Opinion Hindutvas founding myths
As far the concept of Hindutva is concerned,there was never any clarity or unanimity among the leaders of the BJP.
As far the concept of Hindutva is concerned,there was never any clarity or unanimity among the leaders of the BJP. The original discussion between Syama Prasad Mookherjee and Vinayak Damodar Savarkar on August 26,1952,is now well known: the former requested the latter to bless the Jana Sangh. Savarkar wanted the philosophy of the Hindu Mahaasabha,ie Hindutva,to be adopted by the Jana Sangh,which Mookherjee declined to do.
The Jana Sangh instead adopted Integral Humanism,as propounded by Deen Dayal Upadhya,its foremost ideologue and organiser,as the partys guiding ideology. But since the election results,BJP president Rajnath Singh and RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat have reiterated the commitment of the two organisations to Hindutva and abrogation of Article 370 which grants a special status to Jammu and Kashmir most recently in Jammu,at a meeting organised at the University there on the occasion of 57th death anniversary of the founder President of the Bharatiya Jana Sangh,Syama Prasad Mookherjee.
Launching a Hindutva offensive from Jammu has historical antecedents,but is of doubtful wisdom. The BJPs predecessor,the Jan Sangh,launched its first popular movement in the country from Jammu in 1952; and,of course,as recently as last year it claimed that it would use the Amarnath shrine row to kickstart a nationwide mass agitation. Yet it didnt get anything near a majority in the state assembly election and,moreover,lost both Lok Sabha seats in the region.
A more relevant issue that has been recently raised is the claim of the RSS expressed by Mohan Bhagwat that Mookherjee laid down his life to oppose the theory of two constitutions,two flags and two heads of state within one nation the principle agreed upon under the Delhi Agreement between Jawaharlal Nehru and the Kashmiri leader Sheikh Abdullah in 1952.
This claim is factually incorrect. Yes,it is true that the Jana Sangh led by Mookherjee came to Jammu to support the movement of the Praja Parishad that had this objective. But after a prolonged correspondence with Nehru extending for two months of January and February 1953,Mookherjee ,in his letter to Nehru dated February 17,1953,offered to withdraw the agitation and support the Delhi Agreement,which was to be implemented in the next session of the J&K Constituent Assembly. He further suggested that both parties reiterate that the unity of the state will be maintained and that the principle of autonomy will apply to the province of Jammu and of course to Ladakh and the Valley.
This was precisely the formula to which I was able to persuade Nehru and Abdullah to agree which they announced at a joint press conference on July 24,1952. The unfortunate and untimely death of Mookherjee on June 23,1953 only hastened the process of implementation of the offer he made to Nehru. The leaders of the Praja Parishad agitation were released on July 1 and invited to Delhi and on July 3,they met Nehru where they agreed withdraw their agitation is response to the offer of regional autonomy. (It wasnt until many months after Mookherjees death that the Jan Sangh,under directions from Nagpur according to Jan Sangh leader Balraj Madhok,withdrew support to the Delhi Agreement and regional autonomy.)
Meanwhile a 45 page draft on autonomy was sent by the state government to the Praja Parishad leader Durga Dass Varma,then underground which he returned after approval of the party experts. Truth be told,if every aspect of the agreement between Nehru,Abdullah and Mookherjee on autonomy of the state within India and of the regions within the state had been implemented,Kashmir would not have turned into the problem it has become.
The writer is a J&K-based commentator and director,Institute of J&K Affairs
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