Makers of Modern India

by Ramachandra Guha

  Everybody knows that only a handful of Muslims came here as enemies and invaders. So also only a few foreign Christian missionaries came here. Now the Muslims and Christians have grown in number. They did not grow just by multiplication as in the case of fishes. They converted the local population. We can trace our ancestry to a common source, from where one portion was taken away from the Hindu fold and became Muslim and another became Christian. The rest could not be converted and they have remained as Hindus. Now, how did they leave their ancestral home? Was it out of their own sweet will, and out of conviction of the superiority of those faiths? Well, history does not record a single notable instance of that sort.

  On the contrary, history tells us that the reason was the fear of life or coercion or the various temptations of power, position etc., and the desire to please the powers that be by adopting their ways and customs and finally even taking to their faiths. There was a lot of deception also. A piece of beef or a loaf used to be thrown into the water reservoir and the villagers, ignorant of what had happened, used to take the water as usual. On the next morning the missionary or the moulvi would come and declare that since they had used the polluted water they had all lost their religion and the only way left for them was to join his fold! In this way whole villages have been converted to Islam in the North and to Christianity on our West Coast. This is deception, pure and simple. Thus it was the mad zeal for increasing their numbers for political domination. It was not propagation of religion, but a political strategy under the garb of religion. The foreign invader not only subjugated them politically and culturally but ultimately converted them to his faith. That too is foreign domination. There are political, economic and cultural dominations and this is religious domination.

  It is our duty to call these our forlorn brothers, suffering under religious slavery for centuries, back to their ancestral home. As honest freedom-loving men, let them overthrow all signs of slavery and domination and follow the ancestral ways of devotion and national life. All types of slavery are repugnant to our nature and should be given up. This is a call for all those brothers to take their original place in our national life. And let us all celebrate a great Diwali on the return of these prodigal sons of our society. There is no compulsion here. This is only a call and request to them to understand things properly and come back and identify themselves with the Hindu way of life in dress, customs, building homes, performing marriage ceremonies and funeral rites and such other things.

  There are some people who declare that they have achieved unity of Hindus, Muslims, Christians and all others on the political and economic plane. But why limit the oneness only there? Why not make it more wide and more comprehensive so as to fuse them all in the Hindu way of life, in our dharma, and take them back as lost brothers? For those who speak of unity on the political and economic plane, we say that we stand not only for political and economic unity but also for cultural and religious unity …

  Today we often hear our political leaders speaking of ‘national integration’, ‘emotional integration’ and so on. But what is that ‘common emotion’, that common basis on which all can come together? What are those eternal life-springs of our national life that go to make it unified, resurgent and glorious?

  In the first place, the feeling of burning devotion to the land, which from times immemorial we have regarded as our sacred Matrubhoomi,

  —in the second place, the feeling of fellowship, of fraternity, born out of the realization that we are the children of that one great common Mother,

  —in the third place, the intense awareness of common current of national life, born out of common culture and heritage, of common history and traditions, of common ideals and aspirations,

  —this trinity of values or, in a word, Hindu Nationalism, forms the bedrock of our national edifice.

  The Muslim Threat

  For Golwalkar, Indian Muslims were an unreliable fifth column, who threatened the unity and strength of the Hindu nation. He counted them as the chief among three enemies—the others, as noted, being Christians and communists. The excerpt below targets the Muslims in particular.2

  It has been the tragic lesson of the history of many a country in the world that the hostile elements within the country pose a far greater menace to national security than aggressors from outside. Unfortunately, this first lesson of national security has been the one thing which has been consistently ignored in our country ever since the British left this land. Wishful thinking born out of lack of courage to face realities, mouthing of high-sounding slogans by the persons at the helm of affairs to cover up the tragedies overtaking us one after another, and opportunistic alliances of parties and groups with the hostile elements to further their narrow self-interests, have all combined to make the threat of internal subversion to our national freedom and security very acute and real.

  First, let us take the case of Muslims.

  Even to this day, there are so many who say, ‘now there is no Muslim problem at all. All those riotous elements who supported Pakistan have gone away once and for all. The remaining Muslims are devoted to our country. After all, they have no other place to go and they are bound to remain loyal.’ …

  Have those who remained here changed at least after [the partition of India]? Has their old hostility and murderous mood, which resulted in widespread riots, looting, arson, raping and all sorts of orgies on an unprecedented scale in 1946–47, come to a halt at least now? It would be suicidal to delude ourselves into believing that they have turned patriots overnight after the creation of Pakistan. On the contrary, the Muslim menace has increased a hundredfold by the creation of Pakistan which has become a springboard for all their future aggressive designs on our country.

  Their aggressive strategy has always been twofold. One is direct aggression. In the pre-independence days, Jinnah called it ‘Direct Action’. The first blow got them Pakistan. Our leaders who were a party to the creation of Pakistan may try to whitewash the tragedy by saying that it was a brotherly division of the country and so on. But the naked fact remains that an aggressive Muslim State has been carved out of our own motherland. From the day the so-called Pakistan came into being, we have been declaring that it is a clear case of continued Muslim aggression. The Muslim desire ever since they stepped on this land some 1200 years ago to convert and enslave the entire country could not bear fruit, in spite of their political domination for several centuries, because the conquering spirit of the nation rose in the form of great and valiant men from time to time, who sounded the death-knell of their kingdoms here. But even though their kingdoms lay shattered, their desire for domination did not break up. In the coming of the British they found an opportunity to fulfil their desire. They played their cards shrewdly, sometimes creating terror and havoc, and ultimately succeeded in browbeating our leadership into panicky surrender to their sinful demand of Partition …

  The second front of their aggression is increasing their numbers in strategic areas of our country. After Kashmir, Assam is their next target. They have been systematically flooding Assam, Tripura and the rest of Bengal since long. It is not because, as some would like us to believe, East Pakistan is in the grip of a famine that people are coming away into Assam and West Bengal. The Pakistani Muslims have been infiltrating into Assam for the past 15 years. Does it mean then that famine has been stalking East Pakistan all these 15 years? The Muslims are entering Assam surreptitiously and the local Muslims are sheltering them. What else is this but a conspiracy to make Assam a Muslim majority province so that it would automatically fall into the lap of Pakistan in course of time? As a result, the percentage of Muslims there which was only 11% in 1950, has now more than doubled …

  In fact, all over the country wherever there is a masjid or a Muslim mohalla, the Muslims feel that it is their own independent territory. If there is a procession of Hindus with music and singing, they get enraged saying that their religious susceptibilities are wounded. If their religious feelings have become so sens
itive as to be irritated by sweet music then why don’t they shift their masjids to forests and pray there in silence? Why should they insist on planting a stone on the roadside, whitewash it, call it a prayer spot and then raise a hue and cry that their prayers are disturbed if music is played?

  Not Socialism But Hindu Rashtra

  In 1962, after India’s humiliating defeat at the hands of China, Golwalkar argued that the nation’s weakness was a consequence of its insufficient commitment to a Hindu ethos. In the following excerpt he juxtaposes the ‘foreign’ ideology of socialism, upheld by his political adversary, Jawaharlal Nehru, to the ‘indigenous’ model of nationalism. It is based on speeches delivered in south India in November 1963.3

  … Our great leaders are quite intelligent and educated. They also realize that without a high ideal, there can be no inspiration for the people to work. Hence they too have placed an ideal before the people. In their view, all that is old is mere ignorant credulousness and superstition and only that which is modern deserves to be an ideal. To them, all that come from Europe and America are modern. If it is Russian, then it must be ultra-modern! But since everything of our land is old and ancient, it is retrogressive and hence unworthy of their consideration. And so, they looked to the West for some ideal. The most modern ‘ism’ of all the Western ‘isms’ being ‘Socialism’, our leaders opted for it as the ideal to be placed before our people. The logic of these votaries of modernism is simply wonderful! Any thing new, i.e., modern must be superior to things of old. The mere fact of its later birth gives a thing an inherent superiority! So from that point of view, death is superior to life! For, does not death follow life? Likewise, any son is greater than his father! …

  Now, let us see if Socialism can be an ideal for our country. Firstly it is not a product of this soil. It is not in our blood and tradition. It has absolutely nothing to do with the traditions and ideals of thousands of years of our history. That is why it is thought alien to the millions of our people here. As such it does not have the power to thrill their hearts, and is incapable of inspiring them to a life of dedication and character. Thus we see that it does not possess even the primary qualification to serve as an ideal for our national life.

  Further, the very idea of Socialism was born in rank selfishness, in a spirit of envy and hatred. In the European countries, the ushering-in of democracy practically synchronized with the coming of the industrial age. In democracy, all people had equal opportunities. Those who were gifted with more intelligence and more ability pounced upon all these industrial developments of science and became extremely rich. With their riches, they also controlled the Governments to an extent and thus became virtually masters of the people. The rest of the people had only to grudge, having been reduced to the position of slaves. They could not bear to see other people enjoying their wealth when they themselves could not get two square meals. So, a spirit of envy burnt in them and therefore, they rose against that system to ensure a better distribution of wealth. This is how Socialism was born.

  This is not to say that the previous system was in any way good, or that the common mass of people should have continued to submit meekly to the oppression of the rich. Far from it. Democracy, which was born as a reaction against the despotic kingship of those times, had fastened new chains in place of old. The high sounding concept of ‘individual freedom’ meant only freedom for the talented few to exploit the rest of the common people. That was, indeed, an unbearable situation. But Socialism, which was born in that context, was again a mere reaction solely inspired by hatred towards the exploiting class. Then later on political philosophers came forward and said, ‘No, no, this is not merely hatred and selfishness. This is the dialectics of materialism, this is social justice’. All these external get-up to give a decent look were added later on. However, its entire theory is based on hate—class hatred and class conflict. Thus, born and based on the sole motive force of hate and envy, it cannot be expected to build up good character in any human being following that theory …

  So we have to find out a proper ideal which beats in our hearts, throbs in our blood, and which has been with us for generations. It is no use placing before the people a formless spirit as an ideal. It may be all right for the enlightened. But ordinary men like us require an ideal which we can easily see, understand and experience. Then only will everyone develop in himself a devotion for that ideal, and the ambition to lead a life of pure character will be roused in his heart. Such an ideal is our Nationhood—the great ‘Hindu Rashtra’. Now, many of our leaders are emphasizing a number of ‘isms’. But the one ‘ism’ that transcends them all is the real, thorough-going ‘nationalism’ and that nationalism, in its pristine purity, is our ideal. The Hindu Rashtra is therefore our ideal.

  ‘I am a part and parcel of this Rashtra. For generations, my forefathers have been striving to do their mite for the propagation of this great national life. I will also do my utmost for the same purpose.’ This is the natural attitude we have inherited. But, this attitude we have allowed to be forgotten. We have to forget this forgetfulness, reawaken in ourselves a dominant understanding and love for our national life and build upon that sure foundation our strength to meet the challenge of the times …

  We, the Hindus, have been living here as the children of this land. We love this land as our mother. It has protected us like a father. It is in this holy atmosphere of our land that our forefathers were able to unravel the mysteries of existence and realize the Ultimate Reality which is called by various names. Nothing can be holier to us than this land. Every particle of dust, everything living or non-living, animate or inanimate, every stream and reservoir is holy for us. This training is being given here from times immemorial, from generation to generation. When a child tramples on the ground in play, the mother says, ‘Do not kick the Mother-Earth, dear child’. Or if a nail is driven into the earth, she says, ‘Oh, no! dear child, Mother will be pained’. Such is our tradition. This is not a mere lip expression. It has been developed in us as an experience in our daily life …

  But today, there are people in our country who contemptuously consider this concept of motherland as a meaningless concept belonging to a bygone age. They consider themselves to be intellectuals and progressives. So far as we are concerned, we, out of gratitude, call everything that supports and brings us up, as mother. The woman who gave birth to us is our mother. The life-giving river is our mother. The cow that nourishes us by her life-juice right through our lives is our mother. In fact, this feeling is a sign of true blossoming of culture, a sign of expansion of mind. What a divine and sublime outlook of mind it is to view the whole creation as a manifestation of the Great Mother! But for some, intellect is everything. They forget that even intellectual reasoning has got a limit. For instance, the human body is after all material. The body of one’s mother also is as much material as any other body. Then why should anyone consider his mother as different from other women? Why have devotion for her? An intellectual has no answer for this. Take another instance. The human body requires for its nourishment starch, protein, fat, salt and water. And these food contents are readily available in human flesh. After all, biologically man is nothing but blood, flesh and bones. So, why not eat up our neighbour? But if a person [talks] like this, he may be called a scholarly logician, but certainly not a civilized man. Such intellectualism leads only to cannibalism …

  It is therefore that we have to revitalize that love which will make us say, ‘Every inch, every particle of our motherland, we will defend with our life-blood. Our forefathers did it, we will do it’. This determination must throb in the heart of every one of us. Day-in and day-out, in our wakeful condition or in our deep sleep, whatever the work we are engaged in, this must be the supreme idea to spur us on to every activity. We are her children. We have been her children for thousands of years. It is we who say that She is our Mother. It is we who say that She is our Dharma Bhumi, Karma Bhumi, Punya Bhumi, Moksha Bhumi, Pitru Bhumi and Matru Bhumi. The Bhumi
is the holies of the holy for us. Before this even heaven has no charms for us. This, we Hindus have said. Who else? …

  And again, we have to realize one more truth, that we Hindus have been a nation in the fullest sense of the term all along. We have had an ideal, to realize the Ultimate Truth … A whole galaxy of great people have been born from the very ancient times right upto this day, who have been equally worshipful to all of us because they have set before us the ideal life by which man can attain the highest goal of human existence. We have our interests joined to one another. We have the same friends and foes. All the impressions that we have from our past history are common in our hearts …

  It has been in our hearts from the very beginning that this is our Hindu Nation. We are nowadays trying to forget it, saying that it is a communal and narrow-minded idea. Had we from the very beginning emphasized that this is Hindu Rashtra, we would have known how to behave with the rest of the people and how to win them over for the rebuilding of this Hindu Rashtra. But we gave up this truth. We thought that we could do without this truth. That is why we are today face to face with all the evils at present infesting our life.

  This ideal of the Hindu Rashtra, we have to place before our people. They feel it in our blood. And therefore, if we place this idea of devotion for the Hindu Rashtra, then for the purpose of serving this great national existence in which all of them have been living from generations, they will curb their selfishness, become men of character and be able to stand foursquare before the present-day dangers which threaten our very existence.

  * * *

  Chapter Seventeen

  The Indigenous Socialist

  Rammanohar Lohia