It is the Leftists who are closer to fascism than the Hindu nationalists
The Left intellectuals in India routinely dub the Hindu nationalists as Hindu fascists. It must be mentioned that the Left fundamentalists are closer to the Fascists than the Hindu nationalists.
First of all, Wikipedia describes a fascist as: Fascism is an authoritarian, political ideology (generally tied to a mass movement) that considers the individual subordinate to the interests of the state, party or society as a whole.
Now let us see how the leftists fare in this: Leftists are authoritarian. Remember Stalin’s large scale massacre. It is a political ideology. For the Communists, the individuals are indeed subordinate to the State. So leftists are closer to fascists.
Let us now check the performance of Hindu nationalists: Hindu nationalists usually abide by Integral Humanism – the ideology propagated by Deendayal Upadhyaya which is in consonance with the vedic rhythm of advaita vedanta.
The Hindu nationalists view life in terms of the four purusharthas (achievements in life). They are: (1) Dharma (Righteousness), (2) Artha (wealth), (3) Kama (desire) and (4) Moksha. The logic is that one has to be righteously earn wealth, satisfy his desire and liberate himself from the cycle of birth and death. Now moksha is a spiritual concept and that is entirely personal (left for the individual to decide).
However, the first three come in polity. A person has to live in a righteous code, earn his honest wealth and satisfy his desire through decent socially accepted means. There is nothing authoritarian about this way of life. As for the State and polity, the Hindu nationalists are not much obsessed with the State as in the west. The emphasis is on individual growth and character. The emphasis is on decentralization and local initiative. The growth model favoured by the Hindu nationalists is swadeshi or self-reliant model. So in a way, the Hindu nationalists are against capitalists as well as communists. It is the middle path of swadeshi (localization) gram vikas (rural reforms), swaraj (self-rule) and suraj (good administration), which in turn leads to Ram Rajya (the Hindu brand of Utopia).
Besides, the allegations of Hindu fascism has been rejected by the Belgian historian Koenraad Elst in his monumental tome Saffron SwastikaiH. Elst says that Savarkar supported the British against Germans by enlisting Hindus in the army. The Communists then branded Savarkar as the recruiting agent of the British. The Communists supported Hitler till his bid to invade Soviet Union. That makes the Leftists more of fascists if logic is respected (which unfortunately the Leftists have abandoned long ago).
If at all Hindu nationalism or Hindutva has any parallel with any other movement in the west, it is Zionism. Both Jews and Hindus have borne the brunt of the world swallowing ideologies (Islam, Christianity and Communism). Both faced genocide in their own lands. Both are fighting for the liberation of their motherland. Just as Zionists faced problems from the religious Jews, so did Hindu nationalists from the religious Hindus. Just as every Jews need not be Zionists, similarly every Hindu need not be a Hindu nationalist or Hindutvavadi. At the same time, Zionists are jews and Hindutvavadi are Hindus. Just as Jews have Hebrew as their root language, Hindus have Samskrit. Both Jews and Hindus do not believe in conversion unlike Islam, Christianity and Communists.
But there are differences also. Jews are monolith. Hindus are diverse. Jews are Semetic and their Gods are wrathful in keeping with their semetic faith. In the case of Hindus, there are various shades and characters – 33 crore gods and still counting along with the formless impersonal variations.
First of all, Wikipedia describes a fascist as: Fascism is an authoritarian, political ideology (generally tied to a mass movement) that considers the individual subordinate to the interests of the state, party or society as a whole.
Now let us see how the leftists fare in this: Leftists are authoritarian. Remember Stalin’s large scale massacre. It is a political ideology. For the Communists, the individuals are indeed subordinate to the State. So leftists are closer to fascists.
Let us now check the performance of Hindu nationalists: Hindu nationalists usually abide by Integral Humanism – the ideology propagated by Deendayal Upadhyaya which is in consonance with the vedic rhythm of advaita vedanta.
The Hindu nationalists view life in terms of the four purusharthas (achievements in life). They are: (1) Dharma (Righteousness), (2) Artha (wealth), (3) Kama (desire) and (4) Moksha. The logic is that one has to be righteously earn wealth, satisfy his desire and liberate himself from the cycle of birth and death. Now moksha is a spiritual concept and that is entirely personal (left for the individual to decide).
However, the first three come in polity. A person has to live in a righteous code, earn his honest wealth and satisfy his desire through decent socially accepted means. There is nothing authoritarian about this way of life. As for the State and polity, the Hindu nationalists are not much obsessed with the State as in the west. The emphasis is on individual growth and character. The emphasis is on decentralization and local initiative. The growth model favoured by the Hindu nationalists is swadeshi or self-reliant model. So in a way, the Hindu nationalists are against capitalists as well as communists. It is the middle path of swadeshi (localization) gram vikas (rural reforms), swaraj (self-rule) and suraj (good administration), which in turn leads to Ram Rajya (the Hindu brand of Utopia).
Besides, the allegations of Hindu fascism has been rejected by the Belgian historian Koenraad Elst in his monumental tome Saffron SwastikaiH. Elst says that Savarkar supported the British against Germans by enlisting Hindus in the army. The Communists then branded Savarkar as the recruiting agent of the British. The Communists supported Hitler till his bid to invade Soviet Union. That makes the Leftists more of fascists if logic is respected (which unfortunately the Leftists have abandoned long ago).
If at all Hindu nationalism or Hindutva has any parallel with any other movement in the west, it is Zionism. Both Jews and Hindus have borne the brunt of the world swallowing ideologies (Islam, Christianity and Communism). Both faced genocide in their own lands. Both are fighting for the liberation of their motherland. Just as Zionists faced problems from the religious Jews, so did Hindu nationalists from the religious Hindus. Just as every Jews need not be Zionists, similarly every Hindu need not be a Hindu nationalist or Hindutvavadi. At the same time, Zionists are jews and Hindutvavadi are Hindus. Just as Jews have Hebrew as their root language, Hindus have Samskrit. Both Jews and Hindus do not believe in conversion unlike Islam, Christianity and Communists.
But there are differences also. Jews are monolith. Hindus are diverse. Jews are Semetic and their Gods are wrathful in keeping with their semetic faith. In the case of Hindus, there are various shades and characters – 33 crore gods and still counting along with the formless impersonal variations.
On the nature of Indian Left, it is best expressed by India's first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru (no friend of Hindu nationalists) : The Indian Communists are certainly not patriots. They are not interested in the well-being of Indian people, whatever other cause they may be seeking to serve. They speak about the country in a derogatory manner abroad. They preach violence which can only lead to a disastrous civil war.
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