus are believed to be compatible with Indian social ethos. The adherents of the Hindu Rashtra philosophy claim that the English term nation is only a crude translation of the Sanskrit term rāshtra. Their term rashtra does not mean a European-type nation with one ethnicity, one common history, one language and one religion.
[edit] The Sangh Parivar
The Sangh Parivar ("family of associations") is a collection of social, religious and political organizations that are Hindu nationalist in character and purpose, and often exponents of Hindutva and other forms of Hindu expression. It is today the largest organized foundation of Hindu nationalist expression and activity in India. The Sangh Parivar consists of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, Vishwa Hindu Parishad, Bharatiya Janata Party, Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram and other organisations.
[edit] Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh
The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh was founded in Nagpur, Maharashtra in 1925 by K.B. Hedgewar, a physician who felt that Hindu social unity was a deeply important foundation for a free India. The RSS stayed out of the freedom struggle as such, but promoted a brotherhood amongst its membership, working to erase caste distinctions, and for the upliftment of backward Hindu communities. To this day, the RSS claims to stand for the Hindu nation in terms of culture and social heritage, which it believes Muslims and Christians are naturally a part of, despite their religion, as their ancestors were Hindus and their basic culture and lifestyle is Hindu.
During the 1947 riots and population exchange the RSS organized relief camps for Sikhs and Hindus coming to India from Pakistan. The RSS under its second leader Madhav Sadashiv Golwalkar developed a reputation as a socio-cultural organization whose selfless volunteers were always at the forefront of several patriotic endeavors in India.
The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh renounces the Indian caste system and the practice of Untouchability and works to emancipate the lower castes from persecution and discrimination in India[1]. They have also engaged in numerous relief efforts in Jammu and Kashmir, which has been plagued by Islamist terrorism[2].
[edit] Vishwa Hindu Parishad
The RSS also sponsored the creation of independent organizations to open different avenues in forwarding its main mission. The Vishwa Hindu Parishad was organized in 1967 by Hindu religious leaders and RSS members to focus exclusively on reviving the Hindu religion, religious tradition and expanding community unity. The VHP has adopted the Ram Janmabhoomi issue as its own, while preaching against religious conversions and advocating a ban on cow slaughter. The Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad is one of India's major student organizations, while some labor and farmer unions have also been formed.
[edit] Bharatiya Janata Party
The Bharatiya Janata Party and its predecessor the Bharatiya Jana Sangh are considered by observers and critics as the political wing of the RSS. Founded by Syama Prasad Mookerjee in 1951, the Jana Singh transformed into the BJP in 1980, and Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Lal Krishna Advani, both proteges of Mookerjee have led to become one of the largest political parties in India.
[edit] International presence
The RSS and associated Hindu nationalist bodies founded the Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh in the 1980s, to foster a sense of common heritage and community discipline amongst expatriate Hindus living in North America and Western Europe. The Vishwa Hindu Parishad also maintains major branch organizations in the United States, Canada, the Caribbean, United Kingdom, the Netherlands and France.
The activities of these bodies are largely de-politicized, and mainly work to bring Hindu communities together by sponsoring temple programs, pujas and festivals, and conducting camp programs for young Hindus to learn religious literature, Indian languages and history, to cultivate a sense of identity.
[edit] Violence
Violence arose among Hindus and Muslims in the 1940s, when Muslim separatism was increasing in popularity. Vinayak Savarkar publicly endorsed the Two - Nation theory of Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan, but opposed any partition of Indian Territory to create a Muslim nation. Savarkar stated that if Muslims wanted a separate country from Hindus, there existed many in the Middle East.[citation needed] However, extremism and anti-Muslim feelings were on the rise, as is evidenced by Syama Prasad Mookerjee, a prominent Bengali politician leaving the Hindu Mahasabha in 1948 over its political extremism and alleged involvement in the murder of Mahatma Gandhi.
Savarkar however never endorsed racist or racialist ideas, and was known to work against untouchability and the caste system. Savarkar was accused by many as having endorsed violent retaliation against Muslims at the time of partition. But no proof of their accusations has been found.
[edit] Partition riots
The Partition of India outraged many Hindus, as millions of Hindus and Sikhs were ethnically cleansed from their homes in West Pakistan and East Pakistan, and hundreds of thousands of Hindus and Sikhs were killed during the process of migration and on the streets of cities by murderous mobs. The lack of aid and protection from the Government of Pakistan created an atmosphere of insecurity for non-Muslims in Pakistan. This insecurity led to mass killings of non-Muslims in Pakistan, Hindus retaliated and the Partition riots began.
[edit] Assassination of Mahatma Gandhi
Savarkar and members of the Hindu Mahasabha were extremely critical of Gandhi's leadership. They accused him of appeasing the Muslims to preserve a unity that did not exist in their opinion (Savarkar endorsed the Two-nation theory). Some Hindu nationalists also blamed Gandhi for conceding Pakistan to the Muslim League via appeasement. And they were further inflamed when Gandhi conducted a fast-unto-death for the Indian government to give Rs. 55 crores which were due to the Pakistan government, but were being held back due to the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947.
After the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi, the leader of India's freedom movement, the Sangh Parivar was plunged into distress by Jawaharlal Nehru, as the RSS was accused of organizing his murder. Along with the conspirators and his assassin, Nathuram Godse, Vinayak Damodar Savarkar was also arrested. The Court acquitted Savarkar on lack of evidence, and the RSS was found be to completely unlinked with the conspirators. The Hindu Mahasabha, of which Savarkar had been president and Godse a member, lost membership and popularity. The effects of public outrage had a permanent effect on the Hindu Mahasabha, which is now a defunct Hindutva party.
[edit] Recent episodes of violence
- See also: Babri Mosque and 2002 Gujarat violence
On December 6, 1992, a large procession of VHP activists destroyed the Babri Mosque, which they believed had been built by destroying a Hindu temple, in Ayodhya. In February 2002, a train compartment carrying VHP activists was burned in Godhra, Gujarat, killing 59 people. While the blame is pinned on a Muslim mob at the railway station, the VHP and the BJP are blamed by many for organizing retaliatory attacks on Muslim civilians across the state of Gujarat. The BJP Chief Minister Narendra Modi is blamed by many for preventing the police from stopping the violence.[citation needed] The cause of the violence, the attack on the train, and even the number of victims remain hotly disputed in India. It is estimated that around 1,000 people (including a substantial number of Hindus) were killed by mobs of Hindus and retaliatory mobs of Muslims, and tens of thousands of Gujaratis displaced.[citation needed]
[edit] References
- Elst, Koenraad (2005). Decolonizing the Hindu mind. India: Rupa. ISBN 81-7167-519-0.
- Blank, Jonah. Arrow of the Blue-Skinned God.
- Savarkar, Vinayak Damodar (1923). Hindutva. Delhi, India: Bharati Sahitya Sadan.
- Gandhi, Rajmohan. Patel: A Life.
[edit] Notes
- ^ Elst, Koenraad (2005). Decolonizing the Hindu mind. India: Rupa, 12. ISBN 81291907465.
- ^ Elst, Koenraad (2005). Decolonizing the Hindu mind. India: Rupa. ISBN 81-7167-519-0.
- ^ Elst, Koenraad (2005). Decolonizing the Hindu mind. India: Rupa, 21. ISBN 81-7167-519-0.
- ^ "Advani wants Muslims to identify with 'Hindutva'", Times of India, 2006-1-30. (in English)
- ^ Elst, Koenraad (2005). Decolonizing the Hindu mind. India: Rupa, 480. ISBN 81-7167-519-0.
- ^ Elst, Koenraad (2005). Decolonizing the Hindu mind. India: Rupa, 480-486. ISBN 81-7167-519-0.
[edit] External links
- A collaborated Hinduism Wesite/Wiki - This is a wiki dedicated exclusively to the topics related to the religion of Hinduism.
- The Hindu phenomenon- Girilal Jain
- Why Hindu Rashtra
- Video documentary showcasing the social service works of the RSS
[edit] See also
| Brahmo Samaj · Arya Samaj · Ramakrishna Mission · Gandhism · Hindutva |
| Important figures and authors |
|---|
| Sri Aurobindo ·Ananda Coomaraswamy · Alain Daniélou · Koenraad Elst ·David Frawley ·Sita Ram Goel ·M. S. Golwalkar · Mahatma Gandhi · The Mother ·Harsh Narain ·Swami Prabhupada · V. D. Savarkar · Swami Sivananda · Arun Shourie · Ram Swarup · Rabindranath Tagore · B. G. Tilak ·Yogananda · Raja Ram Mohun Roy · Debendranath Tagore ·Keshub Chandra Sen ·Dayananda Saraswati · Ramakrishna · Vivekananda · |
| Organisations: | Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh - Vishva Hindu Parishad - Bharatiya Janata Party - Bajrang Dal - Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad - Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh - Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh |
| Major figures: | K.B. Hedgewar - Madhav Sadashiv Golwalkar - Syama Prasad Mookerjee - Atal Bihari Vajpayee - Praveen Togadia |
| Related: | Hindutva - Hindu nationalism - Integral humanism - Ram Janmabhoomi - India Shining |
