Phalgun Krushnapaksha 9, Kaliyug Varsha 5116
In the recently published religious census (2011) in India, the share of Hindu population in the country’s total population of 1.2 billion is shown as 78.35 per cent, which until 2001 was 80.45 per cent. This is the sharpest dip in Hindu population in a decade since independence. But during the same period between 2001 and 2011, the Muslim population exhibited sharp increase of 24 per cent as their share in the total population of the country surged from 13.4 per cent to 14.2 per cent.
The population of the Hindus declined not only in India but also in the neighbourhood. In Nepal, for example, the Hindu population declined from 84.2 per cent in 2001 to 81.3 per cent in 2011. In Bhutan, the Hindu population was reduced owing to the state policy of ethnic cleansing. The population of the Hindus constituted 47 per cent of the total population in Bangladesh (which was earlier East Pakistan) in 1947, but now it is reduced to 5 per cent due to religious persecution of the Hindus. In Sri Lanka, the Tamil Hindus have been victimized by state. Overwhelming majority of the Hindus in Afghanistan was forced to flee the country when the Taliban controlled the land. And worst is the situation of the Hindus in Pakistan who have become almost non-entity in the country under the Islamic regime.
However, a new feather was added to the Hindu ‘zealots’ when Narendra Modi, who was at some point of time closely associated with the Hindu organization Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, became the Prime Minister of India in 2014. Now there is a feeling among the people that the son of the Hindu came to the central stage of politics in New Delhi after the lapse of eight centuries. In the emerging situation, some Hindu activists have vowed to re-convert the Christians and Muslims and bring them to the fold of Hindus in the country in next ten years. In certain circle, it is expected that India would be made Hindu Rashtra by the year 2023.
The Hindu leaders state that their advocacy for Hinduism is not at the cost of other religious faiths in India. They feel that the Hinduism would be able to incorporate the sentiments of other religious groups on account of the tolerant attitude among the adherents of this faith. Often, it is argued that Hindutva is the only way to keep India united and that all the inhabitants of India should be called Hindus. Such a notion has evolved as many in the foreign countries such as in the Gulf countries regard even Muslims from India as Hindus. The non-Indians refer the Indians as Hindus irrespective of religion. With this regard, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh Chief Mohan Bhagwat stated, “If inhabitants of England are English, German are Germans and USA are Americans then why all inhabitants of Hindustan are not known as Hindus?” Sometimes back, Goa Deputy Chief Minister Francis D’Souza said, “India is a Hindu nation, it’s Hindustan, all Indians in Hindustan are Hindu. I am a Christian Hindu, so there is no question of making it a Hindu nation”
In a significant development, the Hindu Janajagruti Samiti in its Third All India Convention passed a resolution on 26th April 2014 to declare India as a Hindu nation. Towards this end, it wanted strict ban on the breeding, import and rearing of cows of foreign breed and demanded that the cow should be declared a national animal. It wanted the government of India to legislate effective law to stop religious conversion and close the operation of those missionaries which in the name of social services were engaged in converting people to align faith.
Recently, some of the Hindu activists have even started advocating that those indulging in cow slaughter should be given severe punishment. In addition, the activists have also asked the Hindus in the country to give birth to at least four issues in order to balance the imbalance caused by the growth of the Muslim population in the country.
Impact of some of the above activities has already been experienced at the ground level in India. Under the Ghar Wapsi (return your home) programme, so many Christian, Muslims and tribal population in different states of India have already embraced Hinduism, As per the news report, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh is reported to have been spending close to $ 82,000 each month to re-convert 1,000 people to Hinduism. In Western UP alone, the Sangh spends $ 13,000 to $ 16,500 per month for this purpose as part of its Dharm Jagaran campaign. It spends $ 82 to re-convert a family. This amount is too small as compared to the money spent by the foreign missionaries for converting the Hindus, but it is a modest beginning made by the Sangh to re-convert the converted ones.
But the path of converting India into a Hindu state is not going to be easy. Article 25 of the Indian constitution ensures each citizen the right to practice or propagate his or her religious faith. Most of the foreign and even domestic forces would not like to see India turning into a Hindu nation despite the fact that it is overwhelming a Hindu-majority country. Most of the political parties in the country are still in favour of continuing secularism in the country. So much so that the American President Barack Obama during his recent visit to India has stated that upholding the religious freedom was the responsibility of each government and that India would succeed only when it is not splintered on religious lines.
Now it cannot be negated that Hindu resurgence movement is a signal to herald the establishment of a Hindu Rashtra in India. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, however, is silent on what the Hindu activists have been doing in India. Both during his election campaign and after he became Prime Minister, he tried to give far more weightage to developmental issues rather than to religious one for the progress of the country. So only time will tell if India is turning into a Hindu nation or not. But more than this what is important is that a momentum has already been gathered to make India a Hindu nation.
Shri. Hari Bansh Jha is Executive Director of Centre for Economic and Technical Studies in Nepal.
