Remarks from our co-founders, Raju Rajagopal and Sunita Viswanath on “Exporting the hate and violence of Hindutva to the West.”

The following is an adaptation of their presentations at the Justice for All (JFA), Canada webinar on October 25, 2022

Dear Friends,

My colleague Sunita was supposed to address you today, but due to her other urgent commitments she is not able to join and has instead sent a . video message. I am happy to be invited to take her place on this live panel to supplement her remarks and to participate in the Q & A session.

If I may, I want to focus my initial remarks on the battle of words these days about Hindutva vs. Hinduism. I will provide my perspective on Hindutva’s spread westward during the Q & A session.

Turning the clock back 78 years, the founder of the Hindu Mahasabha (precursor to the RSS) and the author of the seminal 1923 essay, Hindutva, V.D. Savarkar, was interviewed in 1944 by war correspondent Tom Treanor.

Savarkar was asked: “How do you plan to treat the Mohammedans?” implying how an independent India would treat its Muslims.

Savarkar responded without any hesitation, “As a minority, in the position of your Negroes.” (I am sure that Savarkar was well aware of how African-Americans were being treated in those days!)

Treanor persisted, “And if the Mohammedans succeed in seceding and set up their own country?”

Savarkar declared: “As in your country…There will be civil war.”

Savarkar had in a nutshell described how his Hindu Rashtra would treat its Muslims (i.e. like the Negroes in America) while at the same time threatening deadly consequences if Muslims dared to call for a separate country.

As it happened, the Hindu Rashtra that he was dreaming of did not come about, and instead India was declared a democratic, secular state, equidistant from all faiths. Based on this premise and promise, India remained home to more Muslims than independent Pakistan (excluding the then East Pakistan).

However, Savarkar’s prophetic words did not just disappear into the dustbins of history. They were quietly nurtured and incubated in RSS Shakhas for over 70 years, and has now come into full view, both in India and internationally: What we are witnessing today is indeed an “all-out war” against India’s minorities by the RSS/BJP government and its supporters around the world.

In his essay, Hindutva, Savarkar had also unhesitatingly equated Hindu Nationalism with White Nationalism:

“Take the case of America: When the German war broke out she suddenly had to face the danger of desertions of her German citizens; while the Negro citizens there sympathise more with their brethern in Africa than with their white countrymen. American state, in the last resort, must stand or fall with the fortunes of its Anglo-Saxon constituents. So with the Hindus…”

Without a full understanding of US history, Savarkar had planted the seeds of racism as well as accusations of extra-territorial loyalties against India’s Muslims -- seeds that RSS Shakas would carefully water and fertilize over the next seven decades.

What we are seeing in full bloom today in India is clearly the product of Hindutva ideology as defined by Savarkar, expanded upon by the RSS over the years.

Perhaps embarrassed by the bigoted historical underpinnings of Hindutva, Hindu nationalists overseas are busy today trying the rehabilitate the word Hindutva, with some even claiming that Hindutva is one the same as Hinduism. Such efforts are disingenuous, to say the least, and run counter to Savarkar’s clear thesis that Hindutva is distinct and separate from Hinduism.

We at HfHR believe that Hindutva does not need an academic definition, as it distinguishes itself through the violent words and deeds of its self-identified votaries: e.g. portraying religious minorities as less than patriotic; rationalizing or ignoring mob violence; attacking scholars, journalists, intellectuals, and others who dare to speak out in support of pluralism; imposing one’s dietary values upon others; and so on.

We completely reject Hindutva for what it stands for and what it has wrought, and declare that it has very little to do with our Hinduism.

To be more specific:

Our Hinduism abounds in stories of kindness and compassion, Vs. Hindutva propagates fear, insecurity, exclusiveness.

Our Hinduism welcomes other faiths and traditions, Vs. Hindutva’s very foundation is disdain for Islam and Christianity.

Our Hinduism owns up to the ugly and shameful legacy of caste discrimination, Vs. Hindutva is desperate to distance Hinduism from caste.

Our Hinduism teaches ahimsa as a core value, a legacy strengthened by Buddhism, Vs. Hindutva glorifies aggressiveness, violence, and revenge against history.

Our Hinduism believes in a secular polity where faith is a private matter, Vs. Hindutva is rushing into a majoritarian Hindu state where ‘others’ would be second-class citizens.

Our Hinduism has a tradition of debates, dialogue and dissent, Vs. Hindutva has disdain for intellectuals and academics, and stifles dissent.

Last but not the least, Hindutva falsely claims to speak and act on behalf of all Hindus, Vs. The reality is that Hindu practices and beliefs are so diverse that no one individual or group can ever authentically speak for all Hindus. 

So, next time someone argues that Hindutva merely means ‘Hinduness’, please stop them in their tracks and tell them that such a spurious claim does great injustice to a majority of Hindus who, unlike Hindutva, believe in peaceful co-existence with people of all faiths and traditions.

Thank you.