Organization: Penn State University
Date: Fri, 22 Jan 1993 13:24:47 EST
From: Deepak Srivastava <DXS23@psuvm.psu.edu>
Newsgroups: soc.culture.indian
Subject: Re: What is and isn't Hindutva (Was Re: Dr. Jayaraman's article)
 <C16zwI.I0L@ucunix.san.uc.edu> <1993Jan21.173043.4756@crd.ge.com>
 <C184o0.DJ8@ucunix.san.uc.edu>

In article <C184o0.DJ8@ucunix.san.uc.edu>, bhatnagr@ucunix.san.uc.edu (Raj
Bhatnagar) says:

>The storehouse of knowledge and experiences gathered from all
>such state transitions from *India's past* is what we call the
>*heritage* of India. This heritage forms the *Common Shared Past*
>of all the Indians. All those who consider this to be their
>*heritage* form the cultural entity that we call the *Indian Nation*.
>(Examples of denials of this heritage are mentioned later in this article)
>The political state called India is the political structure that
>this cultural entity *Indian Nation* wants to give to itself at
>this time.
>
>
>And "Hindutva" is merely the name of the principle which asserts
>that Indian Political State must be nothing different from the
>political structure as desired and adopted solely by the cultural
>entity *Indian Nation* (Hindu Nation for BJP/RSS!).
>

The equity of *Indian Nation* with that of *Hindu Nation* for BJP/RSS
is the first and foremost weakness of your argument.



>" " "An Islamic state is essentially an ideological state, and is
>" " thus radically different from a national state."

No argument here but as you later say

>
>You will certainly ask whether all Muslims of India believe
>in the above Maududi-brand concept of Islamic state. My answer is
>that only a small minority actively campaigns for such objectives
>but the large majority plays the role of blind followers of this
>small minority.
>

only a small minority actively plays for Maududi-brand concept
of Islamic State with rest following them blindly because these
small minority - exactly like Singhal, Dalmia, Joshi, Advani etc
- happen to be at the forefront of the bandwagon.

You as as well me may be interested in weaning the blindly following
majority from the leader of the gang but our suggested means may
radically different. The RJB/BM conflict and violent demolition of BM
are the 'rightfull ways' which forces of Hindutva have compelled every
one to trot along. And the Bombay riots, riots in Ahmedabad and Surat
are nothing but the side effects of this medicine that the forces
of Hindutva are forcefully pouring down the throat of the nation.
At this stage no one really knows whether it will be a successfull
way but you (in one of your other posts) have already started
counting this as the positive outcome of the BM demolition.

Now let me suggest the alternative scenereo in which not so much
emphasis is put on the Hindutva and its tactics but on the overall
economic progress of the country as a primary and the resulting
economic, socio- and educational progress of muslim masses as the
secondary goals. In this scenereo it is possible that muslim masses
would have integrated more strongly with the rest of the nation and
we would not be witnessing what is today happening in Bombay, Ahmedabad
and Surat and what tomorrow may happen in Varanasi or some where else.

regards..          Deepak






>some major changes take place.
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>---raj
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Newsgroups: soc.culture.indian