While it’s the norm for politicians to slug it out in a democracy, the debate took a political bend recently when Union Minister Kiren Rijiju and Congress MP Shashi Tharoor exchanged verbal blows over the latter’s new book – Why I am a Hindu.
While it’s the norm for politicians to slug it out in a democracy, the debate took a literary bend recently when Union Minister Kiren Rijiju and Congress MP Shashi Tharoor exchanged verbal blows over the latter’s new book – Why I am a Hindu.
For the uninitiated, Mr Tharoor – who according to one expert can write faster than others can read – recently published a new book which aims to take back the idea of Hinduism from those who have ‘hijacked it’.
Tharoor’s book earned the ire of Mos Home who shared a snapshot of a brief excerpt from the book, where Tharoor mentions he was born one and said that religion is selected for most people at birth.
To this Kiren Rijiju wrote: “Shashi Tharoor has rightly stated a mindset. A perfect case of fait accompli. Such lack of strong belief in own faith led invasion of Bharat by outsiders at will and ruled for more than thousand years.”
To this, Tharoor replied: “Dear @KirenRijiju, you have quoted the first sentences of a 302 page book, the rest of which goes on to explain precisely the very "strong belief in own faith" whose alleged absence you decry. Facts may not matter to your party, but as a DU alumnus, you can do better. Do read.”
To this, Kiren Rijiju replied: “Dear @ShashiTharoor, I'm not saying you don't believe in your faith. You've elicited only "Tolerance in abundance” about Hinduism. My point is the absence of emotionally unwavering connect to own faith without treating motherland as just a geographical piece.
Earlier, Congress leader Shashi Tharoor has called for taking back the idea of Hinduism from those who have "hijacked" it and expressed concern over its misuse for very narrow-minded political purpose .
Tharoor, who has come out with a book on his understanding of Hindu religion, says he is not proud of those who suggest that only a Hindu --"and only a certain kind of Hindu -- can be an authentic Indian.
I am proud of those Hindus who utterly reject Hindu communalism, conscious that the communalism of the majority is especially dangerous because it can present itself as nationalist, he says.
According to the Lok Sabha member, the idea for his book 'Why I am a Hindu' had been churning around his head for some time.
I realised that this is very much part of a political agenda and I felt that one had to find a way of speaking out against it, so that was essentially the origin of the book, Tharoor told PTI at the recently-concluded Jaipur Literature Festival here.
I have been concerned for quite some time about the misuse of Hindu religion, faith and identity for very narrow minded political purposes. And particularly because I saw the twist given to the faith as being fundamentally wrong ...
reducing what was actually a soaring metaphysical religion of questioning, of doubt, of uncertainty into some sort of a badge of identity that a British football hooligan would have for his team, he says.
And that was why, he adds, he felt it necessary to speak up about his faith.
"As somebody realising that faith and religion are becoming important markers -- political markers, cultural markers, markers of identity ..., I felt it necessary to add my voice in talking about my faith, he adds.
According to Tharoor, his book, published by Aleph, is an attempt at describing the Hindutva ideologies again in the words of its own advocates.
I am not merely commenting and attacking. I am first describing and summarising in some detail, particularly the works of V D Savarkar, M S Golwalkar and Deendayal Upadhyay, whom I particularly read. And then it is a passionate plea to take back the idea of Hinduism from those who essentially hijacked it, he says.
Asserting that Hinduism is a religion and Hindutva a political project, he says that Savarkar, who invented the term Hindutva, specifically wrote that he was not a very religious person and he did not want people to confuse Hindutva with Hinduism.
He said for him, religion is merely a subset of the larger Hindu idea which he described as a cultural idea even though others went the other way. Golwarkar in fact reversed it and Upadhaya anchored his entire political philosophy of integral humanism on his reading of the Hindu scriptures. So you could argue that Savarkar in fact in some ways has been overtaken by the later ideologues of Hindutva. But whatever it is, it still boils down to an explicitly political project, Tharoor says.
He also underlines the fundamental difference between the "Hindutva-vadis" and others.
To the Hindutva-vadis, India is a pure Hindu land that has been invaded, attacked, humiliated, conquered, subjugated and is now free to find its own expression which to their mind must necessarily be that of a Hindu land.
To the rest of us, they would say we are Nehruvians, this is a land which through out history has been influenced by various forces, various migrations, various interactions and this pluralistic nature of India gives us a multi- religious, multi-ethnic, multi-cultural society, he says.
Asked who he thinks is a real Hindu, Tharoor says, it does not have a simple answer, precisely because Hinduism is a faith that opens itself up to such vast areas of acquiring.
With inputs from PTI
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
 "Kiren Rijiju and Shashi Tharoor")
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}