Date:03/01/2003 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2003/01/03/stories/2003010305040100.htm

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Hindutva will liberate minorities: BJP

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI Jan. 2. The BJP has predicted that the next electoral battle will be fought between ``cultural nationalism'' (Hindutva) and ``pseudo-secularism'' (the terminology used by the BJP to describe secular parties which oppose Hindutva).

The BJP spokesperson, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, said today that a ``wave of cultural nationalism was sweeping through the country (desh mein sanskritic rashtravad ki aandhi chal rahi hai).'' In fact, the party's view was that ``Hindutva will liberate Muslims and other minorities from being second-class citizens.''

He said that the statement on `Hindutva' made by the Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, in Goa on New Year's eve had ``created confusion among people who use secularism as a political weapon to gain power''. Referring to the Congress and the Left in particular, he said these forces had ``lost their mind (baukhla gaye hain)''.

`Hindutva', he said, was ``the culture of this country'' and a ``guarantor of its secularism.'' But when it was pointed out that the culture of this country was thousands of years old and the word `Hindutva' was coined in the 1920s by RSS ideologues, Mr. Naqvi at first said he did not know when and by whom the word was coined, but as an after-thought added that ``it was coined by Rabindranath Tagore''.

Was this ``cultural nationalism'' the same as defined by M.S. Golwalkar, the former RSS chief, or Savarkar, another RSS ideologue? Mr. Naqvi did not answer the question but claimed that ``cultural nationalism'' was the ``same as secularism defined in the Constitution''.

The BJP said that ``neither Godhra was secular nor were the riots in its aftermath Hindutva.'' No party or person has described the Godhra carnage as a manifestation of secularism.

For the last one week, Mr. Naqvi has been talking of cultural nationalism and `Hindutva'.

In Uttar Pradesh, the State unit president of the party, Vinay Katiyar, has also taken the Hindutva theme forward by stating that Muslims should give back to Hindus the Varanasi and Mathura mosques adjacent to the Vishwanath and Krishna temples respectively (although the BJP claims that Kashi and Mathura mosques are not on its agenda). In Madhya Pradesh, the Cabinet Minister, Uma Bharati, has been chosen by the party to carry forward its `Hindutva' agenda aggressively.