I wonder if the dozen universities in the USA that organise a seminar on “Dismantling Hindutva” would show the same nerve or bravery to hold a seminar on “Dismantling Islamic Wahabism” , “Dismantling Taliban” or “Dismantling Christian Evangelism”.
I wonder if the JNU in Delhi would ever have the honesty and gumption to hold such a seminar too.
I think Hindutva was invented by Hinduism for pure self-defence and self-preservation in India …. But it looks like Hinduism internationally has really no strong protection for itself even with Hindutva.
Regards ,
Sudarshan
A Parsi friend of mine after reading my above post sent me this message
Quote:
Sudarshan, You say “I think Hindutva was invented by Hinduism for pure self-defense and self-preservation in India”.
Is Hinduism such a weak religion that it needs another prop for self-defense. I don’t think so. Hinduism is a very strong religion which has been around for eons and flourished without any threat internal or external. Hindutva is a self-fulfilling prophecy of someone petty minds that Hinduism is in danger and needs protection.
You may not agree but this is how I see it.
Name withheld .
And so I decided to reply to him again:
I won’t be naive, Merwan …
If the history of India in the last 1000 years teaches me anything it is that my country was invaded by wave after wave of religious imperialists … who came here , conquered, looted, imposed their faiths on natives under either the sword or under political slavery, left and then continued to disparage and disdain everything Indian and Hindu culture.
One has to be Hindu to know exactly where it’s real strengths and vulnerabilities are today … not delude oneself with some romanticised notion of it … with which our well-meaning, non-Hindu brethren sometimes seem to patronise the Hindus of India …
Then my Parsi friend wrote back :
I am not patronizing Hindus of India or any other religious denomination.
If what you say in the first para is true about rampant conquest, loot, imposition
of other faiths etc… etc.. then how do you account for 80% of the Indian population being Hindus.
I am saying this fashionable hype of saving and protecting Hinduism and Hindusis just the flavour of the day to suit political agendas.
And I retorted with this below:
True …. 80% of India’s population today is Hindu. But you forget that in 1947 it was 92% … and at the turn of the 11th century it used to be almost 95 %. Since the 1990s, the power of the electronic and digital media has transformed the way in which West Asian Islam and Christian West seek to attack Hinduism in India. Since then more people in this country estimably have been forcibly converted (brainwashed) to non-Hindu faiths than was accomplished in the previous millennium. If this trend is left unchecked Hinduism will become a minority religion — less than 50%— by the year 2075-2100.
Sudarshan Madabushi