History of Rightwing movement in India

 

Ancient period:

The term Hindu was an abbreviated form for reference of people living beyond the Sindhu River named by contemporary communities especially that of the Arabs and Persians who had trade relations with them. The term did not then signify any monolithic religion but was a general reference name for identity of region and people. The religious beliefs of people during those times were related  to various sects  and philosophies  but was either related to the vedas (vaidikam) like Brahmanism, Vaishnavism , Shaktism and non vaidic (avaidikam) like Ajivikas, Charvakam,Budhism and Jainism . Shaivism had much variants which were either in the vaidikam or  avaidikam tradition but later forms part of the larger vaidika dharma . However there seems to exist a rudimentary form of socio-cultural identity structured under a caste system which could be inferred from the term ‘’ Mlechas’’ which were referred to immigrants into the landmass who did not assimilate into the common culture of the region.

Medieval period:

Prior to the Islamic Invasion of India in the 7^th Century by Arabs and in the 12^th Century by Turks, a political Hindu Identity was absent. A identify formed from the differentiation of idolators and iconoclasts emerged since then mainly from the political fallout from the conflicts of Islamic Sultanates and Kingdoms in India from the 12^th Century onwards with the Hindu Kings. The resistance of Rajput Kings Like Pritviraj Chouhan and Rana Sangha and Marathas under Chatrapati Shivaji testifies a religious angle to the conflict much reflected by Idolatry, iconoclasm and  religious taxes

The religious angle to conflict against Islamic forces can be best cited to the emergence of Vijayanagaram Kingdom in the Deccan. The traditional account referred in Nilakanta Shastri’s History of South India is that of the capture and conversion into Islam of the local chief tons Harihara -1 and Bukka by the Delhi Sultan in the 13^th century and their escape and reconversion into Hinduism done and establishing a mighty empire which spread all over south India. The medieval period of Hindu Consciousness can also be connected to the bhakti movements which evolved in the South and later spread to the North of India. However, during this period a consolidated Hindu political Identity was absent in the sub-continent.

Modern Period:      

While it can be mentioned that the first war of Independence of India of 1857 was triggered primarily by religious offences faced by both Hindus and Muslims from British Officers, the rebellion was conspicuous of a collective Hindu -Muslim onslaught on the British empire. This necessitated a narrative of division and creation of a  Hindu-Muslim dyad  as part of policy by the British Administration . This strategy eventually resulted in division of Bengal on religious lines in 1905 and the communal constituencies created through the Minto Morley reforms in 1906. The British policy of divide and rule had a strong bearing on emergence of religious identity formation and nationalistic aspiration both among Hindu as well as Muslims.

The Hindu identity politics initially emerged as a resentment to the passive Hindu aristocratic affiliation of the moderate congress to the British empire. This was led by Balagangadhara Tilak who looked into Hindu and maratha  traditions as sources for nationalistic aspirations. The prevalent religious reforms movements especially the formation of the Arya Samaj did create an impetus to Hindu nationalist aspirations .  However the formation of the Punjab Hindu Mahasabha in 1909 through Lal Chand and UN Mukherji ,focussed on creating a Hindu centric political movement  was mainly guided against the conciliatory politics of the congress which eventually resulted in the formation of the All India Hindu Maha Sabha in April 1915 during the Haridwar Kubhmela and  was ironically facilitated by Mahatma Gandhi himself.

The emergence of Vinayak Damodar Savarkar who started the Abhinav bharat society (young India movement) in 1904 and that of Aurobindo Ghosh who joined Bengal National congress and his association with anushasan samiti till 1910 was focussed on a revolutionary approach to the freedom movement. Both their political leaning was inspired by a collective Hindu Identity. Influenced by their writing and political thinking,  Kesav Baliram Hedgewar started an organisation called Rashtriya Syamsewak Sangh in 1925 on a Vijayadashami day along with  his similar ideologues prominent among them being Guruji Gowalkar for ‘cultural and spiritual regeneration of Hinduism’. The organisation did not actively associate with the freedom movement and instead focussed on activities which imbibed a strong Hindu consciousness among the youth. His activities were followed by Guruji Gowalkar who succeeded him in 1940  and under whom the a political Hindu consciousness movement started developing a political ideology as referred through his book ‘’ We or Our nationhood defined’’ . Govalkar spoke of cultural nationalism and a Hindu Rashtra incorporating the ancient Hindu civilisational cradle as Akhand Bharat.

The pre independent modern period had do academic and educational development which has propelled the development of Hindu consciousness. In 1938 a educationalist turned politician Kanhaiyalal Maneklal Munshi started the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan a series of educational establishment to promote Indian culture based education. Prior to that Swamy Vivekananda founded the Rama krishna Mission and spread the values of Hindu religion through his famous speech in the parliament of world religions held in Chicago in 1893. Vivekananda remained a cultural icon to the Hindu nationalists and his work significantly contributed to the concept of cultural nationalism in India. Additionally the works done by British Indologists like William Jones, Henry Thomas and among Indians notably being R G Bhandarkar in addition to the Archaeologists and Historians of the period have created a consciousness of a prideful past of the nation. The works of Alexander cunningham who found the Archaeological Survey of India, John Marshel credited with the discovery of the Indus civilisation, Motimer wheeler and James Princip among other. This was followed by many woks on archaeology mainly led by Hasmukh Dhirajlal Sankhalia , Dayaram Sahni etc which re interacted the intelligentsia about a strong linkage to India’s cultural continuity.

Post Independent Period:

The independence of India which was followed by the division of the nation, the communal backlash and notably the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi, by Nathuram Godse ,  a Hindu Maha Sabha activist submerged the Hindutva movement . However, the Fabián socialist and secular principles of the new congress led government was opposed by a new leader , a critic of Nehru , a member of his first cabinet and a dropout from the Hindu Mahasabha, namely Shyam prasad Mukherji . In 1951 with the support of the RSS, Mukerji started the Bharatiya Janasangh as a Hindu nationalist alternative to the Indian national congress . This was also followed by R Rajagopalachari disguised by left socialist leaning of the congress formed a party called Swatantra Party in 1959. Both these parties  formed the initial right wing alternative to the congress party under Jawarlal Nehru with the former on Hindutva ideology and the latter with an anti-socialist ideology .

The Bhartiya Jan Sangh could win only 3 seats in the 1952 Lok Sabha elections and remained in the fringes of Indian political till 1967 , heavily dominated by the Indian National congress and also due to the sudden death of Shyama prasad Mukherji in 1953 under suspicious circumstances .  Deendayal Upadhyaya re defined the Jan Sangh ideology under a principle of Integral Humanism which he propounded against western individualism and Marxian socialism, which later echoed as Swadeshi Sagran Manch and most lately as Make in India and Atmanirbhar Bharat. The principle takes cues from Gandhian ideologies of Swadishi, Sarvodaya and Gram swaraj and under his leadership JanSangh got 35 seats in the lok sabha elections held in 1967. After his untimely death in 1968, Atal Bihari Vajpayee become the President of Jan Sangh till 1972 which was followed by LK Advani till 1977. The Jansangh’s association with Janata Party resulted in its participation in the Morarji Desai cabinet from 1977 to 1979. However the issue of being a political party member and a member of RSS jointly was opposed by the Janata Party in 1980 after its poor performance in the national elections . this led to Bharatiya Jan Sangh breaking away from Janata Party and forming the Bharatiya Janata Party in 1980 under the president ship of Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

In 1984, the moderate Vajpayee was succeeded by LK Advani a hardliner who vehemently criticised the practice of secularism in India naming it as Pseudo secularism. According to LK Advani, the practice of secularism in India was for minority appeasement. The immediate political opportunity for the party under LK Advani was the promulgation of the Muslim Women (Protection on Divorce Act), 1986. This law overturned the Supreme Court’s verdict in the Shah Bano case which allowed continuous maintenance to Muslim women . The 1986 Muslim Women (Protection on Rights of Divorce) Act diluted the Supreme Court judgment and allowed maintenance to a divorced woman only during the period of iddat, or till 90 days after the divorce.

Meanwhile in 1964 the Viswa Hindu Parishad was formed by Guruji Gowalkar and  S S Apte under the able guidance of the Pujniya Swamy Chinmayananda the founder of Chinmaya mission and one of the post independent global  exponent of Gita and Upanishad philosophies . The VHP which aims to consolidate, serve and protect the Hindu Community, under the then leadership of Ashok Singhal decided to take up the issue of Ram Janmabhoomi in its Dharma Sansad held in Delhi in 1984. In 1989 in its Palampur,Kangra Resolution the BJP under LK Advani took a resolution to fight for the cause of Ram Janmabhoomi which resulted into his rath yatra which resulted in a political consolidation of the Hindus . In the elections that followed after the BJP has consistently outweighed the congress party and in 1998 the party along with like minded groups formed the National democratic alliance which came to power in 1998 to 2004 being the first non-congress political dispensation which completed  its 5 year tenure.

Twenty first century and Hindutva movement:

Emergence of the twenty first century saw the coming  of a new generation technologically enabled and highly networked through a burgeoning social media. By the second decade of this century conservative nationalism started emerging across the globe with individual leaders leading youthful movements. The Hindutva movement quickly moved into the digital platform and found centrifuged under a leader named Narendra Modi the then chief minister of Gujarat. The digital Hindutva movement under Mr Modi focussed not only on the national but also on the global Hindu diaspora. Unlike the focussed religious agenda the digital Hindutva campaign was on development christened ‘’ sab ke saat sab ka vikas’’ a term which reverberated among the youth and middle class Indians paving way for the second NDA government under Narendra Modi as PM in 2014 .