Mr L K Advani has struck again. Of course, he will strike again and again in the coming days keeping the imminent elections in view.
He launched his latest missile in his recent interview to the Hindu newspaper, published on 11 and 12 of July. Quoting Deendayal Upadhyaya (alleged by Advani to be “the greatest influence” on him) he said, “Hindutva should be equated to Bharatiyata. Bharatiya is a Hindu. Indianness and Hindutva are synonymous. Don’t make a distinction between the two. It should mean nationalism essentially.”
At least on the score of Hindutva Advani has displayed commendable consistency. He said the same thing verbatim in the Organiser of 7 April 1991. His adversaries may say that he has not grown up much in the last 17 years. He’s too old to grow any more, you see.
There are some serious problems with Advani’s view of Hindutva, however.
Advani brazenly equates Hindutva with Indianness. Does it mean that Hindutva has nothing to do with Hinduism? Does it mean that Hindutva is merely a nationalist concept? If so, why is Advani so much opposed to other religious communities? More than that, if Hindutva is merely a nationalist concept, why not give it a name that does not bear the imposing and ominous burden of a particular religion? Or does Advani mean to say that Hinduism is not a religion at all, as many scholars have argued earlier?
The word ‘Hindutva’ was coined by V D Savarkar, who was nothing if not a fanatic. (Advani is an acolyte of Savarkar and Golwalkar rather than of Deendayal Upadhyaya as he is now keen to project himself.) In Savarkar’s words, “We Hindus are not only a Rashtra, a Jati, but as a consequence of being both, own a common Sanskriti, expressed, preserved chiefly and originally through Sanskrit, the real mother tongue of our race.”
In a speech to the Hindu Mahasabha in Nagpur in 1938, Savarkar said, “We are Indians because we are Hindus and vice versa.... India must be a Hindu land, reserved for the Hindus.”
Savarkar’s is a highly circumscribing definition of Hindus and consequently of Hindutva. Does Advani subscribe to this definition? If yes, are the people of the North-Eastern states and Sikkim, whose languages have nothing to do with Sanskrit, eligible to be Indians? What about the millions of other Indians, say the Muslims, whose language has little to do with Sanskrit?
If Advani means only ‘a nationalist sense’ by the word Hindutva, then the problem of language will not arise. But will Advani distance himself so much from his precious gurus like Savarkar and Golwalkar? Another problem will still arise. No culture can be alienated from its language. What is the language of the culture of “Indianness” as defined by Advani? Is it Hindi? Is it Sanskrit? Sanskrit is a dying language as far as its practical uses and usage are concerned. If Hindi is taken as the language of Indianness, more millions than mentioned above will be alienated from Advani’s Indianness.
It is pertinent to quote here what Swami Vivekananda said in a famous speech in Madras on his return from the more famous Chicago Parliament of Religions in 1897: “Now this word ‘Hindu’ – whatever might have been its meaning in ancient times – has lost all its force in modern times; for all the people that live on this side of the Indus no longer belong to one religion. There are the Hindus proper, the Mohammedans, the Parsees, the Christians, the Buddhists, and Jains. The word ‘Hindu’ in its literal sense ought to include all these; but, as signifying the religion, it would not be proper to call all these Hindus.” Advani in the year 2008 is a far cry from the clarity of Swami Vivekananda in the year 1938!
Why bother with something as hazy and as misleading as Hindutva at all? In fact, will this Advani, who asks all Indians to consider themselves Hindus, ask his relatives in Canada to call themselves Christians? Will he ask the Hindus in Pakistan to consider themselves Muslims? Will he ask the Hindus in Sri Lanka to consider themselves Buddhists?
Gandhi and Nehru gave us the concept of Unity in Diversity, which is what India really is and ought to be. Advani is trying to eradicate the diversity in the country with his ill-conceived concept of Hindutva which is clinging to him like a slimy barnacle on an ancient rock.
Close
Thanks, DMR, for making it amply clear.
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Matheikal sb, avinashjee has a point. If you want to say the ideology of Advani is dangerous to the country you are right but that does not mean that Sonia and Manmohan singh are good for the Nation. Sonia and Manmohan singh are mortgaging the interests ofIndia to USA
DMR Sekhar.
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Matheikal
You have sidestepped the whole thing.
I did not say that others were doing "normal human follies." I said they were equally divisive to Indian society. I do not even have to prove this. In my previous note itself I said how they were divisive.
The fact of the matter is whether somebody divides with a hard face or with a sweet face, it has no difference. Dibvision is division.
I do not know many big words from German language but I do see events without any bias.
I suggest to you to see the events without any ideological bias and you will realize that Manmohan Singh, Sonia, Lalu and Advani are just the same.
Regards
Avinash
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I do have a case, Avinashjee. A very serious one at that. The difference between Advani and the others you've mentioned is the difference between Hitler and, say, Saddam Hussein. The former used a weltanschauung to exterminate a whole community of people, the latter was just greedy for power and wealth. The former is a perversion of human nature; the latter is an embodiment of the normal human follies gone to their extreme. Weltanschauungs are far more dangerous. They affect the psyche of the masses. I am opposed to the weltanschauung of Hindutva advocated by Advani and his friends.
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Matheikal
Why single out Advani? The perversion you are referring to is on the part of every single politician. Left leaders term nuclear deal anti-muslim. What are they doing? Manmohan Singh says that first claim on National resources is of the Muslims. What is he doing? Lalu Yadav says that the Godhra victims burned the railway compartment from inside - collective suicide? Nobody even tried to open the door and jump outside? What is Lalu doing?
What is Arjun Singh, Lalu Yadav, Sonida Gandhi, Prakash Karat doing by increasing reservation? Are they not inciting caste feeling? Is dividing society on the basis of caste alright and only dividing on the basis of religion perversion?
What is your case sir? You have no case if you are to single out Advani. But if you want to include every other politician, I will agree with you wholeheartedly.
Regards
Avinash
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Avinashjee, you have hit the nail on the head. When Rajiv Gandhi became PM, he gave a very rousing speech in Bombay , which stirred the nation. But what Happened? in the corridors of power, he lost all his values.
It is unfortunate for us, that poliical leaders, who have been shown to be corrupt, still retain their votebanks - maybe even increase them. (remember Sukh Ram, Lalu, Jayalalitha et all?
The only saving grace is that one can't raise a finger on being personally corrupt on leaders like Atal Behari Vajpayee, Dr. Mamnohan Singh, and our former Presidet, Dr. Abdul Kalam Azad. But even they could not do much to raise the level to incorruptibility. By media reports, it seems that Nitish Kumar is succeding in Orrisa. Let us hope more educated and honest leaders come to power, and have the strength to root out corruption in their own spheres..
Tripatk.
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Yes, puntamba, Advani is going to be our PM after the next election. Our tragedy. And as one of my friends and fellow blogger told me in an email message, Advani will sign the N-Deal with America forgetting the Hyde Act and other details. All the BJP wallahs and Parivar-wallahs will sing paens to Advani. As you say the Left will be beaten out of the scene all together.
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Advani is all set to strike again in the next election.I predict that they may come to power even without the support of Mayawati.The next time he strikes it is going to be worse.Don't be surprised,the left at that point in history will be a passive spectator .They will definitely say that Emergency period was better.And they are capable of doing only that instead of building another people oriented alternative to Congress.
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Avinashjee,
I don’t agree with you at all. Immorality and corruption are part of politics. Fine. I can agree with you on that score. Not more than that. If Mr Advani were just immoral and corrupt as a common politician I wouldn’t have cared about him. He’s worse than that. He manipulates religious sentiments. That’s a worse crime than immorality and corruption. It is a perversion that can tear up the whole fabric of this nation. While immoral and corrupt politicians merely line their pockets at the cost of the public exchequer, the likes of Mr Advani divide the country into fragments and let people kill one another. That’s the difference and that difference matters a lot.
Thanks, DMR, you have added substantially to my post. The game of the Sangh Parivar is a different kind of power game. It not only alienates other religious communities but also creates divisions within their own religion.
Ramesh,
I’m not against anyone. I am for peace and mutual understanding. If you read my writings regularly (and not selectively) you may understand that. As far as your observation about why I don’t write against other evils like terrorism, etc, please read my posts regarding them. For example,
http://matheikal.sulekha.com/blog/post/2007/11/stray-notes-on-terrorism.htm
http://matheikal.sulekha.com/blog/post/2007/07/religion-the-killer.htm
http://matheikal.sulekha.com/blog/post/2008/05/sex-murder-and-religion.htm
There are many more. You are most welcome to discover the very humane world of my writings.
Thanks Shajan for your visit and approval.
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Very well put matheikal, I will completely agree with you on this.
-shajan
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