The conversations at the launch of Rahul Shivshankar and Siddharth Talya’s Modi and India: 2024 and the Battle for Bharat took clear stances — particularly when it came to the inevitability of a Hindu Rashtra and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s return in 2024.
The panel discussion at Delhi’s India International Center included diplomat Pavan Varma, and scientist and author Anand Ranganathan. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was represented by its national vice-president Jay Panda, and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) by its national executive member Ram Madhav. Rounding off the panel was Smita Prakash, editor of ANI.
The book looks at Modi’s prime ministerial tenure as an attempt to reclaim Hindu culture, and as liberation from colonisation. It’s not about the British physically exiting the country, but about the decolonisation of the mind, panellists were quick to point out.
In the elite world of Lutyens, speaking about the Upanishads was akin to having become a ‘sanghi’, said Varma. People used to gloss over the victories and contributions of Hindu civilisation, he added.
Returning to a Hindu Rashtra
The inclusivity of the RSS was discussed, along with the certainty of a resounding mandate for Modi in 2024. India’s ongoing decolonisation project – the ‘return’ to a Hindu Rashtra – was also celebrated. There were only slivers of thinly veiled Congress bashing as panel members were more keen to talk about Bharat’s inclusive and prosperous future.
Even so, apparently not enough has been done to reawaken the country to the glory of Hindu civilisation.
“If you see the statistics for the budget allocated to the Ministry of Culture, it has been successively cut. Much more can be done to enlighten, to integrate [these teachings] into the educational curriculum,” said Varma. He expanded his argument by pointing out that more could be done with the “three “foundational texts” of Hinduism — the Upanishads, the Brahma Sutras and the Bhagavad Gita.
A now oft-discussed tenet of the BJP’s future in power, supposedly another act of reclamation, is the Uniform Civil Code. “How can you have, in the 21st century, the largest democracy that humankind has ever seen where all citizens are guaranteed equal rights by the Constitution, but they do not, in fact, enjoy equal rights under civil law?” said Panda, referring to the Uniform Civil Code.
“It hasn’t happened in nine years because we need to get the votes in both houses. Do we want the UCC? I certainly do,” he added.
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‘Hindus have been discriminated against’
Shivshankar questioned the lack of criticism against the Sangh. Namely, that it isn’t an inclusive entity, and that the RSS has been formed on supremacist lines. Madhav, however, was quick to shut this down.
“We believe that this nation is a Hindu Rashtra in a cultural and civil sense. Not in a religious sense,” he said. “And I must tell you, the majority of people from minority communitieshave no issue with this understanding. If it’s exclusive or against anybody, it’s not a Hindu rashtra,” he added.
But Ranganthan had a different take. Society doesn’t hinge on the magnanimity of Hindus, nor do they enjoy the kind of privilege they appear to do, he said. In fact, they’re the ones who’ve been discriminated against, that too in a purportedly secular State. It’s the subject of his latest book, Hindus in a Hindu Rashtra (Eighth-Class Citizens and Victims of State–Sanctioned Apartheid).
According to Ranganthan, India is progressing, and the ‘plight’ of Hindus is being discussed — but not at a fast enough pace. In fact, the BJP’s reclamation of Hindu culture, visible in “the bhajans and the Ram Mandir,” isn’t unique, or specific to Modi.
“Let’s be very honest. The optics are brilliant. But I can’t think of a single thing this government has done that others haven’t thought of,” he said. Modi’s foothold will endure because of the opposition he has, Ranganathan concluded as the audience burst into laughter and applause.
(Edited by Zoya Bhatti)