Was This Guru Golwalkar’s Idea of Patriotism?

Was This Guru Golwalkar’s Idea of Patriotism?

 Shrikant G. Talageri 

 

I had uploaded this article on 16 August 2025 with an unwieldy title. I am now reuploading it with a more relevant title and slightly different words.

This article is not exactly about history or politics. But it is in a sense about what is meant by “patriotism”, and particularly Hindutva (or Hindu Patriotism/Nationalism). Here we see Guru Golwalkar eulogizing and recommending disgusting self-destructive traits to Hindus as “patriotic virtues”, With “Hindutva” ideologues of this kind, oner does not require Leftists and anti-Hindus to defame Hindutva.

 

Someone sent me a tweet by someone calling himself Ishara Kafi, dated 16 August 2025:

https://x.com/zeroflyingrats/status/1956638386074333513

The tweeter seemed to be criticizing the glorification of Sambhaji through the film “Chhava”. Not being an expert on medieval Maratha history and historical heroes, I leave the question of the truth or otherwise of what he is saying about Sambhaji to others who may be more into that subject.

What caught my attention was an extract from Guru Golwalkar’s book “Bunch of Thoughts” that he highlighted:

I have never actually read this book, and I was amazed that it could contain such an exhortation to Hindus to be blindly “loyal” to self-declared Hindu leaders to the extent that even if that “Hindu” leader kills a particular Hindu’s father “because of some past prejudices”, and then that same “Hindu” leader casts an evil eye on that same particular Hindu’s sister forcing her to “end her life to save her chastity”, that particular Hindu should still remain steadfastly “loyal” to that “Hindu” leader to the extent of sacrificing his own son and giving away all his property (and finally his own life) in the service of that same leader:

I wondered whether this was a hoax and personally downloaded and checked Guru Golwalkar’s book. In the circumstance, I did a great dishonor to the tweeter: he was perfectly right: Golwalkar does say this in his book!!

By this token, the behavior of the Indian soldiers who remained steadfastly loyal to their “leader”, General Dyer, and, at his direct behest, mowed down so many fellow-Indians in Jallianwala Bagh, should also be our ideal behavior.

Is this “inspiring example” presented by Golwalkar, by any stretch of the imagination, even remotely indicative of the most mundane patriotic behavior, let alone the kind of behavior to be emulated by, or expected from, a staunch (Hindutvavadi) Hindu?

Perhaps it is this kind of attitude which makes swayamsewaks of the RSS whitewash, justify or even glorify blatantly anti-Hindu acts of the BJP.

I have already written many articles on slavish and self-destructive Hindu “virtues” and “virtuous” behavior:

https://talageri.blogspot.com/2019/09/justice-in-sohrab-modis-1939-film-pukar.html

https://talageri.blogspot.com/2020/04/hinduism-vs-hindutva-oxism-vs-oxatva.html

https://talageri.blogspot.com/2021/10/karna-and-yudhisthira-in-mahabharata.html

https://talageri.blogspot.com/2021/12/sambuka-bashing-or-confluence-of-brown.html

https://talageri.blogspot.com/2021/12/apologetics-in-guise-of-hindu-response.html

https://talageri.blogspot.com/2025/08/the-two-most-toxic-pseudo-moral.html

 

Hindus should completely reject the exhortations of people advocating self-destructive, self-demeaning and self-degrading behavior, calling them “Hindu virtues”, regardless of whosoever the advocates may be. On the other hand, accept all those pieces of genuine wisdom, even when they come from inimical or dubious sources, such as Gandhi who wrote: “My own experience but confirms the opinion that the Musalman as a rule is a bully, and the Hindu as rule is a coward. I have noticed this in railways trains, on public roads, and in the quarrels which I have had the privilege of setting. Need the Hindu blame the Mussalman for his cowardice?..... Where there are cowards there will always be bullies.”.

Hindus should neither be cowards, nor bullies, but most of all, they should never be fools and idiots treating plainly wrong/evil or self-destructive behavior as “patriotic” or Hindutvavadi behavior.