It needs no emphasis that Hindu Dharma is prevalent in a major proportion only in Bharat. There is no need for Pakistan to justify that it is an Islamic State, nor the Arab World to do so. There is no need for Vatican to justify its practices. So why should only Hindus be called out?
Concept of secularism – is it part of our Constitution?
It is most often quoted that our Constitution in its preamble talks of secularism. But that was an amendment brought about only 1976 ( to be precise from 3.1.77). We have seen several decisions talking about how secularism was implied from the very beginning. It is most unfortunate that this is not true.
The words secular as also other words were sought to be inserted into Article 1 and in the Constitutional debates it is clearly seen how Dr. Ambedkar and his team convinced the House that it should not be done in Article 1 and if thought fit, could be contained elsewhere like the Preamble.
In other words, secularism was not thought as a fit concept to be introduced in the Parliament. Therefore, ours has always been a sovereign democratic republic and the term socialist and secular were deliberately introduced in the preamble to pander to the vested interests.
Today, we are no more a socialist economy and our government is busy selling off all the companies which were used to loot tax payers money. So why hold on to secularism as it has served no useful purpose except to enrage the majority.
Dr. Ambedkar was clearly right when he said that we should not bind the future generations into concepts which may not hold on for ever.
Who is to blame?
If we carefully look at our history, how did the Muslim invaders and Christian companies come into Bharat. Prior to that, our country controlled nearly 40% of international trade worldwide but at the time of independence it was hardly 1%. This systematic loot was allowed because we were indolent and corrupt.
If the Hindus were united, we would not have seen this coming to pass. But we still had some brave Hindu rulers who fought off the invaders but eventually, the Muslim and Christian rulers stayed and ruled us.
In the course of this rule, they have destroyed temples, burnt our religious books, taken away several important books, converted several persons forcefully and what not.
The rulers hangover is not over in our country – we have petitions filed to ban every Hindu practice. Why not the same yardstick be used for other festivals? If animal sacrifice in temples are to be banned, why not animal sacrifices in other religions?
Root back to Hindu Dharma
The very fact that we got our independence should show that we need to go back to our roots. Our country has come out of Islamic and Christian invaders. Several centuries back when there was no religion, Bharat was truly secular as also the world. There is no religious rite for conversion in the vedas as there was no need – no other religion was in existence which required conversion. This explanation is by the Paramacharya of Kanchi in the magnum opus Voice of God. What a logical explanation!
Starting from the 1st century onwards, we had the major religions of Christianity and Islam. The world scenario changed where these religions thrived on warfare and arms to convert forcibly. If that be so, to hark on secularism when the world scenario has itself changed, needs to be reviewed. Even more so as no Islamist or Christian ever bothers about secularism in their country but do so only here.
It is another thing that 99% of them are actually Hindus who have been converted. Further, no one asks a simple question – if Christianity came after Christ and Islam after Mohammed – which religion did they originally belong to? Neither Christ nor Mohammed were Christians or Muslims.
There is one more solid reason why Hindu Dharma is most respected. The original vision of the British in learning Sanskrit was to translate the Bible into that language. But having learnt Sanskrit, when those Britishers read our Upanishads, they realized that it was the most advanced thinking. If that be so, why are we fighting shy to express ourselves as Hindus. What stops us?
We, as Hindus, should not only unite but also ensure that the efforts of the government to unite us bears fruit. The false theories of Aryanism and Dravidianism are being called out. Every Hindu was proud when the announcement came for building a Ram temple.
The next step in our agenda should be to free all the temples from the clutches of the political parties who loot temple hundies and use the funds for other purposes. This is common in Tamil Nadu, Kerala as also other states and was called out by the Madras High Court.
Since nowhere in the world Hindu Dharma is practiced in such a large number with so many temples and festivals, there is no reason why this nation should not be declared as a Hindu state so that it would become the world representative for not only coming out of the clutches of the Muslim and Christian invaders but to establish Hindu Dharma in the country of origin. If we cannot establish Hinduism in India, where else can we?
By V. Raghuraman
Wake up call for all sleeping Hindus.
Absolutely brilliant piece Raghu…keep writing more