Hindu, Hindutva, Hindu Dharma, Hinduism, Sanatan Dharma are the epithets that are flung by the opponents at the present ruling regime in the Indian politics as something that is bad, that is a vice – something that is detestable. These opponents of Hindu politics in India are not only those who are non-Hindus, like Christians and Muslims. They include Hindus also – and very large number of Hindus.
This fact – the fact that a large chunk of Hindu community remain in the camp of the opponents of Hindu politics – is testified by the stark realities of the Indian political history. For example, the Hindu flag bearer Rashtriya Sewak Sangh, which was founded in 1925, could not become a dominant force in a Hindu India. Why Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was able to dominate the Hindu politics of freedom struggle and not an outrightly Hindu organisation like RSS? Even after independence in 1947, why Hindus could not be gravitated towards such a Hindu organisation – and its political arm or affiliate Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) and before that Jan Sangh, until Narendra Modi came on to the national political scene? Atal Behari though came to national political scene but could not decisively change the direction of the Indian politics – and he was successfully succeeded by an out and out anti-Hindu regime of Smt. Sonia Gandhi. The fact is that a large chunk of Hindu community is still not with the Hindu politics, despite there being a great personality like Modi on the national scene.
Why such a great chunk of Hindus are the opponents of the Hindu politics in India? It is because the present Hindu politics in India is confined to its outer – symbolic – form rather than its essence. Hindu temples, habits, morality and way of life are only the outer reflection of its inner core – and not its core. This outer reflection – the cultural formation – of its inner core is necessary for the Hindu politics to dominate Indian politics but it is not enough. In order to win the hearts of overwhelming Hindu India, to dominate the national politics and to remain an unchalleged force in India, the national politics of India needs to go to the deeper core of Hinduism and to reflect that core in the conduct and day to day life of its leaders.
So far the Hindu politics has not been able to achieve this feat – barring an unusal exception in the life of leaders like Modi and Adityanath Yogi. This exception still remains an exception and has not become a rule in the ruling Hindu force. This kind of political life needs to become a general rule in India and to take the centerstage of the Hindu politics at the national level.
Sanatan Dharma – or Hinduism – is not to be confounded with something that is limited only to an insight into the present and the glory of the past. It is mainly concerned with the future, moving on in a direction, in human evolution, future of human race on Earth.
Unless it is understood in this light, it would be nothing but a stale story, a bit better than other competing religions and an ugly insistance on its beauty. For this understanding, a reading of Sri Aurobindo is a must. Alas, most of Indians do not know him, do not read him and do not understand the capacity of what he said for leading the humanity towards a goal – destinity of human race.
Alas, our politics is centered around Swami Vivekananda’s energetic exhortations for Indians to rise. It is all set in the world of 1880’s and the slave Indians. What India has to do when she is politically free and has a choice to chart its path, is absent there. Sri Aurobindo, in fact, came on the Indian national scene to fill that gap. Just read his Uttarpara speech, which he gave in 1909 after coming out of prison in the Alipur Conspiracy Case.
But he is not brought to the centerstage of today’s national politics because of the national ignorance about him. If this is done, Indian politics – at national and global level – would get a new energy and the the world would be thrilled with joy to find what Hindu politics can do in the service of humanity. It will give India a mission – spiritual mission – in which the whole humanity will rush happily to join in and collaborate.
India badly needs the politics of development – sabka vikas, sabka saath, sabka vishwas. But development politics is not the Hindu politics. Mixing them together is spurious – development can be done by any political force, not necessarily by Hindu politics. What else can Hindu politics do? Hindu politics can show the path – the path of forward march – to humanity towards its evolutionary destiny.
India needs such a Hindu politics – and not a cultural politics of temples and mosques !