Hindutva exists because Hinduism existed: Mahua Moitra at Kolkata debate

The storm in a coffee cup on Hinduism — as we have known it — vis-à-vis the practice of Hindutva in today’s India has been a raging one. A debate on a chilly Sunday evening on the sprawling Calcutta Club lawns, which heard out a number of discerning voices, argued the issue to enthral a choc-a-bloc audience but could not decide on a winner.

The context of the motion for the debate — 'Hinduism needs protection from Hindutva' — is clear, given the current majoritarian government's consistent harping on a religion in danger, and the need for a counter, eye-for-an-eye fashion, using the tools of Hindutva. Chairperson Dr Kunal Sarkar, a noted cardiac surgeon and eloquent debator himself, found the outcome ‘inconclusive’, though many in the crowd thought otherwise.

For veteran Congress leader Manishankar Iyer, Hinduism is a great spiritual religion while Hindutva is a political tract. ‘’Hindutva is Hinduism in paranoia. It asks 80 per cent Hindus to quiver before 14 per cent Muslims. Hindutva is a BJP leader slapping a blind, hungry tribal girl because she attends a Christmas lunch in a church. Hindutva raids shopping malls to tear down Christmas decorations…(V.D.) Savarkar described Buddhism as an existential threat to all Hindus...the ultimate negation of Hindutva, bearing the opiate of universalism and non-violence,’’ Iyer said.

Taking a different pitch, Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra distinguished between the two in the sense that while Hinduism is a religious and spiritual path which allows space for multiple interpretations, Hindutva is a ‘political path’ which believes that its ideology is the only correct path.

The MP from West Bengal's Krishnanagar, a feisty speaker in the Lok Sabha, said: ‘’A Hindu practitioner in Hinduism can imagine love between Hindus and Muslims, but a Hindutva practitioner will say: No, this is love jihad. A Bengali Hindu eating meat will offer meat to Ma Kali, but a practitioner of Hindutva will say that’s not on... So the core question here is, does Hinduism need to protect itself from Hindutva? I would say the best way to continue to protect Hinduism is to continue to realise that Hindutva is there because Hinduism was there.’’

Countering the argument which positions Hinduism over Hindutva, the BJP's Rajya Sabha MP Sudhanshu Trivedi took offence to the practice of adding the suffix ‘ism’ with all religions originated in India. ‘’Why is -ism associated with all religions which originated in India? Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism and Jainism. You have never heard of Islamism or Christianism…the ‘ism’ is being associated just to demean and what Hindusim is ‘Hindu tattva.’

‘’The basic immunity of Hinduism is Hindu tattva…Another thing I would like to say, when you cherish Hinduism, it’s called Hindutva,’’ Trivedi said.

Hosted by the Calcutta Debating Circle, the engaging debate saw Mani Shankar Aiyar, Mahua Moitra, Ashutosh and Ruchika Sharma, Swapan Dasgupta, Trivedi, Agnimitra Paul and J. Sai Deepak among the speakers. Mridula Mukherjee, the seniormost speaker at 78 and ex-chairperson of the Centre for Historical Studies at Jawaharlal Nehru University, was the discussant.