Rashtra Is Not 'Nation'

Hindutva means Hinduness, not Hindu nationalism in the Western sense

- K.N. Govindacharya

WHEN PARALLELS ARE DRAWN between Hindu and Hindutva, I’m reminded of my days in the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) in the early 1980s. My mentor then was Yashwant Rao Kelkar, who had earlier been a Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) pracharak. He would say that Atal Bihari Vajpayee has his idea of Hindutva, L.K. Advani another, K. Sudarshan and Ashok Singhal have their own ideas of it, as do Vinay Katiyar and the Bajrang Dal, and so on and so forth. Why were these varying shades of the Hindutva spectrum at 180 degrees from each other? He said this would cause trouble in the future.

Kelkar said that we are all situated in our respective resolve to protect and nurture four facets of being Hindu: its dharma, culture, society and rashtra. If these facets are different, then their meanings and implications will also vary. When we talk of the danger, it’s not to dharma, because that is timeless. The danger is to Hindu society. This creates confusion, which spreads from the supporters of Hindutva to its opponents. He often said the Sangh Parivar should address and resolve this confusion.

Above all else, he said, the varying arms of the Parivar need unity and coordination along two values, self-sufficiency and cooperation. How are these to be achieved, through what means, and in which spheres?Answers to these were important because the divergence was set to increase with time.