HINDU CHAUVINISM
Gandhi's death resulted in the banning of the RSS and the marginalization of the sangh parivar for nearly four decades. There is little doubt that it helped in the consolidation of secular democracy in India.
The banishment of the sangh parivar to the outer peripheries of Indian politics might have been for an even longer period but for the undermining of democracy and the debasement of secularism at the hands of cynical ruling politicians. With electoral malpractices and shameless venality at all levels of the bureaucracy and the political establishment becoming the norm, it was inevitable that organizations which had long remained on the sidelines will come to the fore to claim the right to be given a chance to prove their worth.
But the danger arises when the newcomers mock not only at corruption and incompetence but at the very system. As long as it is a debate between the pros and cons of the parliamentary and presidential forms of government, or of the "first past the post system of election versus that of proportional representation, the parameters remain grounded in tangible realities.
But trouble begins when God is brought into the equation. Then all rational calculations go haywire because one is dealing with an Yigal Amir or Nathuram Godse who was driven by sentiments whose intensity springs from what they deem spiritual sources rooted in myths, legends and supernatural concepts. One is back again in the medieval times of Islam's sweeping victories and the crusades of the Christians against Muslims.
At present it is the warped religiosity of the ultra- rightists which poses a threat to civilized society. The danger comes as much from the Christian revivalists in the US as the Islamic terrorists in West Asia and elsewhere, their equally rabid Jewish counterparts and the Hindu militants. May be in course of time the Japanese cultists will join this backward march, along with representatives from China after the demise of communism.
The efforts of (Hindu) reformers were twofold. One was to rid religious practices of the dross that had accumulated over centuries and the other was to reveal the true essence of the faith. The two processes automatically eliminated the pettiness of bigotry and made the religion stand out in its true glory. There was politics in their endeavors, too, though not for winning seats in legislatures. Their reforms were the result of the impact of Christianity and Western civilization on India and were meant basically to strengthen Hinduism by bringing out its inner core and showing the world its greatness. In the process, religion was also brought into harmony with the modern scientific notions with their emphasis on verifiable experiments. As it sheds its fixed dogmas and superstitions born of the primeval fears of the early man, religion can happily come to terms with today's world, accepting that Galileo was right after all, and seeing God not in the illusion of idols sipping milk but in the wondrous intricacies of the subatomic world and the awesome mystery of black holes.
Revivalism does the opposite. It is a return journey to a primitive priest-ridden past, inimical to a questioning mind and therefore basically against education unless it conforms to set beliefs. In the US, the Turner diaries written by a white supremacist, which inspired the Oaklahoma blast, refer to a race war in the not too distant future in which the "Aryans" will defeat the "Jewish- liberal-democratic" clique, ending in the Day of the Rope when Jews, Blacks and other Non-whites will meet their dismal fate. And by Aryans, the author, William Pierce, did not mean those whose homeland, according to sangh Parivar was in India.
The ultra-rightists favor societies (with) homogeneous character. They seem to be paranoid about "aliens" presumably because they challenge the accepted norms. But the rightists are fighting a losing battle.
(Source: The Indian Express, 13 December, 1995)
