The Roots of Democracy and Secularism

The Roots of Democracy and Secularism

A new weekly has been launched in the capital. The Editor is M. J. Akbar; the Chairman is Ram Jethmalani; the name of the paper is The Sunday Guardian.

The last issue of this journal (April 4, 2010) carries an interesting article by Jethmalani. The title of this article sounds provocative : “Hindutva is not property of BJP”. Some of my party colleagues may take umbrage, and presume the article is critical. It is not. It is complimentary.

Indeed, the stress is on Indian Secularism having its roots in Hindutva. Jethmalani had very ably argued Shiv Sena leader Manohar Joshi’s case in the Supreme Court, and secured Justice Verma’s landmark judgement on Hindutva in which the Court declared : “Hindutva is a way of life or state of mind and cannot be understood as religious Hindu fundamentalism”. In his article the learned lawyer observes: “It is a pity that the BJP has not been able to explain to people that Hindutva and Indian secularism are practically synonyms.”

***

In the late eighties while I was president of BJP, I recall a phone call from a Canadian Television Team which had come to New Delhi. I was told that this TV Team was producing a television serial titled “The Rise and Fall of Democracies around the Globe”.

The TV anchor who spoke to me said: “We are greatly impressed by the manner in which India has sustained democracy for four decades, and the smooth and peaceful changes of Government that have been taking place through the ballot box, both at the Centre as well as in the states. We believe that you are one of the few political leaders who have been an active participant in all the parliamentary elections held in independent India, that is, since the first General Elections of 1952. We are keen to interview you .”

The Team met me at our Ashok Road Party Office lawns and wanted to know my analysis as to why democracy had been such a success in this country. My answer was; “I hold that the most important ingredient for a successful democracy is readiness of the people of that country to accept that on any issue there are bound to be divergent views and that citizens generally must be informed by an attitude of tolerance toward diametrically different points of view. And in India, this has never been lacking.”

In human history, intolerance towards a different point of view has been reflected most in the field of religion. In the west, well known scientists like Galileo have had to face the Inquisition, and recant all such scientific discoveries as were contrary to the writings in the religious scriptures, even though scientifically the soundness of these discoveries was unquestionable.

In sharp contrast, there has been in India, even in purely religious matters an open-minded and liberal approach. Amidst an overwhelmingly theist populace, we had a rank materialist and atheist like Charvaka questioning the existence of God, ridiculing the doctrine of rebirth and advocating an eat, drink and make merry approach, and yet not being just ‘tolerated’, but being actually respected as ‘Rishi Charvaka’.

Fareed Zakaria, Editor of Newsweek International, has recently written a book “The Post American World” in which he has repeatedly emphasized that Hinduism is not a religion in the ‘Abrahamic’ sense of the word. Zakaria writes:

“Every sect and sub-sect of Hinduism worships its own God, Goddess, or holy creature. Every family forges its own distinct version of Hinduism. You can pay your respects to some beliefs, and not to others. You can be a vegetarian or eat meat. You can pray or not pray. None of these choices determines whether you are a Hindu. There is no heresy or apostasy, because there is no core set of beliefs, no doctrine, and no commandments.”

Zakaria argues that it is this non-doctrinaire character that gives Hinduism its absorptive and assimilative power. I hold that it is this Hindu ethos that accounts for the success of both democracy as well as secularism in India.

L.K. Advani
New Delhi

11th April, 2010

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28 Responses to “The Roots of Democracy and Secularism”

R.A.Israel Jebasingh Says:
April 11th, 2010 at 8:00 pm
Sir, I completely agree with you that Hinduism exhibits tolerance towards other religions. In fact it is more than tolerance, for example if anyone visits Shrine Vailankani Church or Nagore Mosque, he/she can find more Hindus than Christians or Muslims. During first war of Independence in 1857, Bahadur Shah Zafar,the Mughal emperor was considered as Emperor of India by those who fought against British Raj, which clearly shows, how tolerant the Indian society is. I also agree with you that such tolerance is one of the reasons for the success of our democracy. But in my view, it is not the only reason for the success of democracy. Independent Judiciary, maturity shown by defence forces of India (when their counterparts across the border are habituated to orchestrate coups and kill democracy), Indian Constitution which assures freedom for Press to voice their opinions (Art 19(1)(a)) etc along with tolerant Indian society accounts for success of both democracy as well as secularism.
gopi Says:
April 11th, 2010 at 8:24 pm
Please add the link to RJ’s article, if possible. Thank you.

The article is not available on the net, however, it has been published on Sri Advani ji’s forum - http://www.lkadvani.in/forum. Or please follow the link : Hindutva is not property of BJP - Blog Admin
Hari Nair Says:
April 11th, 2010 at 8:48 pm
And does this not therefore bring us to the basic Hindu conundrum? Our Hindu Ethos makes our society flexible and allows ‘harder’ points of view to flourish. Eventually, those ‘harder’ voices grow and drown out the flexibility, most likely killing the very ethos that we take pride in. On the other hand, will not any effort to ‘harden’ a stance also kill this flexibility that we take as our signature? Looks to me, we have a problem.
Paras Malhotra Says:
April 11th, 2010 at 9:42 pm
The same thing Brijesh Mishra said during his interview to NDTV. The presentation of Hindutva was having too much inclination towards RSS and pro-fundamentalism which BJP does not signify. It will be sad if BJP will not unite until next general elections because India needs a major party like BJP in hot seat whether it be a strong government or a vehement opposition.
Vikram Says:
April 12th, 2010 at 9:00 am
This is definitely a very informative article. I wish that everyone in our younger generation finds some time to read this and understand the Hindutva philosophy, which by media reports sounds to be a draconian concept most of the time.
nandhini Says:
April 12th, 2010 at 9:46 am
Respected Sir,

I really agree with you. Our Hinduism is not just a religion, it teaches us how to live life in a proper way, how to respect even animals, plants and our enemies.

In the history of india, the people faced problems, atrocities during British and Mughal empire. During Hindu empires, the percentage of Hindu kings doing the same was mush less or negligible. That’s Hinduism.
Chandan Kumar Says:
April 12th, 2010 at 11:50 am
Respected Sir,

Once in an interview, Mr Ram Jethmalani had remarked, “Hindutva is the shield for minorities which guarantees their safety and security“. If minorities in India find themselves fully protected and enjoy equal rights, credits should must go to the absorptive and assimilative attitude of the majority of the people for whom Hinduism has been integral part.

It is true that earliest force of civilization was religion. But in the course of time people have used it as an instrument to create discord or rift among the people of various religious sects to garner their own social or political ends. I think that this attitude of some people will pose a real threat to the secularism - the very essence of indian democracy.
samir agrawal Says:
April 12th, 2010 at 12:00 pm
Sir,

I think Jethmalini is right when he says that BJP has not been able to explain that Hindutava and Secularism go hand in hand. In all the TV iterviews, whnever the question of Hindutava comes BJP appears to be defensive….I think an aggresive approach on this matter and by default linking Hindutava to Secularism/ Nationalism with verbatim quoting of the relevant SC order should be must for every party member while answering anything on Hindutava….I do not find this being done by any one including party president..constant perusal of this approach will make sure BJP is not attacked by anyone for saying that its pursuing Hindutava which is, in fact, a positive attribute..

IT SHOULD ALSO BE SAID THAT JUST MENTION OF WORD ‘HINDU’ DOES NOT MAKE THE WORD ‘HINDUTAVA’ COMMUNAL, OTHERWISE CALLING INDIA AS ‘HINDUSTAN’ WILL BECOME COMMUNAL ON THA SAME PARAMETER.
amit sharma Says:
April 12th, 2010 at 3:20 pm
The people who think Hindutava has a communal meaning just because of the word Hindu in it, should be asked whether they think of calling india as “Hindustan” also communal, as plain meaning of hindustan will be a place where hindus live !

I strongly feel that true meaning of Hindutava needs to be explained by BJP and made it very clear that Hinduism does not mean fundamentalism.
Abhilash M.R Says:
April 12th, 2010 at 5:20 pm
superb elucidation of the idea of Hindutva by shri Advani. It would have been great, if the article of Jethmalani was available on the net. I searched for it now and found an equally interesting interview with Mr Jethmalani where he tries to explain the meaning of Hindutva. I quote the relevant portion below :

What would you say is Hindutva?

My thesis is that Hindutva is written in the Indian Constitution. The Constitution talks of equality irrespective of religious faith. It gives you freedom to profess, practice and propagate religion. Without the fear of someone thrusting a knife into you. This is Hindutva.
An Indian Says:
April 12th, 2010 at 5:33 pm
Dear Mr. Advani,

Presuming that my comments will not be interpreted in any negative/political way, I say:

Yes, it is true that almost (almost) every religion or sect or even tribe has roots of “living in harmony” (they say, it is secularism, for me the word secularism means political interpretation of “living in harmony”).

We, the people of India, have had our share of ups and downs in all scenarios. Good & bad.

I, personally believe that: Nation is above any community.. Humanity is above any nation… I guess we need to promote humanity. The trust, the harmony, ‘mutual respect, support & tolerance’ - implying ‘National Integration’.

Why do people like you (the senior people whom we perceive as role-models) promote one ideology? Is this not imposing your thought on all? Do you say that by dividing nation based on ideologies, you are leading the nation? Don’t you think that you ask us to follow the road to fight with each other?

Pardon me if I offended anyone.

An Indian…
gautam Says:
April 12th, 2010 at 8:15 pm
Very interesting indeed and so very right. It is the true secular thought which gives equal rights to all and a true Hindu has respect for all religions without any appeasement of one single religion. Throughout your thinking has been that and you are most misunderstood by your party and friends.
kunal Says:
April 12th, 2010 at 9:46 pm
@ An Indian …. Im sorry but I completely disagree with your proposition that Ideology divide people.
Answer few questions of mine : To run an economy you need to follow an ideology: either market-oriented policies or state-planning. To win a war you need to follow an ideology: Full- fledged attack or guerrilla attacks. And so forth & so on.

Similarly an ideology is something that gives a direction to the nation. No one is asking you to follow Hinduism but to practice the wisdom taught by Hinduism within the parameters of your religion. Tolerance, Restraint, Harmony, Freedom embodied in this wisdom is what we call Hindutva.

If someone asks you to abandon or condemn your own religion in the name of secularism, is it justified ? After all, the day mankind relieves itself of its DHARMA will be the day it will dilute its KARMA. To maintain this balance, DHARMA should stay intact.
Amit Kumar Says:
April 12th, 2010 at 11:26 pm
All the articles on the same old topic. Advaniji, the average Indian is under 25 and is looking towards his or her future with gleaming eyes. As an aspiring governing party, the verdict for governance should be clear: tackle the real issues with seriousness.
K Says:
April 13th, 2010 at 3:18 am
To quote a real capitalistic retail chain major (food) McDonald’s recent punch line: “I’m lovin’ it”. Thank you very much.

However, I am moderately saddened because: hardly such positive analytical thoughts are emanating from the alleged “today’s BJP leaders”.

God bless (I dare say, even as an atheist).
pdkamath Says:
April 13th, 2010 at 7:40 am
Dear Sir,

Yesterday I was listening to a news in electronic channels in which they were quoting “Hindutva and Indian secularism are practically synonyms” from your blog post and they were trying to create an impression that you are unhappy with the present BJP leadership. The sad part of our media especially electronic is that they are trying to make their audience to jump to conclusions by publishing edited parts of speech or articles.

In this case also, a hue and cry was made about your anger or frustration with BJP and to read the truth I visited your blog for the first time and really happy to read the post. I am really ashamed of the news channels and its editors who could not read the real intention behind the quote. Similar to the ill famous Jinnah quote at Pakistan which was said with honesty, they want to create controversy within the parivar and I hope better sense prevails this time. This blog post is another feather in your crown and I am very proud of you, Sir.
JayKumar Says:
April 13th, 2010 at 9:52 am
Dear Sir,

Biggest mistake you have committed in your life is that you read M.J Akbar’s article, this time that too his own weekly news paper (Great Indeed). For this you can call it as a “National Shame”. All most every one knows that he is anti-Hindu, so if he has started some magazine or weekly news paper then it will be purely to target our Hinduism and Hindutva and nothing more than this he can write on any of the topic.

What I do every Sunday in “Sunday Times” without reading his article I just send sms of MMJA “NO”, to 58888, this is what “Times Of India deserves for publishing this man articles.

I am sure Sir, this man M.J Akbar will write something in coming Sunday Times about your comment on your own blogs on Hindutva. I can bet any one he will retaliate to your blogs.

My request to our beloved fellow being is that for God sake dont even read any of his article in any news paper across the country.
JayKumar Says:
April 13th, 2010 at 10:00 am
TAKING THE HIGH GROUND

We cannot succeed or move forward by hiding the facts. We have to move forward with pragmatism, realism and strength. We have to wage a relentless battle for the hearts and minds of Hindus.

We live in dreadful times. When dogmatism, bogus secularism and fundamentalism are seeking and despising our all-inclusive Hindutva, we should not shirk the responsibility to carry with vigor and vitality.

Hindus have to be strong, active, assertive, and fight for our survival. Only lower level people who are so poor in spirit and spineless secularists, and luxury loving political leaders are refusing to fight or join battle. Their main problem is the bogus secular frame of mind that considers it unsophisticated and narrow minded to love our country, our sacred Dharma. They are very skeptical of their own country, but very tolerant and open-minded of Jihadis, Marxists and totalitarian dogmas. Their main hobby is to renounce, insult and demean Hindutva.

Continue…
JayKumar Says:
April 13th, 2010 at 10:01 am
Continued….

Hindu leaders and laymen must develop basic skills for critical thinking and techniques for perception management. The skills are essential for separating facts from opinion; identify media manipulation and psychological warfare against Hindus. The ability to make the basic distinction between factual statements and statements for mental misdirection and deception is required for all Hindus.

Hindu Dharma is the soul of our nation. It is the spiritual values that bind us. It is the set of values, ideals pervading our consciousness that has been with us for centuries. Whether we admit it or not, and even if we claim we are not religious, we tend to operate according to our vision, spiritual tradition and moral values. This unifying Dharma is now under attack by phony secularists, mindless Marxists, Maoist anarchists, Jihadis and conversion gangs. They subscribe to alien dogmas. These dogmas are contradictory not complementary. They are not mutually supportive but destructive.
stokinghem Says:
April 13th, 2010 at 2:02 pm
आदरणीय श्री अडवाणी जी, सादर नमस्कार.

बहुत वक्त के बाद आपका यह ब्लॉग चालू हुआ… चुनाव के बाद..बहुत संतोष और आनंद हुआ..पर छोटा मुंह बड़ी बात आप के साथ करना चाहता हू..अगर अविनय लगे तो माफ कर देना..क्यूंकि..२००९ चुनाव के पहले से जो कुछ मैं लिख रहा हूँ ..वोह फोरम में मोजूद है.

यह ब्लॉग आप लिखते है या कोई और लिखता है और..आप यहाँ पर हुई टिपण्णी पढते है या नहीं..उसके लिए मुझे कोई जानकारी नहीं है….और १०० प्रतिशत विश्वास भी नहीं. दुसरे, यहाँ पर १००० केरेक्टर की सीमा बहुत कम है. लोकशाही में, भारत वर्ष में बीजेपी के सब से वरिष्ठ नेता को भी इ मेल के जरिये भी पहुंचा न जाए…और नेता भी जनता को कोई संपर्क का सीधा इ मेल जैसा सूत्र ना देना चाहे…वोह कहाँ कि लोकशाही है…पार्टी में चयनशाही और देस के लिए लोकशाही ! कब तक एइसा दंभ चलता रहेगा भारत वर्ष में ? !

Advani ji’s mail I/D is advanilk@sansad.nic.in and is publicly well known. Also, Advani ji reads every comment published here. - Blog administrator
stokinghem Says:
April 13th, 2010 at 2:10 pm
अब आप को यह सब तर्क करने वाले जेठमलानी जैसे लोगो की और देखे बिना…पूर्ण रूप से बीजेपी के नवसर्जन में आप का जितना कार्यकाल बाकि बचा है लगा देना चाहिए..और एक नेता की तरह नहीं पर एक मेंटर की तरह सारे भारत वर्ष में से कम से कम ५५० नरेन्द्र मोदी की शोध कर के बीजेपी को प्रदान करना चाहिए…वोह ही आप का भारत माता के चरणों में योग दान सही होगा..इस के लिए इतिहास में आप का सुवर्ण सब्दो में उल्लेख होगा.. .आप के पास ताकत है पद है समय है अनुयायी है सब से बड़ी पूंजी स्वाथ्य भी है…जनता का विश्वास है…भारत माता की सेवा आप संसंद में भासन देंगे उस से नहीं..पर ५५० नरेन्द्र मोदी की शोध करेंगे उस से होगी…यह कटु सत्य है मगर आप को उसकी और ध्यान देना चाहिए…
Manish Kumar Says:
April 16th, 2010 at 6:30 pm
I know it is not the suitable forum also I am not sure whether you read all the comments posted here. But I could not find any other forum to directly contact you. Therefore I am posting my complaints against a MLA of your Party here. He is at present sitting MLA of ………

Dear Manish ji, Yes, it is not the right forum and that’s why your message has been edited/ curtailed here. But, as an exception, your matter has been taken up. Advani ji has read your comments and has directed the leadership in Bihar to act on it if your complaint is found correct and genuine. The party Gen Secy (organization) has also been informed and requested to take necessary action. FYI. - Blog admin
Deepak Waikar Says:
April 17th, 2010 at 9:14 am
While historical lessons are very crucial, we spend inordinately vast period in dwelling about it. If we wish to continue to strengthen our democracy and continue on the path of sustainable and balanced overall development of our nation, we have to be brave enough to change with time (obviously for better).

1. Time to abolish dogmatic and abusive caste system. Remove inclusion/mention of cast & religion from all forms and certificates.
2. Relentless campaign (satya-grah) and education against corruption, discrimination, superstitions, meaningless traditions, nepotism and criminalisation of politics.

Advaniji, if you can influence NDA Governed States to take these steps as a role model, then BJP will not have to be defensive on Hinduvata.

With best wishes, Jai Hind
varun k Says:
April 17th, 2010 at 9:50 pm
Dear sir,

I fully agree with your thought however the Indian people do not understand it. So, if BJP wants to come to power which it deserves, it should replace Hindutva with natioalism. Rather than following congress and naming it Indian secularism IT WONT HELP. PLEASE THINK. Just with one word ’secularism’ congress has stopped BJP from coming to power. So please respond but do not react. Poltics and phiolosphy are different ball games.

Otherwise why the BJP or Jansangh did not succeed at national level except partially during N D A time because of balance personality of Mr Vajpayee. If being a political party, BJP doesnt strike with political weapon of Correct words and languagge, people who matter, will not vote. And I am sorry to say it will take another 25 years for BJP to come to power.

Regards
varun k Says:
April 17th, 2010 at 10:17 pm
Indian means Hindu and Hindutva means nationalism. Secularism means appeasement of miniorites for BJP but for some Indians Hindutva means supression of Muslims. So, leave both. Follow … natioalism. Very simple.
amit sharma Says:
April 18th, 2010 at 1:55 pm
Sir, We need a forum where we can get into touch with spokespersons of BJP to share our ideas on how to tackle major issues in media…my suggestion is that one forum can be created where different topics can be created which come time and again(Ram mandir, 1984, 2002, Naxal, Internal security, Foreign policy, Economic growth etc )….all the valid suggestions can be taken from there and a database can be built on each such issues and can be fed to all the party spokespersons and other leaders who interact with media.. it will also give the party a gauge of what common people are thinking….

Such a forum already exists. Looks like you are not aware it. There is a very vibrant forum with over 10,000 members and over 30,000 topics/ posts. All the topics you have mentioned are covered and there are many, many more. It’s a virtual knowledge bank and our media people regularly take inputs from it. Please visit it at http://www.lkadvani.in or at http://www.lkadvani.in/forum. - Blog admin
anant Says:
April 26th, 2010 at 12:28 am
After staying in United states for few years .. I found that We Indian have a lot to learn from USA… Responsibility, Discipline, removing corruption, law enforcement, accepting good things from other countries etc. No doubt we are good at many things. Our politicians have a lot of space to improve. Till the time we improve on these things, just boom in the economy will not make us superpower or a great nation in the world.
Deep Bhattacharjee Says:
May 12th, 2010 at 11:35 am
Time to take some practical steps to instill the ideals of Hindutva into the system. First step is to get some decent lawyers into the system as the buck eventually stops there. I was surprised to read that the Allahabad High Court passed a judgement which is in effect forcing a non-muslim woman to convert to Islam if she marries a muslim man. Last time I checked we still had the fundamental right to practice any religion and it overrides most other rights including the various marriage acts…

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The Roots of Democracy and Secularism

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