Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the road show on March 4, 2017 in eastern Utta Pradesh. Hindustan Times/Press Association. All rights reserved.
How Hinduism casts its spell on Indian politics is observed by the people and covered by the media. The impact of politics on Hinduism remains to be studied by such scholars as Karen Armstrong. The current struggle for the soul of Hinduism has been sparked by a vicious political battle, with one party determined to make Hinduism muscular and aggressive. Many Hindus see this as a challenge to the values of renaissance by conservative revivalism.
The Hindu nationalists led by the ruling BJP propagate a politicised version of this ancient faith, calling it “Hindutva”. Hinduism gets diminished when distorted and used to polarise society and create vote banks. The cry of “faith is bigger than the Constitution” sounds the death knell of democracy. The abuse of faith for political purposes is prevalent in democracies such as the US, Brazil and Israel.
