I read a disturbing article on the 18th of
October 2015 in Hindustan Times titled Hindutva Warriors. It talked about Hindu
fundamentalist groups that are operating across UP and Bihar who promise to
take up arms to ‘save Hindutva’. Hindu
Swabhiman, Hindu Kranti Dal, Hindu Shakti Dal, Hindu Yuva Vahini are groups
that act as a ‘nuclei for mobilising communal activities’ and have been
developed by RSS and VHP.
While I am a Hindu by birth, I am irreligious. I always
believed that religion was akin to hypocrisy but lets leave that topic for
another day. One thing that I like about Hinduism is that it is a very liberal.
Not visiting temples on a certain day of
week, not wearing clothes of a certain kind and holidaying during Diwali does
not attract scorn from fellow Hindus or a threat to be ostracised. But increasingly, I am wary of the
fundamentalists. And our penchant to be non-tolerant including some of my well
educated friends. I don’t know whether we are a progressive society when we want
to scrap Section 377 or we are regressive when we lynch people for eating beef!
Prerna, a single, lives in a one bedroom flat in Shivaji
Park, Mumbai. While she is a devout, she wants to move out of her place as she
cannot stand the overzealous activities of the Shiv Sena dominated area. She
argues that being religious is one thing while being fanatical to the extent of
bordering communal is another. According to her, the hyper mood during
festivities of Hindus in her area makes her feel unsafe. She wants to move out.
From the middle of the 16th century to the middle
of the 20th century, India has been ruled by Muslims and Catholics.
Before, during and after this period, India was a predominantly, is a
predominantly and continues to be a predominantly Hindu nation. I fail to
understand that if those who ruled India for hundreds of years were unable to
threat Hinduism, how can things change now?
Hinduism is the world’s oldest religion in practice. Any
political party or communal group that believes that this religion needs them
as its saviour are either way too naïve or have not understood its potency and
depth.
