Right Word | Decoding ‘Hindu Nationalism’: How Selective Frameworks Misinterpret It

Viewing Hindu nationalism through selective analytical frameworks is a deliberate attempt to reduce an ancient and spiritual civilizational ethos to a modern political threat

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The visit of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) Sarsanghchalak Mohan Bhagwat to the USA, Canada, and the UK has prompted several anti-Hindu groups to launch a campaign against the RSS in these countries. Concurrently, there has been a concerted effort to spread misinformation regarding the concept of “Hindu Nationalism."

The core tactic of these groups is to employ selective analytical frameworks to misrepresent the concept of “Hindu nationalism" and, in turn, target the RSS, which is seen as its principal votary.

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Western interpretation of ‘Hindu Nationalism’

Is ‘Hindu Nationalism’ something that one should be wary of? That is the notion promoted by a section of Western media and intelligentsia. The general line of argument by them is that Hindu nationalism would lead to Hindu majoritarianism. These interpretations are the result of a straitjacketed conceptual framework that has emerged from the West’s own experience with nationalism. Hence, it is ill-equipped to deal with subjects like ‘Hindu Nationalism’.

The fundamental problem with Western academia and media is that they are looking at the concept of Hindu Nationalism from the European framework. The rise of nation-states in the late medieval period in Europe led to the rise of nationalism there. But the concept of ‘nationalism’ in Europe was parochial, narrow and negative.

‘Nationalism’ in the European context primarily meant subjugation of the others to serve the interest of the dominant race in a geographical region. The logical........

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