Within twenty-four hours, the people of Bharat experienced two completely contradictory events. While dedicating the Kashi Vishwanath Dham Corridor at Varanasi, Prime Minister Narendra Modi presented the entire vision of Hindu Civilisation that connects and converges ancient wisdom with modern requirements. The spectacular event of rejuvenation of Kashi was as significant as the Somnath moment of 1950. The emotional connection of the entire nation with the holy city was obvious. Just a day before this historic event, while addressing a rally, apparently meant to raise the issue of price rise, Rahul Gandhi continuing his tirade against Hindutva (Hinduness), made all bizarre comments and allegations on ‘Hindutva’ with all the comic gestures possible. “Hindus, if they stab, they stab from the front, Hindutvawadis stab from the back” was the crux of his argument, but the conclusion was that the rule should be Hindus and not Hindutvavadis. Though this argument can be discarded as a junk, at the sub-text level, it needs decoding with more profound analysis.
Hinduism (Hinduvad) is good, but Hindutva (Hinduness) is wrong, is an old argument made by a Congress intellectual poster-boy Shashi Tharoor. Though this thesis had received a decisive blow in the 2019 General Elections itself, it finds resonance among the usual Hindu-haters, secular-communist conglomerates. The entire edifice of Nehruvian Secularism was constructed on denigrating the Hindu civilisational ethos which did nothing except backstabbing Hindus from Independence itself. At the time of Partition, Hindus were not given either time or security to come back and a fair refugee policy was denied to the victims of forced migration. Hence we still have to face issues like Citizenship Amendment Act. The same secular gang mocked the renovation of the Somnath temple and targeted Sardar Patel and Dr Rajendra Prasad for supporting the same. The ailment of Nehruvian secularism has crippled the country with chronic socio-cultural, economic and governance-related problems. The entire Ram Janmabhoomi issue was deliberately kept in a legal tangle. The imposition of Article 370 forced Hindus of Jammu-Kashmir to leave their homeland. An attempt to bring in communal violence was made to target Hindus. In the Right to Education Act, Hindu trusts and institutions’ entire structure was brought under Government–control while exempting the so-called minority institutions. The acts of slaughtering a cow in Kerala, siphoning off the donations of Hindu devotees to temples, coining the term Hindu Terror and declaring minorities to have first right on the country’s resources, etc., to prove ‘secular’ credentials are classic cases of backstabbing Hindu society by the Nehruvian Congress. After losing the plot in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, Congress opted for a strategy of being a seasonal Hindu. By saying Hindus should rule Bharat, not Hindutwavadis, Rahul Gandhi, in a way, accepted the ultimate defeat of Nehruvian secularism.
On the other hand, the resurgence of the Civilisational corridor at Kashi delivered the message for amalgamating spirituality with scientific temper, connecting all corners of Bharat and amicably correcting the historical wrongs. This approach is the Hindu way of synthesising things that look apparently contradictory. Whether you want to accept it as Hindus or people propagating Hinduness (Hindutva), actions on who has done what to Hindus and fundamentals of Hindu civilisation will determine who the real Hindus are. Meanwhile, the conclusive defeat of Nehruvian secularism that survived bleeding the Hindu society and culture is complete and without Hindus and Hindutva, no one can take this country forward. PM Narendra Modi has reiterated this in style at Kashi while Rahul Gandhi has conceded the ideological defeat in Jaipur.
Prafulla Ketkar, is the Editor, Organiser (Weekly) since 2013. He has a experience of over 20 years in the fields of research, media and academics. He is also Advisory Committee School of Journalism, Delhi University. He has been writing on issues related to International politics and foreign policy, with special reference to China and Democracy, Hindutva, and Bharatiya Civilisation. He was also a member of the Editorial team of the recently published Complete Works of Pt Deendayal Ji in 15 Volumes. He has 2 books, 29 academic articles, 2 entries in Encyclopedia of India and numerous articles to his credit.
- Prafulla Ketkarhttps://organiser.org/author/prafulla-ketkar/
- Prafulla Ketkarhttps://organiser.org/author/prafulla-ketkar/
- Prafulla Ketkarhttps://organiser.org/author/prafulla-ketkar/
- Prafulla Ketkarhttps://organiser.org/author/prafulla-ketkar/
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