English transcript

J. Sai Deepak. Namaste.

I am grateful to the CTC for giving us this

opportunity to discuss on a fundamentally suicidal

topic... which is whether Hinduism needs protection

from Hindutva. I would like to reformulate it

as follows: Hinduism does need protection through

Hindutva. And if anything, Hinduism needs protection

from secularism. So, the good part of going

perhaps third in this sequence is that you get

the benefit of all the gyan that has been spouted

before. So let me start with this. Mr. Kunal

Sarkar in the opening introduction of of Mr.

Aiyar mentioned that although he was born on

the other side of the border, his heart is here.

I think perhaps he is still on the other side

of the border in so far as his worldviews are

concerned. For the simple reason that his script

I don't think has changed in the last half a

century where he still conflates Hindutva and

its origins with Savarkar and RSS despite abundant

scholarship saying so to the contrary. Fortunately,

I think the saving grace of that side was Ms.

Moitra who finally came back to this land which

is actually the birthplace of Hindutva to start

off with Chandranath Basu of 1892. Now she highlighted

certain problems with his positions with respect

to child marriage, women, so on and so forth.

The only question that I have is, can she not

think of any other non-Hindu worldview which

has a problem with reform?

Or which continues to justify child marriage

and misogyny in the name of whatever. I would

prefer that my head is still stuck to its torso,

so I leave it at that. Now this is the problem.

So I will split my submission in three parts

or perhaps two parts given the paucity of time

because this is not enough, but I'll do my best

to actually keep it as short as possible thanks

to the training of the Supreme Court. So keep

pace with me. This is the birthplace of Hindutva

because colonial power was established in Calcutta.

And therefore, starting from the Brahmo movement

with the establishment of the Calcutta Unitarian

Committee with Dwarkanath Tagore, William Adams,

and Sri Ram Mohan Roy not Raja Ram Mohan Roy

because that was a Mughal epithet. There was

a problem between 1830s and 1860s when they

realized that in the hope of succeeding and

becoming a part of the colonial establishment

they had no other option but to ape and mimic

the ways of the British man. Between 1860s and

perhaps 1909 is when the history of Hindutva

begins not in Maharashtra, but in Bengal. Not

with respect to Savarkar because when this starts

or when this history happens, Savarkar I think

was born in 1888. And the foundations of Hindutva

were established between 1866 and 1909. Starting

from the imagery of Bharat Mata that was actually

put out in the form of a play or a novel in

1866 by someone who wrote under the pseudonym

Krishnadwaipayana Vedavyas it actually turned

out to be Mr. Sudhir Mukhopadhyay who basically

came out with the imagery of Bharat Mata till

1909, which is when the Uttarpara speech of

that inconvenient person was delivered, which

is Sri Aurobindo. Everybody spoke of Chandranath

Basu to Savarkar except Aurobindo because Aurobindo

sticks out as an inconvenient person for those

people who are opponents of Hindutva because

I haven't found a more vociferous, ferocious,

and vehement proponent of Hindutva than Sri

Aurobindo. In fact, he saw himself as an intellectual

descendant of Swami Vivekananda because he believed

that the very same Shakta spirit percolated

into him. And this is what he had to say as

far as Sanatana Dharma, nationalism, and Bharat

is concerned. And this I would like to share

with the audience. Just give me a moment and

I think this should help. This is from Uttarpara

speech, these are the last few lines of his

Uttarpara speech. I'll quickly go on to the

next point after this. In his speech, he basically

makes the point at the end of it... I say that

it is Sanatana Dharma which for us is nationalism.

This Hindu nation was born with Sanatana Dharma,

with it it moves and with it it grows. When

Sanatana Dharma declines, the nation declines

and if Sanatana Dharma were capable of perishing,

with Sanatana Dharma it would perish, which

is the nation. The Sanatana Dharma, that is

nationalism. That is the message I have to speak

to you. This is Sri Aurobindo. The former revolutionary

turned Rishi. Let me try and contextualize Hindutva

for Bengal because this is your product, this

is the birthplace of Hindutva. Between 1866

and 1909, the Rishis of this place, the modern-day

Rishis of this place realized that Hindu society

is grasit and eclipsed by two specific invading

colonial powers with expansionist mindset and

a predatorial mindset. And therefore they decide

that we need to respond. And that response also

then reverse percolates into Brahmoism because

by 1867 they realize that Brahmoism is taking

people away from Hindu Dharma and it is becoming

a Western mimicry and is refashioning Hinduism

through a Western lens. And therefore response

starts. And guess who starts with the response?

Debendranath Tagore starts the Hindu Mela which

subsequently becomes the Jatiya Mela around

1867. Which is why if you were to take a look

at the views of Sri Raja Ram Mohan Roy, Dwarkanath

Tagore you will see a stark difference between

their positions to Debendranath Tagore and then

to Rabindranath Tagore by which time Rabindranath

Tagore had recrafted what he called Hindu Brahmoism

because he wanted to take it away from Protestant

Christian roots and bring it back to Hindu Dharma.

This was the response. And then comes, according

to me, the patron saint of nationalism, Swami

Vivekananda. I am happy that Sri Aiyar spoke

of his speech which was delivered in 1893 at

the Parliament of Religions in Chicago. And

tomorrow being that great soul's birth anniversary

I would request people to actually go through

that speech because in that speech Swami Vivekananda

does not leave the opportunity to talk about

the brutality and savagery that we have suffered

at the hands of Islamic invasions. He says so

in 1893 in Chicago. So we are constantly pitted

in these kind of binaries. Hindutva and Hinduism

are not binaries. Where does this word come

from?

I am happy that Miss Moitra actually mentioned

Shakuntala Tattva and all other works of Sri

Chandranath Basu. So when he was writing these

series of Tattvas, he also came out with Hindutva

because Hindutva according to him was a portmanteau

of Hinduism or Hindu Dharma and Tattva, and

therefore Hindutva. I agree entirely with Swapan

Da that Hinduism is a 19th-century construct

because it was refashioned by the British on

convenient lines. Until then the word used for

it was Sanatana Dharma. And this became a necessity

not only to repel mental colonization but also

to repel physical colonization. Because guess

what?

By 1902, Anushilan Samiti had to be established

by Sri Aurobindo along with others taking what?

Inspiration from an essay written by Bankim

Chandra Chatterjee in 1888 called Anushilan.

This is the history of Hindutva in Bengal. When

someone tries to tell you that this is a North

Indian invention, a vegetarian invention sorry,

this is the organic Shakta response to colonial

invasion of Bharat. This is the Shakta response,

therefore Hindutva has the blood of the Shaktas.

Which is why Hindutva is recrafted and reimagined

in the image of Durga Ma. Every revolutionary

from this land who was a Shakta was expected

to take oath on what?

The Gita and had to say Vande Mataram. Naturally

there were certain people who were excluded

because they had problem with both. Therefore,

if someone tries to tell you that Hindutva is

hyper-masculine that is because Bengali masculinity

informs Hindutva. If someone tells you that

Hindutva subscribes to Brahminical vegetarianism,

sorry. It worships Durga Ma and therefore it

chadhao-fies two things: meat and alcohol, both.

Three. Wake up and smell the coffee because

this is not the subject of wine tasting discussions

because the neighboring country is doing something

which I think will become the near future for

us as well. You are living perhaps in, perhaps

the epicenter of the new Great Game. And if

West Bengal does not become the bastion of Hindutva

that it once was then I agree and borrowing

lines from The Bengal Files, we will lose the

lighthouse of Bharat and the lighthouse of Hindutva.

I will end with only one submission. Hindutva

is a civilizational imperative, not a political

tool. But there is nothing wrong in it being

a political tool because it is ironic for a

politician to have a problem with a political

tool. I really don't see what is the problem

with Hindutva becoming a political tool because

politics is the last mile where you get the

job done. But it is fundamentally, fundamentally

a civilizational movement which has emanated

from the society. Savarkar wrote only in 1922

which was published in 1923. RSS was established

on Vijayadashami of 1925. Prior to that, Hindutva

has had a history of 70 years. Stop buying this

hogwash. Vande Mataram. Jai Shri Ram to the

people in power here. And Jai Ma, Jai Ma Kamakhya,

Jai Ma Kali. Hindutva is the way of the future.

This is the writing on the wall which they have

a problem with.