A most striking paradox of Prime Minister Narendra Modi is that he wears M.S. Golwalkar on one sleeve and Mahatma Gandhi on the other. These were two irreconcilable leaders who could not be more different in what they preached. Modi's youth was shaped by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, where he worked as a pracharak, an activist in the shadows for many years. Golwalkar, who made the RSS a national force, was his idol.
Modi has been a zealous votary of Golwalkar's philosophy of hindutva. It is a curious irony that Golwalkar was inspired by the revolutionary firebrand V.D. Savarkar, who propounded the foundational idea of hindutva and Hindu Rashtra through his books and speeches, but was an atheist. He was a member of the Hindu Mahasabha and not the RSS. He propagated a collective Hindu civilisational identity as the essence of Bharat or India. It was not a religious identity for Savarkar, but the aims and activities of the RSS have, over time, morphed into a religious crusade for the creation of a Hindu state.
The rise of Islamic fundamentalism and the formation of Islamic states replacing monarchs and dictators in neighbouring countries, and in the Middle East and North Africa, along with appeasement of minorities for votes by the Congress and other parties, helped the RSS enlist more Hindus for its fight for a Hindu state. The propaganda that Hindus were under threat resonated with many, and catapulted the BJP to power at the Centre and in many states, including in the northeast, where Hindus are not in the majority and where the population consumes beef.
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة June 04, 2023 من THE WEEK India.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
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هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة June 04, 2023 من THE WEEK India.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك? تسجيل الدخول
William Dalrymple goes further back
Indian readers have long known William Dalrymple as the chronicler nonpareil of India in the early years of the British raj. His latest book, The Golden Road, is a striking departure, since it takes him to a period from about the third century BC to the 12th-13th centuries CE.
The bleat from the street
What with all the apps delivering straight to one’s doorstep, the supermarkets, the food halls and even the occasional (super-expensive) pop-up thela (cart) offering the woke from field-to-fork option, the good old veggie-market/mandi has fallen off my regular beat.
Courage and conviction
Justice A.M. Ahmadi's biography by his granddaughter brings out behind-the-scenes tension in the Supreme Court as it dealt with the Babri Masjid demolition case
EPIC ENTERPRISE
Gowri Ramnarayan's translation of Ponniyin Selvan brings a fresh perspective to her grandfather's magnum opus
Upgrade your jeans
If you don’t live in the top four-five northern states of India, winter means little else than a pair of jeans. I live in Mumbai, where only mad people wear jeans throughout the year. High temperatures and extreme levels of humidity ensure we go to work in mulmul salwars, cotton pants, or, if you are lucky like me, wear shorts every day.
Garden by the sea
When Kozhikode beach became a fertile ground for ideas with Manorama Hortus
RECRUITERS SPEAK
Industry requirements and selection criteria of management graduates
MORAL COMPASS
The need to infuse ethics into India's MBA landscape
B-SCHOOLS SHOULD UNDERSTAND THAT INDIAN ECONOMY IS GOING TO WITNESS A TREMENDOUS GROWTH
INTERVIEW - Prof DEBASHIS CHATTERJEE, director, Indian Institute of Management, Kozhikode
COURSE CORRECTION
India's best b-schools are navigating tumultuous times. Hurdles include lower salaries offered to their graduates and students misusing AI