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Integral humanism is the political philosophy practised by the Bharatiya Janata Party and the former Bharatiya Jana Sangh of India. It was first propounded by Deendayal Upadhyayain a brief volume entitled Integral Humanism in 1965, attempting to find a "third path" rejecting both communism and capitalism, centered on "swadeshi and decentralization".[1] It is espoused by most Hindutva organizations.[2]
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It was first presented by Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya in the form of four lectures delivered in Bombay on April 22-25, 1965. It distinguishes Indian systems from other prevalent systems like communism and capitalism.
Upadhyaya has argued that Western political philosophies are not acceptable as a blueprint for society because of their "preoccupation" with materialism, and their overlooking of the social wellbeing of the individual. He saw both capitalism and socialism as essentially flawed – stimulating as they do greed, class antagonisms, exploitation and social anarchy.
His proposal was an "integral" approach that attempts to create a harmonious society. This could be done, he argued, by satisfying the needs of the body (hunger, shelter), the mind (traditions), intelligence (reforms), and the soul (common aspirations of a people that shape their unique culture).
Upadhyaya said that each nation creates institutions to satisfy needs, and these must be reshaped so that group solidarity can be sustained and maintained under changing circumstances. He argues that Indian tradition builds on the social nature of people and obliges them to create institutions meant to enhance social solidarity. Advaita vedanta, or the principle of recognising ourselves in all life, is seen as the philosophic underpinning of this view.
As per Gandhi's view on integral humanism, he believed that religion must be at the center of humanity's work. He believed that religion must guide man's every activity. Gandhi stated a list of sins which can be said to indicate the fundamentals of integral humanism:[3]
List of Sins: -Politics without Principles. -Wealth without work. -Commerce without Morality. -Knowledge without Character. -Pleasure without Conscience. -Science without humanity. -Worship without sacrifice.[4]
According to the membership form of the Bharatiya Janata Party (2003–2008), anyone seeking primary membership of the party has to pledge that he or she "believe in Integral Humanism which is the basic philosophy of [the party]", apart from also pledging commitment to nationalism, national integration, democracy, Gandhian Socialism, positive secularism and value-based politics, among other issues.
Around 1980, the then newly-formed Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) adopted Gandhian socialism rather than the Deendayal Upadhyaya-crafted principles of integral humanism, as the party's statement of first principles. But the BJP gave an honoured place to Upadhyaya's ideological statement as well.
At its July 1985 national executive session however, integral humanism once again replaced Gandhian socialism as the BJP's philosophy. But the party's economic policy remained the same substantially.
The most important criticism of Integral Humanism is that it is essentially another form of socialism with less central planning. Integral Humanism goes closer to social engineering and completely ignores spontaneous order that emerges from continuous evolutionary interaction on part of individuals, organizations and institutions.
Integral Humanism is perhaps as old as Indian civilization. However, Integral Humanism was formalized into a nationalistic political approach by Shri. Deen Dayal Upadhyay in mid 1960s. This was surprising as it completely ignored knowledge and ideas (e.g. spontaneous order, transactions costs, role of technology, moral hazard, adverse selection, cost of culture, theory of economic growth, property rights, risk management) that were proven by mid 1960s.
The other criticism of Integral Humanism is that it dismisses socialism, communism, capitalism and individualism as western fads and that they will not work in India. The main problem with this claim is that it does not provide a consistent logical or fact based argument against any of these approaches. Regarding individualism it completely ignores the fact that India had already accepted individualism in 1947 in the form of individual voting rights.