[lbo-talk] BJP and kin -- Hinduism, fundamentalism, etc

ravi gadfly at exitleft.org
Sat Aug 26 07:38:11 PDT 2006


At around 26/8/06 8:53 am, Chris Doss wrote:
> --- uvj at vsnl.com wrote:
>
>> BJP, RSS and Shiv Sena are rightwing Hindu
>> nationalist parties or movements, but they are not
>> fundamentalist movements. Hinduism is not a religion
>> with one god, one book, one prophet. These
>> movements don't claim to base their politics on any
>> sacred text.
>>
>
> Doesn't the Hindu pantheon actually vary from town to town?
>

To some extent, but these differences are often exaggerated to more than what they are. There are commonalities in the fundamentals, gods, rituals, and so on, across most communities. Also there is broad resonance with the idea of Hinduism as an identity (cultivated and exploited by the Hindutva gang).

American Heritage dictionary defines fundamentalism as "a usually religious movement or point of view characterized by a return to fundamental principles, by rigid adherence to those principles, and often by intolerance of other views and opposition to secularism." There is in my opinion enough reason to believe that the thrust of the Hindutva movement and organisations falls within the broad outline of such a definition. Hence we have Kaushik Basu writing on the BBC about Sen's warning about the dangers of Hindu fundamentalism (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4491662.stm).

Google for BJP and stuff like "science" or "textbooks", or similar themes, and you will come across multiple examples of the ongoing effort to reshape India as a Hindu nation AND to rewrite and revise texts and opinion to facilitate this goal. Remind you of something? Christian fundamentalism in the USA.

http://www.pathfinder.com/asiaweek/99/0326/nat7.html

--ravi

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