Amruta Fadnavis: Tryst with a Confused Hindu

Who am I” is the most frequent question asked by individuals and communities alike. Everybody likes to have an identity that separate them from the crowd or make them a unique entity. A lack of identity leads to a severe mental crisis and moral dilemmas about the purpose of one’s existence and what do they wish to achieve ultimately. Such identity crises churn out the most self destructive people, worse if these people are in influential positions.

One such person is the wife of Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis, Mrs Amruta Fadnavis. This is what she tweeted-

Shares

Perhaps she is more than excited to attend Christian events but hardly is seen in any Hindu events. When she was countered by “trolls” on social media about the sinister plans of Christian missionaries, the reply that came smacks of utter confusion of a Hindu as to what are the goals of Hindutva. First sign of a confused Hindu is seen when the person tries to treat all religions equally. Something like the following tweet-

Shares

Absolutely agree madam. Love, sharing and empathy have no religion, except that those receiving the ‘love, sharing and empathy’ miraculously end up worshipping Christ! And of course, that keeps them away from ‘negative (read Hindu) thoughts’ and ‘demotivating (read RSS) energies’ !

When attempts to treat all religions equally fall flat, then a confused Hindu suddenly remembers that he/she is ALSO a Hindu and then tries to play it off as an act of self defense. Something like this-

Shares

Oh my Lord Ganesha! Finally one remembered about being a proud Hindu. But this pride comes with terms and conditions. One has to “‘celebrate every festival in my country”. And of course, that is the ‘true spirit of the country’! How right she is. The true spirit was recently seen in Bengal when immersion of Durga idols was not permitted by Muslims due to Ramzan. But of course, a confused Hindu should continue celebrating all festivals.

It doesn’t matter to Mrs Fadnavis that just a few days back a Gujarat Archbishop had called for an alliance against BJP which is too ‘nationalist’. It also doesn’t matter to her that crores of rupees flow in India via Norway into NGOs involved in conversion activities. It also doesn’t matter that Christianity is being used as a tool to break India apart, the best example being Nagaland where the slogan for an independent Nagalim is- “Nagaland for Chirst”. But who cares? Page 3 news is made by parroting the secular lines in front of cameras.

So much for Mrs Fadnavis. She may be having compulsions being the wife of a Chief Minister.  But the real concern is of people supporting such a behavior. Before going into the modus operandi of Confused Hindus, let us define a Confused Hindu.

A Confused Hindu is that Hindu who feels India can be a genuinely secular country. The current biased treatment of Hindus by the secular-liberal lobby pushed these Confused Hindus towards the Right Wing. But they haven’t left their inner belief that once religions are treated equally, India can return back to the great utopian world of secularism. Outwardly they vote for the BJP and profess allegiance to RSS and Hindutva, but they lack the vision and courage to accept that Hindus can never live peacefully with Chrislamists, howsoever equal they are treated.

The reason for such an attitude lies in the upbringing of an individual. The education that we get in our schools, especially convent schools, is the biggest trigger for such an attitude. The next stage of mental conditioning starts in teenage when one starts watching movies, ads and shows. I call it the “Amar- Akbar-Anthony” effect where every single time it is impinged on young minds about how all religions are equal and how only Hindus should compromise to maintain the harmony. The only saving grace is that Confused Hindus have some pride in their religion but that doesn’t stop them from idealizing a secular world which is a reality only on screens. So naïve, to say the least.

It doesn’t matter to a Confused Hindu that nowhere in the world have the Abrahamic cults survived with other religions peacefully. But he wants the same to happen in India. This is the modern version of “Alice in Wonderland”. It is built up by secular fairy tales that everyone can live in peace, even if no such intentions are shown by other religions.  They are of the firm belief that only peace can win against the organized tyranny of Abrahmics. It doesn’t occur to them that being a proud Hindu is contradictory to making peace with your own aggressors. And ironically, they expect this from a Hindu party like BJP!

A Confused Hindu, being Right Wing at least outwardly, wants a Ram Mandir in Ayodhya but will abhor violence that led to destruction of Babri Masjid. Perhaps they want a floating Ram Mandir! They are not in favour of movies like Padmavati showing Hindu icons wrongly, but don’t find anything wrong in the “Allah-Maula-Bismillah” culture in Bollywood movies. They understand that demographic balance in India is changing, but can’t stop justifying cases of Love Jihad under the pretext of ‘freedom to choose one’s partner’. Needless to mention the relentless rhetoric of ‘compassion, peace, harmony, shared coexistence and cooperation’. But all of this pep talk while claiming to be a Proud Hindu!

A step ahead, a Confused Hindu will parrot the oft repeated Nehruvian nonsense. ‘India is such a great country that it sheltered the refugees like Jews and Parsis in the past’. No one asks the simple question whether Hindu refugees would have been sheltered by the same Jews and Parsis in Israel and Iran, had the need arisen. The next set of nonsense is the Sanskrit Subhashitas from Upanishads that are used to show a kind of universalism. A Confused Hindu will peddle all sorts of arguments to show how the entire world is one family (Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam) and how we can co-exist with Chrislamists in spite of being a proud Hindu. India would be the only country in the world to peddle this sort of internationalism even when it lost 40% of its own territory in 1947. World peace at the cost of one’s existence! That’s what appeals to a Confused Hindu.

When such idealism is countered by showing the instances of Muslim and Christian violence, a Confused Hindu advances to the next level of argument. I call it the “Few Good Muslims” argument. Almost like a cliché, the Confused Hindu will say- “But not all Muslims are bad. Some violent elements don’t make the entire community bad”. The Confused Hindu will say- “I have so many Christian and Muslim friends and they are so good”. Basically, a few good friends in one small part of India are enough to whitewash the crimes of thousands of others!

But my point is something else. Agreed that there are good people in all communities. But did it change the inevitable? Let’s take an example. Not all Muslims wanted partition in 1947. Agreed. But did it stop the partition? Did it stop the migration of thousands of families? Did it prevent the brutalization of lakhs of women? What did these ‘good Muslims’ do to stop their fellow brethren from indulging in killing and treason? Weren’t they just mute spectators to the violence? Now apply this to the current times. These Confused Hindus don’t understand that their ‘good friends’ have absolutely no capacity to stop violence in an event of a riot or a Civil War. The end result will be the same as that of events in 1947. But does it matter to the confused souls who hallucinate in broad daylight about the goodness of their select few friends?

I don’t intend to be patriarchal, but I find women are ahead amongst the Confused Hindus. They are inspired by the rhetoric of peace and harmony. Although they don’t intend to leave their own religion, they can’t stop from being compassionate to Chrislamists in spite of their intentions. A variant of such attitude is the feminist argument. When Mrs Fadnavis was being countered, many Right Wing women attempted to justify Mrs Fadnavis’ actions just on the pretext that she is a woman and hence she must be protected from the ‘patriarchal and misogynist’ Right Wing men. Nothing can be more digressing from the core issue. But again, does it matter to the Confused Hindus?

It is said that patriotism is the last refuge of every scoundrel. Let us tweak this quote a bit. The new quote reads- Fundamental Rights are the last refuge of every Confused Hindu. When the Confused Hindu understands that none of his/her arguments are working,  he/she intends to take refuge in Fundamental Rights saying the individual has freedom of expression, freedom of speech, freedom to have one’s own view and freedom to attend whichever function he wants. He/she will exercise this right, even if it means associating with the enemies of Hinduism. Refuge in such arguments signals that the Confused Hindu is irredeemable and won’t let go of his beliefs.

I am not opposed to peace and harmony. But at what cost? The warrior monk Ashin Wirathu who inspired Burmese to fight the Rohingya terrorists has rightfully said- “You can be full of kindness and love but you cannot sleep besides a mad dog.” But unfortunately, utopia appeals more than reality.

Such is a Confused Hindu. Completely immersed in dilemmas. He fails to understand that we are currently at a civilizational war. He doesn’t understand that India as we know won’t survive once Muslims and Christians become majority. Samuel Huntington in his legendary book “Clash of the Civilizations” has rightly noted that the 21st century will be marked by conflicts between religions and cultures and not for economic or political issues. Unless you unapologetically support the Hindu cause, you can’t come out of this war victorious, definitely not if you continue peddling the ‘Hindu-Muslim-Sikh- Issai’ rhetoric

But will the Confused Hindus every understand it? They find solace in peddling ideals of peace, cooperation, harmony, compassion, compromise, non-violence and secularism. Perhaps they should lecture these ideals to the families of 500 Swayamsevaks killed in Kerala. After all, who else can understand them better?

Writer : @Prachinvaani