Why PM Modi’s invocation of Sanatan ethos and pride is important in Bharat’s journey ahead

It was extremely heartening to see Prime Minister Narendra Modi take on the depraved, habitual Sanatan bashers last week, by educating the country on the virtues, inherent in Sanatana Dharma. The Sanatana Dharma has been the bedrock of our civilisational journey into a nation state. Those who want to ‘eradicate’ this civilizational pride and identity are at war with India’s progress, specifically her economic resurgence. They are secretly working on a Break India mission for their limited gains. Before I come to the recent well-coordinated onslaught on Sanatan by DMK-SP-RJD-Congress, let us decode the history of this politics since Independence and why this latest bout is the most insidious one. Hate Sanatan club in India has existed in India’s since Independence The hatred against Sanatana Dharma caused irreparable harm to the nation until 2014. In a recent article on Firstpost, eminent historian and publisher Sitaram Goel wrote, “Today, I view Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru as a bloated Brown Sahib, and Nehruism as the combined embodiment of all the imperialist ideologies — Islam, Christianity, White Man’s Burden, and Communism — that have flooded this country in the wake of foreign invasions. And I do not have the least doubt in my mind that if India is to live, Nehruism must die.” Sadly, the Congress party, even 50 years after the death of Nehru, could never rid itself of this ‘bloated Brown Sahib’ mentality, one obvious symptom of which was the inherent disdain for the Sanatan faith. Way back in 1951, Nehru’s opposition to the then president Rajendra Prasad’s presence at the inauguration of the restored Somnath Temple is well documented. Nehru wrote to him, “I confess that I do not like the idea of your associating yourself with a spectacular opening of the Somnath Temple. This is not merely visiting a temple, which can certainly be done by you or anyone else but rather participating in a significant function which unfortunately has a number of implications.” By ‘implications’, Nehru obviously meant damage to his notions of secularism. Throughout the process of restoration of the temple, Nehru was seen to have been at loggerheads with his cabinet minister, KM Munshi, who oversaw the restoration. Nehru believed that an overt support to the restoration of the temple would strengthen the ‘Hindu revivalist’ forces in the country. With this kind of an utterly apologetic attitude towards the majority faith, Nehru paved the way for the hate-Sanatan politics that became the hallmark of certain political parties, including his in parts, in the years and decades to come. In the south, this hatred against the Sanatan faith was spearheaded by the DMK founder Periyar EV Ramaswamy. No words would suffice to condemn his vitriol against the Hindu faith, which continues till date by the likes of A Raja, Udhayanidhi Stalin and TR Baalu. The Congress of course has always played a dubious role on the issue. In 1974, when the Indira Gandhi government decided to repackage Tipu Sultan as an icon of secularism by releasing a stamp commemorating the biggest destroyer of Hindu temples and the worst annihilator of Hindus in South India, she inflicted an irreparable damage upon the Sanatan cause. This Congress duplicity assumed dangerous proportions during the UPA era, when in an affidavit filed in the Supreme Court, the government denied the existence of Lord Ram. The same UPA tried to impose the insidious and biased Communal Violence Prevention Bill upon the country in 2011, which was successfully thwarted by the BJP. Rahul Gandhi continues that duplicity till date by certifying the IUML as ‘perfectly secular’ in June 2023. A few weeks later, the IUML takes out a large procession in Kerala calling for the slaughter of Hindus outside temples, emboldened perhaps by Rahul Gandhi’s certification. Hence, the attack on Sanatan faith and sentiments is not a recent phenomenon. It has been at play from the time that India became Independent by compromised, Hindu loathing politicians. It was this hate that created a space for the BJP which stood unequivocally for Hindu interests. Sanatan resurgence is a global phenomenon today In India, Prime Minister Modi has been at the forefront of this resurgence. The year 2014 was an inflection point for the country. For the second time after Atal Bihari Vajpayee, India got a prime minister in Narendra Modi who wore Sanatan pride on his sleeves and is an unapologetic practicing Hindu. This changed the discourse in many ways. The covert support for “Islamist terror” by certain political parties became the first casualty. Here was a prime minister who was above petty appeasement politics and would do what he deemed was in the best interests of the country. What followed was the decimation and near ostracization of Pakistan on the global stage, the resolution of the prolonged Ram Janmbhoomi dispute, paving the way for a grand Ram Temple and India’s unparalleled economic and geopolitical surge. In this journey, Prime Minister Modi never shied away from invoking India’s civilisational pride, quoting generously from Hindu religious scriptures and calling out barbarians like Aurangzeb. This led to a large chunk of ‘silent, detached Hindus’ transitioning into ‘proud, visible Hindus”. This transition obviously hurt regional parties like Samajwadi Party, RJD and DMK the most, whose entire politics is based out of creating caste wars among the Hindus. For the first time, India saw a consolidated Hindu vote, which could see through the evil designs of certain regional parties. These former regional satraps have only one person to blame for their misery – Narendra Modi. Hence, the renewed attack on Sanatan sentiments is an attack on the prime minister who made rooting for and championing the Sanatan faith look cool in Indian politics. By the way, the resurgence of Sanatan faith is not just an Indian phenomenon. This is a trend visible across the world. Last year US President Joe Biden hosted the biggest ever Diwali celebration at the White House. On 3 September this year, the city of Louisville in the United States, celebrated the day at World Sanatan Day. UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has been most unequivocal and unapologetic in acknowledging his Sanatan roots. The ISKCON is a thriving movement the world over. It will only be fair to say that India’s increased soft power clout under Prime Minister Modi has been a small contributor in this cultural resurgence. Hence the well-orchestrated recent attacks on the Sanatana Dharma carries a more sinister plan to derail the ambitious Amrit Kaal goals that India has set for herself under Prime Minister Modi. Sanatan’s importance in Bharat’s journey into 2047 As it has happened so often, Prime Minister Modi, with his fierce espousal of Sanatan ethos in his speeches last week, has turned the tables on the I.N.D.I alliance Sanatan bashing louts. The Sanatana Dharma has survived nearly a thousand years of sustained attempts to uproot it. If Aurangzeb and Babur could not eradicate it, there is no way that the I.N.D.I alliance would even partially succeed. An attack on Sanatan ethos is an attack on the love that Lord Ram had shown for the boatman Kewat and Mata Shabri. It is an attack on the Ganapati festivities started by Lokmanya Tilak to culturally mobilise native Indians against the Britishers. It is an attack on Swami Vivekananda’s speech at Chicago where he showcased the plurality of the Hindu religion in the World Conference of Religions at Chicago. Not many are aware that it was in 1893 that Swami Vivekananda and Jamsetji Tata met on a voyage from Japan to Vancouver and ended up spending a few weeks together wherein they would exchange thoughts on several issues. It was Swami Vivekananda who is said to have convinced Jamsetji Tata that Indian entrepreneurs ought to look beyond trading and explore a road map to get into production. This would require investing in top scientific research. These interactions left a deep influence on Jamsetji, a fact acknowledged by Jamsetji in his writings. The idea behind the Indian Institute of Science which was eventually established in 1911, sadly after the demise of both Swami Vivekananda and Jamsetji, was conceived by Jamsetji based on his conversations with Swami Vivekananda. The reason I mention this episode is to underline that those who really understand the Sanatana Dharma would know that it’s the most progressive way of life, a fact that is also reiterated in multiple writings of Mahatma Gandhi on the Hindu faith, as also Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay’s articulation of his principles of ‘antodaya’ and integral humanism. If Prime Minister Modi, as India’s most futuristic and visionary prime minister has the ability to think for the next 24 years, while working 24*7 in the present, that is also the result of his adept assimilation of his Dharma -the religious and moral law guiding personal conduct. Unqualified dynasts with no knowledge of history or religion can keep vilifying the Sanatan faith. They however better remember that this is not the era of Periyar or Nehru where the Hindu samaj would take the insults lying low. This hate Sanatan tirade will have its consequences in 2024. On Prime Minister Modi’s birthday, the country is grateful to him for being the unapologetic, proud Hindu that he is. Thank you Prime Minister Modi for invoking Sanatan ethos and pride so often that the younger generation now is more aware and enlightened of our civilisational brilliance than ever before. This awareness and enlightenment will be a boon in India’s journey in achieving her Amrit Kaal goals. The writer is the national spokesperson of BJP. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely that of the author. They do not necessarily reflect Firstpost’s views. Read all the Latest News , Trending News , Cricket News , Bollywood News , India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook , Twitter and Instagram .