On Wednesday 24 Jun 2009 9:37:25 am Nikhil Mehra wrote: > On all counts I think they are so disconnected with the issues that > affected them in this election and the issues that make them appear truly > communal now rather than a party that is unfairly being branded communal by > a bunch of parties that don't know the first thing about secularism. The > BJP needs a new face both in terms of an ideological shift and fresh > leadership. At the moment it appears incapable of generating either.
I am not sure if the BJP know the meaning of Hindutva, or that anyone really knows what "Hindutva" means. And I don't think the BJP (or some of its staunch supporters whom I sometimes interact with onine know what it is supposed to mean. In fact they don't even realise the problem with the fact that nobody knows what it means. Simply put, if the BJP says it represents "Hindutva" then any actions by the BJP or parties that support the BJP are assumed to be part of "Hindutva" So you have Ram Sene - and that is Hindutva, and you have churches being stoned, and that is Hindutva. Or is it? And then you turn around and ask the BJP and its suporters - "Is this Hindutva?" and they falter and fumble. The real problem about the BJP is its need for support from (and cultivation of) fringe groups. And no I don't mean the RSS. The RSS has actually advised/invited the BJP to give up Hindutva and has stated that such a move will naturally distance the BJP from the RSS, but that would not affect the RSS in any way. Which is true. It is the BJP that is trying to hold the RSS in an embrace. The BJP says it cannot give up Hindutva. It would be really great if they could define Hindutva then. Shortly before the elections, I asked for defnitions of Hindutva on a forum and got only angry responses from the overseas friends of the BJP. My view? I do not like the term Hindutva. The word "Hindu" as I have stated time and again is a fractal recursive acceptance of a definition that was made as an observation of people in India. But I intend to write up my views on this in my occasionally updated blog. I'll point people there when I do that. shiv
