#Hindutva

[timetravellingkitty]

everyday i see clueless westerners (especially white people) peddle thinly veiled hindutva propaganda which they wouldn't know cause they know absolutely nothing about what goes on in india. so here are some signs that that the person you're talking to is a hindu nationalist:

they either do not acknowledge casteism or claim that caste is a western construct. my personal favourite however is dismissing anyone bringing up caste discrimination by saying that the indian constitution outlaws untouchability. they may also bring up the fact that the prime minister belongs to an other backwards class (obc) so clearly india has moved on from caste and hindutva isn't only for the upper castes. they possess a shallow understanding of caste

harping on about "islamic colonisation" : no, the mughals did not colonise india. when you point this out, they will immediately assume that you think muslim invaders were innocent beings who did nothing wrong, which is very much not what anyone is claiming here

while we're on the topic of "islamic colonisation" they will also refer to the demolishing of muslim sites of heritage and worship and then building hindu temples over them as "decolonisation" (cough cough ram mandir) the hindu right also goes around pretending that they're the indigenous people of india

along a similar vein, they will dismiss islamophobia by bringing up instances of hindu oppression in countries like pakistan and bangladesh. it is true that hindus are persecuted in these two countries, however they are used to fuel their oppression complex, that their upper caste hindu self is under attack in india of all places (think a white christian in the united states). you should be in solidarity with minorities everywhere. it is neither transactional or conditional (note: they will never bring up sri lanka. persecution of hindus exists only when the oppressors are muslim)

claiming that hindu nationalism and hindutva are not the same because hindutva means "hindu-ness". that is only the literal translation of the term. like it or not, they're the same thing

they support the indian military occupation of kashmir. they will call it an integral part of kashmir, one reason which will be "hinduism is indigenous to kashmir." they will also bring up the last maharaja of kashmir signing the instrument of accession as further proof, as if the consent of the people was taken

they're zionists. do i even need to explain this. hindutva is just zionism for hindus

they refer to buddhism and jainism (sikhism too sometimes) as branches of hinduism rather than separate, distinct religions

they condemn any resistance to the indian govt as a burden or terrorism (like calling the farmers who are currently protesting a hindrance or terrorists. funny how sikhs are the same as hindus when they support hindu causes but terrorists when they resist oppression...)

they call you a pseudo liberal or a fake leftist. i'm telling you, they don't know jackshit. they can't even tell the difference between a liberal and a leftist and call US unread lmao. bonus points if they call you a liberandu or a sickular 💀

they call india "bharat" when they talk in english. there are in fact multiple indian languages that call india bharat or bharatam, but if they say bharat while talking in english, that is absolutely a hindu nationalist no questions asked

please do your due diligence. read up on hindutva. hindu nationalists have already started making gains in the united states, thanks to rich upper caste nris. do not fall for propaganda

[metamatar]

umar khalid has spent 1400 days in jail as a political prisoner without trial.

[fiercynn]

Can you elaborate more on how hindutva is tied to zionism and white supremacy? I'm not trying to hate I'm genuinely curious.

tbh i don’t have the energy rn to write up an explanation myself, but here are some sources to get you started:

hindutva’s ties to fascism, nazism, & white supremacy broadly

hindu fascism 101: what is hindutva?, by the alliance for justice & accountability

why white nationalists are working with hindu supremacists, by safa ahmed at progressive

why white supremacists and hindu nationalists are so alike, by audita chaudhery at al jazeera

white and hindu supremacists are a match made in heaven, by amardeep singh dhillion at novara media

when hindu nationalism and white nationalism meet, by thomas crowley at jacobin

hindutva & zionism specifically

united in hate: the similarities and solidarities between hindutva and zionism, by ananya ray at feminism in india

the hindu nationalists using the pro-israel playbook, by aparna gopalan at jewish currents

why zionism rules the hearts of hindutva acolytes, by shreevatsa navatia at frontline (a magazine of the hindu)

in state repression and its justification, india and israel have much in common, by achin vanaik at the wire

violent majorities: indian and israeli ethnonationalism, a discussion between balmurli natrajan, lori allen, and ajantha subramanian at recall this book podcast

how hindu nationalists became best friends with israel, by goldie osuri at jacobin

india's hindutva proponents and zionist israel: strange bedfellows, by kavita chowdhury at the diplomat

[shehzadi]

the relationship between zionism, nazism, and hindutva in ‘hostile homelands’ by azad essa

[vaidehi-raghunatha]

Took 5 hrs and 2 attempts 😭💟✨

[theburialofstrawberries]

In the spring and summer of 2023, Senate Bill 403, which sought to add caste as a form of ancestry protected from discrimination, was making its progress through California’s legislative process. It was watched closely by the state’s 2 million people of South Asian descent, with Ambedkarite activists backing the effort and Hindutva groups opposing it. On 11 September 2023, SB 403 was sent to the governor’s office after receiving near-unanimous support in both the state assembly and senate. A few days later, the California governor, Gavin Newsom, went to Chicago to attend a meeting with donors to a political-action committee working on President Joe Biden’s re-election campaign. There, he met Ramesh Kapur, who runs a Massachusetts-based company manufacturing medical equipment as well as the US–India Security Council, a lobbying organisation. Kapur has been involved in fundraising for candidates of the Democratic Party since 1983, when he helped elect the future presidential nominee Michael Dukakis to a second term as Massachusetts governor. “If you want to be our next president, veto the bill,” Kapur told Newsom, according to Harper’s Magazine. Newsom did so on 7 October, sending Kapur an email hours before he issued the veto.

Every day I learn one new evil fact about gavin newsom

[ritish16]

Sri Rama Setu

[churail]

damn right

[probablyasocialecologist]

Where does this curious Hindutva-Zionist solidarity spring from? One origin is from the earliest Hindu nationalists who modelled their Hindu state on Zionism. Hindutva’s founder, Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, supported majoritarian nationalism and the rooting out of all disintegrating forces. These included Muslims who supported electoral quotas for their community and left-wing internationalists. As a result, he even condoned the Nazis’ antisemitic legislation in two speeches in 1938 because, as he saw it: “a nation is formed by a majority living therein”. Yet Savarkar was not antisemitic himself. He often spoke favourably of the tiny Jewish-Indian minority because he considered it too insignificant to threaten Hindu cohesion. In fact, Savarkar praised Zionism as the perfection of ethno-nationalist thinking. The way Zionism seamlessly blended ethnic attachment to a motherland and religious attachment to a holy land was precisely what Savarkar wanted for the Hindus. This double attachment was far more powerful to his mind than the European model of “blood and soil” nationalism without sacred space. Today, Hindu nationalists perpetuate this legacy and still look to Zionism as a uniquely attractive political ideology. To Hindu nationalists, some Zionists were engaged in a project to reclaim their holy land from a Muslim population whose religious roots in the region were not as ancient as their own.

[...]

In 2018, Israel passed a law that rebranded the country as “the nation-state of the Jewish people” and delegitimised its non-Jewish citizens. Similarly, India’s controversial Citizenship Amendment Act in 2019 eased paths to citizenship for immigrants from several religious groups, but not Muslims. Coupled with rhetoric associating millions of Indian Muslims with illegal immigration, human rights groups argue that this law could be used to strip many Muslims of their Indian citizenship. Hindu nationalists have also stoked a culture war to consolidate “Hindu civilisation” and sweep away symbols of Islam. This is very much in keeping with the wish of Israel’s far right to rebuild Solomon’s Temple on the site of the holy Temple Mount in Jerusalem, where al-Aqsa mosque compound currently sits. In 1969, a Zionist extremist burned the south wing of al-Aqsa. And in 1980, the fundamentalist group Jewish Underground plotted to blow up the Dome of the Rock, an Islamic shrine at the centre of the compound. A similar project of demolishing mosques and building temples in their place was suggested by Savarkar and Golwalkar. Hindu nationalist organisations focused their attention on Babri Masjid mosque in Ayodha, since this was the mythical birthplace of the Hindu god, Ram.

[timetravellingkitty]

https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Indian_alt-right_glossary

obviously I know the vast majority of these terms but

WHAT THE FUCK IS MARXSHALLAH 😭😭 DELHI HAS BEEN LIBERATED BY ALLIED FORCES

[metamatar]

any indian person celebrating on 22 january is a hindu nationalist without exception.

[annagxx]

Aaj mere Kanha ji ka janamdin hai hehe ❤️🥺

[bypatia]

The bjp government introduced the ucc bill in Uttarakhand which has made it mandatory for live in couples to register with the government and a copy of the registration will be sent to respective families. It also added the father as a first class legal heir for inheritance of property, encroaching upon the the right of the mother, wife, daughter (the actual victims of patriarchy, who most likely did not have any social right to gain access to financial independence or inheritance from other family members) to accommodate the father, who more than likely than not already has financial freedom and ownership rights over land property. Moving on, they removed the Muslim personal law, which guaranteed the rights of the daughter in a fixed inheritance percentage. Not to mention the whole act is modelled after hindu personal laws and demanding other religions to bend according to it is inherently regressive no matter how progressive the law on paper looks to be. So should I just bang my head against the wall right now and be done with it or watch as the bjp government slowly sets fire to all our lives?

[kailash-se-birha]

Just saw a tweet about ISKCON excommunicating their own kith and kin, Chinmoy Das. I know this is an unpopular opinion, but the low-key disgust I had for ISKCON is rapidly turning into high-key contempt. First of all, you are a cult that propagates an Abrahamised version of Sanatan Dharma, referring to all other deities as demi-gods, and on top of that, you don’t even adhere to the cult aspect properly—abandoning your own monk in the face of state persecution. I don’t know much about Gaudiya Vaishnavism, but the general pacifism that characterises the Vaishnav sampradaya has become both archaic and orthodox. Coming back to ISKCON—the delusion these people live in is baffling. I had a friend in college who was deep down the ISKCON rabbit hole. She once said that Shiv Bhakts are materialistic and worship Shiva to fulfil their own desires, whereas Krishna Bhakts suffer in this world and reap the rewards of their suffering in Vaikuntha. Like, really? ISKCON receives donations amounting to millions of dollars every year, and their so-called sales executives—or whatever pious marketing gimmick name they use—pressure or pester people into handing over their money. It’s better to donate to the daan peti of your local neighbourhood temple or start Hindu charitable trusts to enable wealthy Hindus to support poor Hindus economically.Let’s be honest—most ISKCON attendees, at least in major metropolitan cities, are middle- to upper-middle-class Hindus. These people are not suffering; they’re just living comfortably. And the actions of ISKCON in Bangladesh only reinforce the idea that they’re not pacifists but cowards—much like Gandhi. Do they really believe that abandoning Chinmoy Das will protect them from radicals?

[aahanna]

The evolution of Indian cuisine through the ages. Each dish tells a story of its time."

[janaknandini-singh999]

Now that Ram Mandir has been opened can I honestly share what I feel? No, I'm not on the side of the extremist Hinduism nor am I on the leftists I just want to take a neutral stand here.

To everyone saying it's just a political agenda and Modi is using Ram mandir to appease the Hindu vote bank. Yes, and? I think we all (even the Hindus) know what game he's playing here. My house was conflicted yesterday. My mother and nani (grandma) were sobbing on finally getting Ram lalla's darshan yesterday on TV, my nanu (grandpa) wasn't supporting any of it. And I was torn. Torn between celebrating a historic moment and rationalizing whether it even deserved to be celebrated. His return deserved to be celebrated yes but the extreme Hindus who shower flowers with one hand and with the other hand throw stones on innocent Muslims of today who never took away our beloved Ram ji away in the first place. Would Ram ji have wanted this? He would've wanted us to celebrate yes but not at the cost of harming others. I condemn the acts of discrimination against the minor sects of society, everyone who's got to suffer because of this. In Mahabharata too, the minority (Pandavas) had to go through hell but they emerged victorious in the end coz they were right. However, I'd also like to state that it's not that simple here. People calling out Islamophobia, I'm with you. People calling out Hinduphobia, I'm ALSO with you. All lives matter no matter if they are Hindu or Muslim or Christian or Palestinian. "Hinduphobia doesn't exist" It does. Ofc not at the scale of the terrifying Islamophobia in India but it does. In other Islamic etc countries, it does. Just like how Islamophobia exists in countries where Islam folk are in minority. But does that give Hindus a license to endorse and impose themselves any more than the colonizers and invaders did? No.

You can't blame innocent Muslims for what Mughal invaders did centuries ago any more than you can blame Vibhishan for what his own brother Raavan did. But whoever is on the side of wrongdoing no matter their caste, creed or religion is just as much of a criminal like Karna was with Duryodhana even though he was a Pandava by birth.

Yk I've grown up in my remote, countryside hometown where they play azaan in mosques every day morning and evening and kid me since then became so used to it that it would feel like something is missing if I'd not hear it in the background somewhere while swinging around near the trees or while just walking on the terrace and watching the distant sunset. I'm a Hindu but well, that's just personal nostalgia.

Not all muslims are terrorists. Not all Hindus are fascists. But for those who are, I'd let Karma take care of you all.

I stand with humanity.

Jai Shri Ram 🙏

Allahu Akbar 🙏