By Kanika Katyal:
On Saturday, 18th July 2015, Ashok Singhal, former International President of the Vishva Hindu Parishad made a controversial statement saying that India would be a ‘Hindu‘ nation by 2020.
“I was at the Sai Baba Ashram where Sai Baba told me by 2020 the entire country will be Hindu and by 2030 the entire world will be Hindu. I feel that revolution has started,” he said at a program where external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj and other RSS functionaries were in attendance.
Since then, his comment has been receiving a lot of criticism, not only from all over social media but also from various political and religious organisations. The Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) on Sunday strongly condemned the Vishwa Hindu Parishad patron. “We do not find ourselves to fit in their definition of Hindu. This statement should be booked and action should be taken against him,” said an official. Imam Umer Ahmed Ilyasi, chief Imam of the All India Imam Organisation (AIIO), also told ANI, “Such remarks are against our nation’s unity, brotherhood and spirit of religious harmony. I feel such remarks should not be given importance.”
In the past few months, such statements inflaming communal hatred have become a recurrent practice among leaders of right-wing organisations. Remember the outrage stemming out of Love Jihad, Ghar-waapsi, beef-ban and the elaborate Hindu wedding ritual that was planned on Valentine’s Day? The fact that these statements have now become commonplace, suggests that regressive ideologies are still deeply embedded in the minds of people who call themselves ‘leaders’ of masses.
We asked you to tell us what you thought a ‘100% Hindu nation would look like’. Here’s a list of some of the most interesting reactions:
1. Sanya Sahni: [envoke_twitter_link]Last time I heard, India was a sovereign, socialist, SECULAR, DEMOCRATIC country[/envoke_twitter_link]. I was mistaken perhaps.
2. Neel Madhav: It won’t be a Nation. The idea of India will be broken and peace disturbed.
3. Simranpreet Kaur: Depends on how it is achieved.
There will still be divide, though. History says it. Whether rich-poor divide, Upper caste-Lower caste Hindus. North-Indian South-Indian divide.
4. Svd Chandrasekhar : A 100 % Hindu nation wouldn’t be India.
5. Mahi Sharma: It wil be the best thing if it happens…
6. Sunil Reddy: 100% Hindu nation would be devoid of terrorism for sure.
7. Pranav Joshi: Then Mahabharat , the tv serial, will be a part of India’s actual history and Delhi will be renamed Indraprastha. All flights will run on cow urine as Pushpak Vimaan once did. Genetic research will take place in earthen pots and Akhand Bharat will be realised.
8. Nitin Sharma: Ashok singhal is not an elected representative of Indian people.
9. Aashil Garg: Hinduism as defined by RSS is a way of life and not specifically a religion. They say you can be a Muslim (or any other religion) and still be a Hindu. I hated RSS before my misunderstandings of their ideology were cleared out. (Wikipedia Link)
10. Muskan Varshney: They will fight on caste.
11. Deepak Sharma: India is already a hindu nation so no need to prove now.
12. Sudeep Kumar: Much better than that we see right now…atleast we’ll get rid of communal riots and traitors.
13. Abby Krishna: A 100% *Insert religion* country is doomed, Irrespective of which religion it is. Just look at every society out there that is monotheistic or intends to become monotheistic.
14. Dhruv George: [envoke_twitter_link]What would happen to all the Christians, Muslims, Sikhs, Buddhists and Jains[/envoke_twitter_link]? That’s five religions with millions of followers all gone.
15. Ninad Dhairyawan: Don’t know but it would be certainly something better than the twisted secularist nation it is now where one community gets preferential treatment like personal law, schools that preach radicalism, pilgrimage subsidy and all that flies in the face of true secularism.