If one were to describe Anand Ranganathan in one word, that would be “logical”. He has bought back the art of logical argumentation, and that’s why the left-liberal brigade hates him! The left-liberal cabal excels in discourse characterized by value judgments, public shaming, and propaganda. Much of their criticism against whatever Prime Minister Modi does has only one supporting argument, well because it’s being done by PM Modi (argument if it can be called at all).
Anand Ranganathan in his hard-hitting collections “Hindus in Hindu Rashtra” busts the propaganda of the left-liberal cabal who seem to be shouting from the rooftops all the time about how Bharat has been hijacked by Hindu majoritarianism, but he also doesn’t shy away from pointing out the shortcomings of a “Hindu Nationalist “government. That’s precisely where the power of logic and the objective detachment of Anand Ranganathan’s writing style is indeed commendable.
“Hindus in Hindu Rashtra’ doesn’t mince words. It puts forward the bare facts. And you need to take it literally when the author calls Hindus “Eight-class Citizens and Victims of State-sanctioned Apartheid”.
Anand Ranganathan is a scientist, something you can discern from the writing style itself. The reader is spared the typical convoluted writing style characteristic of the social sciences and the humanities discourse and the barrage of incoherent subjective opinions and assumptions that come along with it.
The writing is crisp, clear, and to the point, and all factual evidence given in the book is supported by relevant footnotes with all references provided towards the end.
“Hindus in Hindu Rashtra” consists of eight chapters in all. Each chapter takes on a relevant socio-political aspect of Bharat to prove how the system not just marginalizes Hindus but consciously discriminates against them to appease the “minorities”. This system, the book emphasizes, is independent of the government at the Centre and even though a nationalist government at the Centre does make certain amends, its unable to shrug off the entire system. Minority appeasement seems to be the mainstay of Bhartiya politics, and no party in power is immune from this malaise, the book suggests.
The eight chapters of the book talk about “State Control of Hindu Temples”, “Injustice Towards Kashmiri Hindus”, “ The Waqf Act, 1995 “, “ The RTE Act”, Legislations That Appease No-Hindus But Target Hindus”, “ Judiciary that Almost Exclusively Tries to Reform Hinduism”, “Celebrating Those Who Killed and Converted Millions of Hindus”, and “ Places of Worship Act, 1991”.
Some of these issues, for example, the issue of state control of Hindu temples and the injustice towards Kashmiri pundits are already in the public eye, and many Hindu organizations are raising awareness amongst the electorate to make these pertinent election issues for Hindus. A new founded political party “Ekam Sanatan Dal “has promised to free temples from state control if it comes to power. Some other issues raised through this book like The Waqf Act and the anti-Hindu nature of the RTE Act are relatively lesser known amongst Hindus. I was shocked to discover after reading this book that “Waqf is the third-largest landowner in India, after Defence and the Railways, with much of its landholding, rather amusingly, pre-independence – an endowment of the insidious give and take between the British and the Muslims they desired to pacify”.
Similarly, not many would know that many provisions of the Right to Education Act passed in 2009 under the UPA regime apply only to non-minority schools. In the chapter on RTE, Anand Ranganathan goes on to explain how the RTE Act not only systematically discriminates against Hindu schools by making them the scapegoats, but how it has led to the closure of many schools run by Hindus because of the financial crunch they underwent owing to the necessity to comply with RTI. “Simply put, the RTE continues to destroy Hindu schools and institutions. Perhaps, that is the overarching goal of secularism – to allow the prospering of every other religion, its belief systems, its way of life, its cultural values, its educational methods, its wisdom, its books and scriptures, except Hinduism”, these lines from the chapter sum up the dilemma of the Hindu educational institutions under RTI.
It’s a tiny collection consisting of barely 100 pages. But the book is remarkable in the expanse and depth of the ground it covers, and the amount of research that has gone into the making of this collection. It is a treasure trove of a lot of “hidden information” that the mainstream media never brings out in the public domain while covering certain issues. By giving the readers direct access to such information, Anand Ranganathan sets the dice rolling for an alternate media discourse and citizen journalism.
In the chapter titled “Legislations that Appeaee Non-Hindus but Target Hindus”, the author gives many examples of laws and bills that consciously discriminate against Hindus or seek to “reform” the Hindus but conveniently look the other way when it comes to “minorities” like Muslims. These lines from the chapter aptly sum up the plight of the Hindus in a Hindu majority nation: “The truth is that the State has been blackmailed and browbeaten to such an extent that the so-called liberals, progressives, and conscientious feminists outrage on Karvachauth but slither away under their favourite Parthasarathy rock when it comes to giving equal inheritance rights to Muslim women”.
Similarly, the chapter “Judiciary that Almost Exclusively Tries to Reform Hinduism” gives examples from judgments over the past couple of years to show how the judiciary singles out Hindus and blatantly discriminates against them. Be it the Supreme Court judgment on Nupur Sharma, the infamous Sabrimala verdict of the Supreme Court in 2018, or the continuous interference by the courts in Hindu festivals and rituals citing air pollution and a slew of other reasons, the chapter proves how the courts adopt double standards vis a vis Hindu festivals and festivals celebrated by “minorities”.
“Hindus in Hindu Rashtra” is a must-read by all Hindus and even non-Hindus who can sense the blatant discrimination against Hindus in Bharat. If you wish to gain an insight into the civilizational issues of Bharat, and the whole range of issues concerning Hindus, this book is a good starting point. Written in plain and simple language minus any academic jargon, this book is accessible to all. It’s a good idea to start with Anand Ranganathan’s “Hindus in Hindu Rashtra” before moving on to more complex works by authors like Rajiv Malhotra who examine and interrogate the edifices of anti-Hindu discourse perpetuated by decades of propaganda masquerading as “academic scholarship”. Anand Ranganathan’s book doesn’t get into those academic debates, but it provides clear and concise insight into the contradictions ad the vulnerabilities of being a so-called majority Hindu in a so-called Hindu Rashtra.
It’s the kind of book that propels the reader to sharpen their own analytical and critical thinking skills, and probe between the lines when it comes to the media portrayal of “secular” issues. The author gives you brilliant pointers in terms of these 8 capsule-like chapters, but the onus is on you to go further and contribute to the debate from the vantage point of your own investigation and critical understanding.
