by Rahul Dewan
- May 13, 2019, 6:16 pm
Snapshot
·
Propagation of religions is a
constitutional right offered to all in this country, including Hindus.
Reinvigorating Hinduism is the need of the hour.
Namaste Bhagwat ji,
As I write this, Delhi is voting in
the sixth phase of this massive election, and hopefully we will all see Prime
Minister Narendra Modi come back to power for another five years.
Many Hindus, including myself, take
this election to bring back Modi as a “battle to protect the Hindu
civilisation” from decline in the land of its birth.
Tens of millions of us had moist eyes
when we saw Modi ji on TV take a dip in the Ganga and chant ‘mantras’
during the Kumbh Mela earlier this year. In the pursuit of ‘secularism’, the
Indian state and its “elected heads forgot that they are inheritors of the
thousands of years old Indian civilization” and that this nation bereft of its
spiritual roots will simply be a lump of land, soul-less, bereft of its core
values. They forgot that the foundation of this nation has been the Hindu
values upon which have risen the world’s greatest faiths and religions, and
have sustained peacefully, several others which entered from the West.
Finally, in Modi, we have a
practising Hindu as an elected Prime Minister, not ashamed of demonstrating his
Hinduness (and, on the contrary, proud of it). This has been rejuvenating.
However, I wish to draw your
attention to a few issues, which will continue to tie the Hindu society down in
a quandary, and prevent its reinvigoration even if Modi ji were
to come back to power.
1 Articles 26 To 30 Of The Indian
Constitution
a) Article 26 promises freedom to all religions in India to maintain
institutions for charitable and religious purposes, and manage the affairs of
their religion without interference of the state.
While Article 26 is being applied to
all religious minorities in India in letter and spirit, Hindu religious
institutions are being subject to endless interference from the Indian state.
From “government appointees sitting on temple boards to interference in
management of temple-owned lands”, Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments
(HRCE) Department and such acts implemented by nearly all state governments
across India ensure “Hindus cannot spend the temple-money (hundi donations
or land rentals) for promotion of their Dharma” and activities dependent upon
successful running of temples — such as supporting small temples, build and maintain Veda pathshalas, orphanages and gaushalas. “Temples are the mainstay of
Hindu Dharma. HRCE and such government departments are designed to debilitate
Hindu Dharma.”
b) Article
30 guarantees all minorities that they will be free to establish and administer
educational institutions without interference from the government, “even if
they are funded by the government".
This means that Christian-run
schools, with land allotted by the government, can have church prayers for all
students, and Jamia Milia Islamia, a university ‘fully-funded by government of
India’, can have a mosque inside the college campus and start each class
session with invocation of Allah. Fair enough.
Shockingly, institutions run by the
‘majority Hindu community’, based on the limitations imposed by Article 28,
“are not allowed to function according to their religious preferences”. This
means that a Lingayat or Chinmaya Mission institution, with land allotted by
the government, cannot be allowed to teach the wisdom of the Gita as
part of its curriculum. The recent case against starting the morning invoking
the Asato Ma Sadgamaya in Kendriya Vidyalayas is because of
“this constitutional discrimination against the Hindus”.
Only an apartheid state discriminates
against the majority. This must change. There are constitutional amendments to
articles 26 to 30 recommended in the now lapsed Dr Satyapal Singh Private
Member Bill. These must be adopted by the new government.
2. Foreign Funding Via FCRA Or
Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act
In 2016–17, 60 per cent of Rs 18,500
crore entered the country via organisations with explicit affiliations to
international Christian missionary organisations, destined for Christian
missionary organisations in India. This is in spite of the crackdown by the
National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government on foreign-funded
non-governmental organisations (NGOs). You will be shocked to learn that this
money is only increasing each year.
Compare this influx of nearly Rs
11,000 crore for Christian missionary work, with Rs 550 crore that came in for
Indic religious institutions — religious institutions run by Hindus, Sikhs,
Buddhists and Jains, put together.
With the temple money not available
to Hindus for protecting and spreading their religion, and on top of it this
massive asymmetric influx of foreign funding for spreading Christianity,
Hinduism is being killed slowly but surely. This must change.
#HinduCharter, a project started by
Hindus from all over the country, demands that all 'institutional’ foreign-funding
must be banned.
Only NRIs/OCIs/PIOs however, in their
individual capacity, must be free to donate to Indian religious institutions — including that of all minorities.
3. Muslim Population Explosion In
India, And The Urgent Need For Large-Scale ‘Ghar Wapsi’
As societies around the world
urbanise, they produce less and less children. In Europe, the US, Australia
each couple is producing 1.3 to 1.8 children. The population replacement rate
is 2.1 children per couple.
Hindus are producing 2.2 children per
couple, barely at replacement rate. However, “the Muslim population in India is
producing 3.4 children per couple including in rich and educated states such as
Kerala”. This trend is no different from Muslims in Europe who are growing at
similar rates.
If this is allowed to continue, then
India is inevitably going to become a Muslim majority nation. Our liberals can
continue to argue about whether it will take 50 years or 200 years. The
demographic change of India will be inevitable.
Asking Hindus to produce more
children or forcible birth-control of Muslim population of India are not
practical solutions.
The only feasible solution is to call
for large-scale ‘ghar wapsi’ of Indian Muslims. Millions of Muslims in
India are aware of their Hindu roots and to date (proudly) retain references to
their jatis in their names. Asking Muslims to feel proud of
their Bharatiya roots and call them swadeshi Muslims is not
good enough either.
Millions of Muslims in India will return
to Hinduism if offered open platforms and processes for their shuddhi,
and a way to return to their original jatis. Hinduism enables
formation of new jatis if there is a lack of acceptance among
any mainstream jatis. Marriages of their daughters, which is the
biggest problem for returning Muslims, can be done within these multitude of
newly-formed jatis.
Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) is
the only non-governmental organisation in the country capable of large-scale
mobilisation of resources for enabling reconversion of Indian Muslims to
Hinduism. No force. Only an open invitation and a formal institutionalised
process of re-entry and support structure post such return. The RSS must set
goals such as “10 per cent of Indian Muslims reconverted to Hinduism”.
After all, propagation of religion is
a constitutional right offered to all religions in this country, including
Hindus.
This is an urgent call of the hour.
If the RSS does not open its arms to Muslims wanting to return to Hindu dharma,
RSS as well as Hinduism will perish in the land of its birth. Even blaming RSS
for not acting in time will not remain an option, for without Hindus, the
memory and contribution of the RSS will be shoved into the dustbin of history.
Before I end, I must share with the readers
of this letter what Dr Hedgewar had to say as the basis of forming the RSS:
The Hindu culture is the life-breath of Hindustan. It is therefore clear
that if Hindustan is to be protected, we should first nourish the Hindu
culture. If the Hindu culture perishes in Hindustan itself, and if the Hindu
society ceases to exist, it will hardly be appropriate to refer to the mere
geographical entity that remains as Hindustan. Mere geographical lumps don’t
make a nation.
Mere geographical lumps don’t make a nation!
A Muslim or Christian majority India will not remain India anymore.
Regards and pranam.
No comments:
Post a Comment