Date:02/01/2009 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2009/01/02/stories/2009010254010400.htm

Karnataka - Bangalore

‘Hindutva is only a political ideology’

Special Correspondent

It has no religious or spiritual moorings, says Nidumamidi Math seer

— Photo: V. Sreenivasa Murthy

Making a point: (From left) State convener of DSS D.G. Sagar; Veerabhadra Chennamalla Swamiji of Nidumamidi Math; Dayanandamane, professor at Mysore University, and Chenna Valikar, writer, at a convention organised by the DSS in Bangalore on Thursday.

Bangalore: Hindutva is a political ideology which has no religious or spiritual moorings and is being used by the upper castes to continue their hegemony, said Veerabhadra Chennamalla Swamiji of Nidumamidi Math.

Speaking at a convention organised by the Karnataka State Dalit Sangharsha Samiti here on Thursday, he said that the oppressed classes could get out of this social trap only if they put up a united fight. Unfortunately, he said, Dalit organisations were not united in their struggle, and on many occasions had compromised with the system rather than fight it, moving away from the philosophy of Ambedkar. The seer said that both communalism and terrorism undermined the interests of the poor and the downtrodden. Parties were playing up religious conversion, though this was not a new issue, he added.