ISLAMABAD, Feb 1 (APP):If India ever tried to be adventurous inside or outside the country it will only expose its own political and communal faultiness and eventually be devoured from within.
Dr. Muhammad Mujeeb Afzal, Associate Professor, School of Politics and International Relations, Quaid-e-Azam University, Islamabad expressed these views while speaking at a guest lecture titled “Hindutva Particularism: A Threat to Indian Union” organized by the Islamabad Policy Research Institute (IPRI).
He also underscored the importance of socio-cultural processes in shaping ideologies and subsequently competing narratives that shape identities. Narrating the historical and social evolution of Hindutva in India, he mentioned the importance of culture and faith to Hindutva’s upper political and social class. This notion of sustaining Hindu dominance over minorities has resulted in social, political and economic injustices, he said.
Comparing the Nehruvian principles of secularism to the Hindutva ideology being pursued by the current regime Dr. Mujeeb said that the governance in India under the Hindutva ideology had transitioned from recognition of diversity in its legal and economic frameworks to a model which delegitimizes diversity as “non-Indian” and ‘Western” with no place in India.
Speaking about the electoral success of the BJP and the Hindutva ideology it espouses, Dr. Mujeeb talked about the gradual and patient approach to political progress that has led the party to the top of Indian politics. He did however mention that the political cycle and India’s own electoral system is quite dynamic which is likely to allow for the opposition to emerge as a serious challenger in the long term.
Concluding the session, Acting President IPRI Brigadier (R) Raashid Wali Janjua stated that the rise of majoritarianism in India ought to be countered by egalitarianism and externally through recognition of territorial sovereignty of territories that it occupies.
