Is Rahul Gandhi completing the arc of the ideology he has been trying to invent for a long time to create a parallel ideological architecture of Hindutva? He is the one politician whose diagnosis of the politics of Modi and the RSS is correct. I know there are many intellectuals and academics who pretend to understand Modi's politics and try to find a solution, but I dare say that none of them, except a few, have any clue about it.

Those who claim that Modi is ‘populist’ like any other right-wing politician in the West, or those who used to see a ‘messiah’ in Modi in 2013-14, are wrong. To call Modi ‘populist’ or a ‘messiah’ is a reflection of a non-understanding of Hindutva politics and its history. Modi is the most perfect product, created in the Hindutva laboratory.

He is what Hedgewar and Golwalkar might have imagined an ideal Swayam Sevak should be, born out of its morning shakha. Undoubtedly, Modi is a cult figure; he was extremely popular, but popularity does not mean he is a populist. The non-understanding of the Modi phenomenon is basically due to a lack of understanding of the energy of Hindutva.

Hindutva And Its History

Hindutva is a product of history. It is a reaction to foreigners’ rule in India. It is a legitimate effort to understand how the foreign invasion can be stopped, and no foreign power in the future should rule India again. Unless we understand this civilisational instinct of the RSS, we would not be able to understand the politics of Hindutva or the Modi phenomenon.

The problem is not in their intent or in its diagnosis but in its cure. India did not become a slave because foreigners invaded, but because we were too divided amongst ourselves, we had contempt for a large section of our own people, and we did not integrate every section of society into a civilisational........

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