Editing Hindutva (section)

==Criticism and apologetics==
===Similarities with fascism and Nazism===
{{See also|Hindu nationalism}}
{{Fascism sidebar |expanded=variants}}

<section begin="fascism" />The Hindutva ideology of organisations such as RSS have long been compared to [[fascism]] or [[Nazism]]. An editorial published on 4 February 1948, for example, in the ''[[National Herald]]'', the mouthpiece of the [[Indian National Congress]] party, stated that "it [RSS] seems to embody Hinduism in a Nazi form" with the recommendation that it must be ended.<ref name="Graham2007">{{cite book|author=Bruce Desmond Graham|title=Hindu Nationalism and Indian Politics: The Origins and Development of the Bharatiya Jana Sangh|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KxMgPAAACAAJ|year=2007|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-05374-7|pages=11–12|access-date=10 May 2019|archive-date=7 October 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241007222440/https://books.google.com/books?id=KxMgPAAACAAJ|url-status=live}}</ref> Similarly, in 1956, another Congress party leader compared Jana Sangh to the Nazis in Germany.<ref>{{cite book|author=Bruce Desmond Graham|title=Hindu Nationalism and Indian Politics: The Origins and Development of the Bharatiya Jana Sangh|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KxMgPAAACAAJ|year=2007|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-05374-7|page=66 with footnotes|access-date=10 May 2019|archive-date=7 October 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241007222440/https://books.google.com/books?id=KxMgPAAACAAJ|url-status=live}}</ref>{{efn|The Hindutva organisations were not exclusively criticised in the 1940s by the Indian political leaders. The Muslim League was also criticised for "its creed of Islamic exclusiveness, its cult of communal hatred" and called a replica of the German Nazis.<ref>{{cite book|author=Bruce Desmond Graham|title=Hindu Nationalism and Indian Politics: The Origins and Development of the Bharatiya Jana Sangh|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KxMgPAAACAAJ|year=2007|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-05374-7|pages=1–2|access-date=10 May 2019|archive-date=7 October 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241007222440/https://books.google.com/books?id=KxMgPAAACAAJ|url-status=live}}</ref>}} After the 1940s and 1950s, a number of scholars have labelled or compared Hindutva to fascism.<ref name=":3">[a] {{Cite journal|last=Sarkar|first=Sumit|date=1 January 1993|title=The Fascism of the Sangh Parivar|jstor=4399339|journal=Economic and Political Weekly|volume=28|issue=5|pages=163–167}}<br />[b] {{cite journal | last=Ahmad | first=Aijaz | title=Fascism and National Culture: Reading Gramsci in the Days of Hindutva | journal=Social Scientist | volume=21 | issue=3/4 | year=1993 | pages=32–68 | doi=10.2307/3517630 | jstor=3517630 }}</ref><ref name=":4">[a] {{Cite journal|last=Desai|first=Radhika|date=5 June 2015|title=Hindutva and Fascism|url=http://www.epw.in/journal/2016/53/review-article/hindutva-and-fascism.html|journal=Economic and Political Weekly|series=Research in Political Economy|volume=51|issue=53|doi=10.1108/S0161-7230201530A|isbn=978-1-78560-295-5|access-date=8 May 2017|archive-date=18 July 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170718164125/http://www.epw.in/journal/2016/53/review-article/hindutva-and-fascism.html|url-status=live}}<br />[b] {{cite journal | last=Reddy | first=Deepa S. | title=Hindutva: Formative Assertions | journal=Religion Compass | publisher=Wiley | volume=5 | issue=8 | year=2011 | doi=10.1111/j.1749-8171.2011.00290.x | pages=439–451}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | last=Sen | first=Satadru | title=Fascism Without Fascists? A Comparative Look at Hindutva and Zionism | journal=South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies | volume=38 | issue=4 | date=2 October 2015 | doi=10.1080/00856401.2015.1077924 | pages=690–711| s2cid=147386523 }}</ref> Marzia Casolari has linked the association and the borrowing of pre-World War II European nationalist ideas by early leaders of Hindutva ideology.<ref name=":6">{{Cite journal|last= Casolari|first= Marzia|year= 2000|title= Hindutva's Foreign Tie-Up in the 1930s: Archival Evidence|jstor=4408848 |journal= Economic and Political Weekly|volume=35|issue=4|pages=218–228}}</ref> According to the ''Concise Oxford Dictionary of Politics and International Relations'', the term Hindutva has "fascist undertones".<ref name="BrownMcLean2018">{{citation|last1=Brown|first1=Garrett W|last2=McLean|first2=Iain|last3=McMillan|first3=Alistair|title=The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Politics and International Relations|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Q3FGDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT381|date=2018|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-254584-8|pages=381–|access-date=9 May 2019|archive-date=7 October 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241007223648/https://books.google.com/books?id=Q3FGDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT381#v=onepage&q&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref> Many scholars have pointed out that early Hindutva ideologues were inspired by fascist movements in early 20th-century Italy and Germany.<ref>{{Cite web|last=South Asia Scholar Activist Collective|title=What is Hindutva?|url=https://www.hindutvaharassmentfieldmanual.org/defininghindutva|access-date=11 July 2021|website=Hindutva Harassment Field Manual|language=en-US|archive-date=10 July 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210710045110/https://www.hindutvaharassmentfieldmanual.org/defininghindutva|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Leidig|first=Eviane|date=26 May 2020|title=Hindutva as a variant of right-wing extremism|journal=Patterns of Prejudice|volume=54|issue=3|pages=215–237|doi=10.1080/0031322X.2020.1759861|issn=0031-322X|hdl=10852/77740|s2cid=221839031|hdl-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Reddy|first=Deepa|date=2011|title=Capturing Hindutva: Rhetorics and Strategies|url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1749-8171.2011.00289.x|journal=Religion Compass|language=en|volume=5|issue=8|pages=427–438|doi=10.1111/j.1749-8171.2011.00289.x|issn=1749-8171|access-date=11 July 2021|archive-date=11 July 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210711003616/https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1749-8171.2011.00289.x|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Jaffrelot|first=Christophe|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mOXWgr53A5kC|title=Hindu Nationalism: A Reader|date=10 January 2009|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=978-1-4008-2803-6|language=en|access-date=2 May 2019|archive-date=7 October 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241007221357/https://books.google.com/books?id=mOXWgr53A5kC|url-status=live}}</ref>

The Indian Marxist economist and political commentator [[Prabhat Patnaik]] calls Hindutva "almost fascist in the classical sense". He states that the Hindutva movement is based on "class support, methods and programme".<ref name="j3517631">{{cite journal |title=Fascism of our times |jstor=3517631 |author=Prabhat Patnaik |journal=Social Scientist |volume=21 |issue=3/4|pages=69–77 |year=1993 |doi=10.2307/3517631}}</ref> According to Patnaik, Hindutva has the following fascist ingredients: "an attempt to create a unified homogeneous majority under the concept of "the Hindus"; a sense of grievance against past injustice; a sense of cultural superiority; an interpretation of history according to this grievance and superiority; a rejection of rational arguments against this interpretation; and an appeal to the majority based on [[Race (classification of human beings)|race]] and [[masculinity]]".<ref name="j3517631"/>

According to some opinion writers, Hindutva shows ethno-nationalism and hyper-militarism similar to [[Revisionist Zionism]]<ref>{{cite web |title=Thread that binds Hindutva and Zionism |url=https://www.nationalheraldindia.com/opinion/thread-that-binds-hindutva-and-zionism |date=2 Dec 2023 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20231230151607/https://www.nationalheraldindia.com/opinion/thread-that-binds-hindutva-and-zionism |archive-date=30 December 2023 |website=nationalheraldindia.com |last=Shaarma |first=Shubham }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Unpacking the Hindutva Embrace of Israel |url=https://thewire.in/world/hindutva-israel-tweets-palestine-conflict |date=12 Oct 2023 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20231229211317/https://thewire.in/world/hindutva-israel-tweets-palestine-conflict |archive-date=29 December 2023 |website=wire.in |last=Choudhury |first=Angshuman}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Why India's Hindu nationalists worship Israel's nation-state model |url=https://theconversation.com/why-indias-hindu-nationalists-worship-israels-nation-state-model-111450 |date=14 Feb 2019 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20230728063639/https://theconversation.com/why-indias-hindu-nationalists-worship-israels-nation-state-model-111450 |archive-date=28 July 2023 |website=theconversation.com |last=Bose |first=Sumantra }}</ref> and [[Kahanism]].<ref>{{cite web |title=The violent phobias that bind Hindutva and Zionism |url=https://www.972mag.com/india-israel-zionism-hundutva/ |date=9 Nov 2023 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20231230151517/https://www.972mag.com/india-israel-zionism-hundutva/ |archive-date=30 December 2023 |work=[[972mag]] |last=Hilton |first=Em}}</ref><ref>{{cite AV media |title=What Indian Ethnonationalists Learned From Israel Advocates |url=https://jewishcurrents.org/what-indian-ethnonationalists-learned-from-israel-advocates |archive-url=https://archive.today/20231230170530/https://jewishcurrents.org/what-indian-ethnonationalists-learned-from-israel-advocates |date=6 Jul 2023 |archive-date=30 December 2023 |website=jewishcurrents.org |last=Gopalan |first=Aparna }}</ref><section end="fascism" />{{Unreliable source?|reason=At least one of the sources links to [[Middle East Eye]] which has been criticized as a front for [[Hamas]]|date=June 2024}}

According to Jaffrelot, the early Hindutva proponents such as Golwalkar envisioned it as an extreme form of "ethnic nationalism", but the ideology differed from fascism and Nazism in three respects.<ref name="Jaffrelot1996p77"/> First, unlike fascism and Nazism, it did not closely associate Hindutva with its leader. Second, while fascism emphasised the primacy of the state, Hindutva considered the state to be a secondary. Third, while Nazism emphasised primacy of the race, the Hindutva ideology emphasised primacy of the society over race.<ref name="Jaffrelot1996p77">{{cite book|author= Christophe Jaffrelot|title= The Hindu Nationalist Movement in India|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=Y2buDDwdgIsC|year= 1996|publisher= Columbia University Press|isbn= 978-0-231-10335-0|page= 77|access-date= 12 June 2019|archive-date= 7 October 2024|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20241007223700/https://books.google.com/books?id=Y2buDDwdgIsC|url-status= live}}</ref>{{efn|For further elaboration on the primacy of state in fascism, see Walter Laqueur.<ref name="Laqueur1978">{{cite book|author= Zeev Sternhell | editor=Walter Laqueur|title=Fascism: A Reader's Guide: Analyses, Interpretations, Bibliography |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2s8OaLD7y_oC |year=1978|publisher=University of California Press|isbn=978-0-520-03642-0|pages=355–360}}</ref> For further elaboration on the primacy of race in Nazism, see [[Richard Bessel]].<ref name="BesselBessel1996">{{cite book|author=Adrian Lyttelton|editor=Richard Bessel|editor-link=Richard Bessel|title=Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany: Comparisons and Contrasts|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aJvzjv12CkcC|year=1996|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-47711-6|pages=12–14|access-date=12 June 2019|archive-date=7 October 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241007223545/https://books.google.com/books?id=aJvzjv12CkcC|url-status=live}}</ref>}} According to Achin Vanaik, several authors have labelled Hindutva as fascist, but such a label requires "establishing a fascist minimum". Hindu nationalism, states Vanaik, is "a specific Indian manifestation of a generic phenomenon [of nationalism] but not one that belongs to the genus of fascism".<ref>{{cite journal|title = Situating Threat of Hindu Nationalism: Problems with Fascist Paradigm| author= Achin Vanaik| journal = Economic and Political Weekly| volume = 29| number= 28| year= 1994| pages= 1729–1748|jstor=4401457}}</ref>

According to [[Mark Juergensmeyer]], a number of writers in India and outside India have variously described Hindutva as "fundamentalist" and "India's flirtation with native fascism", while others disagree.<ref name="Juergensmeyer1996p129"/> The debate on Hindutva is a matter of perspective. The Indians debate it from the perspective of their own colonial past and their contemporary issues, while the Euro-American view considers it from the global issues, their own experiences with fundamentalism in light of classic liberal and relativist positions, states Juergensmeyer.<ref name="Juergensmeyer1996p129">{{cite journal | last=Juergensmeyer | first=Mark | title=The Debate over Hindutva | journal=Religion | volume=26 | issue=2 | year=1996 | doi=10.1006/reli.1996.0010 | pages=129–135}}</ref>

Sociologists Chetan Bhatt and Parita Mukta have described difficulties in identifying Hindutva with fascism or Nazism, because of Hindutva's embrace of cultural rather than racial nationalism, its "distinctively Indian" character, and "the RSS's disavowal of the seizure of state power in preference for long-term cultural labour in [[civil society]]". They describe Hindutva as a form of "revolutionary conservatism" or "ethnic absolutism".<ref name="Bhatt & Mukta">{{cite journal |journal=Ethnic and Racial Studies |volume=23 |issue=3|pages=407–441 |date=May 2000 |author1=Chetan Bhatt |author2=Parita Mukta |title=Hindutva in the West: Mapping the Antinomies of Diaspora Nationalism |doi= 10.1080/014198700328935|s2cid=143287533}} Quote: "It is also argued that the distinctively Indian aspects of Hindu nationalism, and the RSS's disavowal of the seizure of state power in preference for long-term cultural labour in civil society, suggests a strong distance from both German Nazism and Italian Fascism. Part of the problem in attempting to classify Golwalkar's or Savarkar's Hindu nationalism within the typology of 'generic fascism', Nazism, racism and ethnic or cultural nationalism is the unavailability of an appropriate theoretical orientation and vocabulary for varieties of revolutionary conservatism and far-right-wing ethnic and religious absolutist movements in 'Third World' countries".</ref> According to Thomas Hansen, Hindutva represents a "conservative revolution" in postcolonial India, and its proponents have been combining "paternalistic and xenophobic discourses" with "democratic and universalist discourses on rights and entitlements" based on "desires, anxieties and fractured subjectivities" in India.<ref name="Hansen1999p4">{{cite book|author=Thomas Blom Hansen|title=The Saffron Wave: Democracy and Hindu Nationalism in Modern India|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SAqn3OIGE54C|year=1999|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=1-4008-2305-6|pages=4–5|access-date=3 May 2019|archive-date=7 October 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241007221903/https://books.google.com/books?id=SAqn3OIGE54C|url-status=live}}</ref>

=== Upper casteism ===
When Prime Minister [[V. P. Singh]] launched the [[Mandal Commission]] to broaden [[Reservation in India|reservations]] in government and public university jobs to a significant portion of the [[Shudras]] who were officially branded the [[Other Backward Class]]es (OBC), the mouthpiece of the Hindutva organisation RSS, [[Organiser (magazine)|''Organiser'']] magazine, wrote of "an urgent need to build up moral and spiritual forces to counter any fallout from an expected Shudra revolution".<ref>{{Cite web|last=|first=|title=The farm laws are an assault on Shudra power|url=https://caravanmagazine.in/politics/farmer-protests-caste-modi-shudra-obc|website=The Caravan|language=en|access-date=15 March 2021|archive-date=7 October 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241007223651/https://caravanmagazine.in/politics/farmer-protests-caste-modi-shudra-obc|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="IndianExpress7181746">{{Cite web|date=10 February 2021|title=Rise of Hindutva has enabled a counter-revolution against Mandal's gains|url=https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/hindu-nationalism-mandal-commission-upper-caste-politics-modi-govt-7181746/|website=The Indian Express|language=en|access-date=2 November 2021|archive-date=10 February 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210210050201/https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/hindu-nationalism-mandal-commission-upper-caste-politics-modi-govt-7181746/|url-status=live}}</ref>

According to social scientist and economist [[Jean Drèze]], the Mandal Commission angered the [[Forward caste|upper castes]] and threatened to distance the OBCs, but the [[Demolition of the Babri Masjid|Babri Masjid's destruction]] and ensuing events helped to reduce this challenge and reunified Hindus on an [[Islamophobia|anti-Muslim]] stance. He further claims "The Hindutva project is a lifeboat for the upper castes in so far as it promises to restore the [[Brahminical Hinduism|Brahminical]] social order" and the potential enemies of this ideology is anybody whose acts or might hinder the process of restoring the Brahminic social order. Drèze further claims that although Hindutva is known as a majoritarian movement, it can be best expressed as an oppressive minority movement.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Drèze|first=Jean|date=14 February 2020|title=The Revolt of the Upper Castes|url=https://journals.library.brandeis.edu/index.php/caste/article/view/44|journal=Caste: A Global Journal on Social Exclusion|language=en|publisher=[[Brandeis University]]|volume=1|issue=1|pages=229–236|doi=10.26812/caste.v1i1.44|issn=2639-4928|doi-access=free|access-date=2 November 2021|archive-date=26 October 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211026075456/https://journals.library.brandeis.edu/index.php/caste/article/view/44|url-status=live}}</ref>

According to Jaffrelot, the Sangh Parivar organisations with their Hindutva ideology have strived to impose the belief structure of the upper caste Hindus.<ref name="IndianExpress7181746" /> According to Dalit rights activist and political theorist [[Kancha Ilaiah]], "Hindutva Is Nothing But Brahminism" and that only "Dalitisation can effectively counter the danger of Brahminical fascism disguised as Hindutva".<ref>{{Cite web|title='Hindutva Is Nothing But Brahminism'|url=https://www.outlookindia.com/website/story/hindutva-is-nothing-but-brahminism/215089|website=Outlookindia|date=3 February 2022|access-date=2 November 2021|archive-date=2 November 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211102084628/https://www.outlookindia.com/website/story/hindutva-is-nothing-but-brahminism/215089|url-status=live}}</ref>

According to sociologist Amritorupa Sen, the privileges of the upper caste and especially Brahmins have become invisible. There has been a cultural norm that Brahmins take care of the lower castes out of a moral responsibility but also out of human kindness.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Sen |first=Amritorupa |date=2022-06-29 |title=The surviving power of Brahmin privilege |url=http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/00113921221105915 |journal=Current Sociology |volume=72 |issue=5 |language=en |pages=834–852 |doi=10.1177/00113921221105915 |s2cid=250151238 |issn=0011-3921 |access-date=8 May 2023 |archive-date=9 May 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230509191903/https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/00113921221105915 |url-status=live }}</ref>

===Ahistorical premises, separatism===
{{Further|Hindutva pseudohistory}}
According to Jaffrelot, the Hindutva ideology has roots in an era where the fiction in ancient Indian mythology and [[Vedic]] antiquity was presumed to be valid. This fiction was used to "give sustenance to Hindu ethnic consciousness".<ref name="Jaffrelot1996p77"/> Its strategy emulated the Muslim identity politics of the Khilafat movement after [[World War I]], and borrowed political concepts from the West –&nbsp;mainly German.<ref name="Jaffrelot1996p77"/> Hindutva organizations treat events in [[Hindu mythology]] as history.<ref>{{cite web|author=R. Ramachandran|date=1 February 2019|title=Science circus|website=Frontline|url=https://frontline.thehindu.com/science-and-technology/article26004777.ece|access-date=2 November 2021|archive-date=17 February 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210217061205/https://frontline.thehindu.com/science-and-technology/article26004777.ece|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|author=Ziya Us Salam|title=Age of unreason|website=Frontline|date=20 June 2018|url=https://frontline.thehindu.com/cover-story/article24200525.ece|access-date=2 November 2021|archive-date=2 February 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210202211212/https://frontline.thehindu.com/cover-story/article24200525.ece|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|author=Meera Nanda|date=2 January 2004|website=Frontline|url=https://frontline.thehindu.com/the-nation/article30220434.ece|title=Postmodernism, Hindu nationalism and 'Vedic science'|access-date=29 December 2020|archive-date=12 August 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200812120255/https://frontline.thehindu.com/the-nation/article30220434.ece}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Truschke|first=Audrey|date=15 December 2020|title=Hindutva's Dangerous Rewriting of History|url=http://journals.openedition.org/samaj/6636|journal=South Asia Multidisciplinary Academic Journal|language=fr|issue=24/25|doi=10.4000/samaj.6636|issn=1960-6060|doi-access=free|access-date=2 November 2021|archive-date=19 October 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211019050347/https://journals.openedition.org/samaj/6636|url-status=live}}</ref> Hindutva organizations have been criticized for their belief in statements or practices that they claim to be both scientific and factual but are incompatible with the [[scientific method]].<ref>{{citation |first=Meera |last=Nanda |title=Hindutva's science envy |url=https://frontline.thehindu.com/science-and-technology/hindutvas-science-envy/article9049883.ece |newspaper=Frontline |date=16 September 2016 |access-date=14 October 2016 |archive-date=28 December 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191228160257/https://frontline.thehindu.com/science-and-technology/hindutvas-science-envy/article9049883.ece |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://scroll.in/article/865872/from-dissing-darwin-to-yogic-farming-a-short-history-of-the-bjps-brush-with-pseudoscience|title=From dissing Darwin to yogic farming: A short history of the BJP's brush with pseudoscience|first=Shoaib|last=Daniyal|website=Scroll.in|date=21 January 2018|access-date=2 November 2021|archive-date=2 November 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211102071616/https://scroll.in/article/865872/from-dissing-darwin-to-yogic-farming-a-short-history-of-the-bjps-brush-with-pseudoscience|url-status=live}}</ref>

Hindutva ideology is also described to be separatist in its form. [[Siddharth Varadarajan]] writes that Hindutva separatism seeks to depart from the "philosophical, cultural and civilization mores of the country, including [[Hinduism]] itself".<ref name="Parel"/><ref name="Varadarajan"/>

According to [[Anthony Parel]], a historian and political scientist, Savarkar's ''Hindutva, Who is a Hindu?'' published in 1923 is a fundamental text of Hindutva ideology. It asserts, states Parel, India of the past to be "the creation of a racially superior people, the Aryans. They came to be known to the outside world as Hindus, the people beyond the Indus River. Their identity was created by their race (jati) and their culture (sanskriti). All Hindus claim to have in their veins the blood of the mighty race incorporated with and descended from the Vedic fathers. They created a culture – an ensemble of mythologies, legends, epic stories, philosophy, art and architecture, laws and rites, feasts and festivals. They have a special relationship to India: India is to them both a fatherland and a holy land." The Savarkar's text presents the "Hindu culture as a self-sufficient culture, not needing any input from other cultures", which is "an unhistorical, narcissistic and false account of India's past", states Parel.<ref name="Parel2006p42">{{cite book|author=Anthony J. Parel|title=Gandhi's Philosophy and the Quest for Harmony|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MQhz0fW0HZUC|year=2006|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-86715-3|pages=42–43|access-date=13 June 2019|archive-date=7 October 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241007224120/https://books.google.com/books?id=MQhz0fW0HZUC|url-status=live}}</ref>

The premises of early Hindu nationalist thought, states Chetan Bhatt, reflected the colonial era European scholarship and [[Orientalism]] of its times.<ref name="Bhatt2001p11"/> The idea of "India as the cradle of civilization" (Voltaire, Herder, Kant, Schlegel), or as "humanity's homeland and primal philosophy" (Herder, Schlegel), or the "humanism in Hindu values" (Herder), or of Hinduism offering redemption for contemporary humanity (Schopenhauer), along with the colonial era scholarship of Frederich Muller, [[Charles Wilkins]], William Jones, Alexander Hamilton and others were the natural intellectual matrix for Savarkar and others to borrow and germinate their Hindu nationalist ideas.<ref name="Bhatt2001p11">{{cite book|author=Chetan Bhatt|title=Hindu nationalism: origins, ideologies and modern myths|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=W2PXAAAAMAAJ|year=2001|publisher=Berg|isbn=978-1-85973-343-1|pages=11–12|access-date=3 May 2019|archive-date=7 October 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241007221901/https://books.google.com/books?id=W2PXAAAAMAAJ|url-status=live}}</ref>

[[Chakravarthi Ram-Prasad]], a [[Fellow of the British Academy]] and a scholar of Politics and Philosophy of Religion, states that Hindutva is a form of nationalism that is expounded differently by its opponents and its proponents.<ref name="Ram‐Prasad1993p285"/> The opponents of Hindutva either consider it as a fundamentalist ideology that "aims to regulate the working of civil society with the imperatives of Hindu religious doctrine", or alternatively, as another form of fundamentalism while accepting that Hinduism is a diverse collection of doctrines, is complex and is different from other religions. According to Ram-Prasad, the proponents reject these tags, viewing it to be their right and a desirable value to cherish their religious and cultural traditions.<ref name="Ram‐Prasad1993p285">{{cite journal | last=Ram-Prasad | first=C. | title=Hindutva ideology: Extracting the fundamentals | journal=Contemporary South Asia | volume=2 | issue=3 | year=1993 | doi=10.1080/09584939308719718 | pages=285–309}}</ref> The Hindutva ideology according to Savarkar, states Ram-Prasad, is a "geography, race, and culture" based concept. However, the "geography" is not strictly territorial but is an "ancestral homeland of a people", and the "race" is not biogenetic but described as the historic descendants of the intermarriage of Aryans, native inhabitants and "different peoples" who arrived over time.<ref name="Flood2008p527"/> So, "the ultimate category for Hindutva is culture", and this culture is "not strictly speaking religious, if by religion is meant a commitment to certain doctrines of transcendence", he states.<ref name="Flood2008p527">{{cite book|author=C. Ram-Prasad|editor=Gavin Flood|title=The Blackwell Companion to Hinduism|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SKBxa-MNqA8C|year=2008|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|isbn=978-0-470-99868-7|pages=527–528|access-date=13 June 2019|archive-date=7 October 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241007224121/https://books.google.com/books?id=SKBxa-MNqA8C|url-status=live}}</ref> The proponents state that in the Hindutva thought, there is a kernel of coherent and justifiable thesis about the Indian culture and history.<ref name="Ram‐Prasad1993p285"/>

=== Threats to academic freedom ===
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Hindutva ideology has been linked to threats to academics and students, both in India and the United States.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Venugopal, Arun|date=21 July 2021|title=At Rutgers, and Beyond, Scholars Are Under Attack For Their Critique of India's Far-Right Government|url=http://gothamist.com/news/at-rutgers-and-beyond-scholars-are-under-attack-for-their-critique-of-indias-far-right-government|access-date=21 July 2021|website=Gothamist|language=en|archive-date=7 October 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241007224153/https://gothamist.com/news/at-rutgers-and-beyond-scholars-are-under-attack-for-their-critique-of-indias-far-right-government|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Venugopal |first=Arun |date=19 July 2021 |title=American Scholars of India Confront a Rise in Threats |url=https://www.wnyc.org/story/american-scholars-india-confront-rise-threats/ |access-date=6 September 2021 |website=WNYC |language=en |archive-date=18 September 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210918025437/https://www.wnyc.org/story/american-scholars-india-confront-rise-threats/ |url-status=live }}</ref> For instance, in 2011, Hindutva activists successfully led a charge to remove an essay about the multiple narratives of [[Ramayana]]s from [[Delhi University|Delhi University's]] history syllabus.<ref>{{Cite news|last=N|first=Vijetha S.|date=15 October 2011|title=Historians protest as Delhi University purges Ramayana essay from syllabus|language=en-IN|work=The Hindu|url=https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/Historians-protest-as-Delhi-University-purges-Ramayana-essay-from-syllabus/article13372074.ece|access-date=11 July 2021|issn=0971-751X|archive-date=11 July 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210711004312/https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/Historians-protest-as-Delhi-University-purges-Ramayana-essay-from-syllabus/article13372074.ece|url-status=live}}</ref> [[Romila Thapar]], one of India's most eminent historians, has faced repeated Hindutva-led attacks.<ref>{{Cite news|title=In the battle over India's history, Hindu nationalists square off against a respected historian|language=en-US|newspaper=Washington Post|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/india-romila-thapar-dissent/2021/01/02/1a79ca54-4070-11eb-b58b-1623f6267960_story.html|access-date=11 July 2021|issn=0190-8286|archive-date=9 February 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210209021704/https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/india-romila-thapar-dissent/2021/01/02/1a79ca54-4070-11eb-b58b-1623f6267960_story.html|url-status=live}}</ref> The Hindu right has been responsible for pushback against scholars of South Asia and Hinduism based in North America, including [[Wendy Doniger]] and [[Sheldon Pollock]]; Doniger's book was no longer printed after its publisher settled a lawsuit claiming that it defamed Hinduism and Pollock was accused of misrepresenting India's cultural heritage and that he had "shown disrespect for the unity and integrity of India".<ref>{{Cite web|title=Scholars who study Hinduism and India face hostile climate|url=https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2016/04/12/scholars-who-study-hinduism-and-india-face-hostile-climate|access-date=11 July 2021|website=www.insidehighered.com|language=en|archive-date=10 July 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210710045115/https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2016/04/12/scholars-who-study-hinduism-and-india-face-hostile-climate|url-status=live}}</ref> Under BJP leadership, the Indian state has been accused of monitoring scholars and denying some research access.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Chaturvedi |first1=Vinayak |title=The Hindu Right and Attacks on Academic Freedom in the US |url=https://www.thenation.com/article/culture/hindu-right-academic-freedom/ |publisher=The Nation |date=December 2021 |access-date=5 December 2021 |archive-date=7 October 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241007224220/https://www.thenation.com/article/culture/hindu-right-academic-freedom/ |url-status=live }}</ref> [[Audrey Truschke]] is one such example who remains frequent target of their threats.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://thehindustangazette.com/crime/for-more-than-five-years-i-have-received-hate-mail-from-hindu-nationalists-almost-every-single-day-dr-audrey-truschke-5373|title=For more than five years, I have received hate mail from Hindu nationalists almost every single day - Dr. Audrey Truschke|date=15 September 2021|access-date=1 August 2022|archive-date=18 November 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221118202434/https://thehindustangazette.com/crime/for-more-than-five-years-i-have-received-hate-mail-from-hindu-nationalists-almost-every-single-day-dr-audrey-truschke-5373|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Historian Audrey Truschke faces threats, Rutgers University extends support to her|newspaper=Scroll|url=https://scroll.in/latest/988994/abhor-vile-messages-and-threats-directed-at-audrey-truschke-says-rutgers-university|access-date=5 August 2022|archive-date=24 September 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220924230525/https://scroll.in/latest/988994/abhor-vile-messages-and-threats-directed-at-audrey-truschke-says-rutgers-university|url-status=live}}</ref>

In 2021, a group of North American-based scholars of South Asia formed a collective and published the Hindutva Harassment Field Manual to, they argue, answer the Hindutva threat to their academic freedom.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Prakash|first=Priyali|title='Targeted by hate': Audrey Truschke on why she helped write a 'Hindutva Harassment Field Manual'|url=https://scroll.in/article/999710/targeted-by-hate-audrey-truschke-on-why-she-helped-write-a-hindutva-harassment-field-manual|access-date=28 August 2021|website=Scroll.in|date=10 July 2021|language=en-US|archive-date=2 September 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210902044316/https://scroll.in/article/999710/targeted-by-hate-audrey-truschke-on-why-she-helped-write-a-hindutva-harassment-field-manual|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=":0" /> They documented further incidents of Hindutva harassment of academics in North America, dating back to the 1990s.<ref>{{cite web |last1=SASAC |title=Timeline |url=https://www.hindutvaharassmentfieldmanual.org/timeline |website=Hindutva Harassment Field Manual |access-date=5 December 2021 |archive-date=5 December 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211205225145/https://www.hindutvaharassmentfieldmanual.org/timeline |url-status=live }}</ref> The [[Association for Asian Studies]] noted that Hindutva, described as a "majoritarian ideological doctrine" different from [[Hinduism]], resorted to "increasing attacks on numerous scholars, artists and journalists who critically analyze its politics".<ref>{{Cite web|date=10 September 2021|title=AAS Statement on the Dismantling Global Hindutva Conference|url=https://www.asianstudies.org/aas-statement-on-the-dismantling-global-hindutva-conference/|access-date=11 September 2021|website=Association for Asian Studies|language=en-US|archive-date=10 September 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210910221626/https://www.asianstudies.org/aas-statement-on-the-dismantling-global-hindutva-conference/|url-status=live}}</ref> A number of scholars and participants withdrew from the conference following the threats they received from ultranationalists and Hindutva supporters.<ref>{{Cite news|title=Death threats sent to participants of US conference on Hindu nationalism|newspaper=The Guardian|url=https://theguardian.com/world/2021/sep/09/death-threats-sent-to-participants-of-us-conference-on-hindu-nationalism|access-date=5 August 2022|archive-date=7 October 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241007224634/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/sep/09/death-threats-sent-to-participants-of-us-conference-on-hindu-nationalism|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|title=Under fire from Hindu nationalist groups, U.S.-based scholars of South Asia worry about academic freedom|newspaper=The Washington Post|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2021/10/03/india-us-universities-hindutva/|access-date=1 August 2022|archive-date=10 August 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220810060010/https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2021/10/03/india-us-universities-hindutva/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=US Conference on Hindu Nationalism marred by death threats to participants|newspaper=The Siasat Daily|url=https://www.siasat.com/us-conference-on-hindu-nationalism-marred-by-death-threats-to-participants-2190297/|access-date=5 August 2022|archive-date=5 August 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220805084841/https://www.siasat.com/us-conference-on-hindu-nationalism-marred-by-death-threats-to-participants-2190297/|url-status=live}}</ref>