MyVoice

Just before he was about to die, Raja Ranjit Singh had wished for Kohi-noor to be sent to Puri, at the temple of Bhagwan Shri Jagganath to atone for whatever sins he did living life of a warrior. Ranjit Singh though was born in a Sikh family was more Hindu than Sikh. He used to periodically donate cows to Brahmins, money to various temples including Bhadrakali temple in Patiala, and even had donated 1000 kg gold to Kashi Vishvanath.

When the state of Maharani Ahilya Bai grew in revenues and prosperity she started a campaign to restore and renovate many Hindu temples destroyed by Muslims or left unattended by Hindus themselves, including Baba Vishvnath.

In 1618, Raja Veer Singh Deva Bundela of Orchha built the Janmasthan temple at the cost of thirty-three lakh rupees which was later destructed by tyrant Aurangzeb.

In 1951, Jawaharlal Nehru had expressed strong objection to the presence of president Rajendra Prasad at the inauguration of the Somnath Temple complex, which he believed was against his idea of a ‘secular’ India in which state and religion were to be separated. He even opposed tooth and nail then Congress President Purshottam Das Tandon who was a staunch nationalist and had wanted a constitutional guarantee against religious conversion, supported the construction of the Somnath temple complex. His stands were often tagged by Nehru and his stooges as ‘Hindu Revivalism’.

It was Nehru who was invited to inaugurate the Somnath temple complex but he denied it. Nehru told Munshi, his Food and Agriculture Minister, “I do not like your trying to restore Somnath. It is Hindu revivalism.” Later on, Rajendra Prasad went to the event but in his speech, he also talked about the importance of religious tolerance and the adoption of Gandhian principles.

For decades starting from Nehru to Manmohan Singh, Congress has always been hesitant to embrace, accept and acknowledge the ‘Sanatan heritage’ of India. The majority faith, the very soul and way of life of Indian society. Congress maintained a distance from Hindus and their causes politically. It shunned them politically, behind the doors, and sometimes openly.

Hindus and their issues became a forbidden fruit in India that every politician was instructed not to touch. For decades after independence, Hindus were treated as politically untouchable. Our issues were not raised, our sentiments not respected, and our heritage uncared for. It was left to be looted, molded, and exploited up until 2014 when things finally started to change and the political vanvas of Hindus ended. Though things had started to change with the resurgence of BJP and Ram Mandir’s agitation still it was not at this scale as it is now. It won’t be an overstatement that BJP and RSS have been more than successful in changing the political culture of India concerning India. Hindu politics has finally risen and is here to stay.

In 2014, just after his victory, I remember watching a person on Aaj Tak saying that after 1000 years, a Hindu King has been instilled on the throne of Delhi. I smiled at his affirmation and innocence. I often doubted, what could single Modi do in a country so complex, with such diversity, convoluted constitutional machinery, difficult minorities, cunning, and spineless opposition, and such strong leftist and communist presence in administration, judiciary, and academia But now when I look back, I realize he has done a lot.

His holy dip in Ganga marks the cleansing of this political system that has degraded Hindus and their heritage for decades. It also marked the Pind Daan of Nehruvian and Gandhian politics. Nehru would have got an epilepsy attack if he was alive today seeing the Prime Minister of India taking a dip in Ganga and chanting ‘Har Har Mahadev’ from the stage. This open display of Hindu culture had never been seen in India before, even Atal Bihari Vajpayee was very cautious with it unless it annoyed his coalition partners.

Nehru was more concerned about the welfare of minorities even if it came at cost of the majority of Hindus. Nehru had let go of Kashmir and Aksai Chin. Nehru destroyed Hinduism and petted India while Bharat continued to suffer. Nehru tried to kill the very soul of India, tried to suffocate Sanatan dharma, abhorred our saints and traditions much as Churchill did. Nehru made many blunders in his personal and political life but one blunder which often goes unnoticed was that he was stupid. He was stupid in diluting the adhesive that held Bharata. India was partitioned on religious lines and quiet naturally, India was supposed to be (only) home of Hindus whether they belonged to Tamil Nadu, Andhra, Bengal or Punjab, or Marathwada. Hindu was the common factor gluing all of them. But Nehru in his stupidity mistook these roots for undergrowth and started cutting them without thinking twice.

He considered Hinduism as primitive, unprogressive, and a hurdle in India’s development (though his very own economic policies damaged India more than anything could) He started considering the natives, the outsider, and respected outsiders as natives. Ideally, he should have emphasized common Hindu identity, further strengthened it, any sane man or leader would have done that (See, even to this date how aggressively Chinese try to emphasize common Han legacy) but this fool, unknowingly or maybe knowingly promoted dissociation and disidentification. And that is the reason why even after 75 years of independence there is no common national identity.

Nehru failed to understand that Hindutva or Hinduism is synonymous with non-violence, acceptance, inclusion, and pluralism. Like liberals of today’s age, I think he also feared what if Hindus started acting like Muslims. But he forgot that the Gandhian principles of non-violence about which he thumped his chest on were not Gandhi’s discovery but the gift of Hinduism to mankind. But Nehru regarded Hinduism as an enemy, the Mother faith of India, the ever nurturing timeless culture which he could never understand. And he dedicated his all life to protecting children from their mother and without a mother, every child is destined to go wild and so did India and Indians. He was a fool and never realized that India can only survive, progress and rise if Hindu society survives. The future of India is only safe with Hindus. The political repulsiveness of Nehru soon became a trend and by the time of Manmohan Singh, a protocol. Hindus became politically untouchable and hollow Gandhian and senseless Nehruvian principles dominated the Indian political landscape until Modi came.

Now Modi’s entry into the Indian political arena had been facilitated by RSS which itself works on teachings of Veer Savarkar, Hedgewar, Aurbindo, and many great Hindu leaders, sages, monarchs, social activists, and mahapurusha who dreamt and worked for Hindu Swaraj, right from Shivaji Maharaj to Karpatri Ji Maharaj to karsevaks who got shot.

Modi is not a single night phenomenon, he is here because generations of leaders, Hindus worked and sacrificed themselves. We shall discuss it some other time but for now, let us accept Modi traces his roots to RSS which unlike Nehru acknowledged the importance of Hindu society for the survival of India. RSS never distinguished between Hinduism and India, for them both were obligate to each other’s existence, rather synonymous. They considered Hinduism as an instrument to unite disintegrated Indian society. The glue that could keep India together. They stress on people taking pride in their cultural and spiritual heritage. They even encourage Indian political leaders as well as their followers to embrace their Hindu culture openly. And it is very logical, India is the official homeland of Hindus and for decades its adherents had been treated as second-grade citizens and have paid for the ideological retardation of Nehru and Gandhi. India is Hindu and Hindus are India.

And Modi’s attending of Ram Janmbhumi Pujan or inauguration of Kashi Vishvnath Dham is not only political symbolism or vote bank politics but is a statement and an assertion. It is proof that now political culture that suppressed Hindu identity, that preferred topi over tikka, where going to iftar was secular but attending puja was communal, is finally over. The political vanvas of Hindus is finally over. For the first time in history, the Hindu vote bank is making its presence felt. It is no accident that Arvind Kejriwal who used to mock Shri Ram organized Diwali Puja and even visited Ayodhya, scion of the Gandhi family runs around telling his gotra to people, Akhilesh and Mayawati Ji announcing the building of statue of Bhagwan Parshuram and visiting temples and doing Dharma sabhas. Kanhaiya Kumar who recently joined INC was spotted in a tilak and saffron scarf. Even Mamta Banerjee had to chant the names of Maa Durga to prove her Hindu roots or tell she is a brahmin. It is indeed a new era of politics in India, the Hindutva Politics.

Hindus for the first time after independence have made politicians realize their electoral power and influence. Hindutva is no more shunned but slowly every politician and party is trying to adapt their party to it. No politician wants to annoy Hindus. But this unity right now is fragile but I am hopeful it will last. Hindus should glue to their identity and shun caste politics. We must not succumb to the propaganda of an acharya or any caste supremacist. This Hindu unity needs to survive if you want to survive. Many people who did nothing for our dharma for decades are suddenly claiming our leadership. Hindus should not do it for anyone but their future because casteism makes us vulnerable. Hindutva is strength. It is power.

This is our last chance to protect ourselves and our way of life. We have seen what happened to Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh when they succumbed to alien cultures. India is our last and only home. The strength of India lies in its spirituality and religiosity, it lies in the Hindu way of life. With a progressive outlook and deep devotion to our Janmbhumi and Dharma, we must keep going ahead. This is not the end but a beginning. Never let any setback frustrate you, in a complex state like India things take time and Modi is taking his time. This political acceptance of Hinduism is the first step to Hindu Rashtra. No previous Prime Minister or leader of any party has so openly taken pride and flaunted their Hindu identity. We must show our gratitude to Prime Minister Modi and RSS for they have won the first battle. We must thank them for beautifying our beloved Kashi. As, once upon a time, a Kashmiri MP had said, “Jo Sachh Hai Wo Kehna Chahiye”.

Thank You Modiji!