Welcome Debate On Hindutva Rashtra H. V. Seshadri, Former RSS General Secretary For the first time in the history of our General Elections to the Lok Sabha, a new ideological dimension was added to the election battle. And that is, the attack launched by the then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi on “Hindu Rashtra” and by others who had picked up that line. S. G. Sardesai of the Communist Party, for example, had even called upon Rajiv Gandhi and V. P. Singh not to waste their energies in minor charges and counter charges against each other but to jointly face the looming threat of Hindu Rashtra. From the point of view of the protagonists of Hindu Rashtra, the debate on Hindu Rashtra becomes an ideological discussion which it welcomes heartily. For, making it an issue of public debate implies the acceptance of the fact that the appeal of Hindu Rashtra among the common people is so widespread that it can no longer be ignored. It also amounts to recognising the fact that Hindu Rashtra as an ideology has begun to powerfully impinge upon politics also. Now, coming to the so called charges against the Hindu Rashtra: Rajiv Gandhi for example, said the cry of Hindu Rashtra will give rise to similar other cries like the Christian Rashtra in the northeast, Muslim Rashtra in Kashmir, Sikh Rashtra in Punjab. The CPI too way, it charge coming from the Congress and Communists only buttress the case for Hindu Rashtra and boomerang upon the decriers. The public memory is not so short as to forget that it was the Congress that had issued an entirely Christian election manifesto during the last Assembly Election to Mizoram. It had openly declared that if elected to the power, the Government’s policies would be based on the principle of Bible which, in fine, meant establishing a theocratic Christian state or in the words of Rajiv Gandhi, a Christian Rashtra. And again, it is the Congress which had been instrumental in introducing and perpetuating Art 370 and thus enabling Kashmir to virtually convert itself into a Muslim Rashtra. As for the cry of Khalistan, the propping up of Bhindranwale, the Sikh holocaust in the wake of Indira Gandhi’s murder and unscrupulous political trickery provoking Sikh – non – Sikh divide in Punjab – all these are the handiwork of the Congress leaders, past and present, which have continuously fed the fires of Khalistani separatism. As for the communists, less said the better. It is they who sought to furnish an ideological foundation for Pakistan, i.e., separate Muslim Rashtra, prior to Partition. Even to this day, they argue that Bharat is not one, but 18 Rashtras based on as many distinct linguo cultural identities. When such avowed disruptors of national unity try to denounce Hindu Rashtra, it would only carry the opposite message, i.e., Hindu Rashtra stands for a single homogeneous national identity of the country and, therefore, they are dead opposed to it. Apart from its patently political motivation, the charge also betrays stark ignorance about the Hindu Rashtra concept. Hindu is not the name of a religious faith like the Muslim or the Christian. It denotes the national way of life here. All those who feel firmly committed to the unity and sanctity of our country and our people, and look upon our great forebears as their national heroes and the sublime values of our cultural life as their points of veneration and emulation, are all Hindus. Here, the question of one’s personal faith does not come into play at all. There are some other opposers who go even so far as say that it was because of the cry of Hindu Rashtra that Muslim League also raised the counter cry of Muslim Rashtra, which ultimately let to the Partition. The sheer perversity of this argument is so transparent that even a casual perusal of the developments of that period tells us that the very opposite is true. It was the protagonists of Hindu Rashtra like Savarkar and RSS who bitterly opposed the Partition till the very last. On the other hand, it was the Congress, the communists who continuously fed the fires of Muslim separatism which finally resulted in partition. There is yet one another important fact. No protagonist of Hindu Rashtra ever said that Hindu would receive preferential treatment and Muslims would be reduced to second grade citizen in free Bharat. They all clearly affirmed that Bharat would be ruled under the democratic system of One man, one vote irrespective of one’s faith. So, there was no question of any discrimination involved in the concept of Hindu Rashtra against Muslims that warranted separate protection for them as against the Hindus. At this juncture, a question may naturally crop up : If the modern secular concept of nation and Hindu Rashtra both accord equal rights to all its citizens, where does any difference lie at all between the two? Why insist on the word Hindu Rashtra? The difference is profound indeed as profound as between a living and a non living body. In short, Hindu Rashtra is essentially cultural and content, whereas the so called secular concept pertains to state and is limited to the territorial and political aspects of the Nation. State is just one of the instruments though a very vital one created by the nation to serve its material needs. The nation denotes the whole, while the state only a part. State represents functions of the body part, while the culture represents those of the mind and the intellect. It is to denote this whole of our national entity that the word Hindu is used. In fact, all those who pioneered, including those in Congress too, the national renaissance in general and the freedom movement in particular, had unreservedly used the word Hindu wherever they referred to our nation. They also never made any distinction between Hindu nation and Indian nation. Right from Swami Vivekananda and Aurobindo upto the famous Lal-Bal-Pal (Lala Lajpat Rai, Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Bipin Chandra Pal) and Annie Besant, all of them had invoked the highest cultural and spiritual Hindu values as the points of inspiration for the freedom struggle. It was only later on, when the Congress started parleys with the Muslim League on sharing of power that this national cum cultural content was given a go by and the territorial concept began ruling the roost. Thus was started by the Congress the wild goose chase of winning over the fanatical Muslim leadership to its finally ending in Partition. Further, the mere political cum territorial concept divorced from its cultural essence can never be expected to impart any sanctity to the country’s unity. The emotional binding of the people can be furnished only by culture and once that is snapped then there remains no logical argument against the demand by any part to separate itself from the rest of the country. And again, once we accept politics as the basis, then also there is no argument against the will of the people expressed democratically for their separation from the main body of the country. That is why when Jinnah argued that areas having a Muslim majority wanted to separate themselves, Congress had no reply on the basis of principle. In fact, Congress has even earlier adopted a resolution upholding the dictum of self determination for any part of the country. So, ideologically Congress was left with neither any emotional appeal nor any logic or argument to counter the demand for Pakistan. During the 1945-46 General Elections also, even while assuring the Hindu voter of its resolve to maintain nation’s unity at all costs, Congress had declared in the same resolution its commitment to the principle of self determination. It was the same mentality that made Pt. Nehru accept the mischievous for plebiscite to decide the future of Kashmir. If the principle of one single common motherland and one common culture binding all the people of Bharat into one single unbreakable nationhood which is what Hindu Rashtra means – had been shared by Congress as a matter of conviction, then the Congress would never have accepted to partitioning the country. Then remains the question of the so called fears of Muslims and Christians in the event of Hindu Rashtra coming into its own. Would not the minorities be suppressed by the majority Hindus? As such, should not the minorities be afforded special rights by way of protection against the majority domination? This argument should stand automatically demolished when we remember that it was precisely this argument that led to the partition of the country. It was the British who planted the vicious seed of majority and minority complex in the body politic of our country and also went ahead with affording special rights and privileges to the Muslims with the specious argument of protecting their interests from the domination of majority. The Congress fell into the trap and started competing with the British in according greater and still greater rights to the Muslims finally acceding to Partition as well. It is this Congress legacy that has perverted our political system during the last four decades and more of our freedom. The present day aggravation of Muslim fed by Congress and similar other groups including the Communists is entirely due to their distortion of our genuine national concept. As regards the so called fears of the minorities, it is just a phantom propped up by interested politicians and religious fanatics to maintain their separatist grip upon their faithfuls. History tells us that even when Hindu kingdoms like Vijayanagar, the Hindu pad pad shahi under the Marathas and the Sikh rule under Ranjit Singh came up fighting out the Muslim oppression, the Muslims were never discriminated against. They had even risen to high position of power and prestige in administration. On the contrary, the history of recent and present times tells us that it is opponents of Hindu Rashtra who have been aggravating and appeasing the minority complex. That is how, the various north eastern states like Nagaland, Mizoram, Meghalaya were sliced off from Assam to from separate states. It was because the pernicious theory of distinct tribal identities as being separate from the main Hindu body, set afloat by the British imperialists and nurtured by foreign christian missionaries, was blindly gulped down by our post independence rulers that the separatist elements were puffed up and various north eastern states created. In fact, the granting of special provision of Art 370 to Kashmir has paved the way fir similar other demands like the cry for Khalistan. What answer does Congress have to the query if Kashmir can have special status, why not Punjab? So, we find that these are all the creations of Congress itself and not of Hindu Rashtrawalas. In fact, none of these separatist elements have ever spoken of Hindu Rashtra as a threat to their identity and that they were demanding separate status because of that. On the positive side also, it can be safely stated that the most potent factor still binding the people in all insurrection infested parts with the rest of the country is the Hindu ethos. The experience of Hindu workers engaged in various social and cultural activities in all such areas also bears out the fact that Hindu appeal alone can successfully dissolve the separatist pulls and strengthen the spirit of their oneness and harmony with the rest of the country. Even in Punjab, we find the RSS and other Hindu oriented organisations standing as an impregnable bulwark against separatist propaganda. It is they who have by their profession and practice, come to command implicit confidence in the eyes of both Sikhs and non Sikh Hindus alike as a firm guarantee of our national unity and integrity. Besides this emotive principle of national unity and integrity Hindu Rashtra furnishes the most practical mode for the country’s development in all the various diverse fields as the economic, educational, social, labour, agriculture, etc. Indeed the raison d’etre for the acceptance of Hindu Rashtra lies precisely in this; no aspect of human life is excluded from its encompass. It is a total philosophy of life. Already, the RSS men working in various fields of national life have come up with unique applications of Hindu though in fields such as labour, agriculture, education, social reforms, etc. Any impartial critic would readily concede that these indeed offer a highly positive, constructive and holistic approach for these fields. The wholesome impact of this approach is already in ample evidence in all areas where such organisations are forging ahead. The people too have come to recognise their activities and achievements as islands of hope and confidence in the otherwise enveloping gloom of failures and frustrations. Finally, a word regarding the emerging trends vis a vis the Hindu Rashtra. If we have to assess it correctly, we have to first realise that Hindu Rashtra is neither a mere political ideology or much less an ism. It is the supreme fact of this soil and what the advocates of Hindu Rashtra are trying to do is just to make our people realize this inmost reality of our national life and live in tune with it. After all a nation, just as an individual, can evolve itself only when it attunes itself to its inborn genius. It will also strive its utmost to throw off any obstacles imposed upon it that might thwart its natural evolution. It will reject such imposed theory or plan or project than is foreign to its native genius and ethos. That is how we find that several theories and plans imported from either the democratic west or the Communist bloc have miserable failed to click here. Since independence, socialism, socialistic pattern of society, democratic socialism and all such slogans had a field day at one time or another. They shone like meteors for a moment and then vanished from the horizon of Indian politics. Communism, which at one time fascinated the youth as the panacea for all the human ills has already found its graveyard in its fatherland and holylands. Country after country, projected till yesterday as Communist heavens, are unceremoniously throwing their prophets and pioneers overboard decrying their heaven as hell. Even the non political movements like Sarvodaya, Bhoodan, Gramadan and total Revolution have also almost faded out of the public memory. On the other hand, it is only the philosophy of Hindu Rashtra which is steadily gaining ground all the time and has been expanding its philosophical horizon and its organisational network among the people continuously and consistently. No wonder, in days to come, the Hindu Rashtra philosophy certainly promises to fill the ideological vacuum in the nation’s mind in a most effective and inspiring manner. ……………………………………………………………………………………..
Posted on: Tue, 12 Nov 2013 14:11:10 +0000
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