Patriotism Past and Present: Are Pro-Modi/BJP and Pro-Hindu Synomyms?

 

Patriotism Past and Present:

Are Pro-Modi/BJP and Pro-Hindu Synomyms?

 Shrikant G. Talageri

 

The following article, "Why Bollywood is cranking out pro-government films ahead of India’s election",  was brought to my notice two days ago, on 10/4/2024:

https://www.csmonitor.com/World/Asia-South-Central/2024/0409/modi-bollywood-india-election#:~:text=An%20uptick%20in%20brazenly%20pro,politics%2C%20news%2C%20and%20entertainment

This article, published in the "Christian Science Monitor" − and therefore clearly representing the viewpoint that propagating "Christian" things on a war-footing is perfectly acceptable, but anything in defense of Hinduism, or even anything which fails to outright condemn Hinduism and Hindu interests, constitutes what it categorizes as "widespread Hindu right-wing conspiracy theories" − is naturally an anti-Hindu one.

The article puts in a nutshell the frustration felt by every anti-Hindu person at the way in which the Indian Film Industry, which has for more than a century represented a viciously anti-Hindu agenda, has only just started shedding this vicious tendency in recent times. Needless to say, the article picks up and lists every recent Hindi film released in the last few years which presented Hindu interests in a positive light (or presented patriotic themes without simultaneously presenting anti-Hindu or Hindu-phobic nuances within the narrative) as a representation of these "widespread Hindu right-wing conspiracy theories", while at the same time maintaining a left-wing conspiracy of silence on the decades filled with Hindi films overflowing with anti-Hindu bile.

That the article is pure rubbish, and that it is anti-Hindu, is beyond question. But this article of mine is not being written to stress this obvious point. There are some other points I want to point out:

I. Are Pro-Modi/BJP and Pro-Hindu Synomyms?

II. Patriotism Past and Present.

III. Swatantryaveer Savarkar.

 

I. Are Pro-Modi/BJP and Pro-Hindu Synomyms?

The first and most basic point is the way in which the writers of anti-Hindu articles are united with writers of pro-BJP articles in identifying "pro-BJP" with "pro-Hindu" and "pro-Hindu" with "pro-BJP". And simultaneously "anti-BJP" with "anti-Hindu" and "anti-Hindu" with "anti-BJP". The title of the article talks about "pro-government" films, but the article condemns what it calls "widespread Hindu right-wing conspiracy theories".

The article specifically names the following recent films in its list of films propagating "widespread Hindu right-wing conspiracy theories": Article 370; Swatantryaveer Savarkar; JNU; The Kashmir Files; The Kerala Story.

Some other similar articles name some other recent or upcoming films of the same type: Aakhir Palayan Kab Tak; Uri: The Surgical Strike; Accident or Conspiracy: Godhra; The Sabarmati Report; etc.

There is no doubt that the above films do represent themes or subjects which exercise, or strike emotional vibes with, Hindus and Hindutva-minded people. And yes, many of them are being promoted by pro-BJP elements, especially with the forthcoming elections in mind. And again yes, some of them do very blatantly promote the BJP and Modi/Amit Shah.

But even in respect of the most blatant of these films, Congressmen, Muslims/Christians and Leftists have absolutely no moral right to act indignant or outraged: all this is still just a tiny speck on the huge volume of leftist, pro-Muslim, pro-Christian and anti-Hindu content and propaganda which held monopolistic sway over the content of Hindi films since (and from even before) 1947 up to this date. I wrote about this in the introductory chapters of my very first book "The Aryan Invasion Theory and Indian Nationalism" (1993). Blatantly anti-Hindu leftist propaganda has been a regular feature of  leftist "art" films through the decades. As to the Congress, no Indian who lived through the nineteen-fifties and sixties in India, especially during the "Nehru Era" can be unaware of the Chacha-Nehru-Mahatma-Gandhi themes which dominated the Hindi film industry, in its dialogues, story-lines, scenes and film-songs, throughout that period. It is true that this particular type of political-party/leader promoting and hyping (at least in matters of living political leaders) was absent for a few decades, and seems to have been revived by the BJP now, but anti-Hindu depictions have never been absent from Hindi films at any point of time. So such fake moral indignation is totally out of place: even the most blatant "pro-BJP" or "pro-Hindu" propaganda in Hindi films cannot give leftists, Muslims/Christians or Congress supporters the moral right to utter even a whimper of protest.

What is blatantly wrong is equating the two distinct aspects "BJP" and "Hindu" (i.e. equating pro-BJP with pro-Hindu and anti-BJP with anti-Hindu).

 

Let us take the two best pro-Hindu films from among those named above: The Kashmir Files and Swatantryaveer Savarkar. What is the special feature which automatically identifies the Hindu aspects of these films with the BJP/Modi? I will write about the second film in the third section of this article. So let me just deal here with the first film The Kashmir Files.

I have already written a review of the film in a separate article:

https://talageri.blogspot.com/2022/03/a-review-of-film-kashmir-files-by-vivek.html

In that review, in which I deservedly praised the film to the skies, I also pointed out that one of the aspects of the film which I did not like was the sycophantic and party-propagandist scene where the film tries to tell us through the mouth of a terrorist that the present vazir-e-azam (Prime Minister) has made things hot for them. Without this scene, the film would have lost none of its seminal character which makes it the first pioneering masterpiece film of a totally new pro-Hindu or more correctly non-anti-Hindu epoch of film-making in India. This one scene, in my eyes at least, was an unnecessary bit which stuck in  my throat.

Many people argue that this new epoch became possible only because of the BJP (or specifically Modi) being in power. To a very great extent this could be true, but this is not because the BJP (or Modi) inaugurated this epoch, but because no film maker had the guts (perhaps given the total leftist-secularist control over all forms of the media) to make such films, and the courage to make them could be an indirect effect of the perception that now it was possible to speak the truth on Hindu matters.

Such films could have been made in the pre-BJP/Modi era as well: after all Voice of India books, which set the stage for Hindu studies in history, religion and politics, are being published since the early eighties and are still the strongest corpus of pro-Hindu scholarly work.

In respect of Kashmir, what exactly has the BJP done (beyond perfunctory platitudes) for the Kashmiri Hindus, or to highlight on an international scale their true tragic story, since the late eighties when the Kashmiri Hindus were massacred and terrorized into leaving Kashmir? Even now, have Hindu refugees from Pakistan, settled in Kashmir since the Partition, been given full citizen rights in Kashmir? Even now, how many Kashmiri Hindus have returned to Kashmir (let alone Hindus from other areas migrated there) and been given their full original properties and rights? And what is the need for the government to spend literally billions (if not trillions) of rupees of the Indian taxpayer's money in order to try to woo the Kashmiri Muslim voters in the name of development, or to hand over the development of the area to Arab sheikhs?

Yes, pro-Hindu films are being encouraged if they also have a pro-BJP angle to them (or if they specifically tar the Congress). But what about pro-Hindu films which bring out historical truths which do not directly benefit the BJP in its electoral calculations? I have already written two articles about a film which brought out the historical truth about the Moplah riots (too long ago to contain sycophantic references to the BJP):

https://talageri.blogspot.com/2022/08/the-kerala-files-1921-nadi-se-nadi-tak.html

https://talageri.blogspot.com/2022/10/ghar-wapasi-reconversion-to-hinduism-or.html

This film was suppressed by the BJP government at the centre through the censor board. After a muted and much-suppressed protest against this, it was announced that the ban on the film had been lifted by the PM himself. But has it? This film has been so very effectively stonewalled out of existence by both the pro-BJP and anti-BJP sides that no-one even knows that it ever existed: note that all these leftist articles talking about "pro-BJP" films seem to be completely in the dark about this film "1921: Nadi Se Nadi Tak", which was even superior to "The Kashmir Files" in its depiction of suppressed historical facts, but unfortunately those were not historical facts which could be exploited by the BJP for electoral purposes. Contrast the massive governmental support for a more contemporary film about Kerala, "The Kerala Files" (which unfortunately I have not been able to see, though I am sure it was an equally great film). It was the fate of this film, "1921: Nadi Se Nadi Tak", which first disillusioned me and made me want to stop writing on Hindu issues, and which convinced me that Indian Muslims should remain Muslims if they value their lives, and should not commit the truly heroic (but suicidal and thankless) act of Ghar-wapasi.

So one can be fully pro-Hindu without also being pro-BJP/Modi: I am personally a living example of that. And one can be fully pro-BJP/Modi without being pro-Hindu in any way: millions of BJP/Modi bhakts are living examples of that. So, these attempts to treat "BJP/Modi" and "Hindu" as synomyms are as fake, even if also as popular or widespread, as attempts to treat "Gandhi/Congress" and "Freedom Movement" as synonyms. This leads to the next section.  

 

II. Patriotism Past and Present.

I was just sent a twitter thread which reveals in a nutshell the truth about "patriotism" in the modern history of India in respect of the three main streams of political thought in India: Congress, Leftist and Hindu. I feel it necessary for it to be read by every Hindu and even by every non-Hindu Indian, and so I am not only giving the URL of this twitter thread, but also copy-pasting this entire thread in this article:

https://twitter.com/Gujaratriotscom/status/1778254035016908861

 

 

 

 

 

 

To put it in a nutshell: the Hindu ideological groups (whether Savarkar and his Hindu Mahasabha, or the RSS) were definitely more patriotic and more freedom-motivated than the Congress. About Leftists, the question of comparison does not even arise, since organized Leftism (particularly as represented by the Communists) is basically both anti-national and anti-Hindu.

This is not to say there were no nationalists and freedom-motivated people in the Congress, and no anti-nationals masquerading as Hindu ideologues. But one swallow (or even a few more than one swallow) does not make a summer. The degree of patriotism and freedom-motivation in the three main streams of political thought in India, Congress, Leftist and Hindu, is made very clear in the above twitter thread.

 

Incidentally, one shocking piece of news to me personally in the above thread was "the judge who convicted Savarkar in 1909 and gave him 50 years jail was Narayan Chandavarkar, who was President of 1900 Lahore Congress session"!  In my article on Chitrapur Saraswats, uploaded in 2016, I have mentioned this person in my list of eminent Chitrapur Saraswats. Of course, "eminent" can include good people as well as bad people, but it was shocking to know that the villain responsible for Savarkar's years of torture in the Andamans was a Chitrapur Saraswat:

https://talageri.blogspot.com/2016/05/the-chitrapur-saraswat-community.html

Like bhakts defending the anti-Hindu acts of the BJP by saying that the BJP is forced by circumstances to commit anti-Hindu acts and have no options, I could defend the actions of this judge by saying that he was only doing his duty at the time and had no options. But that would be hypocrisy: there are always options.

My point is that the fact that this man was a Chitrapur Saraswat does not implicate me as a villain since I am also a Chitrapur Saraswat. In the same way, raking up old heroisms and villainies, classifying these by communities and organizations/parties, and then applying the same epithets to present-day people belonging to those communities and parties/organizations is a wrong way of looking at things.

The past villainies of the Congress do not automatically make every present day Congressman a villain, and the past heroisms of Hindu groups do not automatically make every present day Hindu politician (or worse, every present day politician claiming to be a Hindu) a hero. One has to use one's honesty and viveka-buddhi to decide. Sadly, honesty and viveka-buddhi have few takers at present.  

    

III. Swatantryaveer Savarkar

I started writing this article early in the morning two days ago (10/4/2024), but after the first two paragraphs I did not have any time to complete it till today (12/4/2024): my cousin brother came to visit as soon as I finished two paragraphs, and I was busy yesterday as well, and so it remained pending till now.

The coincidence was that the first thing my cousin said after coming was: "Let us go to see Swatantryaveer Savarkar"! So, along with my brother, we went to see the film at the INOX theater at Nariman Point. So I am now in a position to say that the film was really one of the most wonderful of the new films which leftists wail as representing "widespread Hindu right-wing conspiracy theories". I thought so at least, and was pleasantly surprised to hear both my brother and my cousin brother echoing the same sentiments, and saying that Randeep Hooda deserves an award for his excellent performance in the lead role.

I am also therefore now in a position to give my comments on the film in the context of what I have already written above.

Before I give my specific comments on the film, I must point out the fact that every leftist critic names this film in their list of "pro-government films". This is utterly incomprehensible to me. In what way does this film, except in the eyes of the most superficial-minded (who, I admit, are in the majority, and the majority on both sides of the political spectrum) in any way represent a "pro-BJP/Modi" film?

Except for the fulminations of a fool like Rahul Gandhi (see my article noted below) and of illiterates among the present breed of Congressmen, Savarkar's contribution has been respected by most intelligent Congress people. And see also what Savarkar's grand-nephew has to say regarding Indira Gandhi and Savarkar:

https://talageri.blogspot.com/2023/03/nehru-or-savarkar-which-of-two-was-in.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJVqvbayJ-c

Bhakts will try to stress that the present government follows the policies of Savarkar rather than of Gandhi in matters of national security and actions against enemy nations. But note that this is the same thing that Savarkar's own grand-nephew also says about Indira Gandhi. This alone, in any case, does not automatically identify anyone with Savarkar or even as his ideological successor or follower.

Indira Gandhi, in spite of representing the Congress which was the rival of Savarkar's Hindu Mahasabha, and in spite of the fact that she never used Savarkar's name to garner votes, actually issued a postal stamp in honor of Savarkar. On the other hand, the BJP and Modi, who do regularly use Savarkar's name in their electoral propaganda, have not seen fit to even award the lowest of the Padma awards (i.e. Padma Shri) to Savarkar, while they have been very free in issuing the highest Padma awards to other politicians for vote-bank purposes: notably Mulayam Singh, the butcher of Ayodhya, was awarded the Padma Vibhushan (the second highest award). And Chaudhary Charan Singh (the pioneer of caste coalitions), Karpoori Thakur (the pioneer of OBC reservations) and Nanaji Deshmukh (an RSS politician who in 1978 had called for a ban on "communal parties like the Muslim league and the Hindu Mahasabha") have all been given the highest award of all by this government, the Bharat Ratna.

The hollowness of bhakts trying to identify Modi with Savarkar became evident to me at two different but related points of time while watching the film Swatantryaveer Savarkar.

 

The first was when the film showed Jinnah telling Ambedkar: "Ideologically I am totally opposed to Savarkar, but I have great respect for him, because he openly calls himself a Hindu". I do not know whether such a conversation actually took place in reality, but it well could have taken place, since both Jinnah and Dr. Ambedkar, in spite of ideological differences with him, have often openly expressed their respect for the forthright honest politics of Savarkar, even as they only had contempt for the hypocritical words and actions of Gandhi.

When this dialogue took place on the screen, there was a sudden short burst of clapping from a particular section of the audience. While this clapping may well have been meant for Savarkar, my cynical mind had a suspicion that the clapping was meant for Modi by a group of bhakts, who immediately identified Modi as a person who "openly calls himself a Hindu" as opposed to, for example, Rahul Gandhi, who clearly does not (whether or not he is actually a baptized Catholic as often alleged).

This made me wonder: is "calling himself a Hindu" sufficient if this is accompanied by doing nothing for Hindus and doing everything for non-Hindus, as the film throughout very clearly shows Gandhi doing? After all, Gandhi also very proudly "called himself a Hindu". In fact, Gandhi's Hinduism was more extremely orthodox than that of Savarkar in many respects: he was a vegetarian, believed in the caste system, believed in Hindu rituals, etc., while Savarkar actually advocated non-vegetarianism (in the naïve belief that Hindus lost to Muslims because Hindus were vegetarians and Muslims were non-vegetarians), deliberately worked against caste segregation, and even forbade any religious funeral rites being performed for him after his death!

The second point in the film which brought the comparison to my mind was when Savarkar argues with Gandhi and protests against Gandhi's formula for a joint government for a united India (which involved giving the Prime Ministership to Jinnah, and giving 36% reservation in the Government to Muslims, who then constituted 24% of the total population of India). Savarkar argues that this is gross injustice towards Hindus, while Gandhi continues to reiterate this formula.

This reminded me of the present generation of "Hindu for votes" politicians who "call themselves Hindu" for votes, but believe in giving highly disproportionate shares to Muslims to get their votes in turn, knowing that "calling themselves Hindu" is sufficient to satisfy Hindu voters without the need to give Hindus even at-least-proportionate benefit.

As Anand Ranganathan put it in the Prologue to his great book "Hindus in Hindu Rashtra − Eighth-Class Citizens and victims of State-Sanctioned Apartheid", p.xvii:

"So while our Muslim population is 14.2 per cent, in the last eight years, as many as 31.3 per cent of homes under the Awaas Yojna, 33 per cent of funds under the Kisaan Sammaan Nidhi Yojna and 36 per cent of loans under the mudra Yojna have gone to the muslims. The BJP government has a Pradhan mantra Shadi-Shagun scheme exclusively for Muslim girls who complete their graduation before marriage. They will get R.51,000, no questions asked. Housing, skilling, scholarships, sarkari jobs, salaries to maulvis−there is appeasement and preferential treatment meted out to minorities by every political party including the BJP. The BJP recently even offered Christian senior citizens a free trip to Jerusalem if they voted for it".

No-one can stop the BJP from doing all these things, least of all its bhakts who would rather defend and glorify such acts than oppose them effectively. But in the context of this article, I beg these hypocrites to stop making the false claim that the ideology and policies of the BJP are closer to Savarkar than to Gandhi. And, more fundamentally, I beg them to stop soiling the word "Hindu" by making it synonymous with the BJP.

The film, to return to it, is an excellent film revealing the greatness of Savarkar and the hypocricies of Gandhi more completely than any film has ever done before. It is definitely a pro-Hindu film, but, even if (since I cannot speak for them) its makers may have intended it to be one, is equally definitely not a pro-government or a pro-BJP film.