Current Events
Hindutva:
More Dangerous Than Sharia
by FRANK RAJ
"To keep up the purity of the Race and its culture, Germany shocked the world by her purging the country of the Semitic races – the Jews. Race pride at its highest has been manifested here [India]. Germany has also shown how well-nigh impossible it is for Races and cultures, having differences going to the root, to be assimilated into one united whole, a good lesson for us in Hindusthan to learn and profit by.
"The ultimate vision of our work ... is a perfectly organised state of society wherein each individual has been moulded into a model of ideal Hindu manhood and made into a living limb of the corporate personality of society."
Madhav Sadashiv Golwalkar, 'Supreme Chief', RSS
The Middle-East and India, September 6, 2011
Trying to understand American society and politics without studying religion's role is probably like attempting research on the country’s food habits without considering its fast food addiction.
People in the Middle East and the Indian subcontinent were intrigued by the unexpected inclusion of "Shariah" in America’s national conversation a few months back. Amy Sullivan writing in USA Today on June 12 noted how Republican presidential candidates, “felt the need to speak out against the menace of sharia."
Several prominent U.S. politicians got on and sheepishly off the sharia bandwagon.
They might have had more traction with another issue they should probably nip in the bud - right wing Hinduism in America, bent on spreading ‘Hindutva,’ a Nazi inspired philosophy of hate from India. It is the brainchild of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), a pseudo religious Hindu organization which controls the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the main political opponents to India’s ruling UPA Congress coalition of Sonia Gandhi.
David Briggs, writing in The Huffington Post (4/28/11) in an article titled, “Hindu Americans: The Surprising, Hidden Population Trends of Hinduism in the U.S.,” notes that in “the first effort to conduct a Hindu census in the United States, the Santa Barbara, California-based Institute of American Religion discovered some 1,600 temples and centers with an estimated 600,000 practicing Hindus.”
“For better and worse, however, the latest incarnation of Hinduism in the United States has gone largely unnoticed by most Americans,” says Briggs, adding, “That number could easily rise up to the estimated 1.2 million who self-identify as Hindus.”
In his “Letter to A Young Hindu,” Vijay Prashad, the George and Martha Kellner Chair in South Asian History and Professor of International Studies at Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut, writes: “More than a decade ago, I used the term "Yankee Hindutva" to describe the way Hindu chauvinism came into the United States. Eager to branch out to the Diaspora, the RSS and its subsidiaries ... took advantage of multiculturalism to build their foothold here. Not for the American audience an unadulterated anti-Muslim rhetoric (that would come only in some "safe" spaces, and more aggressively, after 9/11).”
Most Americans do not noticeably relate to other Americans on the basis of their religion as Indians do. My own view is, people are people, not Buddhists, Christians, Hindus, Jews, Muslims, Sikhs, etc. However, not everyone is secure in a plain vanilla human identity - many people must tout a religious face.
Why isn’t humble, authentic faith in God, rather than being hooked to a religion, an adequate identity?
In India, the caste system still controls people; in America, denominational preferences have polarized many Americans.
In both America and India, the resurgence of a religious right wing is obvious in politics and society, but it is absurd to tar the American right with the same fundamentalist brush. It is poles apart from the Hindu right, which is marked by its dangerous fascist ‘Hindutva’ ideology. The assertion of a native Hindu tradition with a profound spiritual heritage is certainly justified, but its current rabid avatar in the RSS’ saffron color makes a mockery of an ancient belief.
Nonetheless, religion is an addiction in both America and India, and its conventions seem to have made one country very sexy and the other very sleazy. Half of all marriages in Hollywood-obsessed America end in divorce, regardless of one’s religion. And Hindusthan, the Persian term geographically denoting India, is one of the most corrupt countries of the world.
The cliched ‘born again’ label may be despised by many Americans (and others), but American evangelicals are mainly identified for their strong support of socially conservative policies, being pro-Israel, anti-abortion, anti-same-sex marriage, and for sending missionaries worldwide. Not for the murder of minorities on home ground and the unscrupulous fascist politics that ‘Hindutvadis’ are known for in India.
After orchestrating modern India’s first state sponsored anti-Muslim pogrom in Gujarat as recently 2002, when several thousand Muslims and Hindus were massacred, today the Hindu right wing waits for another shot at power, as the main Opposition Party in the Indian Parliament.
Mohandas Gandhi died for standing against these right wingers; he was proud of his own Hindu convictions, but he innovated with notably Christian influences, and Jainism, Buddhism and Islam.
Knowing how he rejected the Hindu right, it is distressing to see many middle class Indians reject the Mahatma’s spirituality, by consenting to the same political ideology that took his life.
Growing up in India, many of my closest friends were Hindus, Muslims, and Sikhs; only much later did I discern that religious militancy exists in all religions. Fundamentalists carry their baggage with them wherever they go. It is intriguing how a mere suffix to a word subverts what people believe in. One cannot link violence to Buddha or Christ, but you can find fanatics in Buddhism and Christianity, like you can in Islam and Hinduism.
The danger in India is real: If the fascist BJP plays its cards right, it has every opportunity of coming back to power in India, in 2014.
Is it Sharia that should give Americans cause for concern, or should they keep an eye on Hindutva as a potential Trojan Horse in America?
Amy Sullivan points out that, “politicians who cry 'Sharia!' are engaging in one of the oldest and least-proud political traditions - xenophobic demagoguery. One of the easiest ways to spot its use is when politicians carelessly throw around a word simply because it scares some voters.”
American filmmaker Nina Paley who received death threats from the Hindu right in America for her animated movie, Sita Sings The Blues, is quoted by Saumya Arya Haas, in The Huffington Post, (7/25/11) as saying, “It's like calling the Ku Klux Klan "Christians." Calling Hindutvadis "Hindus" is especially misleading in the U.S., where people are mostly unaware of violent nationalist groups in India. Last I checked, Hinduism wasn't a religion of hate and intolerance. Hindutvadis' motives are political, not religious, and they hide behind a religious label. Not only does this confuse many Americans into thinking they have some legitimacy, it also, over the long run, harms real Hindus, who are nothing like Hindutvadis.”
Her movie, an adaptation of the epic "Ramayana" mythology, is a feminist interpretation of the epic loved by Hindus. Paley made the film biographical by including her own failed marriage.
Commenting on the opposition to the film’s screenings, Haas, the Executive Director of Headwaters/Delta, warns, “While I support anyone, of any or no faith, who wants to screen and discuss the film, this is a game-changer. These are Hindus being shut down, and shut out, by other Hindus. This no longer about an American filmmaker interpreting the Ramayana, or a feminist perspective on ancient texts. This isn't about colonialism or cultural appropriation. It's about a controlling group trying to bully their opinion into being the only opinion.”
* * * * *
"My claim to Hinduism has been rejected by some because I believe [in] and advocate non-violence in its extreme form. They say that I am a Christian in disguise. I have been even seriously told that I am distorting the meaning of the Gita when I ascribe to that great poem the teaching of unadulterated non-violence.
"My religion is a matter solely between my Maker and myself. If I am a Hindu, I cannot cease to be one even though I may be disowned by the whole of the Hindu population.
"I still hold the view that I cannot conceive politics as divorced from religion. Indeed, religion should pervade everyone one of our actions. Here religion does not mean sectarianism. It means a belief in ordered moral government of the universe."
Mohandas Gandhi
[Courtesy: The Washington Times]
September 13, 2011
Conversation about this article
1: Baldev Singh (Bradford, United Kingdom), September 13, 2011, 11:15 AM.
Humans are misled easily by dogma because they are vulnerable to superstition. South Asians in particular are 'run' by superstition, especially Hindu rituals, because they are based on magic and absence of personal accountability. Guru Nanak tells us that even if there were no human life on earth, worship of the Creator would still happen continuously with the flagrance of flowers. South Asians today urgently need contraception, moral values and ethics, not mindless and senseless political dogma of hate and violence.
2: Prakash Singh Bagga (India), September 13, 2011, 12:14 PM.
Hindutva has never been a concept of Indian culture. It is a newly generated ideology, created artificially to assert the dominance of a single community. Such concepts are far from any true understanding of Dharam. It is only a political gimmick. If we critically analyze it, we would find that in many ways, other communities - minorities, for example - have also contributed for the generation of such evil: by indifference, condoning, tolerating, or simply turning a blind eye. Also, in the present day, where self interests are vital and dominant, how can anyone expect to understand the true meaning of religion, any religion.
3: Karam (Ahmedabad, India), September 13, 2011, 12:53 PM.
Our own leaders who've sold their souls to Hindutva nuts are no better. I just saw 'Jinne mera dil lutiya', a Punjabi film. There is a Sikh-looking character with a trimmed beard. He repeatedly praises some idol called 'mataji' which I trust is no other than the Hindu Durga. What are the S.G.P.C. or other Sikh organizations doing about it? Why are they lying low. This pseudo-Sikh character, instead of saying 'Waheguru', is repeatedly seen and heard proclaiming "jai mataji," something a Sikh would have to be really moronic to utter. I was dismayed. The film I am talking about was released, not in Maharashatra, BUT PUNJAB!
4: Bibek Singh (Jersey City, New Jersey, U.S.A.), September 13, 2011, 3:21 PM.
"Hindutvadis' motives are political, not religious, and they hide behind a religious label" - a great take away from this article. Also reminded me of Guru Granth Sahib's line - "hindoo annaa ..."
5: Baldev Singh (Bradford, United Kingdom), September 13, 2011, 5:37 PM.
Just to add to your concern, earlier this year at the 'Media Office' inside the Darshan Deori of Darbar Sahib, I met the Editor of the Punjab TV Station which relays live recordings of gurbani, standing with a couple of Sikhs next to him. When I mentioned to them the urgent need to explain gurbani properly to the masses and to clarify that the multi-armed Hindu goddess, Durga, was not real but mere figment of myth and superstition, one of the Sikhs retorted that this was rubbish, that Durga was indeed real, and that I had no right to interfere. They remained quiet and unresponsive, and shrugged me off, when I went on to plead that we need to educate Sikhs against sacrificing animals, children and sometimes adults, to such 'goddesses' - as has been reported of a number of Hindu practices - and against, inter alia, forced marriages, dowry and boy-child preference, all of which are hardly the stuff of any true religion.