Hinduism Today III

After Part I and II

The Muslim League’s movement, which led to creation of separate state of Pakistan, proved to be its peak. For details one might refer to this excellent article by Sepoy at Chapati Mystery. Increasingly it becomes apparent to the keen observer of the sub-continent’s history, during the period of independence of India, the Indian National Congress was conceived to be the pro-Hindu party while the Muslim League was the mouthpiece of the Muslims. In the period after the Independence, this perception appears to have changed diametrically, with the Bharatiya Janata Party being the representative of Hindus and The Indian National Congress being seen by most Indians as the mouthpiece of non-Hindus. In this most amazing reversal of roles, the only unidentified party seems to be the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh – RSS. During the period of Independence and the subsequent partitions, the RSS emerged as the self-appointed flag bearer of Hindutva. Nurtured mainly by the Hindus from the state of Maharastra, their ideologue Nathuram Godse was later to kill Mahatma Gandhi. In his book titled “Gandhi Badh Kyon?” (Why Killing Of Gandhi?), he states many perceived betrayals of Mahatma Gandhi to the Hindu cause as the reason for this killing. The main points of his statement can be summarized as

a) During 1939-40 till 3rd June 1947 the Indian National Congress bowed before Jinnah and agreed to creation of Pakistan under the leadership of Gandhi.
b) Gandhi went into fast till death, to pressurize Indian government to pay Pakistan 55 Crores as compensation.

It is interesting to note that, although these were the general perception of the Indian populace during that time, nobody ever owned up the cause. During the last several years of independent India, the facts of that period have never been discussed to its logical conclusion. Mahatma Gandhi, the father of the nation remains the holy cow, and no discussion has ever been tolerated about him.

The RSS went on to create its political wing named “The Hindu Mahasabha”, which later transformed into Jana Sangha and ultimately to the Bharatiya Janata Party. After trying for several years unsuccessfully to come into main stream politics, their time finally came after the Ram Janma Bhumi movement which culminated into breaking of a 18th century mosque at Ayodha in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, built by the Mughal emperor Babar (founder of Mughal empire in India) at the site of the Hindu god Ram – according to the legends. This was followed by wide scale violence across India. This followed by the Hindu votes being diverted in favour of the BJP, and they formed the government with many other smaller regional parties under the name of National Democratic Alliance (NDA). They were defeated in the subsequent 2004 general elections, which apparently resulted in much behind the screen soul searching at BJP. During a vist to Pakistan as the leader of opposition, the BJP president at that time (June 2005) called Jinnah secular. This resulted in a huge controversy and Advani had to resign as party president. It was later found that this comment of Advani was on the lines of Bhopal Papers submitted by Sudheendra Kulkarni, BJP national secretary (later resigned). Mr Kulkarni in his papers had advised the BJP leadership to drop the Hindutva agenda, carve out an identity for itself as an entity not tied to the RSS' apron strings, and woo Muslims. Mr Kulkarni continues to write for a leading Indian daily, The Indian Express. The BJP, inspite of best efforts of RSS, has rapidly emerged as the alternative party to the Congress, and it appears to be just a matter of time before it becomes just the other option that the Indian voter goes to when they have had enough of Congress, as is evident from the fresh results of by elections in India.

On a related note, the Buddhists, Jains and Sikhs (all sub sects of Hinduism) claim to be independent entities from Hinduism. The Buddhism has almost vanished from India, the place of its birth, and survives (flourishes) only outside India. Some Hindu scriptures had started referring to Buddha as another incarnation of Vishnu, a god of Hindu pantheon. This feature of Hinduism, of internalizing any available religion, is another matter of pondering. This probably overwhelms other religions and they prefer to flee to keep their identities from being overtaken by the Hinduism.