Authors Ruchir Sharma
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Hindutva does not belong to Modi nor his party, it belongs to the people as a unifying, decolonial ideology similar to pan-Africanism or Yugoslavism.
His own brand of "positive secularism" is even milder - deepening special rights and welfare schemes for religious minorities.
After the disbanding of the Hindu Mahasabha and Jana Sangh, Hindutva as a political ideology does not even exist, except as a bogeyman in the minds of the Anglophone elite.
Even the BJP gave up Hindutva for civic nationalism, Gandhian socialism, and positive secularism in 1980s.
Under Modi, there has been compete policy continuity on minority rights and welfare from the Congress era, with little to no "Hindutva agenda" coming to see the light of day.
The most radical policy they can dream of is religion-neutral laws and equal rights for equal citizens.
Hindutva was essential in forming a national consciousness, but was abandoned with time. The modern BJP refuses to self-identify as a Hindutva movement, adopting moderates like Sardar Patel, Deendayal Upadhyay, and JP Narayan as their icons, rather than Savarkar or the Mahasabha.
When they say Hindu Rashtra, all they mean is an "Indic polity".
When British India was partitioned into a Muslim homeland and a Dharmic homeland, one state became a 'Ghazi' garrison state, and one the successor state to the Indic
His own brand of "positive secularism" is even milder - deepening special rights and welfare schemes for religious minorities.
I'm not entirely comfortable with Modi's "Hindutva".
— Onye Nkuzi (@cchukudebelu) February 2, 2021
I know many of my Indian followers will come at me, angrily - but let me just say this out.
I'm not sure it is a great model for democracy in a diverse, multi-cultural developing nation.
After the disbanding of the Hindu Mahasabha and Jana Sangh, Hindutva as a political ideology does not even exist, except as a bogeyman in the minds of the Anglophone elite.
Even the BJP gave up Hindutva for civic nationalism, Gandhian socialism, and positive secularism in 1980s.
Under Modi, there has been compete policy continuity on minority rights and welfare from the Congress era, with little to no "Hindutva agenda" coming to see the light of day.
The most radical policy they can dream of is religion-neutral laws and equal rights for equal citizens.
Hindutva was essential in forming a national consciousness, but was abandoned with time. The modern BJP refuses to self-identify as a Hindutva movement, adopting moderates like Sardar Patel, Deendayal Upadhyay, and JP Narayan as their icons, rather than Savarkar or the Mahasabha.
When they say Hindu Rashtra, all they mean is an "Indic polity".
When British India was partitioned into a Muslim homeland and a Dharmic homeland, one state became a 'Ghazi' garrison state, and one the successor state to the Indic
100%. Need clear separation of powers.
With direct elections for an executive President, who appoints the Cabinet of Ministers and sets government policy.
In parliament, the Speaker to be seen as the leader of the legislature. MPs responsible only for laws, amendments, repeals.
The Constitution and laws need to be democratised.
Rewritten in simple language, translated into every state language, and made available as original sources online, so people can access them and understand laws themselves instead of being dependent on self-appointed custodians.
We need more local democracy and fewer regional satraps.
Dissolve the current states and upgrade 740 districts into elected Janapadas/Prefectures, to improve policy outcomes on the ground.
No more MLAs and DMs acting like local feudal lords. Bottom-up, accessible institutions.
In each Janapada, assign community policing/crime prevention to local police, accountable to local citizens.
Assign law and order, crime investigation, counter-terrorism to a new central police force, independent of executive. Like the armed forces, with parliamentary oversight.
Split the Supreme Court into a Constitutional Court and Court of Final Appeal, with clear and separate functions and duties.
Give each Janapada a system a decentralised system of courts and alternative dispute resolution mechanisms, working in local languages and jargon-free.
With direct elections for an executive President, who appoints the Cabinet of Ministers and sets government policy.
In parliament, the Speaker to be seen as the leader of the legislature. MPs responsible only for laws, amendments, repeals.
Westminster model is so bizarre that we elect legislators to form Executive Govts.
— M. Nageswara Rao IPS (@MNageswarRaoIPS) December 27, 2020
Most problems are due to interference of MLAs/MPs in governance who legally can't but people expect them to.
Hence, new model to elect Govts &MLAs/MPs separately has to evolve [avoiding US defects] https://t.co/Oyujk365IE
The Constitution and laws need to be democratised.
Rewritten in simple language, translated into every state language, and made available as original sources online, so people can access them and understand laws themselves instead of being dependent on self-appointed custodians.
We need more local democracy and fewer regional satraps.
Dissolve the current states and upgrade 740 districts into elected Janapadas/Prefectures, to improve policy outcomes on the ground.
No more MLAs and DMs acting like local feudal lords. Bottom-up, accessible institutions.
In each Janapada, assign community policing/crime prevention to local police, accountable to local citizens.
Assign law and order, crime investigation, counter-terrorism to a new central police force, independent of executive. Like the armed forces, with parliamentary oversight.
Split the Supreme Court into a Constitutional Court and Court of Final Appeal, with clear and separate functions and duties.
Give each Janapada a system a decentralised system of courts and alternative dispute resolution mechanisms, working in local languages and jargon-free.