Editorial, The Statesman, 21 Oct., 2000
It is funny that KS Sudershan should urge Indian Muslims and Christians to accept their Hindu roots, since "Hindu" itself is a Farsi term, coined by Muslims to describe inhabitants of "Hind" or India not belonging to their religion. "Hinduism" in the sense of a single and unified religion is a still later invention, to which widespread currency was given by the British in the 19th century.
Sudershan ... should be expressing some gratitude: the roots of the notions of "Hindu" and "Hinduism" lie respeetively with Persian Muslims and British Christians. If Sudershan or RSS ideologues were to examine Sanskrit scripture or any Indian text written before Muslims came into India, they would not encounter a single instance of the term "Hindu", or of any term synonymous with it. The closest they might come is the lerm "Arya", but that excludes, famously, the "Anarya", lower castes and untouchables, whom Sudershan may or may not want to number among the Hindu flock. These are people who worship Hindu gods, but who for centuries have not been allowed into Hindu temples. In some cases they were not just untouchable but even unseeable ...
While Sudershan would like Indian Muslims or Christians to "remember" their roots, in the case of Harijans he would enjoin the very opposite - that they should forget the past. But this is difficult ... If Sudershan has a nationalist agenda, delving into roots is the worst possible thing he could do, since elements in Indian culture of "indigenous" or "foreign" origin are too inextricably mixed.
A nationalism based on ethnic or religious exclusivism is also the worst possible strategy in terms of practical politics ... Milosevic's Serb Nationalism, for example. led to the break-up of the Yugoslav republic. Nearer home. Pakistan's steady drift towards Islamic Fundamentalism has earned it the cachet of a "failed statc" ... It passes understanding why the Sudershans and Bal Thackerays should wish to take India down the same route as Pakistan or Yugoslavia.
