The overwhelming majority of Hindus do not subscribe to the philosophy of Hindutva. They see Hindutva as un-Hindu. They prefer a secular India to a Hindu India.

The minority communities of India are avid champions of secularism because they see no contradiction between their faiths and the injunctions of the Constitution. To assert that Hinduism has helped us become secular is, therefore, not to deny that the other religions of this land have also similarly promoted secularism. We are secular because all of us are secular, not because some of us are secular.  (Source: The Indian Express, 26 January, 1999)

 Sajeda Momin on the RSS Objectives, Strategy and Tactics

In Hindusthan exists and must needs exist the ancient Hindu nation and nought else but the Hindu nation. All those not belonging to the national, i.e. Hindu race, religion, culture and language naturally fall out of the pale of real national life ...

" ... There are only two courses open to the foreign elements, either to merge themselves in the national race and adopt its culture, or to live at its mercy so long as the national race may allow them to do so and to quit the country at the sweet will of the national race ... From this standpoint, sanctioned by the experience of shrewd old nations, the foreign races in Hindusthan must either adopt the Hindu culture and language, must learn to respect and hold in reverence Hindu religion, must entertain no idea but those of the glorification of the Hindu race and culture, and must lose their separate existence to merge in the Hindu race, or may stay in the country, wholly subordinated to the Hindu nation, claiming nothing, deserving no privileges, far less any preferential treatment ... not even citizen's rights. There is, at least should be, no other course for them to adopt. We are an old nation; let us deal, as old nations ought to and do deal, with the foreign races who have chosen to live in our country."

The former RSS chief and its main ideologue Guru Golwalkar wrote in We or Our Nationhood Defined, published in 1939, the above about the position of minorities in Hindu rashtra India. The foreigners that Golwalkar speaks of are not aliens born and brought up in another country or holding non-Indian passports, but those who have their roots, ancestors dating back centuries in this land; whose birth, parents, home and even passports are Indian, their only fault is that they believe in another religion.

Sixty years later, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, the militant propaganda wing of the RSS, has tried to give this same thought religious sanction by passing a resolution at a dharam sansad (religious parliament) comprising sants and sadhus affiliated to the Sangh Parivar which defines who is a Hindu and thereby Indian and who is not.

Buddhists, Jains and Sikhs have been allowed into the Hindu fold, while Christians and Muslims have been specifically pointed out as "foreigners" and "aliens". The motivated attacks on the Christian community in recent months and the pogrom against the Muslim manifested in the communal riots before and after the demolition of the Babari Masjid, even the whole of the Ayodhya movement, are a chilling real-life application of what the former RSS chief and its ideologue exhorted decades ago. The VHP, Bajrang Dal, RSS and BJP cadres who go about shouting vicious anti-minorities slogans and indulging in crude violence are only the stormtroopers of an ideology that is equally shared by the likes of L.K. Advani and Atal Behari Vajpayee.

The attacks on prayer meetings, churches, missionary schools, nuns and missionaries are not spontaneous outbursts of anger as passed off by the government, nor are they odd cases of mindless violence. They are a part of  systematic plan which stems from the very essence of Hindutva ideology which sees India as the land of a monolithic Hindu community in which members of other faiths are alion and deserve no status. For the RSS, the principle enemies of the Hindu rashtra are the Muslims and Christians, because according to them they are not "rooted" in the Indian soil, followed by Communists, secular Hindus, Parsis, Dalits, homosexuals and so on-anyone who does not accept and follow their philosophy or brand of politics.

While the murder of Graham Stains and his two young sons was the most horrific manifestation of this orgy of hate, it was not the first. In 1996 and 1997, there were other incidents of violence against priests and nuns ...

Once the media's attention had been focused on the attacks, the Gujarat Government tried a more insidious method of terror. On 2 February, the DGP (Intelligence) Gujarat sent out two separate circulars asking for data on Christians and Muslims. While collecting data in such an

obvious communal manner is illegal, most of the questions were offensive and obviously slanted to fit a particular picture of the community. Apart from the total population of Christians in each district, it asked to identify each Christian house, its occupants; addresses, telephone

numbers; which foreign countries they are encouraged by; and where they get funding from. It also asks, "what type  of trickery is being used by the Christian missionaries for their defilement activities" and requests "dossiers of Christians who are involved in criminal activities and have

criminal attitudes".

The wording implies a predetermined picture of the community - one which is foreign or alien, indulging in anti-national activities and has a criminal bent of mind. The circular on Muslims has similar questions asking for details of those involved in "crime or having a communal attitude." ..

While the government may not have needed this information, these dossiers on Christians and minorities would come in very handy for the RSS to identify the homes and organisations for any future operations. Were copies of the information sheets being sent to the local VHP offices?

In the face of ... criticism ... on 2 March the DGP (Intelligence) officially withdrew the two circulars saying that they were "not necessary" after all. Then why was it done in the first place?

The campaign is by no means over, the methods simply have to change. For the RSS and its affiliated organisations, subjugating the minorities to the position of citizens with no rights is part of their overall ideology for a Hindu rashtra.

The means to the goal simply change along the way to suit the needs of the current political environment. (Source: The Statesman, 7 March, 1999)