True Hinduism and Sangh Parivar ideology are not at all one and the same. Sangh ideology is one that totally rejects the inherited diversity of our land. True Hinduism can never identify itself with the Sangh ideology. If we equate Sangh ideology with Hinduism we are certainly doing great injustice to Hinduism. Our India is a great phenomenon where diverse religions, different languages, contradictory lifestyles, multiple cultures, divergent dress codes and dissimilar food habits coexist. Unity in diversity is the bedrock upon which our nation is firmed up. There were human inhabitations in various parts of India even thousands of years before the Indus valley civilization , let alone the Vedic civilization. Such people had their own lifestyles and cultures. About 5000 years ago, our great soil gave birth to a sublime civilization viz the Indus valley civilization. Again, after about fifteen centuries the Vedic civilization crystallized in this land and in the wake of it Hinduism became predominant and it almost turned out to be a way of life with a vast majority of Indian people. As time flowed on, Jainism and Budhism came into being here. Afterwards came millions of people like Persians, Greeks, Arabs, Jews, Portuguese, the Dutch, the French and the English. Just like the original inhabitants of India were hinduised in the wake of the Vedic civilization, many of the Hindu people had migrated to other religions and cultures. While living in the broad arena of India as small groups or large provinces or as Gothras these people had interacted with one another socially and culturally. Though there had been constant internecine confrontations, tensions and bloodshed such conflicts, in the final reckoning, also resulted in syncretic, symbiotic cultural exchanges. So it is not correct to say that all that had happened were only wars. It was quite natural that even while existing with differences and contradictions those different cultures had also fondled and stroked one another. There is no denying that all the divergent millions that came to India at different points of time have contributed to the diversity of India. Even the Britishers who had brutally suppressed the Indians through colonization had played their own part in the unification of India and thus many facets and features of the British ethos were amalgamated into the Indian culture. Over a period of time, Indian nationalism has evolved to be an inclusive, liberal and pluralistic ideology.
Hinduism is more pluralistic and tolerant when compared with other religions. Though it also has positive as well as negative aspects like any other religion, Hinduism has always been able to accept and absorb contradictions and differences, as there are myriad ways and means for spiritual realization in it. In Hinduism itself there are hundreds of castes and sub-castes. Hinduism has incorporated into it even atheistic philosophies like Charvaka and Sankhya. Anchoring in such a tolerant tradition Hinduism has always welcomed other religions and civilizations like Jainism, Budhism, Sikhism, Islam, Christianity, Judaism and Zorashtrianism. As Hinduism is the cornerstone of the foundation of Indian pluralism it has ever been possible for India to pull through all the crises in its history. One has only to glance over what is happening in Islamic countries to perceive the truth of Hindu tolerance.
The ideology being put forward by the Sangh Parivar does not conform to true Hinduism. It is very much wrong to call it a Hindutwa agenda. Sangh ideology is only a conglomeration of Hedgewarism, Savarkarism, Golwalkerism and such dogmas or isms. This exclusionary game has virtually turned out to be a theology which is perennially in need of some objects of hate. In the backdrop of the Sangh efforts to totally own Hinduism, it is imperative that we should realize that true Hinduism and Sangh Parivar ideology are two different entities. It was the Britishers who had written up the history of India for the first time. While writing up the history they had also sown the venomous seeds of Hindu-Muslim conflicts in our country. As part of their ulterior strategy of “Divide and Rule” communal polarization and Muslim appeasement were active factors in the scheme of things for the Britishers. Just like what the Britishers had then done, Sangh Parivar is now merely capitalizing on the potentials of religious polarization. It is not that they have any real love for Hinduism. At this juncture, we have to admit that all the political parties in India have resorted to pseudosecularism and religious appeasement at different points of time. Such political games as well as the Muslim fundamentalism has nurtured the Sangh agenda to a great extent. The minorities, especially the Muslims in this country should realize that misuse of religion as a ploy to spread hatred and suspicion in the society would lead the country to calamities. All those who seek to see religion in anything and everything would do well to not create a hell on the earth in their efforts to acquire a heavenly berth in the “Hereafter”.
We have amongst ourselves different notions as to the Indian nationhood. The very definition of nationalism itself has undergone changes over a period of time. The idea of aggressive nationalism has been rejected by many a modern democratic society. Whatever may be the conflicting notions amongst us about our nationhood, the real India is the India that came into being on 26.11.1949, the day on which our Constituent Assembly adopted our Constitution. The day on which the people of India decided to constitute India into a Sovereign Democratic Republic and to secure to all its citizens Justice, Liberty and Equality. The moment we begin to think that the Constitution is an uncomfortable and inconvenient obstacle, the real India would start sliding towards chaos, confusion and disintegration. Let us hope that the people of India would never go for the disintegration of the country. Having been disillusioned with the Congress millions of Indians were drawn to the developmental agenda offered by the BJP. There are also millions who are attracted to the Sangh policies and take proactive roles in Sangh activities. However, even among such supporters there are bound to be millions who would not be in for the absolute majoritarianism advocated by the extremist elements of the Parivar. Those who love India can not but sense that such an absolute majoritarianism would lead to the balkanization and disintegration of the country, sooner rather than later. To the question as to why India should not be written off to the Sangh Parivar, the single fact that there were people living in various parts of India well before the Vedic civilization and such people had their own cultures would more than suffice as a very loud answer. During the dark days of Emergency, while most of us the urbanites were sleeping with a shameful sense of complacency, it was the illiterate villagers of north India who had shown the courage to kick out Indira Gandhi the autocrat, thereby saving the country from a catastrophe. Now, let us hope that the day on which the feeling of true Indianness would dawn upon us like a silverline from amongst the dark clouds is not far away.
Ahmad Ashraf 