In the current political environment, where the ruling party and its affiliate organizations are spreading hatred and superstitions among Hindus, it is utmost important to educate Hindus, especially Generation Z (people born between 1995 and 2009), about the real purpose of Hindutva and how it is fooling Hindus.
What is Hindutva and its real purpose
The Hindutva Vadis never liked the diversity of Indian culture. For example, Damodar Sarkar, one of the key Hindutva ideologues, defined 1 a true Hindu in his book Essentials of Hindutva as a person with 1. a common nation (Hindu Rashtra), 2. a common race (Aryan), and 3. a common civilization (Vedic).
This definition is not correct according to history. 1. Hinduism as a religion became popular only in the 19th century and other religions or philosophies like Buddhism, Jainism, and Charvaka which don’t believe in god and Vedas exist. 2. The term Aryans does not denote a race but people who speak Indo-Iranian languages. We descended from inter-mixing of multiple races 3. Indus Valley Civilization existed before Vedic culture. Also, there were non-Vedic local cultures.
Hindutva Vadis have been fooling Indians into thinking that Aryans were native to India and that ancient Indian history was all about the so-called superior Vedic culture.
Also, according to their ideology, Hindu Rashtra should have only one religion (Hinduism) and speak only one language (Hindi). Muslims and Christians are not Indians according to their definition even though they are born and living here. Muslims are vilified as the villains of Indian history and as oppressors. Hindutva is a socio-political strategy to consolidate Hindu votes, stop religious conversions and maintain the Brahmanical social order (caste system) in disguise of Hindu religion. This is why RSS spreads hatred against Muslims and Christians with fake information.
The Belgium-born Indian economist Jean Drèze mentioned in one article
“The Hindutva project is a lifeboat for the upper castes, in so far as it stands for the restoration of the Brahminical social order that places them at the top. Seen in this light, the recent growth of Hindu nationalism is a major setback for the movement to annihilate caste and bring about a more equal society in India.”
Brahminical social order means the Varna System. The purpose of Hindutva is about supremacy of not just Brahmins but also the upper castes who support it. I explained the inclusive outward appearance and the internal casteist nature of RSS and its conspiracies in the this blog post.
This was why they opposed the Mandal Commission which suggested 27% reservations for OBCs in 1980 and are now opposing the caste census.
The BJP may argue that it supported the election of Dalit leaders like Ram Nath Kovind and Droupadi Murmu for presidential positions and gave tickets to leaders from backward communities, but the leaders BJP and other mainstream parties chose from backward communities never speak against the discrimination against backward communities.
Discovery of the Indus Valley Civilization in 1921-22 and Sanatana propaganda
Image: An artist’s impression of Indus Valley Civilization by Amplitude Studios published on worldhistory.org
The Indo-Aryans migrated to the Indian subcontinent after 2,000 BCE in different phases. The IVC lasted from 3600 B.C. to 1300 B.C. The discovery of the pre-Vedic Indus Valley Civilization (IVC), which is more developed than Vedic culture, in 1921–22 archeological excavations was a big blow to Hindutva propaganda. Since then, they have been trying to find suitable or distorted archeological data to propagate that Vedic culture is Sanatan and it existed before the IVC and that Aryans were the settlers of the IVC. The meaning of the Sanskrit word ‘Sanatan’ means eternal, existing, or continuing forever without any change.
Hindutva Vadis false belief in the origin of Indians from a single race (Aryans) and distorting archeological data in a way that fits the nationalist and fascist ideology was borrowed from western fascism like Nazism.
The locations they selected for archaeological excavations were the locations mentioned in Hindu mythologies instead of the historical locations.
The way they conducted the excavations are often not as per the standards of Archaeological Survey of India. The reports they produced are also distorted or inconclusive. The following are some of such projects Hindutva Vadis initiated during the BJP’s tenure.
Project ‘Archaeology of the Ramayana Sites’
From 1968 to 1972, Braj Basi Lal, Director-General of the ASI, conducted excavations at Ayodhya. In 1990, he mentioned the discovery of the pillar bases of Ram Mandir (Without firm evidence) in an article published in Manthan, the journal of the RSS. This highly controversial claim, along with other so-called discoveries made in 1992, were used as evidence to prove the existence of Ram Mandir under the Babri Masjid. Many archeologists questioned this controversial report, which I discussed in the next section. A large group of activists of the Vishva Hindu Parishad and other allied organizations of the RSS demolished the Babri Masjid on December 6, 1992. I explained more about this in the next section.
Projects to Aryanize Indus Valley Civilization and Indian History for Sanatana propaganda:
The following projects/reports by Hindutva Vadis were debunked by experts from Archaeological, Historical, Genetical, and Linguistic studies. I discussed these in detail in my other blog post with references from the experts. I’ve mentioned the summary here.
2000 - Fake horse seal of IVC
Horses didn’t exist in the IVC and horses were widely mentioned in Vedic literature. In 2000, Hindutva Vadis distorted the image of the seal of a bull from IVC into a horse to prove that Vedic people were the settlers of IVC.
2003 - Indus-Sarasvati Civilization propaganda
The BJP government started the Saraswati Heritage Project in 2003. They claimed Sarasvati river mentioned in Vedas is today’s Ghaggar-Hakra river that flows in north-western India. One of the reasons for this false propaganda was after the partition of India and Pakistan, most of the IVC sites became a part of Pakistan and they want to claim the sites on banks of Ghaggar-Hakra river in India as IVC sites.
2019 - False reporting of the DNA studies
Cell and Science organizations released findings of two genetical research projects. Both the projects suggested IVC is pre-Vedic and Aryan migration to the Indian subcontinent. But Indian authors who worked in these projects claimed (might be political pressure from BJP or other reasons) there were no Aryan migrations. The other authors didn’t agree with the Indian authors.
2020 - Heritage and conservation projects
The BJP government announced five archaeological sites would be developed as iconic sites with onsite Museums. They are: Rakhigarhi (Haryana), Hastinapur (Uttar Pradesh), Shivsagar (Assam), Dholavira (Gujarat) and Adichanallur (Tamil Nadu). Rakhigarhi and Dholavira are IVC sites. These sites are all located in states ruled by the BJP or BJP with its alliances.
Politics around Ram Mandir, which doesn’t have any solid proof of its existence
No solid proof in the Brahminical texts and historical records
"Those who believe in the historicity of Rama fix his date around 1800 BC, on the basis of the Puranic family tree. But we did not find even a modest settlement at Ayodhya until 500 BC. Also, Vishnu Smriti, which is attributed to about 300 AD, mentioned 52 places of pilgrimage in the 85th chapter, but it didn't mention Ayodhya."
"There does not seem to be any possibility of the stone pillars being appropriated by the mosque from any Ayodhya temple. Despite the Buddhist affinities of designs on the pillars incorporated into the mosque, it is significant that no brahmanical (Hindu) idols have been reported from Ayodhya in two important catalogs of Uttar Pradesh, Lucknow State Museum, and The American Institute of Indian Studies, Varanasi."
No standards followed in ASI excavations and no valid archaeological evidence
ASI conducted excavations at Ayodhya in 2002 and submitted the report to the Allahabad High Court in 2003. The Supreme Court gave a verdict in 2019 in favor of building Ram Mandir based on ASI’s 2003 report. Archaeologists Dhaneshwar Mandal, Shereen Ratnagar, Supriya Varma, Jaya Menon and many others questioned the kind of evidence that was used and objected to the results.
Varma and Menon said the 12 debris items mentioned in the report represent Buddhist or Jain symbols.6
“As for the 12 that have been specifically mentioned in the report, all 12 came from the debris lying on the surface of the mound, not from the excavation under the Babri masjid. As mentioned earlier, the debris does not constitute valid archaeological evidence because it was not from a sealed deposit. In this excavation, therefore, what has been found under the floor of the Babri masjid is the evidence that should actually be considered, not what was lying above the floor, which could have been introduced from anywhere. The 12 pieces comprised a stone slab with a ‘srivatsa’ design (symbol of an endless knot), which is associated with Jainism; a stone slab with a lotus design, which could be a symbol in Buddhist or even Jain representations; a stone slab with a lozenge design, which could have belonged to the Babri masjid itself as it matches the lower portion of the Arabic inscription that was there on the mosque”
Strongly disputed Supreme Court verdict:
Historian Romila Thapar said 7
“The excavations of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) and its readings have been fully accepted even though these have been strongly disputed by other archaeologists and historians. One judge stated that he did not delve into the historical aspect since he was not a historian but went on to say that history and archaeology were not absolutely essential to decide these suits!”
What we need to concern is not just about the unfair verdict, but how RSS uses the verdict to plan similar projects, and the politics around the Ram Mandir to fool Hindus.
Mandal Commision, Ram Mandir and Kamandal Politics 1.0 and 2.0
Hindutva Kamandal politics 1.0
As mentioned earlier, the Mandal Commission suggested 27% reservations for backward communities (OBCs) in 1980. The V P Singh’s government declared its intent to implement the reservations in August, 1990. This led to the widespread protests by the people from privileged castes.
The V P Singh’s government implemented 27% reservations for OBCs in job vacancies and educational seats in 1992 despite the wide-spread protests.
The then-president of the BJP, L. K. Advani started Ram Rath Yatra in September, 1990. The goal of the yatra according to BJP was to support the agitation led by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), an alliance-organization of RSS, in building Ram Mandir on the site of the Babri Masjid. But their actual goal serves three main purposes: 1. To prove (wrongly) Hindu mythology as history (Aryan) 2. Consolidate Hindu votes which are likely to split due to the implementation of OBC reservations 3. Counter the threat of OBC reservations to the supremacy of privileged castes.
All of these are collectively called Kamandal Politics. More than 500 people died in the clashes that happened during the Rath Yatra and around 2,000 people died during the demolition of Babri Masjid in 1992. The deceased include both Hindus and Muslims.
The Kamandal politics helped BJP increase the Lok Sabha seats from 35 to 120 and vote share by 11.36%.
Hindutva Kamandal politics 2.0
As mentioned earlier, the real purpose of Ram Janmabhoomi movement was not building Ram Mandir but one of its goals is to spread hatred against Muslims and consolidate Hindu votes. Shankar Reddy, an ex-RSS member exposed the real purpose of Ram Janmabhoomi movement after quitting RSS.
He said:
““I was shocked to hear from Mohan Bhagwat after the elections. He told me personally once, "If Ram Mandir is structured, we cannot create communal riots between Hindus and Muslims, and we cannot provoke Hindus against Muslims.””
I gave more examples of ex-RSS members who exposed the casteist and communal nature of RSS in this blog post.
The inauguration of Ram Mandir close to the upcoming 2024 general elections is Kamandal 2.0. It helps BJP counter the caste census demanded by opposition parties and consolidate Hindu votes.
This is how RSS, BJP and associate organizations have been fooling Hindus.
Footnotes
- Page no. 85 and 116, Essentials of Hindutva by Damodar Savarka: https://archive.org/details/essentials-of-hindutva-veer-savarkar_202106.
- 'The Revolt of the Upper Castes' by economist Jean Drèze: https://www.theindiaforum.in/article/revolt-upper-castes
- page 127, Destruction and Conservation of Cultural Property by R Layton, P. Stone, & J Thomas: https://books.google.co.in/books?id=hEOFAgAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=snippet&q=1800%20BC&f=false.
- page 132-133, Destruction and Conservation of Cultural Property by R Layton, P. Stone, & J Thomas: https://books.google.co.in/books?id=hEOFAgAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=snippet&q=Buddhist%20affinities&f=false.
- Chapter 85, Vishnu Smriti: http://oaks.nvg.org/vishnu-institutes.html#85
- Was There a Temple under the Babri Masjid? Reading the Archaeological 'Evidence' by SUPRIYA VARMA and JAYA MENON: https://www.jstor.org/stable/25764216.
- 'The verdict on Ayodhya: a historian's perspective' by Romila Thapar: https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/The-verdict-on-Ayodhya-a-historians-perspective/article15523346.ece?.
