I recently read probably the most insightful, though a not entirely bi-partisan piece on Narendra Modi in Caravan Magazine titled The Emperor Uncrowned, which drew oblique parallels between the rise of the Gujarat Chief Minister to the rise of Adolf Hitler in Germany. While the 11 page research on the man is one of the most detailed, factual and independent opinion in mainstream journalism, if one were to really analyse the opinion, it seems mainly to build a caricature of the fascist personality without establishing any meaningful connection with his rise to the socio-political realities in India. I will proceed to establish this connection, though the objective of this article is primarily to give an understanding of the unique nature, relevance and the role of the Far Right and National Socialism in societies like India.
India represents a large, diverse and complicated nation bound together in a state, and salvation for such a society is a long drawn process who's vision is nebulous, in much the same way as the nation states of the world put together in the United Nations assembly have really established very little of their vision as a group other than as symbolic guardians of world peace and harmony and international champions of the oppressed. Cementing their legitimacy on the devastation across two World Wars, such a diverse group of people do not have clear cut issues that leaders can voice in Presidential debates like those that occur in the United States, and go about resolving them if a clear mandate provides the opportunity to do so. The absence of this clarity on national issues is precisely the cause and not the effect of a fractured mandate, like those that have been occurring in India since the end of the Rajiv Gandhi era. India today, in many ways like America, is a divided nation, more so than it has ever been since its birth. The cause of this division is, ironically, the never ending continuity of "secular" powers at the helm of national affairs, acting in concert with vested interests overseas for keeping India divided. For a proper understanding of the "secularism" nonsense that is touted in India, Rajiv Malhotra's book Breaking India presents the true perspective.
The Hindu identity over years of absorbing influences from invading forces, has become cloudy. It was an established identity with its richness of wisdom and human achievement across myriad fields that was praiseworthy. Sanskrit, now a dead spoken language, harbors some of the most fascinating thoughts and documentation of history of the Indian nation. It was the language of Indians. The caste system was a societal division of labour involving separation of skills into Education (Brahmins), Military (Kshatriyas), Business (Vaishyas) and Workers (Shudras). Such a system existed even in Europe with the Nobility, Educated Class and the Peasantry, and it was but natural for societies to have such broad classes in order to grow in a disciplined manner. However, the annihilation of the guardians of the language, and the creation of the Aryan Invasion Theory leading to the Aryan Dravidian divide and the Dalit / Non-Dalit divide by the West, and the Islamic conversions and plunder that preceded the English rule, have colored our lenses at looking at the truth and logic of sub continent history and culture. The resulting fractured identity lies at the root of our country's problems. Once you forget who you truly are and are taught to disrespect your identity and chase a foreign one, your demise is almost certain.
The Hindu Right of today aims to correct our misinterpretations of history and offer a credible alternative to the governance philosophy of the the Congress. Whereas the Congress has steadfastly remained in power all these years owing to the fracturing of both the Hindu vote on lines of caste, and the hold on the "minority" vote, there is change on the horizon. The idea is to both fracture the minority vote and convince "majority" Hindus to vote for a nationalist party on credible grounds of economic development, social renaissance, good governance and most important of all a national awakening - all of which are markedly absent in India these days. Narendra Modi represents this new spirit of an India desiring to clean up its act and stake its place in the world of tomorrow, and must be distinguished from Far Right ideologies in Germany and Japan that started as efforts of similar national resurrection but ended up colossal failures down the road of expansionism that alienated them from the rest of the powerful world.
The Hindu identity over years of absorbing influences from invading forces, has become cloudy. It was an established identity with its richness of wisdom and human achievement across myriad fields that was praiseworthy. Sanskrit, now a dead spoken language, harbors some of the most fascinating thoughts and documentation of history of the Indian nation. It was the language of Indians. The caste system was a societal division of labour involving separation of skills into Education (Brahmins), Military (Kshatriyas), Business (Vaishyas) and Workers (Shudras). Such a system existed even in Europe with the Nobility, Educated Class and the Peasantry, and it was but natural for societies to have such broad classes in order to grow in a disciplined manner. However, the annihilation of the guardians of the language, and the creation of the Aryan Invasion Theory leading to the Aryan Dravidian divide and the Dalit / Non-Dalit divide by the West, and the Islamic conversions and plunder that preceded the English rule, have colored our lenses at looking at the truth and logic of sub continent history and culture. The resulting fractured identity lies at the root of our country's problems. Once you forget who you truly are and are taught to disrespect your identity and chase a foreign one, your demise is almost certain.
The Hindu Right of today aims to correct our misinterpretations of history and offer a credible alternative to the governance philosophy of the the Congress. Whereas the Congress has steadfastly remained in power all these years owing to the fracturing of both the Hindu vote on lines of caste, and the hold on the "minority" vote, there is change on the horizon. The idea is to both fracture the minority vote and convince "majority" Hindus to vote for a nationalist party on credible grounds of economic development, social renaissance, good governance and most important of all a national awakening - all of which are markedly absent in India these days. Narendra Modi represents this new spirit of an India desiring to clean up its act and stake its place in the world of tomorrow, and must be distinguished from Far Right ideologies in Germany and Japan that started as efforts of similar national resurrection but ended up colossal failures down the road of expansionism that alienated them from the rest of the powerful world.
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