Note to Dr. Gerry Brady ( bridgetothefuture.org )....

I am continuing to examine articles in context of Globalization.

The comments here regarding the current regime in India are interesting:

"Inside/Outside: A Tradition of Dual Discrimination

Identity movements whether in the interest of ethnicity, class or a nation-state seek to strengthen identity by forging solidarity inside and celebrating difference outside. Most successful nationalist movements have forged a national identity and then used that identity to rapidly move the nation along the path of modernization. Sometimes it took wars with neighbors and imperial campaigns abroad to both forge a strong national identity and to rapidly modernize. Those nations that sought to create difference, both inside and outside, have failed. The German state while distinguishing itself from other nation states also chose to create an internal difference between Germans and Jews leading to the holocaust and a massive defeat of that state."

Your thesis at bridgetothefuture.org would, of course, change the statement: "Sometimes it took wars with neighbors and imperial campaigns..." to "Sometimes it took 'peacebuilding' with neighbors...'

Philip "Rick" Henika

http://www.themestream.com/gspd_browse/browse/view_article.gsp?c_id=132313&id_list=&cookied=T

Five Reasons Why Hindu Nationalism Will Fail
by Muqtedar Khan

August 5, 2000

The rise of Hindu Nationalism and the growing political clout of the Sangh Parivar is manifesting in systematic violation of the human rights of Muslim and Christian minorities not to mention sustained violence against them, their properties and their institutions. Nevertheless, I am confident that this wave of religious nationalism in India will eventually subside and the country will return to its default state of generally harmonious condition. I am convinced that Hindu nationalism is a parochial movement that serves parochial interests. If the BJP remains in power at the national level long enough, its narrow interests will be exposed and it will be reduced to the size it merits (as in 1986). In this brief essay I shall identify several reasons that will lead to the failure of Hindu nationalism.

Inside/Outside: A Tradition of Dual Discrimination

Identity movements whether in the interest of ethnicity, class or a nation-state seek to strengthen identity by forging solidarity inside and celebrating difference outside. Most successful nationalist movements have forged a national identity and then used that identity to rapidly move the nation along the path of modernization. Sometimes it took wars with neighbors and imperial campaigns abroad to both forge a strong national identity and to rapidly modernize. Those nations that sought to create difference, both inside and outside, have failed. The German state while distinguishing itself from other nation states also chose to create an internal difference between Germans and Jews leading to the holocaust and a massive defeat of that state.

The Hindutva movement in its search for modernization and a national identity is also seeking to create differences inside and outside. While on the outside it celebrates "Indianness" in the inside it celebrates "Hindu parochialism" that excludes Muslims, Christians and millions of lower class Hindus. So far its nationalist jingoism has not lead India into a major war, but its misplaced religious nationalism has already created deep schisms within the nation itself. In seeking to forge a strong Hindu identity it has merely succeeded in planting deep divisions within the society. Such intensity which is generated more thorough hatred of an "internal other" (The Muslim, the Christian and the Dalit) will eventually lead to the implosion of the movement itself.

No Domestic Vision

Hindu nationalist in spite of their strong fervor and their insistence that India and Hinduism are synonymous, have really failed to provide Indians with a vision of India. What will happen to India if all Indians accepted their so called Hindu roots? What does "Ram Rajya" mean? How can we recognize that
Ram Rajya is in place? Through justice and security for the minorities? Through safety and guaranteed development and growth for the down trodden? Who knows what it means. Does Ram Rajya mean demolishing mosques and replacing them with temples? I do not wish to belabor it, the point is simple, what kind of India does the Hindutva movement envisage?

Powerful, nuclear, rich and with enormous respect internationally, including of course the veto power in the security council. Aha! But let me remind the readers that this is not a vision, this is a wish list very similar to the dreams of Brazil Grande. Every Third World post-colonial country from Egypt to Indonesia has entertained these dreams. The phenomenon is basically one where the slave imagining itself as the master.

The Hindutva movement dreams of an India which enjoys its "due respect" in global affairs. I believe this dream will undo Hindu nationalism. No movement can be successful without identifying parameters of internal development and establishing moral standards to which it will adhere. What are the moral
standards that Hindu nationalism wishes to be measured by? Democratic credentials? Respect for human rights, for social justice or for tolerance. None of the above. Hindu nationalism is a naked will to power, brutal, amoral and purposeless. Until it can find moral direction within itself and clearly articulate the indicative virtues of Ram Rajya, it is destined to fail.

India's Complex Diversity

India is culturally speaking a very well endowed state. India's diversity is very complex and multilayered. India is multilingual, multi-religious and multi-ethnic and multi-racial. Within every religious community there is ethnic as well as linguistic diversity. Even within such a small sub-group as
"Indian-Urdu-speaking-Shii-Muslims-of-Iranian-extraction" there is difference in dialect between those who live in Lucknow and those who live in Hyderabad. What is further amazing is that each community enjoys mimicking the other's Urdu accent and dialect.

In a society such as India's where diversity is celebrated with such reckless abandonment attempts to enforce a singular identity to drive any nationalist agenda is ridiculous. So far the VHP brigade has succeeded in whipping a frenzy of hatred against Muslims and other minorities. This hatred alone is acting
as a glue for their nationalist dreams. One needs only a little common sense to realize that such a glue can be easily washed away even by the dirty waters of the river Ganges.

Diverse and multicultural, pluralist democracies can only survive by focusing the attention of the populace on limited public goods. In the US, which is also a diverse democracy, freedom, security and welfare usually serve as nation building public goods. Goods which are equally valued across identities. Hindu
nationalism has failed to provide any such universally valued public good that will appeal across identities. So far their "rath" is marching on the fuel of hatred for minorities.

Economic Mercantilism in the age of Globalization

Nuclear weapons, Pakistan, and Muslims may continue to act as lightening rods in the current political environment but in the long run the enduring issue in India remains poverty and underdevelopment. A large percentage of the World's poorest people live in India. As far as India is concerned the most enduring issue for years will be the economy. Hindutva movements nationalist sentiments also impinge upon its economic thinking. "Swadeshi" tendencies have continued to undermine foreign direct investment, liberalization and economic globalization.

At a time when markets, industries and finance is globalizing at a breakneck speed, countries and corporations which enjoy an edge in any field are making it big. There is no doubt that India has successfully developed a cutting edge in the soft side of information technology. But in spite of having the world's largest and most sophisticated pool of infotech experts and practitioners, it has not really capitalized its advantage. Indians are enjoying the benefits of this advantage by way of cornering millions of jobs and have also had some success at the start-up games in silicon valley.

But India as a country has not really benefitted in terms of gaining technological edge over US, Europe and Japan nor has it attracted any significantly disproportionate share of FDI (foreign direct investment). Investors still view India as a Third World market rather than an economic/tech-tiger. The RSS and BJP's anti-MNC actions and attitudes has not really encouraged foreign trade or investment. They have made India an exporter of experts rather than goods and products. India is now the biggest exporter of tech-labor. Once again the blame for this must fall on the Hindutva movement's flawed and nineteenth century type economic nationalism

Inherent Religious Pluralism in Hinduism

Hinduism is a remarkably open and diverse faith. There are no doctrinal elements in Hinduism that critically define a Hindu and a non-Hindu. It is also a religion which has over the years accommodated thousands of gods and goddesses. The opportunity to add new gods to the faith has made it inherently diverse and structurally pluralist. The Hindutva movement has tried to make Hinduism a monotheist faith by emphasizing Ram over all other gods but so far it is not making much headway in this theological endeavors. Other gods and even Man-gods like Sai Baba continue to thrive and attract new devotees. This structural pluralism of the Hindu faith presents the biggest challenge to the success of Hindu nationalism.

Hinduism and its tolerance for different gods, different values and different forms of worship makes it difficult to be intolerant of other faiths. Hindutva leaders have succeeded in whipping up anti-Muslim and anti-Christian sentiments by channeling political resentment against Pakistan and colonialism. While there seems to be little hope for peace with Pakistan in the immediate future, trends in global economy and costs of the low intensity conflict will eventually force the two nations to compromise and end hostilities. Such an eventuality will diffuse the sources of anti-Muslim resentment in Hindus and also marginalize Hindutva.

To summarize, the inability of Hindutva protagonists to provide an intellectual and visionary content to their ideological sentiments, will eventual expose the negativities upon which the movement is based and hasten its demise. No good has ever come out of hate. The cosmic order is not going to change in order to
accommodate Hindu nationalism – a mass expression of bigotry and prejudice.

Copyright Muqtedar Khan

About the author: Dr. Muqtedar Khan is Assistant Professor of Political Science at a liberal arts college in Michigan. He writes on International Relations, Globalization, Foreign Policy and Islam. Dr. Khan also maintains an E-zine on Islam and Global Affairs: http://www.ijtihad.org