There it stands, with all its mightiness and grandeur, looming over the gleaming landscape of the Narmada valley, a testament to human skill and conceptualization. In its truest sense, the Statue of Unity is the ultimate tribute, to a man who served this nation with all his heart and energy as well as to his ideas, which gave birth to the India we now live in. But, what really determines the India we live in today? Political propaganda? Religious affiliation? Cultural context? Or just the want for something different?
Four years ago, the Indian electorate was lamenting for this ultra-right and orthodox Hindu-nationalistic government, clearly sensing something different. But, was the Indian electorate ready for “this” different? Because, this hegemony Modi’s government has created, is hurting no one else, but themselves. Notions of erecting statues of famous leaders and Gods (Hindu gods) and renaming cities and railway stations which have even the slightest hint of Islamic rule are nothing but subtle cries which feed of this mass called “Hindutva”. The energy that goes into bringing about this force translates to extreme mob-passions, religious acts of violence and at a fundamental level, powerful ideals of extremism. Even though this sense of Hindutva does not account for all of India’s population, its prevalence is politically intimidating.
To an extent, one can be provided a slight insight into the effect of this idea in a region. Tavleen Singh, a columnist and political writer has visited the remote villages of Rajasthan and reported certain findings. She reports, “Having spent several days in the past month talking to people in rural Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, I can report that not a single person I talked to- Hindu or Muslim mentioned Ayodhya, Ram or Sardar Patel.” She further mentions how the people there are concerned about failed rains in their region more than anything else.
At a fundamental level, contextual derivation of the ongoing political scenario is essential. Historically, the Indian population is such that it would avoid the highly radicalized ends of the political spectrum, i.e the RSS and the Communist parties. Inevitably, it confronts to the parties in the middle, Center Left (Congress) and Center Right (BJP). Congress adheres to socialist ideas and a significantly dominant Gandhanian value-system which is compounded by a rich socio-cultural legacy of historical dominance. However, in the recent years, political weakness and a confused outlook to the country’s governance has provided BJP, the party which uses the idea of Hindu nationalism as an undercurrent to shape its powerful ideals, the space for dominance. This is what happened in 2014. Burdened with the unbearable atmosphere of stagnation that prevailed in the country toppled with the fresh idea of Hindu nationalism pushed the Indian population to vote for the BJP.
However, what goes on now is completely different and to an extent, unrecognisable. As touched upon before, the reaction of the Indian electorate to change and large spread commotion is limited and anything that hinders their socio-cultural comfort zone will never pass. Hindutva as an ideology is not a little bit flawed, but its execution is an existential threat. Hindutva has instilled this unseen label of unity which has rebuked the languished government before 2014 and allowed for action to be taken on a different scale. Yet, this action goes too far. The energy vested into this style of regressive nationalism needs to be utilised in a constructive manner. Pragmatically speaking, Hindutva adds a distinction to the BJP and forms the basis for a lot of their actions. Abolishing this ideology would work against the BJP, but correct naturalisation of this idea would keep the BJP in the political space that exists. Hindutva has been propelled to a continuum which relies on this hard, deep rooted sense of nationalism to carry itself forward, but changing that to a cultural, intellectual and spiritual version of Hindutva would nullify all the consequences Hindutva has today, for the better.
