Bhubaneswar (AsiaNews) – Hindutva or "Hindu
nationalism in India is trying to assimilate
or eliminate minorities". Its supporters
"want only Hindus in India and their attitude
to minorities is either assimilate or be eliminated,"
two Christian scholars say. In an joint study
titled Globalization, Hindu Nationalism and
Adivasis (tribals/aboriginals) of India, Lancy
Lobo, a Jesuit priest and director of the Centre
for Culture and Development of Vadodara in Gujarat
(Western India), and Amit Mitra, an international
development consultant based in Delhi,
said that the hidden agenda of Hindu nationalists
is "to capture power and inaugurate a theocratic
society in India."
According to the two researchers, Hindu nationalism
is by and large a resurgence of Brahmanism (a
version of Hinduism that saw the Brahmin caste
emerge as the highest of India's four caste
levels) in which Brahmins but also other upper
caste Indians reassert their social ascendancy.
Under the constitution of independent India
the hierarchical (vertical) stratification of
Indian society was in theory made horizontal
(by its equality provisions). However, upper
caste Indians saw their status, wealth and
power diminish as a result of the institutional
changes that the constitution introduced. By
appealing to Hindu nationalism and demanding
the re-conversion of Dalits (formally known
as pariahs or untouchables) and Adivasis who
converted to Christianity or Islam, the upper
castes are trying to reclaim their lost dignity
and power.
In electoral politics of a democratic society
where numbers count, re-hinduisation of Dalits
and Adivasis and stopping conversions make sense.
Together Dalits (15 per cent) and Adivasis (7
per cent) represent 22 per cent of the total
population. Hindu parties need their support
to govern. Conversion, on the other hand, cuts
into this potential electorate and weakens them.
For Lobo and Mitra, Hindu parties exploit Hindu
nationalism to divert attention from real issues
that are of concern to the more marginalised
segments of society like Dalits and Adivasis.
In a state like Gujarat, the Bharatiya Janata
Party (BJP) came to power by playing up religious
emotions and promising anti-conversion legislation
(adopted in 2003), not by promoting any political
programme. However, poor Indians need help to
survive, jobs and an education, not anti-conversion
laws.
Once in power, the BJP became paranoid about
Christians and Christian missionaries even though
Christians in Gujarat are a mere 0.42% of the
total population. Its administration unleashed
a campaign of hate and violence against them.
In the 1997-1999 period, 12 churches were burnt,
another 14 were vandalised and 17 physical attacks
against Christians were perpetrated, not to
mention all other kinds of harassment. Hindu
nationalists see the conversion of Adivasis
as something physically, morally and psychologically
evil, an atrocity by the converter on the would-be
convert. In doing so, they legitimise any atrocity
against the converter and the converted.
Dalits, who are victims of discrimination and
marginalisation under caste system, convert
to Christianity or Islam to find self-respect,
dignity and an identity as full human beings.
Adivasis, who are also outside the pale of the
caste system, herded off to remote hills after
their lands and forests were seized by non-Adivasis,
also seek dignity and identity in becoming Christian
or Muslim.
But for Hindu nationalists, anyone trying to
help these marginalised groups becomes an enemy.
Anyone opening a school for Dalits or Adivasis
is accused of seeking converts.
Gujarat is sadly known for the inter-ethnic
violence that flared up in 2002. The killing
of 58 Hindus in the Gujarati town of Godhra
was followed by a violent Hindu response that
left more than 2,000 Muslims dead, an event
that Lobo and Mitra consider a state-sponsored
pogrom, a crime directly attributable to the
BJP government then in power in the state.
