Monday, February 14, 2005
Hindutva
Vaibhav's post on Hindutva, Bajrang Dal and the numerous fundamentalist movements that have mushroomed across India has inspired me to volunteer my thoughts on the subject.
The Hindutva movement calls for a return to the basics; for Hindu's to reclaim their traditional values and beliefs and not loose sight of their roots. Along the very same lines, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), over the last two decades especially, have focused their efforts around launching nationwide awareness campaigns aimed at combating the 'assault on Hindutva' and increasing the 'shrinking' Hindu population. Why this is a matter of concern is because it has certainly reached radical proportions. Agreed, the same can be argued for Islamic fundamentalists. Yet, by no means does this justify brainwashing the youth and in doing so depriving them of the greatest philosophy of life - an education.
Vaibhav's point on this brings to the fore this sad reality. Take for instance the state of Uttar Pradesh(U.P.). The Bajrang Dal was founded by the VHP in UP with the aim of empowering the youth to protect their "country, culture and religion." Their website emphasizes their secular outlook and their insistence on adopting "democratic" means to counter "unholy forces." Yet when you read acrticles like this, it makes you stop and ponder. To me , this is a complete dissuasion from the age-old spiritualism, simplicity and pursuit of enlightenment that typifies Hinduism. And to think that religious figureheads at the helm of such movements claim their motto to be "service, security and embellishment." All this while, like he has pointed out, UP being the most populated state in India is plagued by societal evils like illiteracy and corruption. Just recently, I read an article in the Times of India that stated that the VHP are launching a campaign to "check the disproportionate increase in Muslim population."Currently, Hindutva and VHP party members alike are calling on the Hindus to denounce the BJP and support the Hindu Mahasaba. They blame Vajpayee, Advani and co. for the decline of the party and insist that supporting the Hindu Mahasaba is the only hope for Hindutva to survive.
This issue, you will inevitably find, is but a subset of a much larger issue at hand- the religious divide that till date haunts parts of Indian society. Mr. and Mrs. Iyer is a great movie that throws light on the world of ethnic riots. Part of my inspiration to write this came from the conversation I had with Charsi Karan this weekend, about his travel tales through Bihar, UP and Himachal Pradesh. I hope to visit that part of the motherland this summer. Tis about time.
The Hindutva movement calls for a return to the basics; for Hindu's to reclaim their traditional values and beliefs and not loose sight of their roots. Along the very same lines, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), over the last two decades especially, have focused their efforts around launching nationwide awareness campaigns aimed at combating the 'assault on Hindutva' and increasing the 'shrinking' Hindu population. Why this is a matter of concern is because it has certainly reached radical proportions. Agreed, the same can be argued for Islamic fundamentalists. Yet, by no means does this justify brainwashing the youth and in doing so depriving them of the greatest philosophy of life - an education.
Vaibhav's point on this brings to the fore this sad reality. Take for instance the state of Uttar Pradesh(U.P.). The Bajrang Dal was founded by the VHP in UP with the aim of empowering the youth to protect their "country, culture and religion." Their website emphasizes their secular outlook and their insistence on adopting "democratic" means to counter "unholy forces." Yet when you read acrticles like this, it makes you stop and ponder. To me , this is a complete dissuasion from the age-old spiritualism, simplicity and pursuit of enlightenment that typifies Hinduism. And to think that religious figureheads at the helm of such movements claim their motto to be "service, security and embellishment." All this while, like he has pointed out, UP being the most populated state in India is plagued by societal evils like illiteracy and corruption. Just recently, I read an article in the Times of India that stated that the VHP are launching a campaign to "check the disproportionate increase in Muslim population."Currently, Hindutva and VHP party members alike are calling on the Hindus to denounce the BJP and support the Hindu Mahasaba. They blame Vajpayee, Advani and co. for the decline of the party and insist that supporting the Hindu Mahasaba is the only hope for Hindutva to survive.
This issue, you will inevitably find, is but a subset of a much larger issue at hand- the religious divide that till date haunts parts of Indian society. Mr. and Mrs. Iyer is a great movie that throws light on the world of ethnic riots. Part of my inspiration to write this came from the conversation I had with Charsi Karan this weekend, about his travel tales through Bihar, UP and Himachal Pradesh. I hope to visit that part of the motherland this summer. Tis about time.
# posted by Surya Swamy : 7:55 PM
