Top seer demands that India be declared a Hindu Rashtra by October 2nd or he would take a Jal Samadhi
A top seer demands India to be declared a Hindu Rashtra by October 2nd and commanded the BJP government to terminate the nationality of Muslims and Christians living in India.
ANI reports that the seer Jagadguru Paramhans Acharya Maharaj of Tapasvi Chavani said in Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh, “I demand that India should be declared a ‘Hindu Rashtra’ by October 2 or else I’ll take Jal Samadhi in River Sarayu,”
The powerful seer Paramhans Acharya has earlier undertaken a 15-day long fast unto death over the issue. The seer broke his fast only after getting assurance from Union Home Minister Amit Shah.
The seer community of Ayodhya has said that it will hold a ‘Hindu Sanatan Dharma Sansad’ in support of the demands made by the seer.
There is an an awakening of a nationalist class of Hindu Indians evoking Hindutva nationalism, the predominant form of Hindu militant nationalism in India. This political ideology was founded by Vinayak Damodar Savarkar in 1923 and championed by the Hindu nationalist volunteer organization Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP), the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) with other organizations, collectively called the Sangh Parivar.
Nathuram Vinayak Godse (19 May 1910 – 15 November 1949) was the assassin of Mahatma Gandhi, who shot Gandhi in the chest three times at point blank range in New Delhi on 30 January 1948. Godse was a Hindu nationalist from Pune, Maharashtra, a member of the political party, the Hindu Mahasabha, and also a former member of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), a right-wing Hindu paramilitary volunteer organization, thus the pitch for a Hindu Rashtra goes back in time.
Most Hindus will identify Hinduism different from Hindutava, calling for a Hindu Rashtra because “Hindu Rashtra” is a political ideology, which seeks to either make non-Hindus second-class citizens or convert the masses to Hinduism. It is a nationalist, political form of religion with very little roots in spirituality, which is why it has taken violent overtures many times in the past.
A few weeks after Narendra Modi was sworn in as the prime minister of India in 2014, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat proclaimed India as a Hindu nation saying, “The cultural identity of all Indians is Hindutva”.
The RSS since its inception in 1925 has been working stealthily to establish India as a Hindu Rashtra. Narendra Modi also declared himself as a “Hindu nationalist,” being trained personally by the RSS since he was 21. The chief minister of UP, Yogi Adityanath openly endorses the plan to make India a Hindu Rashtra. Fueled by their leaders, in June 2017, 150 right-wing Hindu groups came together in Goa to plan to convert India into a Hindu Rashtra.
While the ruling government was setting its gears to position India as a Hindu nation, the climate of India turned stormy in the seven years of Narendra Modi’s reign. The “ghar wapsi” ceremonies to reconvert Christians and Muslims back to Hinduism started getting aggressive. Extreme violent vigilantism against Muslims by the gau rakshaks took place where some were lynched, and the movement against “love-jihad” took mostly in BJP-ruled states.
In some villages and towns, when Christians gathered on Sunday mornings, their church doors were rammed open, pastors and even congregation in the church were thrashed, sometimes so badly that they broke legs, and churches were vandalized. The Hindu fundamentalists made fake reports of forced conversions by the Christians and a few Christians have also been killed over the past few years. Recently a 14-year-old Dalit Christian boy died after acid was thrown over him in a religious hate crime, it is said he became a Christian two years ago and the fringe groups took revenge on him for that, threatening him and his family.
The Hindutva brigade believes that for India’s past glory to return she must be reclaimed as a Hindu nation and they attribute the poverty and crime in India to not being an established Hindu nation.
While the ideology of Hindutva is a visionary dream that needs to materialize, it is also rooted in superstition, coated with the soot of fanaticism. Masses of zealot-like spirits have exploded into hatred and intolerance towards minorities, hurling on new names on them such as “urban Naxals, Jihadis, rice bags, Khalistanis” and a myriad of other taunting names.
The Hindutva far from being religious is political and turning terroristic with very violent colors. While the Hindutva groups will argue that they are not like terrorists but are nationalists, the dictionary definition of a terrorist is “a person who uses unlawful violence and intimidation, especially against civilians, in the pursuit of political aims.” This is exactly what they are doing. While they vandalize, attack, and intimidate ordinary citizens, the government remains silent or promotes the Hindutva workers into political positions.
However, India can never become a Hindu Rashtra and Here’s Why:
Demography, Ethnicity, and Religiosity: Unlike Nepal known as a Hindu nation or the Saudi Muslim nations, the demography of India is stupendous and mind-blowing. India has more than two thousand ethnic groups, and four major families of languages, namely Indo-European, Dravidian, Austroasiatic, and Sino-Tibetan languages.
The Indian subcontinent is the birthplace of four of the world’s major religions: Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism. Under the Hindu population are the Brahmins, Thakurs, Dalits, Kshatriyas and caste differences with greater veneration to different gods arise, such as Lord Ram may be worshipped more by a section, and Lord Krishna or Lord Vishnu or Goddess Kali or Goddess Lakshmi or Lord Ganesha by other. Then others in India practice Islam, Christianity, Sikhism, Buddhism, Jainism. Zoroastrianism, Yungdrung Bon, the Baháʼí Faith, Sanamahism, and Judaism also have a history in India, and each has at least several thousand adherents in India.
Christianity has existed in India for over 2000 years, and Islam actually came to India via Arabian traders in the 6th century and they used to frequent the western coast of India and also the Sufi saints and they blended together, worked in harmony with local Hindus and built and prospered the areas they lived in, where there was peace, acceptance and tolerance. The first mosque was built in Kerala in 629 AD whereas Mughals came to India around 1526 AD
With such rich ethnicity and many religious conglomerates which existed for centuries, living peacefully over thousands of years, can it be so easy to break it up in the 21st century with militant forceful declarations of ‘a Hindutva” nation? Muslims and Christians are not immigrants, they are Indian nationals in ethnicity.
There are 1,000,000 people in India who are Anglo-Indians, and 700,000 Westerners from the United States are living in India. They represent over 0.1% of the total population of India.
The ethos of India over centuries has been tolerant and secular and to suddenly stifle millions of Indians to shuttered silence would be criminal and face resistance. Incidentally, India’s population is 1.38 billion people, second to China, which consists of the largest population. With such staggering belief systems, perhaps the Hindutva movement has miscalculated the ramifications of their enforced execution to convert Indians to one major religion or push the others as second-class citizens.
Throughout history, the bloodiest wars in the world were fought over religion and in the 21st century, it would be wisest to leave people’s faith and religion to the pure sanctity of their souls. The highest form of religion would be tolerance and humanity, and God the Divine Creator would favor such efforts with most crown blessings.
The unique aroma of India unlike any other nation in the world releases a beautiful blend of its unique cultural mix.
History of Invaders and Traders Made Indian Tapestry More Inclusive: In 180 BC, the Indo-Greeks, invaded parts of northwest and northern India and ruled in the Punjab region. Intermarriages took place with new emerging mindsets and cultures. The Achaemenid conquest from Iran of the Indus Valley and governance of the territories of the North-western regions of the Indian subcontinent took place from the 6th to 4th centuries BC. The British ruled India for nearly 200 years.
Christianity came to India 2000 years ago through travelers to India from the Middle East and Syria.
There was the era of Portuguese autocratic rule from 1510–1961 where the Portuguese invaded Goa in 1510, defeating the Bijapur Sultanate. The Portuguese rule lasted for about 450 years, and heavily influenced Goan culture, cuisine, and architecture.
Islam actually came to India in the seventh century as a religion of peace via Arabian traders who used to frequent the western cost of India and the first mosque was built in Kerala in 629 AD and also the Sufi saints and they merged with Hindus in tolerance, trade and secularism.
The Mughal empire was founded by Babur, the first Mughal emperor, was born in present-day Uzbekistan, and became ruler of Kabul in Afghanistan. From there, he invaded the kingdom of the Lodi Afghans in northern India in 1526 and established a dynasty that was to rule for three centuries.
While the Adivasis, Scheduled Tribes, were the earliers inhabitants of India, Dravidians entered India from central Asia around 1500 BCE.
The Indo-Aryan (North Indians) migrations started in approximately 2000 BCE, presumably coming from the regions of Iran.
With countless invasions, and cultures and religions intermingling, the multifariousness of India is unsurpassed by any other country in the world.
India has a Strong Secular Climate: Because of India’s heterogeneity, unlike many other nations, the foundation of India is very strongly democratic even before the Constitution of India was founded on 26 January 1950. This enabled India to thrive far ahead of its neighbors in inventions, entrepreneurship, and manufacturing industries, the movie industries, and many other supersonic developments.
Studies reveal that secular nations over the globe are doing better than dictatorships and are safer and healthier. On the contrary, it has a better possibility of being safe and healthy in the 21st century.
Thus trying to break down the secular spirit in India will decrease the quality of life and happiness.
While the Hindutva feel that India will do better under a Hindu Rashtra, we do not have to look very far when we look at Uttar Pradesh and other BJP ruled states. There are enough examples to see it is not working. Not only are the crime rates the highest, but minorities such as the Dalits, Muslims, and Christians are severely crushed, muffled, and treated brutally, which never was the case before.
Due to the caste system, Hindus themselves will resist the Hindu Rashtra: Even Hindus will face discrimination due to the caste system. Dalit Hindus bear the biggest backlash of the caste system. Under a reign of Hindu Brahmin supremacy, they would be made the underdogs and they are already resisting the idea of Hindutva. Already, inequality is seeping through the strong democratic walls of India like an angry flood, threatening to demolish the democratic pillars of India.
A Hindu Rashtra will go against Dharma: Unfortunately, in order to establish a Hindu Rashtra, the present “nationalists” have taken the path of violence. Its very purpose is defeated at the onset. Religion has to be embraced by human will and not forced in order to succeed. The bullying modes of the Hindu “nationalists” have caused the new generation of youth to resist their movement, driving them deeper into secularism, and they say, “We want no part of a communal India.” The youth are suddenly aware of the importance of tolerance and love, and a new movement is resonating to counter the Hindutva “hate.”
Spiritualism will be manipulated for personal gain: There will be no Supreme Court or edicts of the law, as we formally know. Humans easily gravitate to their baser selves and while “saints” who rule will claim a form of spiritualism to manipulate their narrative to achieve their goals.
There will be no boundaries, no checks or balances, no absolutes, black or white, wrong or right. Humans left without boundaries will destroy each other. The Constitution administers justice, but will be wiped out in a Hindu Rashtra left to the mercy of saints and seers who do as they think is right.
A Hindu Rashtra will witness the return of separatist insurgencies and weaken India from external threats: This will only push Kashmir into deeper levels of conflict, Punjab, and the northeastern states are also most likely to witness the return of separatist insurgencies. New groups will arise as people will fight back for freedom of expression of their religion. Perhaps the rulers of the Hindu Rashtra may think they could shoot down all the resisting people, but such drastic acts will have serious consequences.
Trade will be destroyed: With internal peace and stability fragmented, a Hindu Rashtra will be busy fighting internal problems with no time to deal with outside threats. With insurgencies and instability rising, India’s trade will be curbed as no nation wants to open fresh business deals with an unstable nation. All the war-torn nations over the globe are financially ruined. Our neighbors will delight in our downfalls and vex our borders with more threats.
The Army will be weakened: While the Indian Army is one of the most diverse and secular institutions in the country with a large force of minorities serving in the Army, this will also break the harmony of the armed forces and bring in divisions and remove the effectiveness and powerful unity the Army once had.
Conclusion: Prosperity and development transpire in an atmosphere where freedom of thought and expression is abundant, and religious freedom is treasured, held within the secret chambers of the soul as sacred and no one should meddle with it. If Hindutva is forced upon people, dictatorship will take over and never reach a divine destination and only bring destruction, bloodshed, tears, and smoke, mingled in ashes. Right now, Indians have to unite and accept our diversities as a beautiful tapestry and we will be a powerful nation.
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