C.C. DE GOURDON. THE RISE OF THE HINDU RELIGIOUS FACTOR IN INDIAN POLITICS AND STATE THEORY PP. 219–232 The Rise of the Hindu Religious Factor in Indian Politics and State Theory Côme Carpentier de GOURDON Convener of the International Board of WORLD AFFAIRS – The Journal of International Issues (India). Address: D-322, Defence Colony, New Delhi, 110 024, India. E-mail: [email protected] CITATION: de Gourdon C.C. (2018) The Rise of the Hindu Religious Factor in Indian Politics and State Theory. Outlines of Global Transformations: Politics, Economics, Law, vol. 11, no 4, pp. 219–232. DOI: 10.23932/2542-0240-2018-11-4-219-232 ABSTRACT� We are living in an age of re- er and they usually reject the ‘secular’ view affirmation and revival of religious/nation- that India is the home of a composite cul- al and cultural identities as a reaction to the ture forged out of many domestic and for- sweeping onslaught of socio-economic, cul- eign elements and consisting of diverse eth- tural and technological globalization. In In- nic groups which were brought together as dia the demand for a definition of national a nation by British colonization. This paper identity based on Hinduism or on Hindut- succinctly retraces the evolution and expan- va (Hinduness) predates the achievement of sion of Hindu nationalism in the politics of independence in 1947 and it was gradually the country and distinguishes between the reinforced by successive political crises, such various nuances of the ideology which is as the partition between India and Paki- now the source of inspiration for the Nation- stan, successive wars with Pakistan, the con- al Democratic Alliance led by Prime Minis- tinuing separatist agitation in the Kashmir ter Narendra Modi. It strives to answer the Valley and the rise of large-scale Islamist often asked question: Is India becoming a terrorism since the 11th of September 2001 Hindu State? if not before. Historically a distinction has been made between Hinduism, as the reli- KEY WORDS: India, Hinduism, Dharma, gion and way of life of more than a billion Secularism, Hindutva, Nationalism, Indic, people in India and in other countries and Indian Constitution, Syncretism, J. Nehru, Hindutva, a cultural ideology and a socio- B.R. Ambedkar, Hindu Mashasabha, RSS political doctrine which defines a modern- (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh), Bharatiya ized version of Hindu or in broader sense Janata Party, Muslim League, M A Jinnah Indic civilisation (encompassing Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism and other indigenous mi- nority religions). Many Hindus do not ac- Introduction cept the premises or least the political theory of Hindutva whereas Hindutva proponents In the decades leading up to indepen- may not be ‘believers’ in the ritual and theo- dence from British rule the Hindu majori- logical aspects of Hindu Dharma and may tarian identity of India was accepted as a define themselves as sceptics, materialists or fact by both the indigenous population atheists. However they conceive of the com- and the foreign colonizers� The name Hin- mon Hindu national civilisation and mille- du, of alien (Persian) origin, had an am- nary historical heritage as the cement that biguous significance, being rooted in ge- can bind the country’s diverse people togeth- ography (after the river Sindhu/Hindu or 219 OUTLINES OF GLOBAL TRANSFORMATIONS VOLUME 11 • NUMBER 4 • 2018 Indus in Greek)� All denizens of Hindu- In 1939 Jinnah, the godfather of the stan were since many centuries regarded future Pakistan called the Indian Nation- as ‘Hindoos’, as opposed to the American al Congress a ‘Hindu Raj’ (Hindu Regime) ‘Indians’ and in Latin languages like Span- and broke ranks with its decision to oppose ish or French any inhabitant of India is still the British viceroy’s decision to declare In- commonly called a Hindu� dia at war with the Axis power without a There was also some controversy about popular consultation� Muslim separatists the definition of the hindu religion which systematically sided with the colonial au- encompasses multiple sectarian and cul- thorities against the Independence move- tural identities bound together by geogra- ment which they saw as the harbinger of phy and history� Yet clear distinctions were Hindu majority rule� kept between Hindus, Muslims and other It has been argued that the religious- religious communities of ‘foreign origin’, ly nationalistic discourses of some of the as shown by the cleavages between the two great 19th– 20th century Hindu reformers major confessions which became a criti- and freedom fighters such as Swami Vive- cal factor in the 1857 rebellion against the kananda, Sri Aurobindo Ghose, ‘Lokaman- East India Company and its defeat [Dal- ya’ Bal Gangadhar Tilak and the Maratha rymple 2006; Jain 2010], despite efforts founders of the RSS and other nationalist to bridge old divisions and suspicions be- “identitarian” outfits, V N Savarkar (1883– tween Hindus and Muslims� 1966) first president of the Hindu Mahas- abha, K�B� Hedgewar (1889–1940) and M�S� Golwalkar (1905–1973) who built The Break Up of the Indian Raj the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh or RSS (‘League of the Nation’s Servants’) deci- However paradoxically it was the free- sively influenced in reaction some Muslim dom struggle which, initiated on a com- leaders in claiming a separate identity� mon platform, gradually set apart a sec- Jinnah, though a non-practicing Mus- tion of the muslim community from the lim from a minority sect, inspired by the indian mainstream and eventually led to pan-Islamic discourse of the great poet the partition of the subcontinent� By the and philosopher Muhammed Iqbal , op- 1930s many members of the Muhammed- portunistically embraced the theories of an elite in the subcontinent grew wary of the hardliners in the Muslim League who the Hindu dominance of the National described ‘Muhammedans’ of the subcon- Congress and began to plan, through the tinent as representatives of a different civ- Muslim League for a state of their own ilization which could not co-exist with a in the event of British departure from hindu ‘heathen’ majority� the subcontinent� The colonial adminis- Iqbal became an outspoken advocate of trators found this rift very congenial to the Two Nation theory and of Muslim sep- their interest and demonstrably favoured aratism after his return from a four year it [Sarila 2006; Tunzelmann 2007]� De- stay in Europe, in 1908� In 1910 he penned classified correspondence between Brit- his famous poem Tarana e Milli which be- ish statesmen and colonial administra- came a founding hymn for Pakistan� The tors and Muslim leaders such as Sir Mu- beginning is: hammed Agha Khan and Muhammed Ali Muslim hain ham Chin o Arab hamara Jinnah in India reveals London’s support Hindustan hamara for Muslim separatism and the Two Na- Wa tan hai saara Jahan hamara tion theory propounded by the Muslim (We are Muslims� China, Arabia and In- League� dia are ours, the whole world is our nation)� 220 C.C. DE GOURDON. THE RISE OF THE HINDU RELIGIOUS FACTOR IN INDIAN POLITICS AND STATE THEORY PP. 219–232 In 1930 in his presidential address the does become a fact, it will, no doubt, be the Muslim League in Allahabad he made an greatest calamity for the country. No matter eloquent plea for the two-nation theory� In what the Hindus say, Hinduism is a men- 1937 he wrote to Jinnah calling for “a sep- ace to the liberty, equality and fraternity. In arate federation of Muslim provinces”, ar- that regard it is incompatible with democ- guing that Muslims of India were a nation racy. Hindu Raj must be prevented at any just as there were other nations in India� cost” [Ambedkar 1940]. Muslim separatists argued that the Is- For him the common basis for Indian lamic confession and law does not allow citizenship ought not to be religious Hin- its followers to live under the rule of non- duism but a secular form of Indianness, Muslims who in a democratic India would contrary to Iqbal with whom he corre- inevitably enjoy hegemony and they called sponded at length and who held religion for a second Hijra a flight from the lands to be the basis of nationality although in of the idolaters or unbelievers (kuffara) to Islam he saw a supra-national world-span- a new ‘pure’ state for the ummah: Pakistan ning creed� [Dhulipala 2013]� Conversely Golwalkar, one of the RSS founding leaders argued that India ought Champions of Unity to be purified of its invading foreign ele- ments so that its pristine hindu identity The separatist point of view was by no may be restored� Although in the prevalent means shared by all Indian Muslims and language of his time Golwalkar talks of the many, following eminent figures like Mau- ‘hindu race’, he actually means a socio-cul- lana Abdul Kalam Azad (1888–1958),who tural historic community, in keeping with became India’s first minister for education Savarkar’s concept, and not necessarily a and Dr Zakir Husain (1887–1969), India’s genetic stock as such� On the other side third president held on to an opposite per- of the political spectrum, the outspoken- spective� Like most of their Hindu col- ly ‘anti-Hindu’ B�R� Ambedkar, the main leagues in the Congress they saw their fu- framer of India’s national constitution and ture in India ruled by secular law inherited its first law minister believed that Muslims from the British dispensation and confin- could not coexist with the majority in in- ing religion to private life� dependent India and should move to Pak- To them their democratic freedom istan, the state being created for them� In