India’s tryst with its new past

Bestowing honorific monikers is a right-wing validation process as they create a Hindu nation. Thus, Prime Minister Modi’s claim of possessing a 56-inch chest has been inflated by his supporters into a declaration that he is not only the world’s most popular leader but also its Vishwaguru.

The right’s other proclivity is creating heroes and claiming the Hindu history of the subcontinent is glorious. Truth be told, if viewed through the right-wing Hindutva lens, the reign of Hindu kings is anything but.

Hindu kings frequently engaged in wars against each other and looted temples. Historian Anirudh Kanisetti, in his book, Lords of the Deccan: Southern India From Chalukyas to Cholas presents records of Hindu kings destroying and plundering temples belonging to neighbouring Hindu kingdoms. Prithviraj Chauhan went to war against and defeated Paramardidev, the Chandela king. Even Marathas and Rajputs fought each other.

Hindu kings often allied with external forces. The Maratha empire sided with the British when Tipu battled the colonists. They even attacked the Hindu temple of Sringeri Math. In the first Anglo-Sikh war, Gulab Singh, the Dogra king, did not help the Sikh empire against the British.

Muslim generals led the armies of Hindu kings. Maharana Pratap and his Muslim general, Hakim Khan Sur, fought against the Mughal king Akbar. Muslim generals and soldiers served under Chhatrapati Shivaji. The Hindutva brigade reveres both as icons for standing up to Muslims.

This land is littered with such stories.

The right-wing wishes away this game of thrones. Hindu kings, fuelled by self-preservation, ambition, revenge, and greed, plundered each other. Shared religious beliefs never deterred kings from killing each other. The right realises their ideology is built on falsehoods and lacks genuine heroes to support their ambitions. Moreover, history contradicts their insular, sectarian mindset, as Hindu kings demonstrated secular tendencies in their choice of allies
and adversaries.

Much to the chagrin of the Hindutva brigade, India knows its heroes and founders were parochial and murderers. Some even sought clemency from the British and opposed the freedom movement. These figures were connected to or influenced by the RSS, which spawned the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and other right-wing organisations.

Before 2002, the RSS only raised the national flag twice—on August 15, 1947, and January 26, 1950—at its headquarters. For 52 years, they harboured aversion towards the tri-colour. In fact, the RSS publication Organiser stated on the eve of independence that the Indian tricolour would “never be respected and owned by Hindus. The word three is in itself evil.”

The chequered history of the Indian right and Hindu kings behaving like warlords do not instill confidence in their vision for India. This would not be a concern if PM Modi and the Hindutva brigade were focused on founding a civilization. Unfortunately, the challenge is onerous: returning modern-day India to an idealised, glorious era of Hindu rule.

The raison d’être the right-wing has given itself—rightful inheritors, protectors, and promoters of India’s glorious Hindu history—requires a storyline that begins with ancient Hindu achievements and culminates with the establishment of a Hindu nation.

To create the façade of a great Hindu past and validate their fantasy, the right assiduously overlooks the Hindu-Hindu conflicts. Consequently, India now has Hindu heroes creating glorious Hindu kingdoms, Hindu heroes defending Hindu kingdoms against Muslim invaders, and Prime Minister Modi.

However, Modi’s larger-than-life image and the narrative of India’s resurgence under his leadership seem insufficient to lend credibility to their vision. It is vital for Modi to not appear in isolation but to be part of a lineage of modern right-wing heroes—founders and early members who envisioned modern India as a Hindu paradise of yore. As these individuals have baggage, Hindutva apologists attempted to poach revered secular Indian freedom fighters, claiming they espoused similar ideologies. When this approach failed, they resorted to producing books, articles, movies, and altering school curricula to glorify the founders and early advocates of Hindutva.

With the Indian past reimagined and the history of Hindutva’s founders and early members embellished, Modi is hailed as a hero. He is making real their vision—reverting India to an imagined glorious Hindu past. It is not surprising that his demeanour and that of his followers towards him mirror the portrayals of kings in Indian TV shows and movies.

A civilizational construct without heroes appears shifty. The right-wing’s effort to establish historical precedent for their delusions is commendable. Personal sacrifice is the foundation on which great enterprises and nations stand. Indians bear witness to the rare instance where truth is manufactured to create a new nation.

(The writer is a freelance journalist)