On Hindutva & Zionism
By Saswat Pattanayak
New York, November 26, 2023
India used to steadfastly stand behind Palestine, and Yasser Arafat used to call Indira Gandhi his elder sister. But lately, Indian society has maintained conspicuous silence over the dehumanization and genocide of Palestinian people. It should not be surprising however, because Indian voters have slowly but surely embraced Hindutva - a modern-day political weaponization of an ancient religion, with nationalistic aspirations to ethnically cleanse minorities in a formerly pluralist land.
In the Indian context, Hindutva is Zionism and Zionism is Hindutva.
Hindutva too has normalized and legalized colonization - that of Kashmir and parts of North-East. Like Zionists, the proponents of Hindutva are also changing history textbooks to erase the rightful place of the indigenous peoples. Like murderous Zionism, Hindutva terror has taken innocent lives of people, starting with Gandhi himself and ongoing with killing of the indigenous in India (routinely hounded down as Maoists or Maoist sympathizers) and Muslims in Kashmir, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, UP and elsewhere.
And more importantly, like the anti-Zionist Jewish people, there are also anti-Hindutva Hindus. Like the Zionists describe their critics as "fake Jews" or Hamas agents, Hindutva ruling class also denounces their critics as self-hating Hindus and foreign agents. Like Zionists threaten their critics with "go live in Gaza", Hindutva folks challenge their critics to leave India and "go live in Pakistan." The ethnocentrism, ultranationalism, and xenophobia are exactly the same when it comes to Zionists and Hindutva brigades.
Anti-Hindutva Hindus of India need to address the cancer of Hindutva before it spreads like Zionism has in Israel and renders the secular Hindus minorities. To that end, their voices in support of Palestine need to be expressed and amplified. They must demand the same of the celebrities they have come to admire - whether in Bollywood or in the world of Cricket, whether in their temples or in the company of their relatives, whether while buying from their supermarkets, or dining out at restaurants. Its critically important to "Boycott" - a tactic effectively gifted to the world by Gandhi himself - those celebrities, venues, products and even families - who refuse to learn from and to lend support to Palestinian freedom struggle. There should be no business as usual, no fandom as usual, no hero-worshipping as usual, until the public positions have shifted regarding Palestine.
Call for a "Free Palestine" on part of Indians is also to a call for a "Hindutva-free India". Likewise, silence over Palestine is akin to painfully wait for a dreadful future for India that shall be devoid of every iota of pluralism and cultural diversity or whatever is left of it still. The viciously fascist and ultranationalism project with a fetish for militarism has already been put in place - prevention of its full implementation is dependent on the position Anti-Hindutva Hindus take concerning Palestine. For, in the ultimate analysis, Indians will not be helping to free Palestine, as much as in doing so, they will merely be liberating themselves.
