HINDUSTAN, HINDU AND HINDUTVA

India and Pakistan came into being in 1947 after partition of British India and the two countries are in conflict since then. India is the largest country by population and have huge resources at its disposal as compared to its arch rival Pakistan. There are many problems in India but rise of Hindutva is most lethal. This writ up is an opinion about the land mass called India or Hindustan; Hindu and Hindutva.

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ

In the name of ALLAH, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful

HINDUSTAN, HINDU AND HINDUTVA

Some millions of years ago a large of piece of land split into two and one of it moved North ward to collide with Asian plate and resulted into a land now called Indian Sub-Continent. From the known times, it became the home of Hindu “ HINDUSTAN”. Hindustan was the land between the high lands of Himalayas in the north and north-east to the highland of Hindu Kush / Karakorum in the west; and coast of Indian Ocean in the south and south east. The terrain is attributed to the mighty Indus, Gunga, Jumna and Brahmaputra from west to east. As the History tells us the human civilization thrived on the banks of rivers so the Indian civilization also flourished across the sub-continent on the bank of the rivers and their tributaries mentioned earlier.

The Hindu religion has a supernatural, the most powerful god “Bhagwan” and then many gods / goddesses (deities / Davis) in their own right and dimensions, but after/ below Bhagwan. These gods are closely associated with the land of India and the desire of humans (e.g. lust, power, money etc). These gods and the mysticism associated with them have profound impact on the psyche of the inhabitants of HINDUSTAN called HINDUS. Throughout the historical times many outsider/ races have invaded and settled in here but they were all accommodated in the Hindu religion. Therefore they are gods/ goddesses like Ganesh, Hanuman, Shiva, Durga, Lakshmi, Maya, Saraswati, Buddha, Kali, Shakhty, Vishnu, Ganga, Gow mata(cow) and Bharat Mata- the motherland. These are just a small sample. Some of the deities have larger encompass and many are local/regional.

In historical terms, Islam and the Muslims were the distinct variant who did not get settled in the Hinduism although many tentative attempts were made (a visit to the shrine of Ajmer will show it). Sikhism was one such attempt. The Muslims of India retained their separate identity which irked the Hindu mind seriously and then the Muslims came as a power and became the ruler of India for about 1000 years. The British rule was thus a welcome change for them. However last 100 years out of British 200 years rule infested deep rooted hatred and psychological barriers between the Hindus and Muslims of HINDUSTAN. The independence of Pakistan has further intensified the “HINDUTVA”.

Hindutva ("Hinduness"), a word coined by Vinayak Damodar Savarkar in his 1923 pamphlet Hindutva: “Who is a Hindu?”, is the set of movements advocating Hindu nationalism. In a 1995 judgment, the Supreme Court of India ruled that "Ordinarily, Hindutva is understood as a way of life or a state of mind and is not to be equated with or understood as religious Hindu fundamentalism; it is a fallacy and an error of law to proceed on the assumption ... that the use of words Hindutva or Hinduism per se depicts an attitude hostile to all persons practicing any religion other than the Hindu religion ... It may well be that these words are used in a speech to promote secularism or to emphasize the way of life of the Indian people and the Indian culture or ethos, or to criticize the policy of any political party as discriminatory or intolerant ( from Wikipedia).

This ideology has existed since the early 20th century only, but came to prominence in Indian politics in the late 1980s, when three distinct events attracted a large number of Hindus to the movement. The first of these events was the Rajiv Gandhi government's use of its large Parliamentary majority to overturn a Supreme Court verdict granting alimony to an old woman, a verdict that had angered many Muslims (see the Shah Bano case). The second was the dispute over the 16th century Mughal Babri Mosque in Ayodhya, claimed to have been built by Babur after the destruction of a Hindu temple and claimed in nineteenth century to be the birthplace of Shri Ram. The Babri Mosque was destroyed by hardline Hindu activists during a political rally, which turned into a riot on 6 December 1992. The third was the Gujarat pogrom of 2002 (from Wikipedia).

Here it must be indicated that Hindutva does not threaten anything beyond Hindustan; so one will find Hindus to be very humane, simple, loving and respectful outside Hindustan, because every ethos of being Hindu revolves around Bharat mata and Hindutva has all the appeal within India only.

Notwithstanding the verdict of Supreme Court of India, the architect and performer of Babri Masjid episode BJP was voted into power. In 2014, the in charge of Gujarat pogrom has been voted into power. Historical evidences are not denied by court verdict; can never be. So what will be the next stop of Hindutva in coming years; another mosque, another pogrom or something else? One hates to prophesize but Bangladesh (being a poor weak neighbor) may face troubles only in August 2024, the Indian Puppet Hasina Wajid escaped to India after protests from students. Vajpai, Advani and others were old but Narendra Modi, current Prime Minister of India is young comparably, so he should not want to fade away any time soon. BJP / RSS appeal is based on hatred and violence against Muslims and Pakistan; so it will always undertake steps to feed the appeal base of hate and violence.

One, therefore, foresees BJP and Modi moving all energy to west ward i.e Pakistan for seeking National Hindutva glory; which suits its political gains. The Pulwama 2019 and Pehalgam 2025 incidents are nothing but Hindutva’s basic game plan to retain its political mileage. There is a dire need to neutralize the Hindutva philosophy and control over state of India / Hindustan.