Moa Longkümer
Kohima Bible College
In our present day situation attacks on Christians and Muslims in India have become daily news. A brief survey indicates that the trend of such attacks has increased after the ascendency of BJP at the center. For e.g. attacks on Christians in 2016 was 330; 2017 – 440, 2018 – 477; and the month of January 2019 alone was 29.[1] Mob lynching, cow vigilantism, Ghar Wapsi and violence on religious minorities have become common phenomenon of the Hindutva forces, allegedly backed and supported by BJP and RSS to achieve the ideology/principle of “One nation, one culture, one people and one leader.” In all these, the crux of the problem is generated by Sangh Parivar’s aggressive campaign of Hindutva. Sumit Sarkar, a prominent historian, also located the root of the violence generally in the Parivar’s aggressive campaign of Hindutva.[2] It also poses a threat to the very fabric of Christian community. The foray of BJP as a political party into Nagaland has brought apprehensions and insecurities among the people.
What is a Hindutva?
The term Hindutva is understood literally as ‘Hinduness,’ used to describe the movement of Hindu, for ‘Hindu rights’ and ‘Hindu nationhood’. It refers to national Hinduness which comprises of Hindu faith in its geographical and cultural elements.[3] It requires four things. They are:
- Birth and growth in Indian Territory
- Belonging to the Indian race, having Hindu blood
- An appreciation for all the customs and traditions of Hindu, acceptance of India alone as one’s fatherland (pitribhoomi) and holyland (punyabhoomi) and its heroes as persons of veneration, as well as acceptance of Sanskrit as the common language
- Treating religious tradition emerged from India like Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism as offshoots of Hinduism.[4]
From the above mentioned four things, we can understand Hindutva as that which denotes “the Indian culture and Indianhood.”[5] It has been said that Vinayak Damodar Savarkar is usually identified as the first exponent coinage of term while he was in Andaman Jail in 1920. It is recorded that only with the arrival of Savarkar as the President of the Hindu Mahasabha (HM) in 1936 the organization assumed a distinctive ideology, a theory of Hindu Nation and Hindu nationalism. According to Savarkar, the essentials of Hindutva are rashtra (a common nation), jati (a common race) and sanskriti (a common civilization). Thus, it was he who first coined the word Hindutva.[6] Hindutva as constructed by Sarvarkar also refers to a history of the religious communities which regard Hinduism as their pitribhoomi (fatherland) and punyabhoomi (holyland). By this logic Muslims, Christians and Parsis are excluded from that history for their punyabhoomi is not Hindustan.[7] Therefore, “only Hindus can be true patriots, not Indian Muslims or Christians, with their holy land in Arabia or Palestine.”[8]
Thus, the Hindutva ideology that had its birth in early 1920’s became more radical and fanatic in the hands of new organizations under Sangh Parivar (Sangh – association or club; Parivar – Family, hereafter SP) like Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP), the ‘National Volunteer Force’ – Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), its militant and political outfit of Bajrang Dal and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the late 20th century. SP used to denote collectively those who believe in the same religio-political and cultural ideology. The SP’s principles of ‘One nation, one culture, one people and one leader’ became the dominant and fundamental slogan. This is not just a slogan like any other electoral slogan of a political party. But this slogan is the hidden agenda of the Hindutva force. It is an attempt by the proponents of Hindu nationalism to unite and to unify the various segments of the Indian constitution.[9]
Another dominant force of the Hindutva is ‘The Hindu Right’ which refers to the main organizations and political parties in the current phase of the Hindu communalism in India – the BJP, the RSS and the VHP as well as the militantly Shiv Sena, which are collectively seeking to establish a Hindu state or Hindu Rashtra: India must be a Hindu State. Under this ‘Hindu Right,’ Christianity and Muslim come under attack, as a foreign threat to the (Hindu) fabric of the nation.[10] Even today we can witness their desperate bidding to salvage their Hindutva agenda: In the run up to the 2019 LS election and after, seen and heard from different Medias hailing/glorifying re-conversion of the Dalits & certain communities into the Hindu fold, portraying Ghar wapsi, a victory and triumph of the Hindutva campaign. Again on July 30, 2019, there was a News report that the State of UP is planning to set up "RSS 'Army' School" by April 2020[11]. These actions show the aggressive campaign of the Hindutva ideology.
Hindutva as a Political Tool
Hindutva has become a political ideology since the 1980’s with inception of BJP. It has become a force for political mobilization in India. This has not only challenged the very fabric of the Indian state, but it has also opened up a debate on the very basic concepts like secularism and the role of religion.[12] As Hindutva gained its momentum in elaborating several communal ideologies and recently given wide currency through state sponsorship, political support and socio – cultural mobilization. Although alien to Hindu philosophical tenets and religious practices, Hindutva has gained legitimacy as a commonly shared heritage among a large section of Hindus. The implications of this development have pitch – forked Hindutva to a centre stage of contemporary Indian politics.[13]
Parties Propagating the Ideology of Hindutva
One of the outstanding political ideologies of Hindutva is SP, whose prominent components are roofed in the RSS. The BJP is the political outfit of the SP. The notion of Hindu nationalism is the VHP, which was formed in the mid eighties. It is to prevent the Hindu migrants abroad from getting culturally assimilated into Western/Christian societies and to check missionaries from proselytizing in the tribal areas.[14] Akhila Bharatiya Vidya Parishad is a student organization, Akhil Bharatiya Vanvasi Kalyan, a SP wing for looking into the affairs of the tribals. Bharatiya Shikshan Mandal which have 26, 000 active workers involved in rural education. Akhil Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh, a labor organization with 4, 500 unions and a memberhip of 5 million. Akhil Bharatiya Kisan Sangh, a farmers organization and Rastriya Sikh Sangh, an organization formed for promoting greater cordiality between the Sikh community and the rest of the Hindu society. The idea of Hindu Rashtra, governed entirely by the principles of Hinduism has been gaining more visibility during the ascendancy of the BJP government at the Centre. [15]
The reason for aggressive campaign
They accused the Christian campaign of conversion of being deliberately provocative because it involved in attacking and abusing Hindu deities, and described it as the ‘politics of minoritism.’[16] Furthermore, Christian missionaries were accused of converting people through force or fraud. For instance, the VHP leaders from South India sent an urgent appeal to the federal government asking to prevent Christian and Islamic missionaries from indulging in forced conversions. “These missionaries are spending dollars to convert people here. We want the government to arrest them for creating social and religious upheaval.”[17] There is also a growing suspicion that Christians are engaged in education, health services and charitable activities in order to win converts. Christian missionaries are accused of “planned conversion” which refers to organized efforts to convert large members from significant sections of society like the Dalits or the tribal people. Many Hindus are of the view that Christianity is rooted in intolerance towards other religions. They also pointed out that this intolerance makes Christianity aggressive in its effort to convert others.[18] There are also certain accusations that Christians are responsible for the destruction of many Hindu cultures. Christians are being called “pollution of culture,”[19] the Western religion, the colonial agent, converting the people by social action so on and so forth.[20]
Concluding Remark
Within this threat, we Christians are being called to be alert and watchful of these Hindutva forces. We are shamed, attacked, killed and put us into a feeling of insecurity. The threat is real; we can’t be relaxed or just shrugged off the possibility of threat on the community of believers. After the BJP government formation at the center, the government came up with an idea of “One Nation, One Card.” Isn’t it the theory is parallel to that ideology of Hindutva – of making India “One Nation, One Culture, One People and One Leader?”
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