Can Hindutva curb the price rise, erase inflation and put a dead stop to moral laxity, disrespect to the parents, etc. etc? DR. S. AUSAF SAIED VASFI this bold question to the ultra-nationalists.
Can Hindutva solve the problems the plural Bharat is suffering from? Can it erase the back-breaking price rise, arrest the galloping inflation and the widespread moral turpitude? Can it vanish bribe from the national skyline? Will bribe and jobbery, ever-rusting the society, evaporate into thin air after the Hindutva ushering in? Can the Hindutva put a dead stop to the burning of brides? Can it stop immoral trafficking and abuse of children, especially the girl child? Can it create honest bureaucracy and businessmen? Can the Hindutva stop illegal mining and the systematic depletion of national resources? Can the doctrine transform the lecherous godmen into God-fearing sages and saints? Can the Hindutva ensure that girls would be safe in the womb of their mothers? Can the Hindutva guarantee the nation that morally upright people alone will have the reins of governance in their hands?
These questions naturally arise in the minds of the public if any person or party stands up to be counted in this regard. That the Saffron organised Hindu convention at Goa is a case in point.
LASHING A DEAD HORSE
After passing a number of resolutions on familiar lines, the Saffron affiliates’ 5-day jamboree ended on June 14. It was a sincere essay in lashing a dead horse.
Before dealing with the key points, let us have a feel of the author of the Rashtrawad which appears to be impractical in multi-religious, multi-lingual and multi-cultural India.
It will not be out of place to mention that no national newspaper cared to cover the non-event or do an edit on it.
Addressing a thinly-attended press conference at Mumbai, the sub-leaders of the RSS, BJP and VHP, represented by the so-called Hindutva Janjagruti Committee, Sanathan Sansthan and Hindu Mahasabha, spat fire. In full throat they announced vociferously that the Bharatiya Hindu Convention is determined to revive Rashtrawad in its pristine purity.
A rabble-rouser, Mr. Ramesh Shinde said: History stands testimony to the fact that India constitutes the Hindu Rashtra. His line of argument was that although Pakistan is now a Muslim state, we in Bharat happen to be secular. This has happened despite the fact that Hindus here are 85 per cent of the total population (Would he mind revising his data and inform the nation of the source of his information?). The Hindus, he claimed, do not enjoy the position of Rashtra anywhere. He took pains to stress that the Christians have 153 countries while the Muslims 52 and the Buddhists 14. All this despite the fact that the number of the Hindus is 100 crore. The condition of Hindus, he continued, is miserable. He made bold to say: Thefts took place in 356 temples while 22 temples were raised to the ground. Hindu sentiments are being injured. Schemes for the betterment of Muslims are afoot that hurt Hindus.
IRRELEVANT DEBATE
What Mr. Shinde said may or may not be true, the question is: is this irrelevant debate likely to solve the national problems? However without joining the issues with the learned Saffron leader, we draw public attention towards the statement of the Ram Sene chief Mr. Pramod Muthalik, who said: Our Sene does not believe in the Gandhian principle of non-violence. We are not supporters of the Gandhian philosophy. We subscribe to the views of Bhagat Singh and Subhas Chandra Bose. We would achieve our goals – he is reported to have announced – through violence.
Have the State and the Central administrations taken note of what Mr. Shinde said? Has the Union Home Ministry noted the belligerent tone of the Sene chief and his alleged involvement with Israel? Is it true that the Sene wanted to take assistance from Israel to fulfil its objectives regarding ushering in Hindu Rashtrawad in heterogeneous Bharat? Is it not true that the CBI has come across some sensitive information fallowing the interrogation of the accused like Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur, Lt.-Col. Srikant Prasad Purohit, Swami Dayanand Pandey, Rakesh Dhawde, (Retd.) Major Ramesh Upadhyay and Shiv Narayan Kalsangra. Add to it the information divulged by Lt.-Col. Purohit who allegedly admitted that he had asked Israel to help establish an armed Aryavarat government. He had also referred to the alleged diplomatic help from Tel Aviv. He had also said that a Hindu Rashtra office in exile was under the consideration of the Israeli government.
As a concerned citizen, we ask if the government is aware of this extra-territorial help, what steps has it taken and what measures it is going to take to kill the adder in the egg? And if the government approves of all this, the nation should be taken into confidence. So far the organisations like Ram Sene and Abhinav Bharat have been found actively involved in anti-national activities. Some of these side-organisations have the cheek and temerity to organise disturbances on payment from the interested parties. Not long ago, the Abhinav Bharat hoisted a home-made Pakistani flag on the building of a tehsil in a township in Karnataka. Six persons are cooling their heels in the jail. It is these elements which organise upheavals through a camouflage that led the Intelligence apparatus to believe that Muslim terrorists had bombed Mecca Masjid, Ajmer and Samjhauta Express blasts. The Muslims arrested in this regard are rotting in prisons and waiting for justice. It is a pity of first magnitude that the insensate Central government prefers to do nothing in this regard simply because the law and order is a state subject.
As far as our meagre knowledge goes, no significant Hindu scripture, be it the Holy Vadas, the Puranas, the Upanishads or even the Gita, the Ramayana and Mahabharata, envisions a nationalist Hindu state, the dream of Savarkar, Golwalkar and those who have come later on. What makes the matters easy is that the author of the pernicious doctrine Mr. Vinayak Damodar Savarkar himself clarifies in his magnum opus that Hindutva has nothing to do with Hinduism. This political Hinduism has been found handy and useful by some sections of our plural polity. They want to grab power through it as they had done in 1992 by demolishing the Babri Masjid without any point to prove that there was a temple beneath the said mosque.
POINTS OF SAVARKAR
Mr. Savarkar was a firm believer in the two-nation theory, which was and is a rag for all the politicians of the country. It is at least unfair for a scholarly study of Mr. Muhammad Ali Jinnah.
It has also to be admitted that Mr. Savarkar was an admirer of Italy and Germany. He idolised Hitler and Mussolini and criticised the late Mr. Nehru for calling the fascists fascists. In Savarkar’s scheme of things the Muslims and Christians stand nowhere. The reason is that both have refused to assimilate or put off their respective identities. The ideologue’s view is that Hindus belong to a superior race and have been born to rule. He also gives importance to the fatherhood and the motherhood of the Hindus. He prefers those who have Hindu blood in their veins. To him a pristine pure Hindu is one who loves Bharat, its mountains, its rivers, its culture and language, etc. These are the people who to him are sons of the soil.
As a democrat we give him and his admirers the liberty to believe in whatever they like. The point is: It all is beside the point. The issue in question is: Can Hindutva curb the price rise, erase inflation and put a dead stop to moral laxity, disrespect to the parents, etc. etc? Can Hindutva stop immoral trafficking, abuse of children, particularly the girl child and illegal depletion of natural resources? Can Hindutva ensure that an unarmed woman will be in a position to travel all alone from Kashmir to Kanyakumari and Kutch to Kerala and will have no fear in her heart except the fear of Allah?