The Sangh has come out quite strongly against Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar for his observation that the NDA should have a secular prime minister who can carry all sections of the society with him.
What prompted Nitish to come out with this outburst is for the political analysts to decipher. But the Sangh’s response clearly places on it the burden to clearly define Hindutva to all those Hindus who believe and practice Sanatan Dharm.
I am a practicing Hindu. I was given diksha by his holiness Jagadguru Shankaracharya of Dwarka and Joshi Math in 1983.I regularly pray every day for half an hour and have been doing this since 1969 when I was given Gayatri Mantra after I got my ‘ Yagyo Pavit Sansakar ‘.
I have nine temples at my residence at Raghogarh in Guna District MP. Pooja is performed every day according to the traditions as prescribed by my religion. This has been going on for more than 14 generations in all the above temples.
My mother was deeply religious and inculcated religious values in all of us. She taught us respect for all religions and love and compassion for all human beings. She kept a fast on Ekadashi all her life. We have imbibed these values from her and I have done the same for almost 20 years.
Have been visiting Pandharpur to pray at Vitho Ba’s feet on every Asadi Ekadashi since last 21 years.
Yet Sangh and BJP and their brigade calls me anti Hindu !
My Guru Shankaracharya ji has been unable to explain the meaning of Hindutva which I believe was first used by Veer Savarkar a staunch Arya Samaji who was vehemently against Sanatan Dharm. The intolerance of the Arya Samaj towards Sanatan Dharm is well known . The Arya Samaj does not even allow the use of its premises for religious rites as per Sanatan Dharm.
I have few questions for Mohan Bhagwatji as the head of the Sangh. I don’t think he would respond to my questions but would be very grateful if he did.
1- Is destroying Babri Masjid or any place of worship Hindutva?
2- Is planting bombs to kill innocent people Hindutva?
3- Is spreading hatred against other religion Hindutva?
4- Why object to the very word secularism when you say that Hindutva is a synonym for secularism?
5- If Hindutva is synonymous with secularism, what is the problem with a secular prime minister?
2- Is planting bombs to kill innocent people Hindutva?
3- Is spreading hatred against other religion Hindutva?
4- Why object to the very word secularism when you say that Hindutva is a synonym for secularism?
5- If Hindutva is synonymous with secularism, what is the problem with a secular prime minister?
I would as a devout follower of Sanatan Dharm would like to know from Mohan Bhagwatji the difference between ideals of Hindutva and ideals of Sanantan Dharm.
Nitish Kumar in an obvious reference to opposition to Modi’s possible projection as the Prime-ministerial candidate of NDA, in the next parliamentary elections said that NDA’s Prime Ministerial candidate should be one with secular credentials. His aide went on to say that Vajpayee had the intention of sacking in the wake of Gujarat carnage and the NDA lost 2004 Parliamentary elections due to the Gujarat carnage and role of Modi in the same (June 19, 2012). In response Lalu Yadav questioned Nitish as to how he Nitish continued to be part of NDA after Gujarat happened? The BJP spokesmen talked at various levels. One of them said that ideologically Vajpayee, Advani and Modi are all the same. Another one said that Hindutva is truly secular and liberal so why Modi cannot be the PM candidate. RSS Supremo Bhagwat buttressed the point by saying as to why the nation cannot have a Hindutvawadi prime minister?
With this the ever continuing debate about secularism and the nature of Hindutva is in the social space once again. One concedes that Kumar is no secular angel. When BJP came to become the largest single party in Lok Sabha in 1996, no one dared to ally with it that time as it’s communal face was starkly obvious due to its role in Babri demolition and consequent violence, which was too fresh in people’s memory. By 1998 in a similar situation many parities including Kumar’s JD (U) could not resist the temptation of power and struck some minimum common program to share power with the BJP. Though his JD (U) had a common minimum understanding with BJP, right under Kumar’s nose BJP during NDA regime communalized the polity to no end. Saffronization of text books was done and introduction of courses like Paurihitya and Hindu Rituals in the Universities being just few examples of the Hindutva agenda, were starkly visible. When the carnage broke out in 2002, Kumar was the minister for railways and in that capacity he ignored the investigation of Godhra train burning, which was mandatory as per the rules. Due to this Modi’s concoction that train burning was a preplanned act by Muslims went unchallenged for a long time. Kumar could have called Modi’s bluff that the train burning was a planned act by Muslims.
Nitish was part of the cabinet. What did he tell Vajpayee at that time one does not know, but as a secular person, his threat of pulling out from the Government would have set the house in order to a great extent. Even today, right under his nose his ally; the BJP of Bihar, is communalizing the polity. Communalism is not just communal violence. Communal violence is just the superficially visible part of the process of communalization, which aims to abolish secular space and liberal values.
Some of the statements of BJP spokepersons are partly true also. The claim that Vajpayee, Advani, and Modi (one can add even people like Praveen Togadia, Promod Mutallik, Vinay Katiyar and the likes) are similar, is true to a great extent. They are all ideologically committed swaymsevaks, (RSS trained Cadres) working for the agenda of Hindu Rashta, the goal of RSS politics. There are dissimilarities amongst them also; there is a division of labor amongst them also. Since BJP is not hoping for coming to majority on its own strength, it has to keep a liberal façade. Precisely for this reason Vajpayee was the prime Minister, while prime mover of the chariot of communalism through Ram Temple campaign, Advani, was forced to play the second fiddle. When Vajpayee withdrew from the scene, Advani decided for the image change over and he suddenly realized the secular worth of Jinnah. It is another matter that he overplayed the game and their patriarch, RSS, decided to clip his wings and demote him. All the top brass of BJP, VHP, Bajrang Dal, Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram and many other RSS outfits are primarily the RSS swayamasevaks, which is too well known by now
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