Religious Extremism: Islam And Hindutva (Part 2)

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Sukeerat Kaur Channi
Jun 14, 2019   •  36 views

As we talk about Islamic Fundamentalism and Hindutva, it is important to acknowledge how both ideologies converge with religious and ethnic conflicts. The Ram Mandir issue is central to both in the context of India, and becomes a warring point to establish ideological supremacy. Similarly, Kashmir is also on the agenda of both. Hindutva seeks to establish it as an irrefutable part of India, while Islamism has intermingled with the Kashmiri issue to launch a dual faced insurgency, based on religion and region. This propels them religion to the political front, enabling them to attain their main agenda: power.

Religion is one thing in India that unites people in the sense of the ardent devotion it arouses. No other thing experiences such dedication besides religion. It is therefore obvious that religious backing gives these groups validation in the eyes of the general public, enabling them to attain followers in their fold. By invoking the gods, and propagating the fear that their religion and culture is in danger, they inspire a sense of commitment and duty. Willingness and obedience is much more effective than coercion and force.

Islamist extremism and Hindutva manifest themselves in equally dangerous and versatile ways. While Islamist extremism is often correlated with bombs and jihad, while Hindutva often bursts out in mob lynching and social boycott. Which is more dangerous? Both, especially the rise of Hindutva for it happens in subtle and sometimes less violent forms. It feeds on fear and creates an atmosphere of suffocation, so much so that every action of a minority can lead them to lose their lives. Jihadist attacks are bigger and difficult to organize, but it takes seconds to gather a mob or spread a rumor. Our mistake is the unequal response we give both issues. The disparity in the magnitude of reaction to an Islamist attack and Hindutva violence is different. In our country, terrorists are Muslims; Hindu terrorists are just unfortunate criminals (mobs don’t have a face, how do you punish them?)

Both the ideologies are problematic, built on bigotry and fascism, and the dangers of both require equal acknowledgement. Hindutva is decried in academic circles and urbane spaces; Islam is looked at suspiciously by everyone. In this article I attempted to underline how Islamic extremism and Hindu extremism have significant parallels, to convey that no extreme ideology is rational and valid. Both need to be looked at with a careful eye, for their agendas are not the well-being of public or the salvation of religion. The thing is, these extremist groups prey upon the common man, feed on our desperation and suspicion towards the other. The leaders of these groups have nothing to lose and we are mere pawns helping them in gaining power.

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