Stark contrast
Members as well as opponents of the current Indian regime see Hindutva as the regime’s ideology. What is Hindutva?
Though its dictionary meaning is “Hindu-ness”, the term has come to imply a political exploitation of Hinduism for purposes of domination. This is only rarely admitted in routine Hindutva discourse, which prefers expressions like “correcting history’s wrongs”.
When the other day a Hindutva champion, Anand Swarup Shukla (he is a minister in Yogi Adityanath’s UP government), declared that ere long the saffron flag would fly over Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan, he was breaking Hindutva ranks that are usually silent about such hopes.
Nonetheless, these ranks are uniformly political, not religious. Uninterested in whether or not Hindus are following the principles of Hinduism, Hindutva proponents want Hindus to dominate India’s political, economic and cultural life.
In Hindutva discourse, little of prayer comes across. There are no pleas to the Almighty, no pleas to the people to turn to the Almighty. The word “compassion” is rarely used. Phrases such as “I forgive” or “please forgive me” are almost never heard.
“Toughness”, “bullets”, “bombs” and “revenge” are the more frequent sounds.
Hindutva politics is majoritarian. It is not just nationalist but ethno-nationalist. The nation must unite but under the domination of the majority race/religion.
Their religion is political, racial, nativist. For them, Hindus are India’s original and rightful owners. Their religion is a matter not of belief or conduct, but of birth, of a bloodline.
It is a matter of who your parents are/were, and where they were born.
This is not the Hindu dharma or religion that most Hindus try to live by. When Hindus escorting the body of a loved one to its cremation site chant, “Raam Naam satya hai” (The Name of Rama is the Truth), they are appealing not to a human ancestor but to a Merciful Almighty.
Their Hinduism was voiced by Gandhi. Below are some of his words, given in chronological order. We can mark their stark contrast with political Hindutva.
“Religions are different roads converging upon the same point. What does it matter that we take different roads, so long as we reach the same goal?” (Hind Swaraj, 1909)
“I am not a man of learning, but I humbly claim to be a man of prayer.” (Young India, Apr 4, 1929)
“Prayer is the key of the morning and the bolt of the evening. It is better in prayer to have a heart without words than words without a heart.” (Young India, Jan 23, I930)
“When a child, my nurse taught me to repeat Ramanama whenever I felt afraid or miserable, and it has been second nature with me with growing knowledge and advancing years. I may even say that the Word is in my heart, if not actually on my lips, all the twenty-four hours.” (Harijan, Aug 17, 1934)
“I have never found Him lacking in response. I have found Him nearest at hand when the horizon seemed darkest -- in my ordeals in jails, when it was not all smooth sailing for me.” (Harijan, Dec 24, 1938)
“Religions are not for separating men from one another. They are meant to bind them.” (Harijan, June 8, 1940)
“Worship or prayer, therefore, is not to be performed with the lips, but with the heart. And that is why it can be performed equally by the dumb and the stammerer, by the ignorant and the stupid.
“I myself have been a devotee of Tulsidas from my childhood and have, therefore, always worshipped God as Rama. But I know that if, beginning with Omkar, one goes through the entire gamut of God's names current in all climes, all countries and languages, the result is the same.” (Harijan, March 24, 1946)
“Ramanama cannot perform the miracle of restoring to you a lost limb. But it can perform the still greater miracle of helping you to enjoy an ineffable peace in spite of the loss while you live and rob death of its sting and the grave its victory at the journey's end.” (Harijan, Apr 7, 1946)
“I laugh within myself when someone objects that Rama or the chanting of Ramanama is for the Hindus only, how can Muslims therefore take part in it? Is there one God for Muslims and another for Hindus, Parsis or Christians? No, there is only one omnipotent and omnipresent God. He is named variously and we remember Him by the name which is most familiar to us.
“My Rama, the Rama of our prayers, is not the historical Rama, the son of Dasharatha, the King of Ayodhya. He is the eternal, the unborn, the one without a second. Him alone I worship. His aid alone I seek, and so should you. He belongs equally to all. I, therefore, see no reason why a Muslim or anybody should object to taking His name. But he is in no way bound to recognize God as Ramanama. He may utter to himself Allah or Khuda.” (Harijan, Apr 28, 1946)
“Everything that has a beginning must end. The sun, the moon and the earth must all perish one day, even though it might be after an incalculable number of years. God alone is immortal, imperishable. How can anyone find words to describe Him?” (Harijan, June 16, 1946)
