The Modi Paradox

The prime minister's legacy could be defined by how he reconciles two of his major inspirations-Golwalkar and Gandhi

- CAPT G.R. GOPINATH

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.