Daily Times

Secularism is a complex idea in the sense that how and when it converts into something else is difficult to define and predict.

It treads the road of religion and politics with the bare minimum cognitive symmetry in the lexicon of social sensibility. To be socially correct is the key to remaining secular. Separatism of state and church, disestablishmentarianism and accomodationism are the types which revolve around the balance of religion and the state. State-sponsored atheism is another extreme of the same spectrum.

A country with 28 states, 8 union territories,400 cities and 6 lakh villages is slowly, sloppily but not sluggishly immersing itself in the potion-filled goblet of Hindutva 2.0. The First Hindutva state was a historical construct at the times of Bharata, i.e. bharatvarsh or the state under Chandragupta Maurya and Chankiya, but that did not have the fanaticism of present-day order. India is changing, the political parties of the right, the people and the growing middle class are very off-beat about this.

The shock doctrine of capitalism under the ideological umbrella of new narrativity based on the rewriting of history is at the centre stage of Hindutva, the concept of the Hindu race like that of Aryans is probably inspired by Hitler’s racial superiority, which led to fascism and fanaticism resulting into world wars, unfortunately to which Germany became the victim itself. Interestingly in India Hinduism and Dravidianism are at tangents to each other. Dravidian nationalism based on the ideologies of dismantling Brahmin hegemony, the Telegu, Malayalam and Tamil languages is challenging the caste and creed-based Hinduism of central and northern India. India south of line Surat- Nagpur-Raipur is different from the Hindu north.

Despite being contested in every sphere, the strategic elite and Islamabad-based academia of Pakistan lacked Indian experts in their ranks and files. How a Hindu mind thinks, radiating from Vedic and post-Vedic influences is an area which requires a lot of exploration. But why. The concept of a new India is based on the revival of civilizational realizations. These civilizational aspirations are derived from the Hindu epics of Mahabharata and Ramayana along with shlokas and mantras which every Hindu enchants in the morning. But now the morning mantras are more from epics (Mahabharata and Ramayana) reinforcing Hindu nationalism and war heroes as a daily ritual.

A very interesting book ”The Hindus: An Alternative History” by Wendy Doniger was published a decade ago, its all copies were immediately pulped and the book was banned in India. That defined Hinduism as a religion, mythology and a system of thinking along the civilizational truths shrouded in history. Recently in an interesting move, India has become Baharat. India was a derivative of Indus, the etymology further takes the usage of Arabic use of hind and the word Sindhu.

A country with 28 states, 8 union territories,400 cities and 6 lakh villages is slowly, sloppily but not sluggishly immersing itself in the potion-filled goblet of Hindutva 2.0.

Changing the name to Baharat is an attempt to create a historicism based on the foremost Hindu epic of the Ten Kings War of Dasarajna, fought by Sudas the great, great-grandson of Baharat (son of queen Shakuntala and ancestor of Pandavas of Mahabharata), the first Vedic king who ruled complete India, including almost all the present day contemporary neighbours.

Now all three Hindu epics considered as the strategic text for statecraft and governance are war-based, imbibed in the constant preparation and execution of Yudh (battle). And the Indian state has declared yudh (battle) against everything non-Hindu. This new historicism is based on creating pivots of Hindu religiosity and is a strategic concept covering all aspects of war and peace. In the last five years, India has changed more than anything in the world, these are the words of Indian external affairs minister S. Jaishankar, who ardently believes that diplomacy has to have a direct cue from Mahabharata (the war epic).

Converting Lakshadweep into a new world-class destination of 36 islands off Kerala to counter both the strategic and economic ventures of Maldives and China is a very smart move, with Modi snorkelling in white sand beaches and greenish blue waters. S. Jaishankar’s master stroke from Mahabharata. After January 22, India is to change forever, in their own right India will appear as the Hindu civilizational power. The inauguration of Ram temple at the site of Babri mosque in Ayodha is a requiem to secular India. The Hindu right led by Modi is over the skies not only in celebrations but also in the revival of a new post-Vedic Baharat. The Shaktism based on the female deities of Durga, Saraswati, Parvati and Kali will be unfolded with a new verve after this fateful inauguration.

This Hindu revival is based on the concept of blending the strategy of complete dominance by using language, history, archaeology and genetics as the tools of Arjun’s Gandiva (bow and arrow). They are changing the names of places, Aryan invasion theory, Harrapan archaeological mastheads and historical evidence. Deccan College of Archeology led by Vasant Shinde, Banaras Hindu University, JNU Dehli and a host of others are busy weaving this Shakespearian tragedy. It is believed that two white rock pigeons appear at the Amaranth cave temple at an altitude of 13000 feet to commemorate the centuries-old union of Vishnu and Satti.As the narration says, after the sudden death of satti, her body parts were spread all over India by the Hindu god Vishnu, these are called peetha, all these places are very sacred as per Hindu religion, 7 such peeths are in Bangladesh, 3 in Pakistan, 3 in Nepal, 1 in Sri Lanka, 1 in Tibet and 1 in Bhutan. Therefore, the historical concept of greater India is yearly reiterated at Nagpur through RSS, BJP and sang parivar congregation. Indian strategic thought is immersed deeply in the Vedic traditions and the Hindu religious thoughts based on three war epics.

Modi has proved himself to be an astute leader taking India ahead in spheres of strategic ascending. India is changing, India is transforming and India is projecting power in every competition of sub-regional, regional and trans-regional orientations. There is a dire need for Pakistan’s strategic elite and the policy sages to take into account these developments and steer Pakistan towards economic stability through long-drawn moves on the chess board spread from the Himalayas to the Arabian Sea. Perhaps, it is time that the contestation and competition with India is redefined based on aspiring strategic alignments. Not the goals and objectives should lead, rather the systems and environment should dictate.

The writer is a freelance contributor on security related issues. He is also a Ph.D Scholar who can be reached at sindhulatif@gmail.com Twitter: @Abid_Latif55