Question

What was the content of the Hindu communalism?

Answer 1

1. The content of Hindu communalism emerged as a reaction to growing Muslim communalism and was based on the belief that India is fundamentally a Hindu nation.
2. Hindu communalist leaders rejected the idea of India being a multi-religious and multicultural society and instead promoted the concept of Hindu cultural and political dominance.
3. They argued that the Hindus were the original and only legitimate nation in India and that other communities, particularly Muslims, were either foreign invaders or outsiders.
4. This view was strongly promoted by leaders such as V.D. Savarkar, the president of the Hindu Mahasabha, and M.S. Golwalkar, the ideological leader of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).
5. Golwalkar’s book “We or Our Nationhood Defined” served as a manifesto for Hindu communalism. In it, he declared that India should be a Hindu Rashtra (Hindu Nation) and that Muslims could remain in India only if they accepted a subordinate status as second-class citizens. 
6. Thus, the core content of Hindu communalism included the belief in Hindu political dominance, rejection of Muslim claims to nationhood, and a demand for Hindu cultural supremacy in independent India.