Hindutva

Hindutva (Hindi: हिन्दुत्व, Hindutva ) refers to a political concept that the orientation of India according to Hindu rules aims. In German, the name of Hindu nationalism or shortly Hindu nationalism is often used.

The ideological roots of this " politicized Hinduism " are in the neo- Hindu movement of the Indian struggle for independence.

Among its leading ideologue Vinayak Damodar Savarkar is one which in 1923 published in Nagpur font Hindutva: Who is a Hindu? the first time the idea of ​​a Hindu nation, the formulated " Hindu Rashtra ". His remarks are based on three ideological principles - rashtra, jati and Sanskriti (common holy ground, common ancestry and culture) - to which all Hindus can rely and which will form the basis of a common nation. So he wrote in this work:

" Finally, there is in the world, as regards man, only one race, the human race ... Not even the Andamans are without so-called Aryan blood in their veins and vice versa. All one can say is that the individual has the blood of all mankind in his veins. The fundamental unity of man from the North to the South Pole is true, anything else is only relative. "

The aim of the Hindutva movement is the ( re) creation of a single Hindu nation. Savarkar helped himself thereby enhancing the use of a "constructed " common past of all Hindus. Where it is debatable whether they ever existed in this form. At the same time Savarkar encouraged the departure from rated as failures elements of contemporary Hinduism, in particular from the caste system.

Hindutva is thus a counter-movement to the secular state model. Mahatma Gandhi as a solution to religious conflict was mainly between Muslims and Hindus, seen and which is anchored today by Constitution Hence, many Hindus are just as non-Hindus (eg Muslims, Christians, natives) of the Hindutva movement critical of.

On this basis, various organizations who were trying to Hindutva at different levels and by different means to enforce arose. The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), founded in 1925 was originally understood as a cultural organization, but now fulfilled the function of the training of managers who do their work in the other branches of Hindutva. After the RSS initially resisted a party political involvement in democracy, include the training of politicians now become their main tasks.

In 1964, the RSS led to the founding of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP, " World Council of Hindus "). It is a cultural and religious political organization that serves as a common platform for representatives of various religious Hindu currents. You should compensate for the lack of a self-contained " church" or similar organization in Hinduism and so facilitate the advocacy against the state or other religious communities.

Today's so-called Hindutva parties, founded in 1980, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP, earlier in January Sangh ) and Shiv Sena, played until the end of the 80's at best a marginal role in Indian politics. From 1998 to 2004, the BJP formed the government with the Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee. During this time there were disputes within the movement, the radical VHP enforce Hindu nationalist claims attempted while the contained in government BJP took moderate positions.