Brewing Strangers


Rev. Dr. Selvam Robertson
Brewing Strangers
Introduction
Stranger is a person whom we do not know, a person who is in a place that he/she has not been in before, unfamiliar person, foreigner, alien, outsider, visitor, guest and new arrival. The unique condition of us is that there is an ongoing attempt to make us strangers in our own country. It is also alarming that people migrate because of religious persecution. Religion supposed to unite but it brews strangers and often excludes them and that is our concern. This paper is a modest attempt to highlight the process of ‘brewing strangers’ that are attempted at various levels and to appeal for vigilance and involvement to counter them in our context.

Hindutva Ideology
            The process of making Indians aliens in India began with the emergence of Hindutva ideology conceived by the RSS.  Hindutva is not Hinduism[1] It embraces all the departments of thought and activity of the whole Being of Hindu race.[2] It is not a word but a history.[3] The first essential of Hindutva is securing Hindusthan/Hindu Rashtra/Hindu nation or the land of Hindus.[4] In brief, Hindutva is a communal and majoritarion ideology committed to Hinduvise India at the expense of other faith traditions.
According to Hindutva, Hindus ‘are not only a nation but also a race-jati’[5] and it excludes the votaries of every other faith traditions as foreigners labeling them as enemies and secondary citizens. In the words of M.S. Golwalkar “we are Hindus even before we emerge from the womb of our mother. We are therefore born as Hindus. About the others, they are born to this world as simple unnamed human beings and later on, either circumcised or baptized, they become Muslims or Christians.”[6] 
“Hindutva is a politics of RSS combine. It aims to work for the agenda of Hindu Nation (Rashtra).”[7] The idea that was stationary for some time is now actively reemerging as the Majority NDA government is in the centre. The Hindutva ideology is based on inclusion and exclusion.

Hindu Rashtra
Hindutva’s intriguing distinction between territorial/geographical nationalism and religious (Hindu) nationalism is a way of making Indians alien in India. Assimilating the others or destroying the others and ‘establishing a Hindu nation is called as world Mission of RSS.[8]
The Hindu Rashtra ‘stands not only for political and economic unity but also for cultural and religious unity’.[9] Praveen Togadia asked the “Hindus of the country to become one and prepare the way for Hindu Rashtra.”[10] The darker side of the notion of Hindu nation is, often ‘Hinduism became the symbol of nationalism’ and ‘indeed, it is an ideology which consigns a few hundred million non-Hindus to second-class citizenship.’[11]
That is why Suchitra Vijayan says “religious nationalism” is a genuine fear among the country’s minorities’. Religious nationalism excludes the notion of a secular state, and denies equal participation of those who do not identify with the dominant religion’. Further ‘the disastrous marriage between religion and nationalism will ultimately subvert the values that have held this nation together.[12]
            Hindu nationalists reject plurality[13] and “while the whole country during freedom movement stood up and participated in the movement for independence and for secular democratic India, RSS kept aloof from this movement as its goal was Hindu nation.”[14]
The RSS leaders even suggested that ‘let the Constitution be re-examined and re-drafted, so as to establish this unitary form of Government’.[15] Even “both the RSS ‘Prayers’ and ‘Oath’ mandatory for its cadres, demand establishment of a Hindu rashtra.”[16] These are strategies to make people outsiders in their own country.

Constant Attempt to Challenge our Hold
RSS, since its inception in 1925, has been working towards a Hindu nation in spite of India’s diversities. However, the inherent secular character of the Indian Constitution even before the inclusion of the word secular in the preamble of the Constitution in the year 1976 by virtue of 42nd amendment of the Constitution has protected India from such communal agenda.  The inclusion of the word “secular” testifies to the fact that there were elements working against the secular principles of the nation. In one of the Republic Day (2015) advertisements of the Union Government the facsimile of the Preamble of the Constitution was shown without the words “Socialist” and “Secular”.  BJP leaders defended it saying that it was the facsimile of the original Constitution which was signed on 26th January, 1950, where the words “Socialist” and “Secular” were not mentioned.
It cannot be an inadvertent omission because even the Union Minister for Information technology, Ravi Shankar Prasad, suggested a debate on this issue. This is also in line with the argument that had been advanced when Vajpayee was the Prime Minister that the Constitution needed a comprehensive review.[17]The paradox is that the ‘Justice Venkatachelliah commission he had appointed did not suggest deletion of the words Secular and Social even if they had been adopted by parliament in the years of the State of Emergency’.[18]
It is the re-emergence of the ideas of M.S. Golwalkar who said ‘the word ‘secular’ is nowhere to be found in our Constitution’.[19]  Further these are reflections of RSS aspiration to replace Indian constitution with Manusmriti. The Organizer in an editorial on November 30, 1949, complained, that ‘in our constitution there is no mention of the unique constitutional development in ancient Bharat’.[20]
All attempts to destabilize the principle of a ‘secular state’ with any other alternative in the Indian setting is a deliberate plot to make sections of the nation strangers and it is also an indicator that suggest that the government is refusing to be neutral in religious matters. It is unthinkable that India a secular state is tormented to accept Hinduism as the State religion. Nehru is blamed for disallowing Hinduism becoming National religion. Had it happened, imagine the number of strangers India would have witnessed. The sad fact is that this notion is again slowly echoing in the conversations of many BJP leaders.

Curbing Freedom of Religion
Indian constitution unambiguously guarantees freedom of religion to all the citizens of India. Even before the insertion of the word ‘secular’ in the preamble, Article 25 guaranteed freedom of conscience, and freedom to profess, practice and propagate any religion as one of the fundamental rights. Call for a national debate on article 25 is a well calculated plot to paralyze freedom of religion in India.
President Mukherjee in his republic day address (2015) said ‘we have always reposed our trust in ‘equality’ where every faith is equal before the law.[21] Indian civilization has celebrated pluralism, advocated tolerance and promoted goodwill between diverse communities. These values need to be preserved with utmost care and vigilance.[22]
US President, Obama spoke in clear terms to a crowded audience of mostly young people at New Delhi that ‘upholding Article 25 of the Indian Constitution is the responsibility of government, but it’s also the responsibility of every person’.[23]
Freedom of religion is a fundamental ‘universal human rights’ as well. On the strength of absolute majority in the parliament Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh called for a national debate on ‘conversion’. It is a well calculated attempt in continuation with ‘the then Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s (a RSS trained Swayamsevak) demand for a debate on the conversion.[24] It is to shut freedom of religion for the minorities and thereby alienating sections of the nation.
It is more disturbing that elements within the BJP government are creating disturbing situations to bring in debate on freedom of religion and enact an anti-conversion law thereby depriving the religious minorities their right to profess, practice and propagate their own religion.  What is at stake is the freedom to choose any religion and the ones who willfully chose religion of their choice are treated as foreigners in their own land.
In most important discussions the word deliberately chosen to debate is ‘conversion’ instead of ‘freedom of religion’. ‘Where is the place for people volunteering and adopting another religion, like Ambedkar and so many others?’ ‘Where is the place for choice of one’s religion in a democratic society believing in ‘freedom of religion and conscience?’[25]
We are Indians. The choice of religion is our fundamental right. We are almost called strangers in our own country because we chose a religion of our choice.

Democracy as Majority Religious View
Democracy helps religious minorities to express their concerns and grievances in a peaceful, acceptable and parliamentary way. India ‘cannot remain a democracy without allowing its citizens the freedom to practice a religion of their choice’.[26]
It is the gentle spirit of democracy that even the numerically insignificant find space to bring in their concerns. This golden rule is diluted by arguing that ‘the spirit of democracy at its ‘best is nowhere more fully recognized and practiced than in the age-old Hindu tradition’.[27] Comparing democracy with Hinduism is mockery but risky as well.
It is falsely claimed that “in a democracy the opinion of the majority has to hold the sway in the day-to-day life of the people. As such it will be but proper to consider the practical conduct of the life of majority as the actual life of the national entity. From this point of view also, efforts to uplift the life of Hindus is national and not communal.”[28]
These are the claims and goals of RSS and we see them taking shape in many levels. It is also a fact that ‘in any given national context, the more politically dominant a religion, the greater its capacity to undermine democratic values’.[29]
The deliberately worked out strategy of the RSS to compare democracy with the majority Hindu view is a clever strategy to degrade the numerically vulnerable.  Religious majority cannot replace political majority and do away with minorities.

Polarization on Religious basis
            ‘Mobilizing the masses using religion and religious symbols for political ends started along with independence movement (Bharat Matha).  And ‘almost fifty years later, the Ayodhya Ram Janmabhoomi campaign employed similar strategies to mobilize popular support for its vision of Hindu nationhood’.[30]
It is now a reality that election manifestos of some political parties include highly inflammable and sensitive and controversial religious issues. It is also becoming a reality that just before elections communal riots are instigated. It was seen in Uttar Pradesh before the general elections. Gujarat became a BJP stronghold, presumably, after an ugly communal clash. Another new trend that has developed is to make provocative communal attack on minority communities.
RSS has floated various organizations with exciting names to strengthen Hindu numerical strength in the places of neglected tribal and adhivasi people.  These bodies work overtime to bring in other religious communities as well. In reality these have changed the voting pattern of India which has gone in favour of the BJP. Alienating and
 “the targeting of minorities has played an important role in polarizing the communities, in consolidation of the majoritarianism politics in various ways.”[31]
In order to polarize on majority and minority lines a false notion is created that the religious minorities disrespect Hindu religion, culture, nation, religious heroes, etc.

Hindu Culture
The beauty of Indian culture is plurality (of cultures). Religion is integral part of any culture. Talk of monoculture, rather majority culture, in place of multi-culture is another source of brewing strangers. We are faced with the claim that the Hindu Rashtra ‘stands for cultural and religious unity’[32] and ‘our concept of Hindu Nation is ‘essentially cultural’.[33]  Accepting other progressive and civilizing cultural aspects are dismissed as, spiritual subjection’.[34]
It implies that only a particular set of teachings, morals, standards and practices are the final and similar other resources do not have relevance. The followers of such resources, because minority in number, have to adhere to the norms of the majority otherwise they do not find place in India.  We hear news that Ramayana and Mahabharata should be given centrality but not Kuran and Bible. Similarly, the unique tribal ‘culture and norms are undermined and rejected’[35] saying that they have to return to their original Hinduism.
RSS accuses the minority religious communities that they do not respect Indian culture. Jawaharlal Nehru refuted such notion and wrote ‘a Buddhist or Jain in India is a hundred per cent product of Indian thought and culture, yet neither is a Hindu by faith. It, is, therefore, entirely misleading to refer to Indian culture as Hindu culture.’ Further, ‘it is incorrect and undesirable, to use ‘Hindu’ or ‘Hinduism’ for Indian culture’.[36]
            The danger of Hidutva ideology is that for the sake of merely preserving outdated and inhuman customs and practices many reforms and transforming efforts are discouraged and disturbed.

One Language
Language is the vehicle that carries the rich resources of different religious traditions.  Any effort to promote one language and undermine the value of other is another form of brewing strangers. There is a need in India even to credit the religious resources that mainly depend upon oral traditions.
Hindutva glories Sanskrit as ‘our mother-tongue- the tongue in which the mothers of our race spoke and which has given birth to all our present tongues. Our gods spoke in Sanskrit, our sages thought in Sanskrit, our poets wrote in Sanskrit. All that is best in us- the best thoughts, the best ideas, and the best lines- seeks instinctively to clothe itself in Sanskrit.[37] It is assumed that, one day “as a solution to the problem of ‘lingua franca’, till the time Sanskrit takes that place we shall have to give priority to Hindi on the score of convenience.”[38]  Recently I watched a TV news where a central minister urged the people to sign in Hindi.
The revolutionary contributions of Tamil literature and Dravidian contributions for social change and political discourse are adversely portrayed saying a foreign missionary falsely propagated in Tamilnadu, that ‘Tamil culture, Tamil language and everything Tamil differed fundamentally from the rest of the Bharatiya culture, language, etc., and that the Tamilians formed an independent nation by themselves.[39]
Growing announcements about celebration of ‘Sanskrit week’ and all out effort of the government to promote Sanskrit is a worrying sign. It is wrongly proclaimed and even defended by the Supreme Court that Sanskrit can be given special status as all the important wisdom and teachings of India are in it. It is untenable that Hindu religious literatures are equated with Indian literature. Sanctifying and promoting a particular language and ignoring other can lead to alienating the linguistic minorities.

Home coming/ Ghar Vapsi/ Reconversion
The effort of converting people back to Hinduism is called Home coming/ Ghar Vapsi/ Reconversion/Suddhi, etc. It was a process began with Dayananda Saraswathi and continues even to this day. This is a definite attempt to reconvert people to Hinduism from the religions where the Dalits, Adhivasis, tribals, discriminated and neglected of this country found liberation, respect and acceptance. For the RSS, ‘this is only a call and request to them to understand things properly and come back and identify themselves with their ancestral Hindu way of life’. [40] Here religious conversion is mixed up with nationalism and culture.
The program of reconversion is aimed at increasing the number of Hindus and minimizing the minorities from the point of votes. It is true that the ‘Sang Pariwar is disturbed by the thought that if the flow of the depressed castes into other religions is allowed to continue, their status as the majority might get overturned in the recent future.”[41]
 Security concern is often attributed to other forms of religious mobility. For example “conversion of Hindus into other religions is nothing but making them succumb to divided loyalty in place of having undivided and absolute loyalty to the nation.”[42]  In reality, forced reconversion is an attempt to make sections of Indian society secondary to the majority community. It is said “in a fascist religious state, minority religions can only continue as secondary, in the mercy of the majority religion.”[43] Attempt to cloth re-conversion with nationalism or culture is another process of brewing strangers.

Communalizing History and Education

We are faced with the RSS aspiration of rewriting Indian history and Hinduvising of educational system.  The notion behind such aspiration is that the existing histories are based on different periods (Hindu, Mughal, British, etc) and the education system in vogue is not based on Indian (Hindu) values. The new history is expected to be in line with the heroes (mainly religious) of India and the education system is to be framed after the Hindu literatures.
The background of the new history is that ‘Hindus are the only people who have succeeded in preserving their history which began from the Vedas’.[44]  It is Hindu religious history rather than Indian history, wherein Hindu heroes are interpreted as saviors of this nation.[45]
Similarly, the new discourse about Godse is ‘a political maneuver, aimed at rewriting the history of the Indian polity, and its principles of secular, pluralistic statehood’. Hence it is true that “India’s future lies in pluralism, parity, reasonable and principled cosmopolitanism and not with settling scores in history.”[46] A Hindu history in place of Indian history is a calculated effort to distort the real historical process and to perpetuate the process of systematically making us guest in our own country. 
‘Many have charged the NDA with not just saffronising but also degrading the country’s premier institutions by appointing under qualified candidates to the post’. It is also called “the closing of the Indian mind”. An ideology which relegates a few hundred million non-Hindus to second-class citizenship can ever form the basis of serious scholarship.’[47]
For Amartya Sen ‘the obvious danger of the saffronisation project is challenging the principle of scientific enquiry and terming anything rational as anti-Hindu’.[48] Further, “the appointment of Hindutva proponents and sympathizers at the helm of various educational, cultural and research institutions makes one to conclude that ideology has taken precedence over efficiency and competence under the new dispensation.”[49]
It is true that ‘the BJP Government in Gujarat, MP, Rajasthan and Haryana are introducing Hindu religious texts in schools and making Saraswati Vandana and surya namaskar Hindu rituals compulsory’.[50] The entire exercise is aimed at imposing a particular point of view without space for other views.



Muslims and Christians
            Often the patriotism of Muslims in India is suspected. [51] Another allegation is that there is no true religion in them they are only trying to further their political ambitions.[52]
Christians in India are also subjected to criticism like, “together with the change in their faith, gone is the spirit of love and devotion for the nation.”[53]  They are accused of ‘keeping themselves aloof from the freedom struggle’.[54] They are also warned that, if the Christians do not subscribe to the ideology of Hindutva ‘they will remain here as hostiles and will have to be treated as such’.[55]
            Savarkar includes Jains, Buddhists and Sikhs as inheritors and partakers in the legacy of Hinduism, but he clearly excludes Islam and Christianity as foreign ideologies. Therefore, hatred is often manufactured against them ‘through riots, destruction of religious sites, organizing religious conversion camps, beef bans, rewriting textbooks, censoring works of history, literature and fiction that challenge the ‘Hindu’ version of history, appropriating political icons, and raising monuments’.[56]
To form a Hindu nation with one culture and one language Christian and Muslim presence is an obstacle. Hence, Hindutva groups concentrate on infiltrating the notion that the forefathers of Muslims were Hindus that they should return to the Hindu fold as self-respecting persons.[57]
Too many attacks on the minority religious communities (mostly Christians) take place because ‘the message went around in a subtle manner that ‘our’ government will ensure that the culprits will ‘get away’, law will be made to sleep over these incidents’.[58] False propagations, false accusations and willful attacks are engineered to alienate sections of the nation.
The claim of the Hindutva advocates that the Muslim population will overtake Hindu, and therefore Hindu women should give birth to many children has fallen flat with the news that “India’s Muslim population is growing slower than it had in the previous decades, and its growth rate has slowed more sharply than that of the Hindu population, new Census data show.”[59] Projecting others as future threat for political prospects is another way of brewing strangers.

Gate
It is clear that the process of brewing strangers is the Hindutva ideology propagated and supported by RSS and now vigorously voiced by some members of the ruling party. It is not to be an alarmist, not to panic, but to be cautious of the process of us being considered as ‘persons that they do not know’, a new arrival, unfamiliar person, foreigner, alien, outsider, visitor and guest in our own country.  And hence there is a need to go to the gate.

Normally gate protects against invaders. Besides, at ancient city gate important business transactions were made (place of Public market), public deliberation took place, court was convened (administration of justice), Public announcements were heralded, prophets frequently delivered the messages and criminals were punished outside the gate.
To protect ourselves from the seeming invasion, to do our normal transactions as natural Indian citizens, to voice our concerns, to seek justice, to listen government schemes and announcements, to listen to the prophetic voices and to bring the guilty to the book we need to approach all the possible gates. The following are a few seemingly promising gates. We are constantly provoked to become strangers and forced to stand at the gate. It is our strong hope that the gate will not disappoint.

 Legal Remedies
Religious freedom is essential for equality before others and the law. Without justice and fairness to all the citizens of the country sections of the nation will be relegated to assumed secondary level of existence.
We live in a country where worship places are razed to the ground by a mammoth mob under the leadership of communal political leaders, in the full view of cameras and security personals. No one is punished. Thousands of people belonging to a particular religious community are killed under the banner of communal conflicts and the responsibility could not be exactly fixed.  Increasing number of elected members of the parliament makes provocative and communally loaded statements and goes unpunished.
It is also a fact that most of the sensational and crucial court verdicts are made in consideration of the majority religious sentiments. Though it is rare, “Justice is a necessary precondition for the existence of unity and harmony at every level of society.”[60]
Although the possibilities are bleak, we have to tightly hold on to the gate of Justice. This is the prophetic vision. The minorities of the country with one voice should constantly struggle for equal justice for all, as the example used by Jesus, of a woman approaching a wicked judge and he then reluctantly delivers justice to her. All issues that affect equality to minorities need to be legally addressed. This is the strongest gate available to us in spite of the failures. How do we utilize the full potential of this gate need to be carefully worked out in collaboration with all the minorities, progressive ideologies and political parties.

Legislative Process
Another possible gate for our protection is the legislative system. It is difficult to use this gate as there is less number of legislative members from minority communities compared to the larger number from the majority community. Court rulings that are not exactly suitable for egalitarian and respectable status in the country can be revisited only through legislative process.
For example the Supreme Court has ruled that freedom of religion bills legislated by different states do not infringe the freedom of religion. In reality these bills have made the choice for Freedom of Religion more difficult and complicated. As human beings are becoming more civilized and global the possibility to change religion should become simple and individual’s affair without government interference as long as it does not violate the constitution of India. A secular legislature alone can prevent dubious debates.
The Supreme Court has earlier declared Special status to Sanskrit as the ancient Indian literatures are in Sanskrit. This shows the subjective consideration of issues and the unpalatable nature of the verdict in our context. It requires a legislative process to set right matters. Similarly the presidential order disallowing government privileges to scheduled caste Hindus converted to Christianity needs a bold legislative correction. A united Christian persuasion along with other minorities, political parties and ideologies can be of help to achieve this end. It is necessary to find out ways and means to appeal to the secular legislators to set things right. The process of brewing strangers will become more acute if we do not wisely access this gate. It is not easy but we need to sincerely engage until we are able to convince.

Human Rights and Humanness
Along with the gates of legal and legislative process the wider ‘human rights’ and ‘common humanness’ aspects have to be carefully explored. As per UN declaration, freedom of religion is fundamental human rights. It guarantees dignity and rights of people. Freedom of religion is same to all. Hence, as we seek freedom of religion we also respect the other’s freedom of Religion.
Freedom of religion is clearly one of the most basic rights of human beings, “It is, perhaps, for this reason that the challenges to this freedom have also been often regarded as violations of what it is to be a human person.”[61] Our constant vigil through state, national and international human rights organizations shall be of great help.
This is in continuation with the recognition of humanity’s ‘humanness’. What is common to all is humanness and religion is a choice. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam wrote “in whatever field we work, be it science, technology, medicine, politics, policing, theology, religion or the judiciary, we have to remain in the service of the common man whose well-being is central to all human knowledge and endeavor.”[62]
Realization of a common humanity behind the multiplicity of differences help celebrate plurality and avoid denigration of minority communities. Poverty, health, education, unemployment, malnutrition, terrorism are some of the concerns that require the collective efforts of all communities. Rather than alienating the numerically vulnerable, efforts should be in place for collectively dealing with these situations. 
It is significant that “In spite of all constraints and complexities it must be possible for people of goodwill to come together on the common ground of our basic humanity, protected by a regime of human rights and affirmed in a commitment to fundamental duties.”[63]  It helps harmonious and peaceful coexistence with mutual respect in our context.

Creating Awareness
Apart from these collective and broad approaches there needs to be a proactive and concentrated effort from minority communities to prevent brewing strangers. We may use our communication and educational channels to expose the hidden scheme of making us strangers in our own country. The nation should be made aware of the process of alienating us already initiated by the advocates of Hindutva through various means. Wise, meaningful and innovative use of social/ media is helpful in this regard.
Often, the ‘development slogans’ have the mesmerizing and often blinding effects upon the real schemes that are working behind the many dubious announcements and commitments. We need to overcome passivity to disillusion religious majority centered developments ruthlessly blindfolding the younger generation of India from being vibrant to the realities of India.
It has to be made loud and clear that there are already forces at work to make India a Hindu nation, to equate time tested political and government institutions and instruments with Hinduism, to equate majority religious ambitions with ‘political majority’, to promote one culture, religion, language, values, etc in the place of many, to facilitate inappropriate reconversions to strengthen Hindu Majority vote, to vilify the religious minority communities and to replace knowledge, scholarship and scientific enquiry and reasoning with Hindutva ideology. 
            Clear distinction should be made known between ‘spiritual quest’ on the one hand and ‘politicization of religion’ and ‘polarizing communities on religious grounds’ on the other. This is so significant in the context of growing communal conflicts that dominate pre-election scenarios.
There is also a need to expose the pseudo religiosity of BJP which has come out in public, in the case of meat ban in Maharashtra during the Jain festival. Here “A philosophy of tolerance is caught in a politics of intolerance and this is ironic.”[64]
While we strive against these ‘backward looking’, insulting and enslaving schemes and their effect on us, the minority communities cannot shrink in their spirit and efforts in nation building and transforming India. 
Conclusions
            I have highlighted, not the entire, but a few challenges that are at hand for the minorities to be vigilant and active in our commitment to the church and society.  The programs suggested both broad and active are not the whole range of solutions. May God enlarge our wisdom to stand up to the occasion.

Religion and Dialogue


[1]Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, Hindutva: Who is a Hindu?, 6th ed. (New Delhi: Bharti Sahitya Sadan, 1989), 4.
[2] Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, Hindutva: Who is a Hindu?,4.
[3] Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, Hindutva: Who is a Hindu?, 3.
[4] Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, Hindutva: Who is a Hindu?, 82.
[5] Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, Hindutva: Who is a Hindu?,  84. (jati from jan)
[6] M.S. Golwalkar, Bunch of Thoughts, 3rd ed., Reprint (Bangalore: Sahitya Sindhu Prakashan,  2000),117.
[7] Ram Puniyani, “Choosing My Religion: Ghar Wapsi and Freedom of Religion,” NCC Review CXXXV/06 (July, 2015):9.
[8] M.S. Golwalkar, Bunch of Thoughts,  9.
[9] M.S. Golwalkar, Bunch of Thoughts, 129.
[10] “Development without Hindu Rashtra is of no use: Togadia,” The Hindu (Vijayawada) 27
January 2015, 10.
[11] “The missing conservative intellectuals,” The Hindu (Vijayawada) 25 July  2015, 10.
[12] “Rewriting the nation state,” The Hindu (Vijayawada) 17 March 2015, 9.
[13]M.S. Golwalkar, Bunch of Thoughts, 156.
[14] Ram Puniyani, “Choosing My Religion: Ghar Wapsi and Freedom of Religion,” NCC Review CXXXV/06 (July, 2015):9.
[15] M.S. Golwalkar, Bunch of Thoughts, 3rd ed., Reprint (Bangalore: Sahitya Sindhu Prakashan, 2000),227.
[16] Shamsul Islam, “Hindutva in Hurry,” Indian Currents XXVII/30 (27 July- 02 Aug, 2015):30.
[17] John Dayal, “Raj Dharma in 2015,” Indian Currents vol.xxvii/5 (02-08 February. 2015): 33.
[18] John Dayal, “Raj Dharma in 2015,” Indian Currents vol.xxvii/5 (02-08 February. 2015): 33.
[19] M.S. Golwalkar, Bunch of Thoughts, 162.
[20] Shamsul Islam, “Hindutva in Hurry,” Indian Currents XXVII/30 (27 July- 02 Aug, 2015):30.
[21] John Dayal, “Raj Dharma in 2015,” Indian Currents vol.xxvii/5 (02-08 February. 2015): 32.
[22] John Dayal, “Raj Dharma in 2015,” Indian Currents vol.xxvii/5 (02-08 February. 2015): 32.
[23] Kay Abey, “Obama’s Parting Shot,” Indian Currents vol.xxvii/5 (02-08 February. 2015): 28.
[24] Ram Puniyani, “Choosing My Religion: Ghar Wapsi and Freedom of Religion,” NCC Review CXXXV/06 (July, 2015):7.
[25] Ram Puniyani, “Choosing My Religion: Ghar Wapsi and Freedom of Religion,” NCC Review CXXXV/06  (July, 2015):22.
[26] “Secularism is not a policy option,” The Hindu (Vijayawada) 19 February 2015, 8.
[27] M.S. Golwalkar, Bunch of Thoughts, 337.
[28] M.S. Golwalkar, Bunch of Thoughts, 165.
[29] “The missing conservative intellectuals,” The Hindu (Vijayawada) 25 July  2015, 10.
[30] “Rewriting the nation state,” The Hindu (Vijayawada) 17 March 2015, 9.
[31] Ram Puniyani, “Choosing My Religion: Ghar Wapsi and Freedom of Religion,” NCC Review CXXXV/06
(July, 2015):10.
[32] M.S. Golwalkar, Bunch of Thoughts, 129.
[33] M.S. Golwalkar, Bunch of Thoughts, 34.
[34] M.S. Golwalkar, Bunch of Thoughts, 42.
[35] Ram Puniyani, “Choosing My Religion: Ghar Wapsi and Freedom of Religion,” NCC Review CXXXV/06 (July, 2015):5.
[36] Jawaharlal Nehru, The Discovery of India, Centenary Edition (Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1989),75.
[37] Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, Hindutva: Who is a Hindu?, 95.
[38] M.S. Golwalkar, Bunch of Thoughts,112.
[39] M.S. Golwalkar, Bunch of Thoughts, 217.
[40] M.S. Golwalkar, Bunch of Thoughts, 129.
[41] TM Yesudasan,”Ghar Wapsi: The Invitation of Fascism,” Aikyatha Quarterly (January-March, 2015): 18.
[42] M.S. Golwalkar, Bunch of Thoughts, 170.
[43] TM Yesudasan,”Ghar Wapsi: The Invitation of Fascism,” Aikyatha Quarterly (January-March, 2015): 18.
[44] Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, Hindutva: Who is a Hindu?, 6th ed. (New Delhi: Bharti Sahitya Sadan, 1989), 93.
[45] Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, Hindutva: Who is a Hindu?, 45.
[46] “Rewriting the nation state,” The Hindu (Vijayawada) 17 March 2015, 9.
[47] “The missing conservative intellectuals,” The Hindu (Vijayawada) 25 July  2015, 10.
[48] Shamsul Islam, “Hindutva in Hurry,” Indian Currents XXVII/30 (27 July- 02 Aug, 2015):29.
[49] Suresh Mathew, “At the cost of merit,” Indian Currents XXVII/30 (27 July- 02 Aug, 2015):5.
[50] Irfan Engineer, “Preamble, Secularism and Constitution,” NCC Review Vol. Cxxxv /1 (January- February, 2015): 37.
[51] M.S. Golwalkar, Bunch of Thoughts, 185.
[52] M.S. Golwalkar, Bunch of Thoughts, 189.
[53] M.S. Golwalkar, Bunch of Thoughts, 125.
[54] M.S. Golwalkar, Bunch of Thoughts, 159.
[55] M.S. Golwalkar, Bunch of Thoughts, 194.
[56] “Rewriting the nation state,” The Hindu (Vijayawada) 17 March 2015, 9.
[57] M.S. Golwalkar, Bunch of Thoughts, 143.
[58] Ram Puniyani, “Choosing My Religion: Ghar Wapsi and Freedom of Religion,” NCC Review CXXXV/06 (July, 2015):10.
[59] “Muslim Population Growth Slows,” The Hindu (Vijayawada) 26 August 2015, 1.
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[61] William Sweet, “Freedom of Religion from Tolerated Practice to Human Right,” Journal of Dharma 31/1 (January-March 2006): 28.
[62] A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, “The Joy of Human Life,” in Towards a Culture of Harmony and Peace, 13-14.
[63] Rudolf C. Heredia, “Mission as Text in Context: Religious Conversions in Contemporary
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