Hinduism, through which divine light first dawned on the Earth, isbeing poisoned to death. Wearing the mask of Ram bhakti, vestedinterests are misusing and exploiting Hindu religious sentiments. Ifthis trend is allowed to continue it is doubtful if, a few years fromnow, Hinduism would be recognisable from other violent and viciousideologies like fascism and colonialism.
Hindutva is Hinduism's internal enemy. In its origin and spirit,Hindutva is an atheistical ideology. It derives its inspiration notfrom Ram, Shiva or Krishna, but from Hitler and Mussolini. Hindutvais pseudo-Hinduism. It can triumph only by hijacking and degradingour religion.
The stormtroopers of Hindutva, of course, want to look like Hindus.It is like terrorists wearing army uniforms while attacking an armycamp. Hindutva is essentially religious terrorism. Its language andstrategies belong to the world of terrorism, not religion orspirituality. Bullying helpless people, murdering innocent women andchildren, intimidating dissent, committing rape, arson and loot arewhat we expect from terrorists, not from religious people.
Hijackers are thieves who pretend to be owners. They take charge ofsomething, not because they care for it, but because they want toexchange it for money. A plane, for example, is hijacked not becausethe hijackers love the plane. They will happily abandon the hijackedplane, when their mercenary goal is attained. That was what theHindutva camp did four years ago. All hijackers plan their strategiescarefully. The same is true of the hijackers of Hinduism. Let us lookat some of them.
One, no religion can be hijacked without taking religious iconshostage. Ideologues of Hindutva have made Lord Ram a hostage tocommunalism. In this process they degrade Lord Ram, who has stood formillennia as a shining embodiment of justice, into a caricature ofcruelty and aggression. Millions among us were fooled into believingthat Lord Ram was sulking like a child because a temple was not builtfor him where the Babri Masjid stood. The Hindutva version of LordRam resembles Ravana. Only Ravana can rejoice over words ofaggression and strategies of deceit like what the Sangh Parivarunleashed in Ayodhya. Hindutva has insulted and caricatured Lord Rammore than any other external enemy of Hinduism. We must not allowthis to go on one day more.
Two, turning gods into hostages demands that symbols associated withthem be taken over, modified and misused. Temple and trishul are twoinstances of this. There is no mention of temples in the Vedas,clearly indicting that in the Vedic vision God does not live instructures of stone and lime, but in the hearts and minds of people.
The Hindutva war dance for building a temple for Lord Ram is due toits communal eagerness to take possession of Lord Ram. By building atemple for Lord Ram - especially in an aggressive and pseudo-heroicway - the likes of Pravin Togadia, Ashok Singhal and Giriraj Kishorecan project themselves as Ram's landlords. Ram, then, becomes theirtenant.
That is an attractive prospect because the landlords of Ram can claimgreater religious authority than any other orthodox religious leader.As of today, Togadia and Singhal conduct themselves as greaterreligious authorities than all the Shankaracharyas put together.
Yet another example is the hijacking of saffron: our cherished colourof spirituality. Saffron is a symbol of the spirit of renunciation.Hindutva has degraded saffron into the colour of murder and rape.Worse than pseudo-Gandhians who cheapened khadi, sadhus who soldthemselves to the Hindutva camp have fouled saffron and destroyed itssymbolic meaning and sanctity.
Three, yet another aspect of Hindutva's hijacking strategy is thestudied neglect of Hindu scriptures. The real proof that a person orgroup is genuinely interested in Hinduism is the eagerness tounderstand our scriptures and to uphold its spiritual mandate. TheHindutva camp is marked by its total indifference to Hinduscriptures. They do not respond to issues according to the light ofthe Vedas, Upanishads or the gentle teachings of the Puranas andBhagavatam.
Take the case of Narendra Modi. It was not according to the spirit ofLord Ram, Lord Shiva or Lord Krishna, but according to the theory ofIsaac Newton that he responded to Godhra riots. L.K. Advani, not tobe left behind, recently explained his anxiety about allegednumerical growth of minorities with a reference, not to Lord Ram onwhose name he rode to power, but to French philosopher AugustusComte. Hitler's Mein Kampf was the source of Guru Golwalker'sinspiration.
Four, corrupting the culture of Hinduism is a key element in Hindutvastrategy. This is a serious thing, because more than any otherreligion, Hinduism is a way of life. It is a distinct culture, markedby politeness, hospitality, an intricate web of courtesies, valuesand relationships. The sound and fury of Hindutva are in starkcontrast to all this. A young father, who is aware of this culturaldegradation inflicted upon us by Hindutva, said the other day thatwhenever Togadia appeared speaking on the screen, he switched off theTV. He did not want his three-year-old daughter to see hisperformance and begin to speak like him!
And there is this ardent devotee of the Vedanta in Chennai who saidthe other day, ''If the Singhals and Togadias are the custodians ofHinduism, it is time I converted to some other faith.'' But that isnot the solution. Rather than run away from a burning house, let usput out the fire. We are obliged to shout from the rooftops: Hinduismis a way of life and within that way of life there is no room forcommunal riots, rape and roguish behaviour. Mercifully, today thereare growing signs that more and more Hindus are waking up to thisgrave danger. The Hindu voice of protest against Hindutva has beenrising ever since the massive atrocities in Gujarat.
Whatever else Hindutva is, it is not Hinduism. Communalism andreligious fundamentalism are signs of sickness; they flourish whenreligions decay and fall into the lap of vested interests. Saving areligious tradition from the corrupting stranglehold of communalistsis a greater and more urgent need than defending a religion from itsalleged external enemies.
Hinduism stayed safe and steady despite every imaginable threat fromoutsiders. But this is the first time it is facing an organised anddetermined attack from within. When enemies put on the masks ofsaviours, there is need to wake up and resist them.
