From 75 years as a free country, India has never faced a more serious catastrophe. Since 2014 the scenario has completely changed. Indian history is manipulated; Indian institutions – its courts, much of its media, its investigative agencies, and its election commission – have been pressured to fall in line with the central government’s policies. The idea of Hindutva, in its fullest idiom, will ultimately involve undoing the constitution and unravelling the fabric of liberal democracy.
The BJP’s blueprint for a country in which people are graded and assessed according to their faith, the tumult enthralling India since the passage of the citizenship act – the fever of the protests, the brutality of the police, the viciousness of the politics – has only reflected how existentially high the stakes have become. For seven decades, India has been held together by its constitution, which promises equality to all. We spoke to various think tanks to understand the plight of Hindu’s in India and what they really feel about the existence of saffron as an ideology.
Rupal Mistry, an animation film director said, “The RSS and the BJP’s success, over the past seven years, are owed in part to its adept poisoning of the public discourse. Politicians indoctrinate media outlets and squadrons of social media trolls lie, polarise and demonise all day long. Among their stratagems is the invention of categories of abuse for their opponents, to convey with a single label because such people should not be trusted to have India’s interests at heart. We all know Kangana is thriving on appeasement of BJP, and BJP wants such loose cannons to create unrest in India. I am Hindu and I feel very safe in my motherland, those who see threat should vote out Modi first.”
Political analyst Nishant Varma said, “Multiculturalism in India, even with the inclusion of Religions or Politics which Originated Far from our Land, have infused with suitable amendments. None is followed in its pure form. Left ideology was alien to India. Impressed with ‘European Left’ ways of Politics, was adopted here. Pointing in precision to Communist Policies, it’s a fact that BJP has officially learnt Maoism from CPC China, in the last 20 years. Hence, with the RSS thought process admixture with Left ideology, it’s BJP and RSS ‘Hindutva’ which threatens Existence of Age-Old ‘Hinduism’, which largely is ‘Sarva Dharma Sambhav’.”
Manojit Singha, a journalist from Assam said, “Indian leaders love to talk about Mahatma Gandhi when they travel abroad. It plays well to the popular notion of India as a land of peace and love and boosts its moral authority as a responsible democracy on the world stage. Why don’t they talk about Subhash Chandra Bose, Dr Ambedkar, Tilak, Bhagat Singh or Savarkar there? So, Gandhi and his ideas came up a lot as Prime Minister Narendra Modi stepped out of India recently for the first time in about one and a half years. Kangana like people does not represent India or Hindu.”
BJP worker advocate Devendra Sharma said, “Left is not in power but the left is in the mind of those who are in power. In theory and practice left is Abrahamic anti-pluralistic anti-Hindu thought. So yes, the left is a threat for Hindus. However, there is a need to define contours of engagement. Theoretically, there is no point in rejecting left aka Marxism without proper critique, engagement is essential. As there is a need to understand these conceptual frameworks from Bharatiya perspective.”
T Shrinivas, a medical professional from Hyderabad said, “India will ever lean towards left ideology. But it had some influence on a small number of the population. Indian diversity and Indian Culture coupled with the conservative Indian character do not allow people to get influenced by these Imported Left Ideologies in the long run.”
Businesswoman Namrata Thakkar said, “If Hindus want to save Hinduism, then STOP practising female infanticide which is one of the main reasons for the Hindu community to have a lesser female population. I have seen many Hindus out of their ignorance blaming other religions for the decline of Hinduism. The fact is that many Hindus themselves are responsible for the decline of Hinduism because they shamelessly prefer male children over female children. In my opinion, Hindus should learn from Christians regarding the importance the latter gives to gender equality. If Hindus live in the majority and are undivided, there is no threat.”
Material Scientist, Odde Siva Kesavam said, “As Hindus, we are not taught to be aggressive. So far, many people tried to play with the Hindus, and the Hindu religion, and the Hindu Gods. I don’t think anyone had succeeded in the past, nor do I think they would succeed in the future.”
Rishi Banerjee, a Software Engineer writes, “Well, it would be more apt to say Hindus have been in danger since the “homecoming” of Islamic bigots in the 11th Century AD. Hindus have been in danger since the day we decided to fight amongst ourselves and started responding with this one very retarded phrase, “not every minority”. I have nothing against minorities, but it is clearly very evident how the persecution of Hindus in the hands of other people goes unnoticed.”
Abhijeet Karkare an avid reader says, “A community which existed from Afghanistan to Myanmar has now lost Afghanistan, seeing the birth of Pakistan and Bangladesh 75 years before, which are based on rabid anti-Hindu ideology. A community that was 100%, 1000 years before has now shrunk to 65% in United India (including Pakistan and Bangladesh) is fast losing its grip on Kerala, Bengal and Assam and already lost Kashmir. Muslim decadal growth rate is 1.5 times of Hindus (2011 census), couple it with conversion in form of Love Jihad and also Missionary conversion to Christianity, Hindus are rapidly losing the demographic advantage. On top of this lack of organization, Western influence, lack of spine to stand up for one’s own defence, not able to distinguish enemies from friends after 1000 yrs of persecution and not supporting nationalist organizations like RSS, VHP and others. Don’t you think Hindus are in real danger of becoming extinct?”
