On Thursday 25 Jun 2009 12:25:29 am lukhman_khan wrote:
> Can one imagine a BJP without RSS?
No but one can imagine an RSS without BJP. Imagine - that is.
But that is the BJP's problem. The RSS will survive with or without the BJP -
because many "core Hindus" go for the RSS not the BJP. The RSS is apolitical
to the extent that the RSS does not stand for elections and is therefore
exempt from the vagaries of an election.
There probably is such a thing as a core Hindu, but the BJP does not directly
represnt him. Nor does the RSS necessarily represent him. The "core Hindu" is
not given to being represented by any specific political ideology.
I have seen some debate about liberalism on here. I would like to suggest that
all descriptions of ancient "Hindu" (that word again) society - a society in
which almost any type of social activity ("good" or "evil") was allowed to
survive is, technically libertarianism gone wild. "Hinduism" stresses freedom
for the individual, but conflictingly curbs that freedom to restrict it to
some phases of life, and often, to males only. Again - there is no imposition
or either morality or immorality. The choice of being moral or immoral are
given, with the caveat that "moral" and "immoral" are sometimes relative to
some other factor. In this sense Hinduism differs greatly from religions in
which a moral code needs imposition. I say this with trepidation because this
statement is always interpreted as "Shiv says Hindus have no moral code" -
which is wrong. A moral code exists, but employing it is your choice.
If you look at Hindu society honestly, with neither anger and indignation, nor
with an intent to criticise, this describes Hindu behavior fairly accurately.
This has some interesting cinsequences. It is perfectly possible to have
a "conservative Hindu" depicting a particular variety of "Hindu opinion" or
even 'Hindu morality". But this "conservative Hindu" can in no way claim that
he is absolutely right and that he and his ilk represent all that hinduism
has to offer. You can techniclly be a necrophagic tantric and still be Hindu.
This is not a problem for Hindus, but it is a problem for a political party
like the BJP that has tried to usurp a narrow code of behavior and dub
it "Hindutva" Naturally, it won't work beyond a point.
shiv
