Give up notions of "religious minority"-Example of Indonesia, Turkey, etc.-Benevolent tradition of Hindu Rashtra -Examples.

The answer to the so-called problem of 'religious minorities' can be found only in the historically correct, rational and positive approach of Hindu Rashtra. Otherwise, the so-called minorities are bound to become more and more hardened in their separate shells of religion and turn into a dreadful source of disruption of our body-politic.

So, all that is expected of our Muslim and Christan co-citizens is the shedding of the notions of their being 'religious minorities' as also their foreign mental complexion and merging themselves in the common national stream of this soil. As far as the national tradition of this land is concerned, it never considers that with a change in the method of worship, an individual creases to be the son of the soil and should be treated as an alien. Here, in this land, there can be no objection to God being called by any name whatever. Ingrained in this soil is love and respect for all faiths and religious beliefs. He cannot be a son of this soil at all who is intolerant of other faiths.

 

 

In this connection, it would be beneficial for our Muslim friends here to take a lesson from their co-religionists in Iran, Turkey and Indonesia. Though Persia became Islamic, Persians did not change their script and take to the Arabic script. They did not take to the Arabic way of life; they stuck to their own. They have been sticking to the memory of their great forefathers. Even now a Persian will remember his forefathers, will speak of Rustom with great respect and honour. Rustom was not a Muslim. Kamal Pasha 'the Maker of Modern Turkey' restored the age-old national pattern of life and limited the role of Islam to personal worship of God.

 

The example of Indonesia is extremely revealing. Majority of the Indonesians profess Islam. However, Saraswati and Ganesh are the presiding deities of their learning and knowledge. Children start their ABC in education with pictorial Ramayana. One of our countrymen was amazed to see this when he had gone there. He asked a leading Indonesian, "How is it, though you are Muslims, you teach Ramayana to your Children?" The Indonesian replied with pride, "Because. Sri Ramachandra is our national hero par excellence. We very much desire that our children should emulate his lofty ideal. No doubt we belong to the Islamic faith. But that does not mean that we should give up our precious national heritage and values of life." What an excellent lesson for our Muslim friends here! There the names too are hundred per cent Hindu. Their previous President was Sukarna. His son, Kartikeya. The present President is Suhrida (distorted as Suharto in English) meaning 'a true friend'. Women too bear the proud names of Sita, Savitri, Damayanti etc. Garuda, the mount of Vishnu, adorns the name of their airways. Their constitution begins with the declaration "Dharmo Rakshti Rakshitah."

 

This is the real and abiding cornerstone of national harmony and integration, subscribing to common national ideals irrespective of personal religious creeds. And it is this concept as applied to our country, that we call Hindu Rashtra, the only rational, practical and right concept.

 

 

In spite of this catholic and rational approach of Hindu Rashtra towards the so-called minorities, it is amazing that some people should harbour fear that the 'minorities' live in mortal peril if Hindu Rashtra comes into its own. The fear, if at all genuine, can only be due to their misconception that 'Hindu Rashtra' would treat other religious groups in much the same way as the Semitic religions did. The first Semitic religion was Judaism-an intolerant faith. It was this intolerance that nailed Christ on the Cross. Then came Christianity, the child of the former. That too was equally intolerant. Doubtless Christ was a great saint. But later, what went on in the name of Christ had nothing to do with him. It was no Christianity but only 'Churchianity'. The saying "There was but one true Christian and he died on the Cross" is true to the letter. The Christians committed all sorts of atrocities on the Jews by giving them the label 'Killers of Christ'. Hitler is not an exception but a culmination of the 2000-year long oppression of the Jews by the Christians. Then came Islam – a long story of 'Sword and Koran' written in the tears and blood of millions of innocent human beings. It’s latest chapter of 'Pakistan', the self-declared theocratic Islamic State, is no different with the entire Hindu population butchered and driven out from its western wing and the same process continuing in its eastern wing. All these have ingrained in their blood intolerance of other faiths.

 

The fear that Hindu Rashtra will imperil the existence of other religious groups arises by applying the above Semitic yardstick to it and imagining that the concept of Hindu Rashtra in analogous to that of the Semitic states notorious for their religious bigotry and persecutions.

 

 

To disabuse the minds of genuinely doubtful souls we may recapture here the historical tradition of Hindu Rashtra vis-à-vis the foreign religious groups. The glaring fact inscribed on every page of our history and testified by even foreign historians and travellers, is that we never discriminated against any one on the score of religion in any sphere of our national life.

 

The Muslims enjoyed perfect freedom and equality in the powerful Hindu empire under the Vijaynagar Kings or in the Punjab under Sikh heroes. The latest Hindu Power, which rose under the great Shivaji, too, did not discriminate against Muslims on the score of religion.

 

To cite a few instances, the naval chief of Charapati Shivaji, Darya Sarang, was a Muslim, and two of his main lieutenants were Ibrahim Khan and Daulat Khan. At the time of the grim encounter with Afzal Khan, out of the ten trusted bodyguards who accompanied Shivaji, three were Muslims. Again, the 18-year old lad who accompanies Shivaji to Agra and who played a key role in the thrilling escape of Shivaji from the grip of Aurangzeb was Madari Mehtar, a Muslim. Countless instances are there of Shivaji gifting land and annual grant to masjids and dargas. He even made arrangements for the offering of worship according to Islam to the tomb of Afzal Khan on Pratapgad. Even the most fanatic Muslim chroniclers of those times have noted with admiration that Shivaji treated with utmost respect their Koran, masjids and dargas, their holy men and their womenfolk. And all this, when exactly the opposite was being perpetrated by the Muslim on Hindus all round.

Even later on, on the battlefield of Panipat in 1761, in the crucial struggle for the survival of Swaraj, the key position of the Artillery Chief on the side of the Hindus was held by Ibrahim Gardi, who ultimately fell fighting on the battleground.

 

Hindusthan lived life of unchallenged glory and power for thousands of years and spread its spiritual and cultural effulgence over vast areas of the globe-right from Mexico to Japan. Never has its flag waded towards military victory through the blood and tears of those races as it happened with Islam and Christianity when they spread to new countries. Its victory had always been moral and cultural. It was a victory joyously welcomed by the local populace, a victory of selflessness, character and catholicity of spirit which, evoked gratitude instead of revolt from them. Passage of centuries has not dimmed their feelings towards this land. Even to this day the inmost wish of many a devout soul of those lands is to come to the 'holy land' of Hindusthan and take a dip in the Ganga. For them, it is never a simple 'visit' to this country, it is always a 'pilgrimage'. From all this, one can easily visualize the unique and matchless life-values that formed the very core of this nation.

 

 

As such, the so-called minorities living here have nothing to lose but everything to gain by the rejuvenation of Hindu Rashtra. It is the Hindu thought alone which, in this wide world, has recognised the immanence of one Supreme Power in the entire humanity and has respected and even protected and encouraged all types of cults and creeds to grow and blossom to their fulfillment. All these factors point to the fact that it is only a strong and resurgent Hindu Rashtra that can stand guarantee to the free and prosperous life of the so-called minorities here sharing equal opportunities as the proud children of the motherland.

 

 

"Secularism" is not " Nationalism" - Hindu view with positive content.

A dubious argument that is repeated ad nauseam is that the concept of Hindu Rashtra is against 'secularism'. First of all, the very notion of 'secularism' as it originated in the West has no relevance to our country. Centuries ago, in Europe, the kings revolted and overthrew the theocratic hegemony of Pope over their kingdoms and established their own rule. Thus came about the 'secular' states as opposed to the 'theocratic' ones. Now 'theocratic state' has come to mean a religious state intolerant of all other faiths. There has never been any quarter for such a conflict or intolerance in our country either in the past or in the present.

 

Further, the word 'secular' is nowhere to be found in our Constitution* as pointed out be Sri K. Subba Rao, Ex-chief Justice of our country. As such, the foisting of that word on our Constitution could, in a way, be termed an interpolation and a superimposition upon the Constitution.

 

 

Then there is the confusion of equating 'secularism' with 'nationalism'. The two can never be the same. 'Nation' is a whole and living entity. It has ever so many functions, one of which is the statecraft. And 'secularism' is only one of the qualities of that statecraft. Thus equating 'secularism' with 'nationalism' would be like identifying one of the functions of a limb of a body with the body itself, and exhibits a sad lack of understanding of the basic distinction between 'Nation' and 'State'.

 

Again, if 'secularism' is to mean only the mundane things of life and something divorced from the higher and nobler attributes of the spirit, as it is sometimes made out to be, then we will not touch it even with a barge-pole. If, however, 'secularism' is to mean, as it ought to, not anti-religion but scope and opportunity for every religious persuasion to grow, and restraining of one religion from pouncing upon another, then that is undoubtedly in tune with the spirit of Hindu Rashtra. Then, the apt word for such a state would be 'multireligious' and not 'secular'. In this country, the 'state' was never tagged on to any particular faith. Relegating men of non-Hindu faiths to second-class citizenship or levying of 'Jezia' on them was unknown. All were absolutely equal in the eyes of law. Never did the king prostitute the state apparatus to impose his personal religious dogmas.

 

 

The Hindu thought did not stop at the negative aspect of restraining one religion from infringing upon another. The wide and all-comprehensive view of life ingrained in the Hindu ruler made him to respect and even encourage every single religious thought, however few its adherents, to grow according to its own genius. The king became the symbol of support and protection to all faiths and creeds and never of negation of religion. This is the positive content of 'secularism' if at all it can be called so. Indeed, our concept of 'state' has always been 'secular' and emphasising the secular nature of the state by the adjective 'secular' is redundant in our country.

 

Even today, it is on the strength of this national tradition that a Muslim can and does adorn the highest position of Presidentship, become the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court and hold important portfolios in the central Cabinet and Internal and External Services. The contrast with the neighbouring theocratic State of Pakistan is so glaring as to need no elaboration.

 

But unfortunately secularism in India has, in practice, meant anti-Hinduism for people at the helm of affairs. When the late Dr. Zakir Husain specially went to Kerala to inaugurate a mosque, nobody objected. But when Dr. Giri went to Tirupati after his election as Rashtrapati, it was dubbed communal. The world must be laughing at us.