Hindu Hindutva and the Great Betrayal

 

The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh RSS the ideological mothership of the BJP and its extended family of front organisations has performed one of the most cynical feats in modern Indian politics: the hijacking of a civilisational identity called Hindu and the conversion of it into a political war cry called Hindutva. This transformation has not just polarised India it has permanently altered the national character weaponising religion not for spiritual awakening but for electoral arithmetic and majoritarian muscle flexing.

Make no mistake: the word Hindu was never a religion to begin with. It was a geographical identity a loose term describing the people living east of the Sindhu Indus River. Over centuries it evolved into a mosaic of faiths practices contradictions and philosophies. A way of life some said. A civilisation others argued. But it was never a monolith and certainly never an ideology. That distortion that vile simplification came with Hindutva.

And who brought it The RSS. An organisation that sat out Indias independence movement. While Mahatma Gandhi was being arrested while Nehru was in jail and while countless Indians were laying down their lives for swaraj the RSS was busy doing drills in khaki shorts perfecting salutes and preaching cultural nationalism inspired not by Ashoka or Akbar but by Mussolini and Hitler.

Yes you read that right. The early Hindutva ideologues Savarkar Golwalkar Hedgewar looked to fascist Europe for inspiration. Golwalkar even praised Nazi Germanys race pride as a model for India to follow. These are not accusations these are documented facts buried deep in their writings and conveniently omitted from their propaganda.

Fast forward to today and you will see the same legacy playing out only this time with more money more media and more menace. The RSS and its political face the BJP have turned the Hindu Hindutva binary into a mass production factory of fear and fiction. Under the guise of cultural renaissance they have peddled myths revised history textbooks and reduced Indias rich diversity into an Us versus Them narrative.

Who is this Them Muslims Christians liberals dissenters anyone who questions their monopoly over nationalism or dares to see Hinduism as something deeper than temple photo ops and cow vigilantes. The irony is sharp: a movement that claims to protect Hinduism does not even understand it.

Let us talk plain. Hinduism is about questioning. About doubt debate dialectics. The Upanishads are not instruction manuals but conversations. The Gita is not a war mongering tract but a discourse on duty renunciation and inner conflict. The Rig Veda does not say my god is better than yours it says truth is one the wise call it by many names. Can this be the foundation of an exclusivist ideology Of course not.

But the Sangh does not care. Its project is not religious it is political. It does not want to protect Dharma it wants to consolidate votes. Its soldiers do not chant mantras they hurl abuse online and drag citizens out of trains for eating beef. The average RSS foot soldier is not meditating under a Bodhi tree he is manufacturing hate under a fake Twitter handle.

Look at how they operate: with slogans not substance. With symbols not spirituality. From Love Jihad to Ghar Wapsi from cow protection to Ram Mandir every issue is designed not to unite Hindus but to divide India. They promise cultural pride but deliver cultural paranoia. They invoke Bharat Mata but abuse her very ethos.

And what about the so called Hindu Rashtra they dream of A theocratic state run by scriptures and mob sentiment The idea itself is anti Hindu. Hinduism has survived precisely because it did not have a Pope a single Book or a rigid dogma. It allowed Buddha to challenge the Vedas Kabir to ridicule rituals and Meera to dance with her Krishna. Can the same tradition tolerate hate campaigns and moral policing Can it live under lynch mobs and textbook lies

Of course not. But these are inconvenient truths for the Sangh. So they whitewash history. They erase uncomfortable facts and rewrite the past as per their political convenience. Tipu Sultan becomes a tyrant Gandhi becomes irrelevant Ambedkar becomes a Hindu mascot and Savarkar becomes a reluctant patriot. This is not history it is fiction wrapped in saffron.

Worse the children of the very leaders who scream Bharat Mata ki Jai send their own kids to convent schools to Ivy League universities abroad to air conditioned enclaves of globalisation. The public is fed cow dung and WhatsApp forwards the private elite lives in gated hypocrisy.

And yet this con has worked. The RSS BJP machine has managed to convince a majority of Indians that being Hindu means hating the Other. That defending culture means destroying coexistence. That ancient India was some kind of golden theocracy that must be recreated through violence and exclusion.

It is the greatest betrayal of Hinduisms spirit and Indias soul.

It must also be said that the so called secular parties allowed this to happen. By appeasing the minorities in token ways and abandoning grassroots education they created a vacuum that the Sangh filled not with values but with venom. Where the Congress once promised Garibi Hatao the BJP today offers Muslim Hatao. The slogans have changed but the scam remains.

So where do we go from here

First we reclaim the difference between being Hindu and being Hindutvavadi. You can be a proud Hindu and reject the RSS. You can chant Om and oppose lynching. You can visit temples and still stand for constitutional rights. Do not let them tell you otherwise.

Second we must call out their hypocrisy. Loudly repeatedly and unapologetically. When a mob kills in the name of cows ask why the same godmen dine in Dubai. When they invoke Rashtra ask where their kids study. When they talk of sabhyata civilisation ask about unemployment education and healthcare. Strip the mask off. Mock the fraud.

Lastly we must revive the secular inclusive argumentative tolerant ethos of this land the real India. The India of Ashoka of Kabir of Tagore of Ambedkar not the sanitised saffron tinted circus that the RSS wants us to clap for.

Because if we do not we risk losing not just Hinduism but India itself.

As Khushwant Singh had warned before his death India will survive only if it remains a secular state. Once it becomes a Hindu Pakistan it will perish.

The clock is ticking. And the Sangh is watching.

 

Siddhartha Shankar Mishra
Advocate Supreme Court of India and Political Commentator

When Life Was Just Life — Before Sanatan Became a Slogan

 

The Hollow Saffron Chest-Thumping of Our Times

There was a time when life was simple and quiet. People lived without the need to declare their faith every morning or defend it every evening. There were Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, and Christians, but they were never counted, categorized, or constantly reminded of who they were. Religion was a personal matter, something that guided the inner self, not a label carried in the marketplace of politics.

In those days, words like Sanatan and Hindu were known but rarely spoken in daily life. They belonged to scriptures and spiritual discourse, not to political rallies or social media posts. Faith was silent and sincere, practiced in homes and hearts, not performed on screens. A visit to the temple or a namaz at the mosque was an act of devotion, not a declaration of ideology. People were not divided into Sanatanis and anti-Sanatanis; they were just neighbours and friends.

But somewhere along the way, the sacred turned into spectacle. The essence of Sanatan Dharma, which meant eternal truth and universal harmony, has been reduced to a slogan of power and exclusion. The political class discovered that religion can mobilize better than governance. And so, the ancient word Sanatan was pulled out of the scriptures, polished with propaganda, and planted in the middle of political discourse.

The result is a new breed — the Political Sanatani. Unlike the spiritual Sanatani who seeks truth and self-realization, the Political Sanatani seeks validation and visibility. He is loud, angry, and forever offended. His idea of dharma is not about duty or compassion but about dominance. He confuses pride with piety and outrage with devotion. In his world, silence is weakness and shouting is strength.

What was once a path to inner peace has become a battlefield of identity. Temples have turned into political stages, festivals into campaigns, and symbols of faith into instruments of control. The Sanatan that once preached tolerance now fuels suspicion. The Hindu who once believed in universality is being told to choose sides. The spiritual richness that once defined India is being replaced by a culture of noise and narcissism.

The tragedy is not that religion has entered politics; it is that politics has entered religion. The quiet dignity of faith is lost in the echo of self-proclaimed defenders who understand neither spirituality nor service. True Sanatanis never needed to prove their belief through aggression. Their faith was reflected in conduct, in compassion, in respect for all forms of life.

There was a time when life was just life. No loud claims, no defensive postures, no television debates about gods and identities. People lived their faith, not displayed it. Perhaps it is time to return to that silence — where devotion was private and peace was public.

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When Sanatanism Became a Badge

There was a time when the word Sanatani evoked quiet reverence. It carried the weight of centuries, the spirit of compassion and tolerance, of a civilization that survived invasions and partition without losing its soul¹. Today, it has become a mere badge, flaunted with the pride of a schoolboy waving a forged report card. People scream kattar Hindu or kattar Sanatani, as if loud slogans can substitute for depth of understanding.

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Dharma: Lost in Translation

Dharma, the bedrock of our civilization, is not about costume dramas or aggressive sloganeering². It is a principle as old as the Rig Veda³, as subtle as the Upanishads⁴, and as practical as the Gita⁵. It is the law of righteousness, the path that maintains harmony in society and balance within oneself.

Ask today’s kattar Hindu about dharma, and he will look at you blankly. His understanding begins with “Jai Shri Ram” and ends with a WhatsApp forward about his neighbor’s diet.

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Lessons from the Real Sanatanis

The Sanatana tradition survived because of nuance, not noise. Ashoka turned from violence to nonviolence after Kalinga⁶. Adi Shankara united India through debate, not division⁷. Vivekananda called Hinduism the mother of all religions because of its tolerance⁸.

If they returned today, they would be appalled at the market of saffron chest-thumping — where noise is worshipped and wisdom ignored.

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Politics, Power, and Pretence

Chest-thumping sells. Politicians realized long ago that religious passion rouses the masses⁹. Instead of teaching the Gita’s lesson of selfless action, they hand out soundbites. Instead of spreading Upanishadic wisdom, they host venomous TV debates.

Those who scream Sanatan dharma khatre mein hai cannot recite two shlokas¹⁰. Their temples are in their bank accounts, where donations are tallied, and power worshipped. They are counterfeit priests in the marketplace of faith, selling slogans while delivering division.

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The Irony of Misguided Devotion

In the Gita, Krishna tells Arjuna to fight not out of hatred but duty⁵. Yet today’s champions distort dharma into diet, dress, and daily outrage. They weaponize gods who once represented love.

Khushwant Singh once said that religion in India had become more a matter of ritual than morality¹¹. The saffron scarf is worn not as a symbol of renunciation but as a uniform of intimidation. Loudspeakers drown out silence, hashtags smother reflection. We are left with noise without knowledge, anger without awareness, faith without foundation.

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History’s Warnings

Every time religion becomes a weapon, civilizations pay the price. The Crusades¹², the Taliban¹³, and India’s communal riots¹⁴ prove this. The Sanatana tradition never feared other paths, yet today’s self-proclaimed defenders attack difference. In doing so, they betray the very tradition they claim to protect.

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True Sanatanism Today

To be truly Sanatani today means returning to the essence of dharma — truth, compassion, balance, and self-restraint. It is not about what you wear or eat; it is about how you treat the other.

When we live this way, we will no longer need labels like kattar Hindu or kattar Sanatani. Faith will reclaim its dignity, and religion will regain its silence.

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The Last Word

The word dharma is held hostage by fools who know not its meaning. They scream louder than saints, parade in saffron, and preach purity but act in politics. They are not protectors of Sanatana — they are its greatest danger.

As Gandhi reminded us, dharma is found in truth, not temples¹⁵. Tagore warned against the prison of narrow domestic walls¹⁶. Ambedkar showed that caste and ritual are shackles, not dharma¹⁷.

Their words echo across time, but who listens in an age addicted to noise?

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Author’s Note

The writer, Siddhartha Shankar Mishra, is an Advocate at the Supreme Court of India. He writes on politics, history, and society with a satirical edge inspired by Khushwant Singh.

📧 ssmishra33@gmail.com

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References

Footnotes

1. Romila Thapar, A History of India, Vol. 1. ↩

2. S. Radhakrishnan, Indian Philosophy. ↩

3. Rig Veda, Mandala 1. ↩

4. Upanishads, Chandogya Upanishad. ↩

5. Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 2. ↩ ↩²

6. Romila Thapar, Asoka and the Decline of the Mauryas. ↩

7. Swami Gambhirananda, Adi Shankaracharya: Life and Philosophy. ↩

8. Swami Vivekananda, Speech at the Parliament of Religions, Chicago, 1893. ↩

9. Christophe Jaffrelot, The Hindu Nationalist Movement and Indian Politics. ↩

10. Media accounts and public statements of right-wing activists. ↩

11. Khushwant Singh, The History of Sikhs. ↩

12. Thomas Asbridge, The Crusades: The War for the Holy Land. ↩

13. Ahmed Rashid, Taliban: Militant Islam, Oil and Fundamentalism in Central Asia. ↩

14. Gyanendra Pandey, The Construction of Communalism in Colonial North India. ↩

15. M.K. Gandhi, Hind Swaraj. ↩

16. Rabindranath Tagore, Nationalism. ↩

17. B.R. Ambedkar, The Annihilation of Caste. ↩