Replace Rama by Krishna: Part 1

The premise of this article is that, you believe in these seven points.

1. A nation is united only on the basis of certain shared traits which are either linguistic, religious or cultural.
   
2. In India's case, given the diversity of languages, cultures, castes, classes this uniformity is not possible.
3. The most common underlying element shared by all of us is a sense of common history (starting from Harappan and Vedic period), and the overall similarity of different cultures. The sources of these different cultures are similar. Our diversity has a strong underlying cultural basis . We share the same philosophy of life, same values and same aspirations . These provide a strong cultural and a civilizational basis for a nation. (The above point needs more explanation, but everyone agrees about the similarity of different cultures, traditions in India, and that we regard the most ancient symbols etc as part of our heritage and respect them even today, ex- Asoka's dharmachakra on the national flag, satyameva jayate as our national motto etc.). This description includes everyone, whoever respects this heritage and other things (including Muslims, Christians ), into the concept of hindutva, as long as they respect this heritage.
   
4. Since this cultural heritage has been largely influenced by Hindu ideals, there is a "Hindu soul" of this country.
5. If the nation has to prosper and stay united against external threats and give these threats a suitable reply, that unity has to derive its strength from this 'Hindu soul'.
6. Western paradigms of national unity, based on uniformity cannot be applied to India. We cannot blindly copy their political ideas and systems without re0moulding them to our conditions.
7. Each culture and nation in this world has its own distinctive characteristics and features, and they contribute to overall human culture. The overall aim of all cultures is prosperity and peace. Now, since each of the culture is unique, no culture can be allowed to deliberately destroy the other. Cultures can always mix and evolve, but the relation has to be mutual. The current western dominated cultural expression has destroyed native cultures everywhere (south America, Africa, south-east Asia etc) all of which have become cheap copies of western model of consumptive lifestyle. The west, in turn has absorbed very little of these cultures. India will soon go the same way, unless people are made aware of this cultural destruction. We should try and preserve our cultural heritage, without any kind of associated dogmas, while evolving and absorbing the western ideals as well.

These are some of the core ideas of Hindutva ideology, and it is from these seven points that distortions of various kinds occur. Like the pub attacks, moral policing etc. But these are distortions and should have been criticized by saffron leadership. Individuals can only be persuaded, not forced.

In addition, if it serves the purpose of uniting the people and improving the morale, then we have no problems in freely mixing religious ideals with politics. Religion and politics are to be mixed, not in a manner which is divisive, but using the religious ideals to unite people politically and to convince them of underlying unity in the face of many differences. Large number of people would regard themselves as religious and if people can be mobilized for a larger cause, using it, then there should not be any problem as long as the intentions are not divisive.

Hindutva as an ideology was articulated by Savarkar, but its basis is actually, how to define the Indian nation? and this has existed since the mid-19th century. When people decided to oppose the british rule, we needed an idea of nation. And, as written before, this was based on the native spiritual and cultural traditions. They provided a distinctive identity to Indian polity and allowed us to question colonial rule. This inspired freedom movement, economic policies and social reform movements. Thus, the idea of India itself combines politics with religion, and they cannot be separated.

One more point, Hindutva, combined elements of both left and right-wing spectrums. though it has characteristics which largely belong to right-wing politics of west. It cannot be called a fascist or right wing ideology. This is left fuelled propaganda in India, to discredit the ideology, and this propaganda has never been given any resistance by ideologues on hindutva side.

One crucial error that Hindutva's rise in 90's did, was the exclusive focus on 'protection of Hindu interests'. This was one of the sub-principles of the ideology, but became the core focus, largely due to Ram-mandir campaign. This focus, painted the ideology in a particular color and also gave it a fascist tinge. It also created a wedge between ideology and non-hindus, and also divided the Hindus. This exclusive focus on 'protection of Hindu interests' was not a problem as long as the ideology held out a promise of better governance and strong economic performance. The opposition had a bad record and weak leaders to offer in reply.

Protection of Hindu interests' led the organizations to paint some communities as parasites, to paint them as outsiders and to question their loyalty towards India. Attacks on missionaries, burning of paintings, targeting actors, moral policing, banning cow-slaughter, fake encounters, etc etc all were the subsets of this single idea. Thus the ideology which was supposed to unite the nation on its basic characteristics, became a divisive one.

This odium was spread into the masses by sangh and its affiliates, without actually delivering on the promises of better governance and growth. This backfired in the largely tolerant society. The single point focus on 'protection of Hindu interests' while treating other points as minor, caused a gradual decline in the overall appeal of the ideology, as the large middle class and the tolerant masses out-rightly rejected the divisions being created. BJP won elections only on the promise of better governance, never again on Hindutva, after 2002 Gujarat elections.