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Reject rightism: Redefining our political orientation

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A discussion on Rightism can hardly take place without Leftism. Although the terms “left wing” and “right wing” originally referred to the seating arrangements of politicians in French Assembly during the French Revolution, the terms in recent times are used to designate ideological positions. Needless to say, the Left and the Right are logically opposed to each other, but these mutually exclusive signifiers form a pair.

Leftism vs Rightism

Left-wing politics, or Leftism, refers to the political position which protests against all forms of oppression and supports equality. The proxies of Leftism is a degenerate form of political activism. The rejection of Leftism is imperative for two distinct reasons. The evolution of Leftism under Western socio-historical tradition makes it exogenous to Bharatiya socio-political tradition. Leftism looks at Bharatiya social formation through a Western lens and attempts to dismantle power dimensions through antagonistic coercion. Again, Leftism has a record of complicit engagement with forces that try to break sovereignty and integrity of Bharat. It is important to note that since Rightism evolves as a binary opposition to Leftism, it is indeed a resisting force to the degenerative Leftist agenda. However, Rightism is not a constructive force and does not define the identity of a Bharatiya.

Neither Left nor Right

Rightism, knowingly or unknowingly, gives importance to Leftism since we align our activism as a resisting force against the degenerate Leftist agenda. Indeed, we need to oppose the Left, but our primary political activism cannot be Rightism since it is predominantly a resisting force and not a constructive force that nurtures our roots. In clear terms, to nurture our civilizational roots we are neither Leftist, nor Rightist.

From discovery to criminalization

Jawaharlal Nehru published a book with an interesting title, The Discovery of India (1946). Echoing Nehru, Shashi Tharoor, a Congress leader, entitled his book Nehru: The Invention of India (2003). Congress’s play with “discovery” and “invention” is unclear, and the signification hardly elevates beyond superficiality. What is lacking in their book is a deep sense of Bharat.

After independence, our country fell in the hands of leaders who had love for power but had no vision. Such leaders had not properly represented our country to the world. As a consequence, what we still experience is that the global liberal elites repeatedly attempt at criminalizing the word Bharat. These global liberal elites work in close consanguinity with the liberal elites within our country.

The cold conspiracy of the Leftist nexus operating at local and global levels against Bharat reveals their insidious intention of destroying our Vedic tradition, civilization, sanātan dharma, spiritual knowledge and culture. Such conspiracy makes us aware of the fact that we need to redefine our political activism. The most important pillar of such political activism is spreading awareness about the sense of Bharat. We stay in the country Bharatvarsh, unfortunately, many of us do not know the meaning of Bharat!

Bharat

The consciousness of being a Bharatiya is our devotion (vande mataram) for Bharat Mata. This vandana implies that Bharat is more than a territorial engagement by a political group of people. Bharat (भारत) is related to “भरत” which is derived from भृ verb root (धातुः) meaning to hold and to nurture. One should keep in mind that our country is the home to a wide range of flora and fauna (or rich biodiversity). Bharat (भारत) is a compound word (उणादि) made up of “भा” meaning lustre, or light, or brightness, and “रत” meaning attachment, or devotion, or seeker. Thus, following the nirvachana (निर्वचन) tradition “भारत” also means that which is attached to or devoted to light. Interestingly, the Sanskrit word Bharata is a description of Agni and our country is the home to people who worship fire and sun. Metaphorically, Bharat (भारत) means seeker of Brahma Gyan (ब्रह्म ज्ञान), spiritual knowledge or ultimate wisdom.

The origin of the name of our country is shrouded in mystery. The Rigveda (ऋग्वेद) makes the earliest reference to the name. In 7th Mandala hymns 18, 33 and 83.4-8 of The Rigveda tell the story of Dasharajnya, the Battle of Ten Kings. These hymns enumerate the victory of King Sudas who defeat the entire confederacy of ten kings. Sudas was the descendant of Emperor Bharata who was a descendant of the Puru dynasty.  Again, in the Srimad Bhagabad Gita the word Bharat occurs several times. Both the Kurus and the Pandavas are descendants of Emperor Bharata.

The implication is that Bharat is founded upon the Vedic tradition. The distinct features are: Bharat is a civilization, Bharat is sanātan dharma, Bharat is spiritual knowledge, and Bharat is culture. For a Bharatiya, these are the roots which define our identity.

Political Activism

Our political activism should nourish our roots. It is high time that we align our political activism which nurtures our roots, civilizational values, dharmic tradition, quest for knowledge and cultural ethos. We cannot continue founding our political activism on western ideological orientations — left, right, centre, centre-left, centre-right, etc. We need to develop our own ideological orientation in the political spectrum which are in alignment with our Sanatan Dharma and Sanatan Sanskriti. Our political activism should be inextricably Bharatiya whereby we give emphasis on the Bharatiya perspective on political orientation.

A Bharatiya political activism is not Left, Right or Centre. It means our Bharatiya political activism is inseparable from our Bharatiya roots and attached to our identity.

The strengthening of our political orientation needs adoption of definitive steps. The first major step is academic reformation with emphasis on Vedic curriculum. Under this curriculum, the students will be taught Vedic science, Vedic mathematics, Vedic scriptures as well as Vedic way of life. To actualize this curricular modification, every Bharatiya should gain proficiency in Sanskrit language skills — speaking, writing, reading and listening skills. We should search for the four distinct goals of human life (Puruṣārtha: पुरुषार्थ) — dharma (righteousness, moral values), artha (prosperity, economic values), kama (pleasure, love, psychological values) and moksha (liberation, spiritual values) — following the Vedic insights.

The second important step is the promotion of Ayurveda, the knowledge of life and yoga, the knowledge of uniting individual consciousness with universal consciousness, humans with nature and body with mind. This medical practice, which originated in ancient Bharat, knows that plants and minerals can be used as medicines for curing illnesses which have psychosomatic origin. This knowledge system which is inextricably Sanatan provides a balanced dietary guidelines, home remedies, and exercise patterns.

The third is attention to unify our temples. The government control of temples exercises immense restrictions. Not only we should demand for freeing the temples from government control, we should also work for the unification of the temples with a uniform administrative machinery. The day all our temples will come under one umbrella, that day will mark the beginning of a new chapter in Bharatiya history. In contemporary Bharat, temples are the bedrock of culture. At the time when traditional Hindu practices are repeatedly facing court trials, it is imperative to unify the temples for the assertion of Sanatan Dharma and Sanatan Sanskriti. Shockingly, when Sabarimala issue developed the rest of the country was silent as if it was an issue which only bothers Malayalis. Rather, issues such as Sabarimala should involve national participation in protecting the uniqueness of the temple tradition. Similarly, other issues associated with Sanatan Dharma and Sanatan Sanskriti require national participation.

Conclusion

Bharat is experiencing a political change, but a new political phase is yet to begin. A political orientation which is not Left, Right or Centre, but a constructive force that evokes a deep sense of Bharat. Let me reiterate. Bharat is founded upon the Vedic tradition. Bharat is a civilization, Bharat is sanātan dharma, Bharat is spiritual knowledge, and Bharat is culture. To uphold Bharat, our political orientation should be Bharatiya.

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