It sounds preponderous to evince Hinduism affronting jeopardy. But facts and figures corroborate the reality. Taking cognizance of this retrogression, Centre for Policy Studies convened a brainstorming session??Hinduism at Crossroads? at India International Centre to discuss this precarious situation of ?the rapidly changing religious demography of India?. Dr JK Bajaj spelt out the gravity of the spiralling situation of Hinduism getting effaced out in certain pockets alone. He squarely put the onus upon the discordant political and constitutional arrangements to check proselytizing. Shri Jagmohan was the moderator to steer a cogent discussion.
Jagmohanji was outright to say: ?We are not a vigilante nation. After all, it is an individual who is the building lock of a nation. We need probity of inner animation to build a nation. One thousand years of civilizational decline has stockpiled garbage and its insidious repercussions notwithstanding all lofty philosophy. Inner motivation and the regeneration of Indian mindscape is the panacea. After the first renaissance in the 19th century, now it is time for another one to infuse inner motivation to rejuvenate the fallow Indian mindscape to burgeon a resurgent India. Reform of society would reify with the fundamental urge to reform oneself.? He bemoaned the absence of an astute helmsman to spearhead the evolution. He bewailed the Jammu Kashmir imbroglio that stands out a symbol of all our weakness. The utter acrimony snowballed as a result of Muslim appeasement policy to grab vote bank. Several new districts were carved out in Kashmir on account of increasing Muslim majority, a deliberate attempt to skew the religious demography.
Shri Subhash Kashyap, an authority on Indian Constitution, made it clear that India was never an ethnic monolith. A chain of infiltrators barged into the country, committed heinous crimes and left behind a slave to rule over us. Why were we enslaved again and again? We need to identify our weakness. To make candid confession, our response as a nation was very pathetic. He also scored out the looming danger from Marxists and Naxalites as they neither believe in democracy nor secularism. As such these pseudo-liberal secularists are the most dangerous. Veritably, the nation is at war.
Some maverick prognosis was put forth by Shri Ajit Doval, former Intelligence Bureau Chief. In most cases a country is destabilised by internal problems and not by external aggression. Hindus have always lowered their locus standi to avert a conflict. But can this docile meekness defer the situation? Sometimes a weaker power impinges upon the more powerful. Policy for appeasement of other religious minorities has wreaked the havoc. The government is not taking cognizance of the fact that by large Muslims have taken jehad as an ideology spanning a humongous tract spanning from East of Europe to Australia becoming a seething hotbed of Muslim terrorism.
Prakash Singh, retired Director General of Border Security Force, deplored the present state when the Hindus are fighting for the very land of their birth, to maintain their entity. Systematic migration of Hindus from various countries is alarming. Shrinking Hindu population from Bangladesh border is a pre-meditated connivance. The ethnic cleansing of Kashmiri Pundits shall ever remain a blot on our nation. But then who'sresponsible? The Hindu lethargy evoking cacophony without any orchestrated voice in consonance. Some inertia is holding us back from becoming missionaries. Our zest for social services is lacking as against Christian missionaries. Our Gurus are often squabbling over issues of aggrandizement. Where is the exalted leadership to lead the Hindus on their right way? The benchmark was set by Vivekanada: ?We need nerves of steel and muscles of iron? to weed out the sordid state.? He lambasted caste practices as followed at the Jagannath Temple in Puri. We have to blame ourselves first than passing the buck over Christian missionaries.
Shri R Venkatnarayanan came as the emissary of Swami Dayanand Saraswati being the helmsman of Swami'sAcharya Sabha. He adopted a pragmatic approach without any detours of itinerant diagnosis and predictions. He mooted the question: What steps do we undertake to retreat the present precipitous course? He ruled out evolving a homogenous Hindu order. Power comes out of politics. But uniting Hindus for vote bank is also a far cry. We ourselves have to develop competence. No political parties have the guts to uphold Hindus. All discussions leveraging ?minorities of all sorts? need to be scuttled at once. He lamented that the maximum advantage of our Constitution is taken by Muslims and Christians. He also castigated the newfound propaganda Of Hinduism as composite culture that effaces out the redolence of Hindutva. Over the issue of defaming Hindu leadership, he however warned that denouncing them would worsen the situation. If the Hindu leaders are not doing anything for the Hindus then what are the Hindus doing for them?
The discerning audience had men of acumen. Bharat Gupt quipped in for a strategy that is nationally and internationally compatible. He berated the media to remain mute over the disparaging ?Joshua project? with its proselytizing diatribe. How beneficial has Pakistan been to Muslims? RK Ohri stressed the need for ?karmic dosage to Hindu society?. It'shigh time for the Hindu camaraderie to stand in unison for self-introspection, candid confessions and to undertake stop-gag measures over the irreparable damage already incurred.
(The reporter is reachable at ratnaub@gmail.com)
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